How long would it take...

jon0592

jon0592

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jan 2006

N/

Hello, I've decided to get a full set of obsidian armor (5 pieces). I'm using the E/Me Terra Tank build and I was wondering how long it would take to farm 160 ectoplasm. Why 160?

Ectoplasm can be traded for shards 3:1 so 40 x 3 = 120 shards and 120 ectoplasm.

If I do 1-2 runs each day from Monday to Friday, and about 3 hours worth of runs on Saturday and Sunday, how long do you honestly think it'll take to farm 160 ectoplasm? I'm not even worried about cash or other materials, because I am experienced with the build and will rarely die.

Thanks in advance!

P.S. If you're going to give a stupid response like "a looooooong time", don't bother answering.

Mournblade

Mournblade

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: May 2005

Houston, Texas

Dawn Treaders [DAWN]

W/Mo

Not an easy question to answer, given the randomness of drops and the elusive 'anti-farm code' effects. 20 runs per week could net you 20 ecto if you are lucky, so at that rate my guess would be two months. Take into account you might get other good drops you could sell and convert to ecto/shards so maybe a little less. Again, it totally depends on luck.

thedork01

thedork01

Academy Page

Join Date: Jul 2006

All over the place

Broken Circle

E/Me

Took me 2 weeks, but i cheated by getting lucky on 2 coffers. Got titan gems out of both, sold them all for ectos, and was ready. For those two weeks I was doing just about what you described and I had earned somewhere around 40 ectos. So I'd estimate (without some extra luck) somewhere around 8 weeks.

Edit:
FYI, i would not recommend my strategy. Since those two lucky coffers, I have opened 15 coffers and not gotten a single good thing out of one of them. Had I not gotten them I would be well on my way to another set of FoW armor :-/

ShadowsRequiem

ShadowsRequiem

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Oct 2005

Inde is Smoking [Hawt] *ToA*

W/E

wow ummmm >_<

getting ectos is all luck, i've gone 4 runs w/o gettting a single one... where sometimes you'll get 3 per run each time :P

goodluck lol..... if you really want to farm all of them I bought maybe 55 of them when the prices dropped and then sold stuff to make up the other 50 and 105 shards... If your lucky at Chest running try hitting up some chests in the shattered ravines for some elemental swords.

Hell Raiser

Hell Raiser

Forge Runner

Join Date: Dec 2005

[PHNX]

Mo/

Really depends on your drops, you could get 10 ectos in a day, or 0 in an entire week. Mine took ~6-8 weeks doing 55/SS and 5man SF runs (However, this was back before factions). It will take a long time, so if you are hoping you will have it in a couple weeks: It wont happen unless you get lucky (like thedork01). Don't give up, though.

jon0592

jon0592

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jan 2006

N/

Thanks for replies. Yes, I'll spend the next few months in UW...alone...and time isn't a big deal, because I've got a lot of time in the summer with little to do.

P.S. Got 1 ecto today.... 159 to go

Arren Knez

Arren Knez

Academy Page

Join Date: Feb 2007

south of somewhere

Dominion of Passi [PaSI]

solo farming clearing the smites took me 3 months to get 1 set, given that i also had a few weeks were i never went to uw at all and the free access weekend.

Malice Black

Site Legend

Join Date: Oct 2005

1-2 runs a day isn't enough. You need to do 10-20 a day if you are going to farm all the ecto. Alternate between UW runs and other things so you don't get bored.

Look into farming other areas as well. While farming ecto isn't difficult it is time consuming, sometimes it better to farm the cash (chest runs,running etc) then buy the ecto.

kooomar

kooomar

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Oct 2006

Pow Pow Pow [myau]

Mo/E

I actually do the e/me build too, and like most people say, youll get unlucky and lucky, depending on the runs. I have gone 12 runs in a row with no ectos, and I have gone 2 runs getting 7 ectos and a sapphire. It seems to me that it averages out to one ecto a run, but you have to add to that the keys you get, and the golds you get from chests. I have gotten a req9 storm and req9 eternal shield in 2 runs (both were sadly worthless). But when you add up the demonic remains, dust, ectos, coin, ALL items (worth about 50-70 gold each), its not really that slow at all. Just be vigilant.

lennymon

lennymon

Forge Runner

Join Date: Nov 2005

Seattle

Odin's Hammer [OH] - Servant's of Fortuna [SoF]

R/

the E/A solo for FoW works well also and shards *tend* to drop considerably more frequently than ectos. You can also save some coins by farming the webs and horsies in tombs E/A