Y'know that old ravager drops ectos myth? - Guild Wars Guru archive powered by Guild Wars Legacy

Bob Slydell

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jan 2007

21 Nov 2009 at 01:02 - 1

With the recent talk of the UW and getting an ecto last night in a UW run and a thread about a mission in Maguuma jungle recently, I started to remember the myth about the Ravagers dropping an Ecto, with an extremely low drop rate (only one reported case).

So I headed over the the 3 year old screen shot again after hearing rumors it may have been faked. Upon trying to disprove it with jpeg compression factors and low light in the screenshot, this next thing sorta sealed the deal on the low drop rate.

http://guildwars.wikia.com/wiki/Talk:Ravager

The Screenie can be found above. Feel free to investigate this yourself too. Note text and party window looks pretty normal, no evidence of using photoshop just to shrink it, just to compress it..but why when MSpaint is so much easier?

So I'm sorry for bringing something so old up but I thought i'd shoot it out there for anyone who remembers or heard the myth.

Now.. theres the possibility it is real and I'm a jackass for not only bringing it up 3 years later but also not thinikiing that he could have used PS to simply compress the picture.. but still, theres PHOTOSHOP tags on a otherwise normally MSpaint-looking compressed image.

So just thought I'd post about that, as I said if anyone remembers that old myth. And besides It's something better to read these days than SF, Perma, UWSC or "I got hacked".

Riot Narita

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Apr 2007

21 Nov 2009 at 01:14 - 2

Use of photoshop to crop that image, or recompress into JPG (I suspect it was made back when GW only saved screnshots in BMP format)... is not any kind of evidence either way.

Why use Photoshop when MSpaint will do? Because MSpaint sucks donkeys, that's why. I never use MSpaint. I'll fire up Photoshop even for something as simple as crop/resize/compress.

mathiastemplar

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jun 2008

Denmark

Jade Reapers [JD]

W/

21 Nov 2009 at 02:16 - 3

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hissy

Use of photoshop to crop that image, or recompress into JPG (I suspect it was made back when GW only saved screnshots in BMP format)... is not any kind of evidence either way.

Why use Photoshop when MSpaint will do? Because MSpaint sucks donkeys, that's why. I never use MSpaint. I'll fire up Photoshop even for something as simple as crop/resize/compress.

What he said...
MSpaint ~fail

Songbringer

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Aug 2007

EastCoast

E/Me

21 Nov 2009 at 02:19 - 4

Agreed and while personally I have never seen it happen I was around when it was first talked about. Not that I have any proof but I wana say there is more then 1 confirmed drop. Based off of study of pure human nature I am sure people rushed out to try and see if they could get one to drop. For there own e-peen screenies.

Bob Slydell

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jan 2007

21 Nov 2009 at 02:36 - 5

Quote:

Originally Posted by Songbringer

Agreed and while personally I have never seen it happen I was around when it was first talked about. Not that I have any proof but I wana say there is more then 1 confirmed drop. Based off of study of pure human nature I am sure people rushed out to try and see if they could get one to drop. For there own e-peen screenies.

Well this is the only 'confirmed' screenie in the history of GW of course that I know of..do you know where the others are?, and it's been stale 3 years. I don't know. Maybe it is maybe it isn't but I've only really tried to farm them twice for teh bullshit when I was bored. A drop rate is a drop rate whether its 0.01 or 95 (if it was real).

Zanagi Kazuhiko

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jan 2009

Kamadan Dis 1

LF trolling/flaming guild, 8=D

W/

21 Nov 2009 at 03:14 - 6

I will go farm ravager's!...and prove you wrong.

Dzjudz

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2005

gwpvx.com/user:dzjudz

21 Nov 2009 at 03:40 - 7

I always use Photoshop. CS4 rather than CS2, but that was a few years back. Who actually uses MSPaint?

Songbringer

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Aug 2007

EastCoast

E/Me

21 Nov 2009 at 03:45 - 8

Quote:

Originally Posted by Songbringer

Not that I have any proof but I wana say there is more then 1 confirmed drop.

Guess I will quote myself here to answer your question.

Drop rates of equal "lowness" are around and there are more then 1 confirmed of the item in game...See polar bear mini and screenies of ev. bettle tonics from zchest.

I'm not saying you are wrong that there is only 1 confirmed. I am just saying I have a hard time believing with the way human nature is that if someone did something 8 billion(extreme exxageration) others didn't try to repliacate it. I would also say that based on human nature that if 1 person truely did only do it. All the other e-peen a** holes on wiki wouldn't have put it on the site under the ravager notes (See: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Ravager). If something can't be replicated then it doesn't exsist.

Also your drop rate is made up. Can't create a drop rate on something that "has only happened once". Not enough evidence to mathmatically evaluate to create a drop rate.

pumpkin pie

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jul 2006

behind you

bumble bee

E/

21 Nov 2009 at 04:31 - 9

to "doctor" the screenshot you will need to have the text "Ravager drops a", "You pick up the" and "Glob of Ectoplasm."

then you align them nicely then paste those on the chat box.

so what one needs to do is go to the exact same place where the drop is look for clues, clues like if there are any other vegetation around the area in the red square. * see picture

now, after i lighten the picture, there are 3 purplish plants in the back of the chat boxes, if you go to the exact same spot and see 5 purplish plants or more/or less, then the pictures is indeed doctored, otherwise, i can't see any "hanky-panky" going on in that picture.

Zahr Dalsk

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Aug 2007

Canada

21 Nov 2009 at 05:50 - 10

I just went there. The ravager area doesn't have any place that looks quite like that. So he must have taken it somewhere else. Still hanging around the mission anyways.

pumpkin pie

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jul 2006

behind you

bumble bee

E/

21 Nov 2009 at 06:05 - 11

fishy, wander where exactly was this screenshots taken, why was the mini map "radar" cropped out of the screenshots?

Zahr Dalsk

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Aug 2007

Canada

21 Nov 2009 at 06:09 - 12

Judging by the chatlog he wasn't anywhere near that area. Could easily have been any part of the entire Maguuma Jungle.

I did check the pixel alignment of the text, though, and it matches perfectly; however, the plant at the far right of the text is somewhat... odd, to say the least. Open in Photoshop and zoom in extremely close, you'll see what I mean.

Lord Sojar

The Fallen One

Join Date: Dec 2005

Oblivion

Irrelevant

Mo/Me

21 Nov 2009 at 06:24 - 13

It isn't a myth. I farmed them a few years back and got 1 or 2 ecto off them. It is very rare, but they do drop it (unless that has been changed in the last few years)

It really doesn't matter much though, considering it isn't at all worth the time to farm them with UW being uh... yeh...

Bob Slydell

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jan 2007

21 Nov 2009 at 06:38 - 14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rahja the Thief

It isn't a myth. I farmed them a few years back and got 1 or 2 ecto off them. It is very rare, but they do drop it (unless that has been changed in the last few years)

It really doesn't matter much though, considering it isn't at all worth the time to farm them with UW being uh... yeh...

Well. I guess this pretty much debunks the myth. Always an Interesting topic though. I wonder if it was intended as an easter egg?

QueenofDeath

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jul 2009

21 Nov 2009 at 07:08 - 15

Quote:

And besides It's something better to read these days than SF, Perma, UWSC or "I got hacked".

No it's not I rather enjoy the SF, Perma, UWSC or I got hacked threads better.

)

Lord Sojar

The Fallen One

Join Date: Dec 2005

Oblivion

Irrelevant

Mo/Me

21 Nov 2009 at 08:01 - 16

Quote:

Originally Posted by QueenofDeath

No it's not I rather enjoy the SF, Perma, UWSC or I got hacked threads better.

)

Well we (the mods) don't. It's like having a CD skip over and over in the same spot every song from your favorite artist. I mean, after a while, you want to bash the crap out of your stereo even though it isn't your stereo's fault... if you don't catch that reference, uh, lol.

QueenofDeath

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jul 2009

21 Nov 2009 at 14:13 - 17

Well I thought the forum was for the MEMBERS and not just for the MODS? If you don't like your job then quit.

Simple as that.

Abedeus

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Jan 2007

Niflheim

R/

21 Nov 2009 at 15:18 - 18

Quote:

Originally Posted by QueenofDeath

Well I thought the forum was for the MEMBERS and not just for the MODS? If you don't like your job then quit.

Simple as that.

Uhm. You are a moron.

There already is a thread for SF, UW, FoW and hackers... well, these threads are useless, because we all hate them and can't do anything using a forum for that.

The reason mods don't like those threads is because there are too many of them, it's hard to concentrate on the issue with 3 or 4 exact threads that don't contribute enough to be a burden on the server.

Trub

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Mar 2006

Sitting in the guildhall, watching the wallows frolic.

Trinity of the ascended [SMS]+[Koss]+[TAM]=[ToA]

21 Nov 2009 at 16:11 - 19

Yes, Ravagers do drop ectos.
Rare...but they do.
(Most people don't farm them tho, because everyone hates the jungle.)
They are lvl20 critters, but die quickly.
~Trub.
Oh yeah...Dr. House pwns!

Dzjudz

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2005

gwpvx.com/user:dzjudz

21 Nov 2009 at 17:48 - 20

Yeah, Pain Inverter + dark aura and sac dmg skill + Finish Him usually finishes them off.

Yawgmoth

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Apr 2005

21 Nov 2009 at 20:15 - 21

It's a well known rare drop, it was known before any of the wikis existed. Even if the droprate is as high as of it is for UW creatures then still you'd need to do quite a few solo runs to get and confirm one. By that time you'd have farmed 5 or 10 ectos in UW, worth it?

Sword Hammer Axe

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jun 2008

Look up.

Kurzick Conflagration Unit [KCU].

W/

21 Nov 2009 at 22:43 - 22

Actually on one of the wikis, don't remember which, it says that those things does in fact drop ectos, but that the chance is so low that even if ectos were 100 k a piece it wouldn't be worthwhile farming there.

Sjeng

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Aug 2005

in my GH

Limburgse Jagers [LJ]

W/

22 Nov 2009 at 10:18 - 23

Quote:

Originally Posted by pumpkin pie

to "doctor" the screenshot you will need to have the text "Ravager drops a", "You pick up the" and "Glob of Ectoplasm."

then you align them nicely then paste those on the chat box.

so what one needs to do is go to the exact same place where the drop is look for clues, clues like if there are any other vegetation around the area in the red square. * see picture

now, after i lighten the picture, there are 3 purplish plants in the back of the chat boxes, if you go to the exact same spot and see 5 purplish plants or more/or less, then the pictures is indeed doctored, otherwise, i can't see any "hanky-panky" going on in that picture.

Actually, there's a lot of noise around the text, and that's exactly where the purple plant stops.
Also, the text "Ravager drops a", "You pick up the" is alreay in there, all he needed was the ecto.
I say shenanigans.

Joe Fierce

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Feb 2007

Disconnect the fascination

LF High End PvE Guild that's not filled with elitists.

R/

22 Nov 2009 at 10:23 - 24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rahja the Thief

It isn't a myth. I farmed them a few years back and got 1 or 2 ecto off them. It is very rare, but they do drop it (unless that has been changed in the last few years)

It really doesn't matter much though, considering it isn't at all worth the time to farm them with UW being uh... yeh...

As have I, but not from farming, just fooling around in hm, just had one drop when out there last year, and a buddy was with me, we both on vent at the same time said "wtf, I call shenanigans".

Longasc

Forge Runner

Join Date: May 2005

22 Nov 2009 at 10:57 - 25

You can believe a lot of stuff, you can farm them to death if you want, or maybe get a dose of common sense and give a damn about conspiracy theories and stop trying to determine image manipulation by looking at JPG artefacts in the images.

Y'know, Sherlock, any image you save or convert in Photoshop gets the "Photoshop X" tag. Many people still take screenshots as BMP, for a while it was even the default, not JPG.

I am part of a secret society of ultra-rich ravager farmers.

dr_ishmael

Academy Page

Join Date: Apr 2005

22 Nov 2009 at 17:39 - 26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sjeng

Actually, there's a lot of noise around the text, and that's exactly where the purple plant stops.
Also, the text "Ravager drops a", "You pick up the" is alreay in there, all he needed was the ecto.
I say shenanigans.

There's ALWAYS a lot of noise around text in JPGs, the compression can't handle it very well.

Alleji

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jan 2006

23 Nov 2009 at 00:26 - 27

In the early days of GW something in Riverside Province dropped an ecto for me (probably one of the ghosts).

I was going through the game for the first time, I had no idea what it was, and I ended up merching it a couple weeks later... obviously I don't have any screenshots or any kind of proof, because I didn't think it was important or rare. Hell, it might've even been in Sanctum Cay and not riverside. This was before I've ever done UW, or even heard of it.

Bob Slydell

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jan 2007

23 Nov 2009 at 03:18 - 28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Longasc

You can believe a lot of stuff, you can farm them to death if you want, or maybe get a dose of common sense and give a damn about conspiracy theories and stop trying to determine image manipulation by looking at JPG artefacts in the images.

Y'know, Sherlock, any image you save or convert in Photoshop gets the "Photoshop X" tag. Many people still take screenshots as BMP, for a while it was even the default, not JPG.

I am part of a secret society of ultra-rich ravager farmers.

Lmao...I know about the tags. I know how it works, sherlock. I know a lot more things than most probably do about file composition. But if anyone took 5 seconds to realize MSPaint requires much less overhead than PS and my original point was why use PS when you can open it MSPaint and save it, hell even reducing its overall physical size is a quick easy process. Then I looked at ravagerdropsecto.jpg again and noticed the top half was cropped out. Theres the PS tags. And since then I noticed the posts busting the myth and prooving that these drops are indeed true. So Thanks, I guess I didn't mention the tags would be added by simply compressing the picture with PS in my OP.

Oh but then I realized the last line of your post might add a file header to yourself called troll, but we all are trolls at points.

No offense towards you or taken by your post. I just wanted to get that out. I do know about the tags.headers on a file with PS... I was just considering the fact that it might have been shopped. If it wasn't for me posting my findings and getting these people to respond I would go on thinking it was fake.

I'm glad my topic was not closed along the way and for that I thank you all for contributing.

And if anyone can dig up any more screenies of weird ecto drops more than welcome to post them.

Dzjudz

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2005

gwpvx.com/user:dzjudz

23 Nov 2009 at 03:26 - 29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sjeng

Actually, there's a lot of noise around the text, and that's exactly where the purple plant stops.
Also, the text "Ravager drops a", "You pick up the" is alreay in there, all he needed was the ecto.
I say shenanigans.

Actually, some of the 'text noise' is purple, so that's not where the plant stops.

Anon-e-mouse

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Apr 2006

@ Home

League Of Friends [LOF]

R/Mo

23 Nov 2009 at 10:55 - 30

I've got a screenie of a Banshee dropping me an ecto in FoW, would that count Chrisworld?

Dzjudz

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2005

gwpvx.com/user:dzjudz

23 Nov 2009 at 12:56 - 31

No that's not uncommon.

Bob Slydell

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jan 2007

24 Nov 2009 at 02:20 - 32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anon-e-mouse

I've got a screenie of a Banshee dropping me an ecto in FoW, would that count Chrisworld?

I was thinking more of anyone who had gotten an ecto outside of UW/FoW. I know it's all by no means a useful way to get Ectos but I'm quite intrigued by it.

MisterB

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Oct 2005

Planet Earth, Sol system, Milky Way galaxy

[ban]

W/

24 Nov 2009 at 03:07 - 33

Ectos can drop in Varajar Fells with the Wintersday Cheer quest active. Smite Crawlers show up during the quest. That's much more reasonable than trying for rare drops from the Ravagers, in my opinion. There's always Tombs, too. The best place to find ectos is still Underworld.