The Chestrunners Thread

I did about 500 runs for the plag chest, Found it to spawn more like 80% of the time. Got more gold then grapes, though only 1 shield dropped and the golds were mostly armors.
Then Arcade joined in and we did about 150 runs, then we got 1 sword drop from the chest, also got some nice focuses from the chest wich seems to be the most common weapon drop from it, all was done in HM

Just wondering, how many bow drops does everyone get from the plag chest? I seem to get very very little. Only purples so far.

I get quite a few bow drops from that chest, but for some reason, every single one of em is 15/-5... seriously..

So in the end, which area is best to max Unlucky+Lucku+Treasure Hunter (for Monk)?
Witman's Folly/Ie Cliff Chasms?

I'm running Silent Surf on my monk in NM. 58% retention rate for me. Works fine ^^ And you can get some nice fancy skins.

I'd love to run this but I can't figure out how to even get close to it. I'm forbidden to enter the necessary zones to access it since I'm Kurzick (guild and alliance too). Any ideas?

Do you have access to Cavalon? If yes, do the "Befriending the Luxons" quest and the mission that follows, if not, go there^^ Get luxon faction by doing a couple of Jade Quarries is my advise..

After you did Gyala Hatchery, finish this mission and you'll be in Leviathan Pits, after that, it's a 1min run to Seafarer's Rest, which is where you need to be. All in all, should take you about an hour to get there.

If you're anything besides Ranger, Warrior or Ssin, my best advise is doing the Bukdek Byway run. Chest spawns 80-90% of the time, it's a 45sec run, and drops Plagueborn weapons (which isn't the worst skin in the game^^)

Gl

Also, got this running Xaquang earlier^^

Thanks. This isn't going to force me to switch allegiance or anything is it?

I got about 8 bows, 2 r9 15^50 ones.

No, you can earn faction from both allegiances, but you can only donate faction to your own allegiance, you can however use the 10k luxon you'll earn after the quest to buy jade for example. It will cause you to lose 10k kurzick faction though (if you have any at that time)

That's good to know, Thanks again.

If your looking for just Treasure Hunter i would say Whitmans, you always get 3 chests in 3 min. Lots of Grapes.

If your looking for Treasure and Wisdom at the same time, Ice cliffs.
You can get lucky and hit 3 chests in 3 min here, but i had to zone out with no chest here plenty.

I did 650 chests this double weekend, if your just in it for treasure hunter, i would say Whitmans is Fastest.

Still think Silent Surf is the fastest.. Some of my guildies were running that one this weekend too (I don't, I've done it so many times I'm sick of it.. For ever..) and they all clocked 5 chests in 3 minutes, 4 if unlucky with spawns.. Especially in NM this is easily achievable.. In HM you might be rusty when you're getting used to it..

farmed the hell out of pongmei valley this w/e....tried mixing it up leaving from boreas seabed, maatu keep, and tanglewood...best number of chests seem to come when leaving from boreas. Never less than 3 chests in a run, sometimes as many as 5 or 6 -- and there are 3 definite spots that will always come up. Nothing special except a q9 death 20/20 jade staff, but some easy running. And thanks to the person earlier who mentioned HoS as that has proved invaluable running there. I also ran a bunch of Bukdek Byway, inviting in local chat anyone wishing to join, amazing though how many people didn't bother. I don't think they realize how easy it is! Anyway, the plagueborn seems to spawn a lot more than when I initially ran it, getting near 80% imo. I've actually had a number of plagueborn shields drop but never a dual-mod (same with foci)...only one sword has dropped for me this whole time and it was 14^hex lol

I understand ur frustration with plagueborn...i've been running also in Sunjang District (pretty hard in HM) and chance of getting a decent plagueborn is really low.

Have gone for some chests in Jade Sea near Outcast, same result: bunch of crap armor pieces and jade stuff with not even decent mods to be salvaged....u_U

6 chests? Lol, you sure about that? I've been chestrunning quite a bit now, and I have never seen a spawn of chests over 5. If you have any proof of this, it would be awesome.. Also I thought an area could spawn max 5 chests, so.. Yawg, come explain please

thought I might get some flak if I said 6...I was running with glazed and bloodshot eyes part of the night (non-stop running ftl) so I may have been a bit hazy with my memory! Anyway, definitely a few 5 chest runs, which seemed like 6. I don't have a map or SS as I didn't think it was spectacular, I was just stoked at opening so many on one run. Going off memory, coming out of Boreas, there was one near the yeti group to the left off the first bend going right, then one near the end of the bridge where the sins pop, then one in the muddy hole below the cliff to the right, one near xiao the deceptive, one near the island guardian/wallow group to the left down the hill past the jade brotherhood mobs (although I tend to go up over the hill to the left of the jade brothers unless they have a chest near them), then I thought there was one on both sides of tanglewood, but must have been on only one side (nearer the dragon moss/kirin mobs), so that would make 5.

I usually get 5 chests when doing Pongmei, 4 mostly, but 5 quite enough..

I tried Various runs during this weekends event and while Silent Surf(Thx Star) was pretty cool once I made it there, Boreal Station was much faster over all. Plus killing the 12 or so wurm popup's netted some decent drops, Lockpicks, various golds, and a ton of Dye(I got a few whites and a ton of Green).

So I'm looking to start chestrunning. I'm an experienced runner, so I don't think I'll need to start with "easier" areas, I'm not concerned about that.
More so, what's the most 'profitable' (I know, that's hard to say, as it's all based on how lucky you get with drops), but as in, what drops the most expensive type of item? Are Echovalds worth more than Outcast (if the mods are the same), or what?
Where should I start? :P

Well, a nice celestial staff, scepter or shield will set you up a good bunch of ecto's, so will of course Outcast shields and staffs, and practically every awesome shield that drops in the Echovald Forest. So, depending on what skins you're in to I will give you a couple tips:

Vemin: Xaquang Skyway.
Pro's:
-Nice skins
-No worthless retarded armors (I think they're one of the few mobs that don't drop armors related to them, and trust me, you'll love that)
-Fast-ish runs
-Challenging, and after a bunch of runs, you'll have a master degree in "not getting bodyblocked by 50 billion motherf*cking vermin in a corridor as wide as an Ethiopian boy's upper arms. which brings me to con #1

Cons:
-Bodyblock, you'll be bodyblocked a LOT, seriously, there is no counting it, but you'll get the hang of it.
-Chest-time ratio isn't awesome, but you get some rewarding drops as compensation.

Silent Surf
Pro's:
-Very, very fast, and awesome chest-time ratio (5 chests, 3 minutes)
-Chance of very cool skins (Plagueborn, Outcast shit, Emblazoned Defenders etc)
-Literally a walk through the park, it's so easy that it's insulting at times.

Cons:
-Most drops are mediocre as f*ck (Jade Staffs, Plagueborn armors, which drop 90% of the time at plagueborn chests)
-Chances of getting the awesome drops, in my experience are rather slim

Morostav Trail:
Pro's:
-It's echovald, most badass shield skins drop here, so get lucky once and you'll get payed back your lockpicks thousand fold.
-it's fast-ish, but not Silent Surf style

Cons:
-It's still a hard-ish run, took me quite a couple runs to get the hang of it, and stopped doing it cause I don't like it.
-Armors drop here, a lot, and it sucks.

Melandru's Hope
Pro's:
-Silent Surf style, it's a walk in the park, since you can avoid about 90% of the groups, making it an easy Echovald run
-Again, badass drops, but again, armor related drops

Con's:
-Chest-time ratio kind of sucks balls, it's a long run and usually only yields 3-4 chests

Pongmei Valley
Pro's:
-Walk in the park, again, piss easy
-One of the best runs if you're after a nice variety of skins and weapons, some of the best and most expensive things drop here, but getting nice mods on them is just as likely as someone proving god actually exists.
-Chest-time ratio is pretty good (5 chests, 4-5 minutes)

Con's:
-Armors, like usual, but that's about it

Bukdek Byway
Pro's:
-So easy you can most likely write a bot to do it, and if I even knew how to, I probably would've done so myself by now, but since I'm a retard when it comes to computer stuff, I haven't.
-Fast chest time ratio: 1 chest (80-90% of the time) 40 seconds
-Cool skins (plagueborn)

Cons:
-F*cking armors, trust me, the chest drops 80-90% Plagueborn Armor, and it sucks ass, but if you like plagueborn stuff, this is the chest you need to open, although it'll take you ~5000 chests to get what you want
-It's so easy it's insulting, and gets boring pretty fast.

Raisu Palace
Pro's:
-Cool skins, but that's about it

Con's:
-Chest-time ratio is rather meh, and the difficulty is pretty insane. Ok, it's not insanely hard, but you'll ragequit pretty fast after a couple deaths (been there)

Boreas Seabed and Gyala Hatchery
Both piss easy runs, but honestly, if you're running those for drops, just run Silent Surf, 2 times as fast, and 3 times the chance for Outcast chests, which are the only real reason you should actually be doing that run.

Hell's Precipice
Pro's:
-Some of the cooler and rarer Proph skins, but most are meh-ish and loads of armors
-Chest-time ratio is ok-ish

Cons:
-Not really hard, but not a walk in the park like other runs, this one is vermin style challenging, just gotta get the hang of it and you'll be fine.

Also, if anyone advises you to do the Boreal Station chest run, tell them to go f*ck themselves. There are canthan chestruns that are equally, if not faster and anyone that is chestrunning anywhere but in Cantha should be sectioned for pure mental retardation. Hell's Precipice being the sole exception to this rule.

Nicely done, and well put. I agree with everything, except the Silent Surf bit. My sin doesn't have everything mapped, nor has he completed factions (at least I don't think so, lol - I made him 2 yrs ago for budgering the vaettirs), and I've been exiting out of EDIT: Leviathan Pits. I just started running SS, so maybe the route I'm taking is bad or whatever, but the saltsprays kick my ass when they get aggroed and there seems to be some places that I can't get to w/o passing them. As for the vermin, I wear the saboteur's (vs. slashing) and carry a +10 vs. slashing, +30 shield which makes it pretty survivable, and heart of shadow will typically get me out of a bodyblock situation. When I first starting chestrunning about a month ago, I must have spent 250 darkstone keys and got a ratio of about 60/40 gold/purple drops, and yes many armors. Do you run it in HM? I ran on my ranger who couldn't handle HM, and my sin isn't there....anyway, thanks for the information

Oh wow. Thank you so much, Bright. Something like that list is exactly what I was looking for. Fantastic job

I do all my chestruns HM, because money isn't of any concern to me, so lockpicks don't bother me, and NM chests yield such bad rewards, so you should always be running HM, the chance of getting your lockpicks payed back with a nice drop is far greater than the chance in NM, despite the fact that you will break less picks in NM. Also, I get tons of elite tomes, and they pay back a bunch too.

For SS: I posted a little guide + map a while back:
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...&postcount=607

Start from seafarer's rest, and use Shadow of Haste to get most of your chests. If you do it correctly, most patrols will be moving away from possible chests, so you won't have trouble getting it, exceptions are: Mesmer Boss, Assassin Boss, afflicted mob up the hill next to Assassin boss, but that one will be fighting, so just cast SoH, Shadow form, run in, take chest, stance out. There are I think 5-6 mobs you actually have to aggro during the run, and 3 of those you only have to aggro if a chest spawns.

Hope that helps^^ A variant would be: A/E with glyph of swiftness and perma Dark Escape, but you shouldn't be having any trouble really.
Also, instead of the kurzick regen skill, take Shroud of Distress, I don't use it usually, because I usually never get in situations where I nearly die, so Shadow Sanctuary heals enough for when I'm in a pickle.

I very much agree with this out of 14 chest i ran just to test this area only 1 pick broke which was strange to me. anyway its fast but the downside is, not many golds at all.

Is there any guide to running Morostav Trail, or any Echovald forest run with a good chest/time ratio?
I don't have any idea where to go :P

take a look at page 32 :P

I did, and the only one is Melandru's Hope and it looks like it has a terrible chest/time ratio :P
But if that's all I have, then I guess I'll do it

So does Morostav in fact. Unless you're really exp'ed you can get 5 chests in 5-6minutes, which isn't horrible, but there's better. It's about the same as Melandru's hope, it's just a lot harder, so if you want Echovald items, go Melandru's is my advice

ty for all the pro tips you guys..I've been running pongmei and the vermin area in skyway mostly with a few silent surf and melandru's runs to mix it up and keep it from getting too monotonous. What I've discovered so far is that chestrunning completely pays for itself, the only seed money you need to start is 100k for 80 locpicks. I've found a buyer who pays 1k per unid gold (says he needs 7k of them so I think that should last awhile)...but before that the minimum I would get is 7=5k. The other key is the amount of elite tomes you get while chestrunning. I've had runs with two chests dropping elite tomes, with tomes going for 2.5 (sin) to 12k (rit) you can make your lockpick money back very quickly. I find grape drops happen about 20% of the time on average, tomes (reg and elite) about 10% of the time, and armors about 10% of the time (except for bukdek runs = 70% armors!). I've gone through about 700 chests since I started running, exclusively in Cantha, and I think I like the pongmei run the best simply for the ease of the run, the reliability of chests locations, the drop variety, and the scenery. I run with 3 /p heros for fallback and incoming, and henchmen to use as fodder for distraction, comes in handy if the one chest is super deep in the muck. Running with a perma 33% IMS makes the run that much quicker and shadow of haste is awesome. I intend to start keeping a journal of drops and number of chests per run for each location that I do, but I haven't gotten around to it. Does anybody know if there have been drop journals published on gwg, or wiki, or have you done one?

I also run Pongemy cuz its fast and you get 4 - 5 chest in few minutes. I always start from Boreas seabed to get only one chest near to wallows or yetis where usually drop is like Jade weaps or yeti armors. Best drops come form midle area chests where Jade Brotherhood are - got Dragons, Platinum staves, and other rare canthan drops like diamond aegis or chromium shards. You can also get some Echovald shield from the chests near to the forrest but I made about 300 runs and only seen one - single moded.

Don't think anyone ever got to that. The hardcore chestrunners (that's not me included) have like 18-20k chests on their name etc. I'm nearing 6k, and that's not really that much actually, but anyway, it would mean writing down and recording hundreds of drops, sometimes on a daily basis, sometimes weekly, no one is that ambitious You could do it for a little while, and I won't stop you, because it's a neat idea, but I wouldn't do it myself

been running in the jade sea lately for outcast stuff, cant decide if i should use luxon keys or lockpicks (i have 30% retain rate in HM) the sad thing is ofcourse that i mostly get purples in NM, so what do you think i should use?
btw, does any1 know what kind of stuff you can get from the luxon chest at the enemy luxons in northeast boreas? i have only gotten luxon garbs so far

use lockpicks mate they are much better with economy then keys, also run them in hardmode unless your severely short on money

If you're going for chests and lucky, run NM, if you're running for drops, always go HM, NM drops suck, trust me, and the lockpicks kind of pay back themselves. Unless you're really low on cash..

QFT. If you need a starter supply of lockpicks, farm feathers (11k), dust (4.5k), or plant fibers (6.5k) for a few hours which should get you set up with at least 50k. (plenty of threads showing where to farm them, or pm me and I can help you) With that, buy 40 lockpicks and you are good to go. Elite tome drops will pay you back for those lockpicks, but to keep the cycle going, sell the unid's for 7=6k (yes, you will get 6k) and that will keep you going and then some. I even keep good skinned q9's and I always ID canthan skin shields, and still have been coming out ahead. GL and HtH

Well, or do it my way, and do DoA in 40mins and set you up 60k + drops, but that doesn't count^^

I don't keep track of whether or not chestrunning pays back or not, since I simply can't. DoA pays off too good for me to notice anything else^^

I don't sell my unids, cause I'm working on my wisdom title myself (subtle hint about willing to take over your unids ) but the elite tomes drop quite a lot for me, even had a couple double drops (nothing beats 2 elite rit tomes )

I Tend to find i get better Reqs and Skins in Normal, Over long periods of time that is, ok in HM i get more Gold items,
but they always tend to be high req and Average skin types.
So in my experience i run Hm for Easy/low sales, including tomes.
And i run NM when i want to get my Lucky up, and have a slightly better chance at the rare skins.

This is all from own experience, i have no proof but thats the way i feel after chest running for such a long time =P

As far as I know, req 8s only drop in normal mode, or at least that's what I've heard. I've never gotten a req 8 from a HM chest or HM at all for that matter. That's why I usually run NM.

The other problem I have with running HM is I tend to get regular tomes too often.

Yeh, ive never gotten a req8 in HM, had plenty from NM chests, get plenty from Canthan chests, but they always seem to be purple Still, il never give up running for a req8 paper fan the mental adrenaline rush keeps me going, so i keep searching :P