[Guide] Elusive MaterialsFollow

Hello again peoples. I am a miner on one of my characters and I was wondering if someone could answer a lingering question I have had. There are some metal bars out there you need to learn to make from a quest, bronze being one. I was wondering if there is a page on ZAM Rift for the quest items that start these quests? I know they are mined from a particular type of mineral node, but I am not sure which "quested metal" go to which node.

Any know care to direct me some where?

Update: Put in where and how to get these recipes from a post farther down.

Update: Added in quest information on the mining wiki page: Mining Wiki

Update: Added in Butchering and Foraging versions of quests.

Update: Added in See also: 'Wiki Page' to each section.

Update: Put in the new veins for the 1.2 patch.

Mining:


Foraging:


Butchering:


Edited, May 12th 2011 6:39pm by Senryi

Edited, May 12th 2011 6:40pm by Senryi

Edited, May 15th 2011 4:31pm by Senryi

Edited, May 16th 2011 11:33pm by Senryi

Edited, May 16th 2011 11:36pm by Senryi

Moved contents of post to first post so peoples can see it more easily.

Edited, May 7th 2011 3:45pm by Senryi

Oh, forgot about Darkmetal. Probably because I don't have that one. Also I'm an artificer so absolutely nothing I make is made out of alloys other than Cinerium

Wouldn't the Unusual Ore (for bronze) be mined from Tin veins and not Copper since tin is the higher material for bronze?

I see that FFXI logic there! But no, the Copper veins require a higher mining skill than the tin, so the "higher" of the two would be copper, yes?

No, it doesn't matter.

The drop rate of the items is absolutely horrid.

Same thing happens to me all the time.

If they have there's been no dev post on it.

Just keep trying for it, the drop rate isn't very good to begin with.

Try not to overthink it. You're not getting the item because the drop rate is extremely low. That is all. The item is for a quest that gives you a recipe only a miner can use. Whatever other professions you have chosen are entirely irrelevant. I farmed somewhere in the neighborhood of 2500 Soulhide trying to get the quest item for Imbued Leather. Lucky for me, Soulhide vendors for 98g/stack or I'd still be sitting on a mountain of it. If the item in question has a 5% drop rate, it means you've got a 1 in 20 chance every time you mine a node to get the item. The drop rate is actually much lower than that. It's set to increase with 1.2, but the whole idea is that the "special" crafting items are supposed to be rare so that only the dedicated gatherers get them, thus preserving something of a market.

Unless you're dealing with a little completionist OCD, it's probably not worth the time. Nobody is likely to be buying lower tier specialty crafting components in any significant number.

Yeah, it's the same reason my outfitter friend complains to me that he gets a zillion of the quest cloths.

If, let's say, the drop rate is the same for the cloth quest items as it is for the mining quest items (for the sake of argument let's say the drop rate is 0.1% so 1 in 1000) then averaged over the entire game every 1000 of the appropriate nodes you mine you should receive the quest item. And if the drop rate is the same for cloth, than (averaged over the entire game) every 1000 humanoids and undead and whatever else drops cloth are killed, one of these quest items should drop.

The problem is you spend WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY more time killing bad guys than you do picking rocks up off the ground, so the drop rate seems skewed even though it isn't.



Obviously, it's the wrong day of the week.. duh

For some reason, the quest item for Pure Distillate has been easy for me on both foragers. I got it without even thinking about it on my first rogue and I just got it again this past weekend on my new rogue. Pristine Sap was a little worse. The item for Cinerium Bars I got from an orichalcum node in reg CC but I've noticed that since then, a LOT of open world orichalcum spawn points have been added that weren't in the game a couple of weeks after launch (there was even one right next to one of the cairns in Lake of Solace).

The worst for me though...the absolute worst...was that damned imbued leather quest item. As it turns out, it may have been in part a loot bug that gave me issues which has since been fixed, but I'm quite pleased that the drop rate on quest items of that nature is set to go up, even if only by a small amount.

And then at 7:43 PM EST on May 5, 2001, you received two more of them.

At least that's how my luck with these things usually works

Update 2: Obtained Discarded Pickaxe Head at 11:41 PM EST on May 11, 2011

Quest items for special crafting materials are dropping all over the place. Since 1.2 went live, I've picked up the quests items for Fine Leather, Reinforced Leather, Steel Bars, and Darkmetal Bars. I had already done the quest for Pure Distillate prior to the patch, so all that leaves now (that I'm interested in getting) are the top tier items for each gathering profession (Pristine Distillate, Polished Shadethorn, Cinerium Bars, Imbued Leather). And based on how things have been going, I don't expect that it will be all that difficult to get them.

I'm enjoying the way it's working now. It adds a certain amount of interest to the professions.

You should be able to edit the title on your OP, actually. If it doesn't work let me know and I can do that. :)

Thanks for reminding me, updating post.

I found my Exceptional Shadethorn Sample on a Sagebrush Log.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/860/20110510135224.jpg/

Updated post, thanks for the info!