Epic world drops

[Paelos]

Supposedly, I had heard you could find epic items that would randomly drop on level appropriate mobs anywhere in the gaming world. I had never see one, nor had I found anyone in my guild who had either. However, yesterday I came across this yesterday in my normal mining/hunting process. Since I was a warrior it went on the AH with no buyout. It didn't even last three hours before I finally accepted an offer to take it down. The guy paid me 700g for it.

Has anyone else ever found epic drops in game that were random world drops? What did you do with them?

[WayAbvPar]

My buddy (FMR here) has a horseshoe in his ass- he has found several blue randoms over his career (I got my first one last night- a level 18 mail gauntlet for my 32nd level mage), and recently found these as a random drop. I hate him.  :-D

[Signe]

Congratulations on becoming green, WAP.  I think.  If I can do anything to make you shine, like post lots of senseless wibble destined for the den, or invite people from obscure religion boards, just let me know.  I want to help make you look good.

[FMR]

Dont be a hater, WAY, cant even get a decent nibble on them in the AH or on the trade channel.  Gonna try the AH in Gadgetzan next.  Besides, I play about 4 times as many hours as you do, since I've quit getting assfucked in online poker, but that's another thread altogether.

[Sky]

I've never seen a purple drop in the game.

I've had a couple blue drops, but only one that was level-appropriate and useful. Hunting basilisks in STV (by their cave) when I was farming skins for leatherworking for my lvl 40 mount $$. I was a lvl 40/41 hunter at the time and these dropped: Basilisk Hide Pants. +21 AGI at level 40, I've only recently (at level 57) seen a couple green drops that I've considered, from 40 up, my legs slot was "non-negotiable".

I'm the epitome of ghetto gear, though I do fancy my +run speed boots.

[AcidCat]

While killing ogres in Feralas a couple weeks ago one of them dropped Nightblade http://www.thottbot.com/?i=13823. Honestly it was a great feeling, I kind of couldn't believe my eyes for a minute, I felt as if I had won the lottery.

Well, being a Druid I couldn't use the thing ... and I ended up getting only 68 gold for it, but hey that was enough so I could finally get my mount, so I was pretty happy all around.

[Typhon]

I had the Underworld Band http://www.thottbot.com/?i=5646 drop in Feralis to my 42 Warrior.  I have a friend who has a Warlock, so won't be finding out how much it would have sold for.

[WayAbvPar]

Congratulations on becoming green, WAP.  I think.  If I can do anything to make you shine, like post lots of senseless wibble destined for the den, or invite people from obscure religion boards, just let me know.  I want to help make you look good.

Thanks Signe! I look forward to a long and undistinguished moderating career.

I lied earlier. I just remembered that I got a blue sword drop from a chest near the Southsea Pirates outside of BB.

FMR- no AH bites? Try it tonight (weekend nights are usually better).  Start it low and put a high buyout- even if it sells low, at least you get more than the vendors will buy it for. I just can't believe someone hasn't bought it yet just so they can say they are wearing something purple.

[trias_e]

Who the fuck would pay 700g for that necklace?  If it had a +crit or +damage modifier I'd consider it.

And I once got a krol blade and a hammer of the northern wind in the same week.  Gave the hammer to a guidlie and sold the krol blade for 500g (could have got more)

[Paelos]

Who the fuck would pay 700g for that necklace?  If it had a +crit or +damage modifier I'd consider it.

And I once got a krol blade and a hammer of the northern wind in the same week.  Gave the hammer to a guidlie and sold the krol blade for 500g (could have got more)

The answer is, some dude who farms elemental water for cash, or so he says. In reality I set it on the AH with no buyout starting at 50g to just let it ride. I got 10 tells in the next hour offering cash to take it down. I told them no. They went up as high as 550g, but given it was in the first hour I still said no. Then when Cashy McMoneybags came in, I told him I wasn't taking it down and the highest offer going was 550. He said 700. I said DONE, and called it a day.

[schild]

If I start playing again, will you give me 200G?

[WayAbvPar]

I will give you $16.31  :-D

[Paelos]

If I start playing again, will you give me 200G?

I'm not on ER, but if I were...


Nah.

[sidereal]

Has anyone else ever found epic drops in game that were random world drops? What did you do with them?

Sure.  My main Druid looted this off of a Bloodsail Buccaneer.  If you click on any mob around 40 or higher in thottbot, you'll probably see some epics that they've dropped.

The thing I don't get is why people pay so much for them.  The armor's maybe 150% as good as typical level stuff, and the bonuses are maybe twice as good.  The special abilities are pretty tame (like this +2% dodge chance.  An extra 1 dodge in 50 attacks).  Yeah, it's good, but paying 100g vs paying 2g for standard fare?

As for what I did with it, it's sitting in my bank.  I'm split on whether to hold onto it for whenever I want to roll a warrior or to sell it for a mount.

[WayAbvPar]

My main Druid looted this off of a Bloodsail Buccaneer.

Arrgh- why are they PLATE? If they were leather, a Rogue would be all over those.

[Sky]

Who the fuck would pay 700g for that necklace?

People see purple and lose their minds. Tough enough (read: for me, impossible) to buy blue stuff. People see blue and don't even seem to consider the stats before slapping a high price on it.

I guess once you've been 60 for a couple weeks, money is a relative non-issue. Personally, I've never had more than 30g EVER, excluding saving for my lvl 40 mount.

I think some of the more traditional mmog players have thrown the economy out of whack, the clash of the casual overland game and the more hardcore instance game.

The answer is, some dude who farms elemental water for cash, or so he says.

There's certainly something to that. I was ama?ed how much I was able to make from some of those elemental drops. I was getting 5g buyouts /easy/. And I don't farm, I just had a bunch from playing in zones with elementals around. Heck, the last time I got near 30g was from selling a few of those at the AH. Crazy, I didn't find them overly rare.

I will give you $16.31 

I wonder if BC were disbanded, could we re-use the name? Schild is silly in his anti-wowness ;) Saw Splurgo on last night, should've had him give me an invite.

The thing I don't get is why people pay so much for them

Well, despite what I said, there is a market for high level blue/purple. While I consider midlevel blue buying on the AH to be a waste of money (since you'll outgrow it soon enough), as you hit the level cap, it makes sense to spend money on good items to "finish" those spots off for a few different situations (pvp gear, etc). The same folks who tend to have more money than most in the game (excluding farmers). What I don't get is why middle-level blue/purple gear is so much more expensive than it's stats.

I bought something off the AH last weekend, I can't remember now exactly what it was, but it was similar in stats to a blue item (10 levels lower, of course). The green item I bought was 2g 50s. The blue item was listed for 60g. I got a chuckle out of that one. Sure, my level played a factor (because I could buy the green item instead, at a higher item level), but it was funny nonetheless.

[Rasix]

Heh, at a certain point, blues and purple are all that's going to upgrade your gear.  That necklace, however, just doesn't seem worth it.  I have a Horizon Choker (you can get these for under 50 in the AH) I got as a drop and an Arclight talisman (Battle of Darrowshire) I wear right now. 

I've never ever ever gotten a purple drop.  I don't farm much at all.  Some notable blues I've gotten are Hydralick Armor, Joonho's Mercy (this is campable) and two Six Demon Bags.

My rogue has a Bloodrazor that my friend got off skeleton in Western Plaguelands.  I've never owned a purple item before this one and it was a JOY to equip at level 45.  Nothing like SS'ing mobs down before you can even get off your eviscerate (well, didn't last long). 

Recently another friend just quit (that's all of them) so I got another influx of cash.   Looking to buy a Krol blade or Mass of McGowan for the rogue but those tend to go a bit higher than what I've got on me.   I really want a damn Krol blade because I'm sure someone in my guild would have a shit fit if I my guild GM let me spend DKP to get a Dal Rend for my alt.

[murdoc]

The only blue item I've owned is this hammer. I bought it for 15g shortly before lvl 40 and haven't found anything close to it, mace-wise, since.

[El Gallo]

Way is a mod now?  Excellent.  The cranky old men are solidifying their power here mwahahahahahaha!!!

I will give you $16.31  :-D

That'll get him 150 gold or so, which is plenty.  Don't want to spoil your twinks!

On the actual subject, I have never seen a purple world drop.  Would not mind getting a couple for the cash, as that epic mount is expensive as hell.  So are arcanite reapers and stonegrip gaunts.  I am a poor panda.

[Threash]

Ive farmed ALOT.  I farmed for the crusader enchant formula, that took me over a week of non stop killing lvl 57-58 mobs.  I farmed for revered faction with argent dawn, that also took about a week of killing 58-60 mobs.  I might have gotten about 6 green items the whole time, i haven't seen a random world drop blue since my 20s.  Now that i have crusader though and my money problems are over i simply camp the AH for what i want.  Picked up a mass of mcgowan for 200g buy out the other day, im pretty happy with that.  Could have had a krol for 600 but they are basically the same weapon.

[Llava]

People see blue and don't even seem to consider the stats before slapping a high price on it.

I know I didn't.  I put it up at a ridiculously high price because I knew it would sell.  Supply and demand, all that.  I really didn't see why they were all that good, but if people will pay a shitload of money why shouldn't I profit from that?   :-D

[Fabricated]

I have only found three blues in my playing so far that I could have used, and each one has been worse than what I had equipped at the time.

I found the electrocutioner's leg long after it wasn't a good weapon anymore, Redbeard's crest after I had a much better shield, and the Razor's Edge again, long after I already had a better weapon.

All my other blues have been cloth items. Bleah. Greens don't sell for shit in the AH anymore on my server since 99.99999999% of everyone on it is level 55+. I want BADLY to move to another server, but I don't even know if it'll help since when the mover comes back up, you can only move to one server that Blizz picks for you.

[Signe]

Righ found a piccolo.  It's the best drop ever.  When you play it, everyone is forced to dance.  Even if they sit, they cannot escape it's happy happy joy joy effects.  He plans to leave himself logged in at the mailbox playing it tomorrow for my amusement.  People really freak out when they spontaneously begin to dance.   

[Threash]

Righ found a piccolo.  It's the best drop ever.  When you play it, everyone is forced to dance.  Even if they sit, they cannot escape it's happy happy joy joy effects.  He plans to leave himself logged in at the mailbox playing it tomorrow for my amusement.  People really freak out when they spontaneously begin to dance.   

piccolo of the flaming fire is the best item in any game ever, tell him to do it in the AH instead.

[Signe]

He did do it there but it wasn't as fun as the mailbox.  I think people are mostly grumpy when they go in there.

[Kageru]

I have a purple bow on my warrior. It is nice to pull with having a 1.6 second shot time but it's mostly to cause random hunters to break out in tears.

That necklace seems fairly crappy to me, getting 700gold for it is a good deal, mind you there are people who look at the color first and the stats second. Those plate boots are excellent though, and much more valuable to a warrior than a rogue. Rogues already have very high dodge innately and aren't often called upon to tank 1K hitters where dodging an attack is a substantial difference in incoming DPS.

The purple drops are incredibly annoying but ultimately do work. It means that every time you kill a mob there's that tiniest sliver of a chance for something insanely good to drop.

[chinslim]

Considering you can get this http://www.thottbot.com/?i=6910 from a quest line, you found yourself one heck of a sucker.

[addryc]

I got This hammer off of a level 52, non-elite mob in Felwood - and a guildy got the SAME hammer not two days before.  I sold mine for 80g - not a massive amount but I lack the patience to get a better price!

Epic items DO drop - but you could farm for DAYS and get nothing off the same mobs - its just blind luck/low probability.  Better to just go out and have fun, and if an awesome item drops - its a bonus!

[Malathor]

Considering you can get this http://www.thottbot.com/?i=6910 from a quest line, you found yourself one heck of a sucker.

Hardly.

You've actually hit upon a major problem with WoW's itemization. Non-cloth wearing classes have a wide variety of equipment available that can have a major impact on their character's effectiveness. Melee can dream about epic weapons that can add 20-30% to their damage output over the best blues. Even spell casters benefit a lot from + spell crit gear and their MC epic sets at least add the right stats. Priests however for the most part have very few options for improving their characters once they fill out their blue class sets.

MC priest epic sets mostly add spirit, not stamina or int. Plus spell crit gear does not work for heals for whatever reason. Even +heal gear only has 42% of the listed impact on our bread-and-butter flash heals, so that even gear that gives +100 healing (not an easy task) only boosts our heals by about 4%. The end result is that cloth-wearers in general, and priests in particular have to go to extreme lengths to get any kind of a significant upgrade from gear, and from even rarer purchasable BoE gear in particular.

So what gear is out there that can be bought and that is going to be any kind of an upgrade for most lev 60 priests? Well there's the Cainwyn, the Glowing Brightwood Staff (another random world drop), the Belt of the Archmage and Hide of the Wild which don't really count since they are fairly easy craftables and...and..well that's pretty much it. So of course those with epic mounts and nothing better to spend their money on are going to bid what seems like insane cash on those items. There just are not enough options.

[Dren]

My friend also has a horseshoe hidden in his anatomy.

He has gotten two purple's from standard MOBs.  This is his latest.  I don't think has sold it yet though.  I'm imagining 700+ gps though.

[Sobelius]

Good God this is sounding like a DAOC discussion thread -- in the sense that highest-level people are making a big to-do over items.

Please tell me WoW's level 60 pvp game isn't gear-based. (Under level 60 it feels mostly level-based, but there's a nice spread of level effectiveness, keeping me on my toes for enemies even 5 levels lower, and not being too afraid of those up to 5 levels higher.)

My main is currently level 34 and while I've found 4 blue items so far (2 drops, 2 quest), I've thought of these as prestige items rather than truly necessary for effective play.

[Shockeye]

Of course it's gear based. Someone with a purple +30% damage weapon will pwn your little toon with a green weapon every time.

[MrHat]

Of course it's gear based. Someone with a purple +30% damage weapon will pwn your little toon with a green weapon every time.

You can beat them.

[Rasix]

Your gear will seriously lag behind in the beginning levels.  I remember getting to 60 and having ONE blue item on me. Well two if you count a trinket I had.    Your gear will catch up.  You can either buy the occasional upgrade at the AH or you can get it via the more casual lvl 60 instance of Dire Maul.   Still, at this level I could win most duels based on skill.  Right now, without mudflation being too outrageous, skill and organization does trump gear in PVP.  This is mostly based on what limited PVP I get on a PVE server (mostly the TM/SS shuffle).


I know what you're talking about, and no, it's nowhere near DAoC.  You're not going to need a fully SC'd set of gear with a leveled artifact weapon to compete.   However, you're going to need to stay somewhat with the curve unless you like playing with a handicap every single time.  Fuck, really though, with Dire Maul in the game, you can get a lot of really decent gear without a major time investment.  Hell, after one DM run I came away with a new blue shield, new blue dagger, new blue boots, and the quest for a nice blue trinket. 

But really, to back up what Hat said, if you're better than someone and they've got better gear, you're going to beat them.

[Sobelius]

Of course it's gear based. Someone with a purple +30% damage weapon will pwn your little toon with a green weapon every time.

Are there really +30% items? What I like about what I've seen so far in WoW is that most bonuses seem small (30% would be huge). For example, I've seen a sword with a 1% chance to proc a shadowbolt. Or the lesser invis potions I can make last only 15 seconds (effective enough to avoid an unwanted encounter -- but not unbalancing). Or my blue drop staff (Emberstone) vs. the one I could have used from my quest (Westfall Staff). The differences are small enough that I don't have to have the better one -- and having a green staff wouldn't really gimp me, either.

In other words, DAOC became gear-centric because there were *must have* items if you wanted to survive. I don't care if one other player has an ubersword. I don't care if a dozen have an ubersword. I care if hundreds of players have uberswords and all fights comes down to whoever has an "i win" item or button.

I know what you're talking about, and no, it's nowhere near DAoC.  You're not going to need a fully SC'd set of gear with a leveled artifact weapon to compete.

Thanks Rasix. That's what I was concerned about.