Running Locked Chests in NM or in HM?

Madeentje

Madeentje

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Nov 2006

Belgium

Me/

Hi, I'm wondering what's best for me to run chests in NM or HM, I've been doing research for several hours, but can't find a clear solution.

I want to max Treasure Hunter, Wisdom, Lucky and Unlucky. And I've been running Locked Chests in HM in Boreal Station in my title from ~400 to ~3500..

These are my current stats:

Wisdom: 3,879/10,000
Treasure Hunter: 3,479/10,000
Unlucky: 151,877/500,000
Lucky: 310,315/2,500,000

As you can see my Lucky title is pretty low, and Unlucky is pretty high. I would want to have Treasure Hunter, Unlucky and Lucky maxed at nearly the same time, if that's possible. And I was also wondering, will it be cheaper for me to run in HM for extra goldies, or just run in NM and buy them from other players then?

Can anyone help me out please? I know this is a very complicated question >_<".

EDIT: Also I make some nice amount of money from the Elite Tomes, Tomes and Mods I find from running in HM, I guess that won't be like that anymore when I run in NM as the weapons won't be max anymore?
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10359800
Does that compensate with the higher retention rate from running NM? Or is running in NM still much cheaper, even without selling anything from what you find, and finding not much golds. So that means I'll have to buy the Wisdom title afterwards. But when I'll run in HM, will I be able to max Lucky then, as now it seems I'm not going to, will it be maxed in NM then (or nearly maxed), or doesn't that change anything?

EDIT: I don't know if this would help, but before I started running Locked Chests in HM in Boreal Station I had these stats:

Wisdom: 1,700/10,000
Treasure Hunter: 400/10,000
Unlucky: 23,000/500,000
Lucky: 110,000/2,500,000
Also I've gotten about 500 points in my Treasure Hunter title during Easter.

Scott Ware

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2009

Texas

N/

Well, 1) you don't run chests expecting profit. Just won't happen. Unless of course, you happen to get some wicked great drop (which you won't from Boreal Station).
2) If you're looking to boost your lucky as well, go nm.
3) If money is no concern, go HM because you should (in theory) get a (slightly) higher gold drop rate, which will help your wisdom. Some might argue this point, but it's really opinion either way.
4) Don't expect to max your wisdom by chest running. You'll need to either farm for golds in addition or buy from others.

Madeentje

Madeentje

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Nov 2006

Belgium

Me/

I know I won't max Wisdom in HM or in NM, but in HM it will bring me MUCH closer, no? I find 4/5 drops in HM to be gold, and in NM only 1/5. And ofcourse I do know I'll never make money from running chests, I'm purely doing this for maxing titles, but I was wondering of the money I make from selling the mods, tomes and elite tomes compensates for running in HM instead of NM or not, and if I run in NM I'll also have to buy much much more golds afterwards then. But when I run in HM I won't come even close to max Lucky, does that change alot when I run in NM, or just a little or will it even be maxed when running in NM? And what about Unlucky then?

Scott Ware

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2009

Texas

N/

Honestly, only you can decide what's most important to you in this long journey. Both have their pros and cons.

HM (as I see it)
Pros
chance for Elite Tomes
More golds (though not a tremendous amount - I think you'll see longterm that the number of golds will lower on average than 4/5)
work on Unlucky title
Cons
Costs more per chest due to lockpicks lost
don't ge to work on Lucky as much

NM
Pros
Cheaper to max treasure hunter
work on lucky better

Cons
Cheaper drops
less golds
work on unlucky less

Personally, I would not even consider Lucky/Unlucky in this discussion because you're so far off that it really wouldn't matter either way.

Again, in the end, you decide what's best for you. I can't know how often you play, what your financial status in game is, or any other varying factors that would impact your decision.

Seriously, though. Good luck with your journey. It'll take a long time either way you go.

KIDGOOCH

KIDGOOCH

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Apr 2006

MD

R/Mo

Use Boreal NM for treasure and Wisdom (higher pick retention)

Spend 100k+ on 9 Rings this weekend for Lucky/Unlucky

HAPPY AFK

BrettM

BrettM

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Aug 2008

Fuzzy Physics Institute

E/

Check the official wiki article on Treasure Hunter. It has a cost analysis table showing that running 600g chests in NM using lockpicks only is the cheapest way (around 4.7 million gold) to max TH, and will also get you to max Unlucky and nearly max Lucky.

imnotyourmother

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Mar 2008

in a house

The Knitters Guild

W/R

Boreal station is great place to get your title points. I did this in conjunction with my Legendary Survivor in HM.

Here is my point. Kill the snow wurms. Yes that slows you down but I did some calculating and it was like 3 gold in 10 runs (30 kills) and lots of purples and even one lockpick every 10 runs.

So killing the wurms slows you down but increases your Wisdom and gives to lots of skill points and Gold to buy more lockpicks.

I would do 10 runs in hard mode killing wurms and then open chests in NORMAL MODE.

Why:

If you retain your pick you get 250 lucky points REGARDLESS OF CHEST nm or hm.

Therefore, you want to MAXIMIZE your Unlucky points. I run chests in FORT RANIK MISSION. I have an 83% chance to retain my pick so I made 210 unlucky points every time I break my pick. I started with 80 picks and I now have 66 and gained 3000 unlucky points while racking up 15,000 + lucky points.

Now I understand that your treasure hunter and wisdom suffer but by getting to the next lvl in Lucky will increase your % to retain. I am going to continue the fort ranik mission runs until I get 500,000 lucky points. I need just under 60,000 more to do it.

then I will run in Normal Mode in the sothern shiver peaks (650 g chests) to get my treasure hunter up 2 more lvls and then try for the wisdom as it is the most costly to get cause you break a tone more picks in HM.

So even though you want to max all titles at the same time, forget it. Take a systematic view of one title helping you get the other titles and switching gears at certain times. Like going from 500,000 lucky for 2% more at 100,000 is just nuts. Grab the treasure hunter % up first to increase odds of retention.

Recap:
Lucky points - 50 gold chests
Unluck points - 50 gold chests - does not increase retention rate.
Treasure hunter - 650 gold chests in southern shiver peaks
Wisdom - HM chests - Borials station cause 1 chest 99% of the time or even Boxing

Madeentje

Madeentje

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Nov 2006

Belgium

Me/

Ok, thanks alot, I think I'll go NM then, and buy the Wisdom afterwards. I'll also stand AFK on Nine Rings this weekend to help my Unlucky/Lucky. And Scott Ware, if you'd like to know, my financial status is pretty good, although I don't have much money at most times because I invest al my money in Lockpicks, and I play about 4-8+ hours a day now (it's vacation now, at schooldays it's 1-3 hours). But it looks like Unlucky + Lucky will almost be maxed, and I guess if I stand a bit on Nine Rings they'll both be maxed, or very close to it. And I'll just buy the rest of Wisdom then, looks like it'll be cheaper, I've done some rough calculations.

And BrettM thanks for that, but I've already checked all the pages related to this subject, but problem is that I can't find a cost analysis about running Locked Chests in HM, only in NM. I'd like to know the progress of the Lucky and Unlucky title in HM.

EDIT: Thanks imnotyourmother, I guess I'll run some chests now in Fort Ranik to get my Lucky title back on track, and after that run chests in NM untill Treasure Hunter is maxed, and then if Lucky/Unlucky isn't maxed yet, run some more in Fort Ranik, I'll just see about Wisdom, guess I'll have to buy it at the end..

imnotyourmother

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Mar 2008

in a house

The Knitters Guild

W/R

Well it sounds like you are well on your way to maxing the titles.

A S L A N is my war that I run the chest with in the Fort Ranik Mission. If I find a chest before I come to the first boss - the point where the ascalon forces stop - I resign cause there are only 2 chests a run.

It takes me around 4 minutes to get the 2 chests.. I just run my war with Ranger as secondary.

I average close to 10,000 lucky points an hour.

Look me up some time...

Madeentje

Madeentje

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Nov 2006

Belgium

Me/

Ok cool . I've tried to do few runs now, but only found 1 chest in 1 min, the other runs I didn't find anything, could you show me sometime please? And are you sure this is the fastest way of finding 50g chests? I've heard about 3-5 chests in Eastern Frontier in few minutes, or am I wrong?