The best place to farm is...

...still a secret. But for how long? All of these threads naming locations, creatures, and drops will lead to nothing but the nerfing of the very few good runs left in the game. Want a few classic examples? Riverside, Perdition Rock, and the Arid Sea.

So if you have discovered a great place to unlock items please do not post it in a public forum. Share it with your friends in the game, either through private chat or better yet, a TS server.

Don't get me wrong. I do not mind striving for rewards in GW. I am up to the acid test of soloing 6 or 8 level 24 mobs and getting my butt Fed Exed back to the nearest spawn point if I make one tiny mistake. I would, however, like to say that the rewards should be on level with challange and it's getting harder and the rewards are dwindling.

If you are looking for a good place to solo and grab some loot, the best advice I can give you is to keep moving and stay off the beaten (NERF BAT!) tracks.


Lazarus

I think ANet can easily filter their network/game activity log and figure out what zones people are solo-ing the most. Then they'll just look for particular patterns in those zones and figure out people are farming there.

Not putting farming location on a forum is good....but it doesn't really help in the overall grand scheme of things.

I agree ... farm all you want but please do realise that by making long-winded threads on what area / profession combos / builds to use etc to farm X amount of gold / runes or what have you is simply a bad idea.

True, things are able to be filtered to figure out what areas are being used other than as intended ( aka farmed constantly ) , but it's even easier to simply log into the forums and type * Farm * into the search bar

My argument either way is that I couldn't care less weather or not people farm ... at least not in theory, but at the end of the day what those people are doing is effecting the gaming experience of the general player base in a negative way.

An example : Player A farms a specific area, posts a *how to* thread complete with video etc. Enough of this activity occurs in that same area of the game, and not long after there's an announcement that the drop rates / types in that area have been changed. Then player B comes along ... they're a casual gamer who'd have liked the chance at obtaining a rune or rare item drop in that area, but it's simply no longer there. A handful of players have basically taken content away from all those who *don't* farm / post threads on methods etc ~ maybe not directly, but indirectly through their actions that's exactly what they've done.

With the overall integrity presented in the Guru site, I personally feel that all the various *Farming* threads are a very large, ugly blemish that the site could do without. Perhaps I'll have to start that petition thread I've been considering to have them removed ...

Even when you don't post it, they still get altered. Found one where I farmed fur squares for over 10k in under an hour. Probably could have gotten ~18k if fur square price hadn't declined below 3k, and I had known that I could salvage them so easily.
The day after the next day, the amount of fur squares salvaged from the items was cut in half. Instead of 4 per salvage, I was only getting 2

You could think of the people that post farming areas/builds as taking content away from future players, or you can think of them as extended beta testers, finding exploits (you can't tell me that killing 7+ lvl 24 mobs should be intended), and pointing them out to the community so they're fixed. It's similar to PvP exploits, there's a somewhat weird one now involving corpses, and how do you think it's going to get fixed the fastest? If people start winning in Tombs with it, screwing over other people. Heheh... it sounds ugly, but there's no way to get more people angry, and subsequently faster action on Anets part, than using an exploit until it's obviously a gross game error and everyone's doing it.

Just a question -is farming a bad thing? Since everything is instanced you're not really robbing anyone of kills or items. I've always though of farming part of an MMO game unless you have bots or people unfairly killing off all the beasties, driving up the price and rarity (ala FFXI).

Farming is not a bad thing. It can be a boring thing, but it's in no way evil or corruptive. It's just another thing players do when they don't want to play the missions or pvp. (aka when they have a lot of time on their hand.)
Aside from gold drops, with a fixed item drop probability, the more you farm, the more item/rare drops you'll get, and the better your character becomes in PvP and PvE. In the long run, a farming player can have slight advantage over casual players in PvP if they can unlock more upgrades than a casual player. This was something Arenanet tried to eliminate since the beginning, but they can only fix so much, since they cannot force players to give up farming. The nature of competition motivates us to farm, so if there's an farmable area, we'd swarm there.

Also, it gets more runes and items into the economy, helping new players get the runes they want.

It's not evil, but it is a bad thing. It is an arbitrary and skill-less game mechanic one must invest time into for a level playing field that should've been considered archaic long ago.

The farmer will only give un'id runes that are of classes he is very sure he never wants to play with in pvp. The only way I see a smart farmer willing to give up a superior unid'ed rune is in exchange for another superior unid'ed rune. I suppose the fallacy here is that the farmer has to understand that items and gold are almost valueless compared to superior runes. After a farmer has farmed all he wants, I don't see why a farmer would continue to farm.

But I do. He would because he's addicted to the worst enemy of us all. An entity of pure evil, which will eventually destroy the game, kill the developers one by one and make the population of the entire world a bunch of mindless slaves. It is called "Grind" in the archaic language, but bears many other foul names.

We only have the whiners to protect us, whose prophecies, alas, often stay unheard. They say a celestial entity, named UAS (which stands for United Against Skills) will save our souls

(Sarcasm mode off)

Why on earth one would reveal (on forums or alike) where he usually farm? I see no reason for that, except, of course, sheer stupidity.

Skill-less? In order to effectively farm a decent area, one must have a build that can stay alive and deal enough damage to these mobs. Not many can take on a group of 4-6 level-24's and live to tell about it. It takes skill to get the required skills to make it happen. No skill? Please. The people who take the ime out of their day to do this shoudl be rewarded for it. If you can successfully aggro a group of 8 level 20+'s, kill them and live to tell about it, you deserve the spoils.

What skill? All you have to do is look up something line, press the buttons in a specific order and thats it.

YOu need to get to the areas where these skills are found. I have had zero success with farming with basic skills that are gotten from skill trainers. Elites are what make it work.

My w/mo doesn't farm with any elites, although hundred blades would make my life easier XD. So far, I'd have to say that on average I get 1 gold armor every 2 runs XD It really doesn't take much skill either =P

Ahh, got it. I've had the impression that alot of people though farming was some sort of exploit or something. Personally I like farming, and gathering...for me thats part of the experience with other players ect. At the moment my character isn't that proficient at it like some of the vids I've seen.

All these secret farming spots with gold rune drops make my mouth water. For the love of god, someone pm me with the juicy details!

For those of you looking, just keep looking. That is what I doing.



Lazarus

The economy in these games is actually quite fragile. I bet a lot of people made money by selling fur squares before it was made easier to get them. If people stopped farming then the people who want the goods will have to pay more cos there'll be less in circulation.

However.. one thing I CANNOT stand at ALL, is arrogant stuff-heads farming till the cows come home, making a ton of cash, and then BRAGGING about it. I mean, how much skill CAN it involve in some cases where I know farming is just a matter of training a load of monsters and blasting them.
No, I know not everyone does it like that but farming becomes easy and basically.. well you get to a point where you know you can't die. So it's a breeze.

Just can't bleeping stand it when the people who do that puff themselves up and state how they make 10K a day. For some reason these people have forgotten what it's like to be low level or poor. I bet you when they were lvl 17 and seeing people selling 3 superior runes at a time, that they wished they could have as much money as them. This game seriously goes to people's heads.

I bring this up because on more than one occasion I have been trading with someone and stated that "Sorry, I don't have that sort of cash". Here are a few replys:

- Oh wow, I pity you.. here, (trade window opens with 1K as an offer)
- LOL!!! I make like 1K and HOUR. I have the best sword in the game AND a guild hall AND I have the best armor available!
- Lol wow I feel sorry fo you. Poor little noob. Money in this game is SO easy. Can't understand why there are poor people.

And all of the above got rich cos of luck. It's a computer game for christs sake, how much do they think they're choosing to be rich.

So anyway the BRAGGERS pee me off because stumbling across a good farming location seems to turn them into complete berks. I don't think there shouldn't be areas that give good drops, but I DO think they should be relocated to less obvious places and be deserved more. Maybe killing the same mobs for a certain amount of time rewards you with something. Of maybe even a way that doesnt involve brute strength for level 20's. Using your brain to do a hard puzzle from a quest or something and the reward is a minor rune or a rare crafting material. I hate the way the decent people in the game have to rely on the big "Kings of the game" to get what they want. Cos they always get ripped off. Thank god it's not everyone and I know no-one here is going to be like that. I think stringing two sentences together on a forum is a little too much for those guys.

actually, i agree with you. i make a bout 100k per day farming, however you will never hear me brag about in game. and i also try to keep the economy down for players who dont have the time to find good farms by selling most of my finds relatively cheaply

You know, I think it did make it here.

Watch people intentionally bid tens of thousands on cheap items to keep other people from having them. I almost wanna lock the threads, if it weren't for the fact that they're not breaking a rule.

I'm at level 20, I have 2k. 2,000 gold. I gave mad gifts to my family members that play, and that included my good drops. I also outfitted my mesmer with pimp stuff so I can play through and ENJOY the game without constantly chasing this piece or that piece. That was also partially out of drops. I sell off crafting materials all the time, but the rune prices are fscking ridiculous, cause people have nothing to do but throw away money, so to outfit yourself if you don't get badass drops you have to spend all you make.

This includes lots of mergoyle farming for a major expertise, and buying good bows, as I've never had a good bow drop. Maybe it's just me, but all my golds and purples are either bereft of modifiers or you're just getting cooler stuff than me.

Where the hell ever you're farming, show me. I want cool stuff too.

Just FYI for the people who can not find a good farming spot or don't like to farm and can't seem to get good items. Collector items is where it's at.

You can get max stat items with good mods from collectors from the crystal desert and beyond. You can also get decent items before that from collectors and sometimes with mods you can't normally get on an item.

This is thanks to ArenaNet's last few patches. Helps the people who can not farm get nice items. There is a rather disjointed thread on collectors in the Community Section of this site. Post info thats not there if you have it and if not maybe you'll find some info there you need.

Best place to farm is above camp ragnor in shiverpeak, that long long stretch north and south has the best loot and money.

Not that many people care about what I think in the world, but I like to share my thoughts on stuff. First off I have to say if you think farming is stupid, then you do not know what RPG or MMORPG or CORPG. Key line in all of these is RPG. In every role playing game I've ever played on any system that's been created from Dragon Warrior on NES, FF series on nintendo systems, and even online games you've always had to grind somewhat. They have never given you all the money you need, all the items you need instantly. You had to work for them somewhat, that is what made games last. Now in games instead of just doing the story and farming to get items you want/need you can PvP. IMO it's all relative, each one compliments each other. You need to do story because we wall want to finish the game see then ending at least once, we all want to have good/best items for any character we have or intend making (ie. need to farm), and we all want a break from lame stories that have brought boredom and farming so we have PvP. In any case you have to farm somewhat for multiple reasons: 1) if you want to buy an item that is in high demand you'll need some more money, 2) want to stay competitive in PvP (yes in this game it's not all about having the best sword or axe but it does help slightly). I feel that every part of the game is needed. I for one and tired of people complaining about farmers, PvPers or PvE'ers. They are all intertwined and if you don't have a superior vigor rune and don't want to find it, where would you get it? Huh? Oh don't want to farm for it so you'd buy it from someone who got lucky and found one or from someone who enjoys farming from time to time. No matter how you see it ever works together, Anet's closing or changing of certain areas to stop all farming is ridiculous in my opinion. Nerfing drops is completely understandable because that saves the economy. Instead of getting 10 gold drops off 15-20 level 20 mobs you might get 1 maybe 2 if your lucky. Smart thinking but making farm spots harder then when people find more spots and changing them again soon every place will be unfarmable. You may never get item you want, if you do you're lucky, if you buy it price is more than likely going to be higher because you can't farm it yourself or it will be lucky for someone else to find and sell. I do not think you should be able to drag 50 level 20's or even 50 level 10-15's and get insane amount of items. But killing anywhere from 5-15 mobs to farm that are you level is fine. Yes it does take skill and smarts, because certain skills and combos work better for certain mobs. Unless you're brain dead and have to ask everyone or beg to find out what skills people use and where to farm then it doens't take skill. But if you are making a character, finding a spot that not many if anyone knows about and farming successfully then there is some skill involved.

*In short I think everything is connected, we all need each other. Anet's response to farming by changing mobs or making areas harder to farm is just plain silly. Everyone needs farmers, everyone needs PvP'ers (otherwise we can't go to UW), everyone needs PvE because thats where you unlock nice things for PvP. Yes the game has some flaws, which should be dealt with. Farming however is not a major flaw IMO, and I'm sure peopel can think of things much worse than the occassional farmers and the 5 religious farmers in the world.

The rune drop rate is incredible this weekend. Here is a screen of my haul today

The tally is 5 Superior, 30+ Major (sold some and gave some away), and countless minors (starting leaving them on the ground because I dont have much room left. My hunting mates (2 of my sons) pulled in about the same as me. Good thing the guildwars devs gave us the ability to have 4 chars each, 3 of mine are combo PvP/warehouses.

Holy ******* **** LOL

There is no justice.

*sob*

I want to do that. I don't want to play forever in order to unlock a useful PvP superior rune. :[

Hmm, decisions decisions, Do I post the guide for how to get 30-100k an hour, or do I not post the guide?

Post the guide = it gets nerfed and new players cant take advantage of it, less superiors and majors in the economy, already insane prices go even higher...

Dont post it = it stays in game, prices stay reasonable, players get their runes, but they have to figure it out themselves.

I dont really care what happens, I have my massive $ already, if it goes away my $ and runes are more valuable... I do however like to see the prices of runes stay low and I am happy to see superiors under 10k a lot of times, so...

What I would suggest to any enterprising individuals who happen to have a skill somewhat resembling sprint is...

Start going around city to city in American prime time for gaming, spend 15 or 20 min per city, and go to the city zones that have the highest populations for quicker response.

Excusing major cities for trading, Ascalon, Lions Arch, Forge...

Try to find cities where people for some reason seem to be selling a lot of things they wouldnt seem to want to sell there.

The reason they are selling things where it wouldnt seem like they would be is that they probably know something you dont know, and they probably want to get back to doing that without having to go to somewhere like Lions Arch to offload stuff first.

Pay particular attention to the item type you want, listen for key words like *superior rune* or *gold armor* or *gold weapons*.

Lastly, If it needs to be made easier, 1 gold item, near max stats if applicable, will get you your step by step spoiler.

Tsunamii Starshine

*goes cross eyed*

-------------

...

.....

I posted that.. then looked at my avatar.. then looked at what i typed again...

I'm such a fruitloop

My Rune mule looked like that today. I got pissed because the only runes anyone was looking for were superior vigor and swordsmanship. I even had majors and superiors of what people were asking for minors of. It just didn't seem fair, so I just sold them all to a merchant. That's right, about 35 runes(after a bit of selling others), superior, major and minor, all sold out of the system. There are so many, it's impossible to sell them anymore.

that is sick dude
SICK
MORE LIKE HAX TO ME

It would be cool if anet instead of bopping drop rates of a particular area, they improve and decrease good drops randomly, like the fluctuation of trader npc prices. If one automatically designated farm area gets visited too many times by an individual player, the game automatically switches the good drops to another random high level area in the world.

I have never been party to an MP game of any kind where this was not commonplace. Have's and have-nots are always around.

I agree with your overall post 100%. So you (random ass inserted here) have 100k. Good for you, no go spend it on stuff you don't need to kick my ass in PVP. I'll see you in my gh...

With the current system i dont think theres anything wrong farming, espicaly when it comes to runes, the reason is that we have to unlock the runes some how.

I think a better system would be to have a drops counter for each player, after so many kills the player is granted a rune for the class they are playing, minor,major & superior, depending on the players level and area level.

Since vigor are not class based they are still rare, they are rare anyways i only got about 6 (superior) in maybe 400 rune drops.

I believe they are nerfing farming spots and just spreading the loot around to all areas...kinda the way it should be. I'd managed to lay my grubby hands on one singular major rune in a month until a guildy led me to a farming spot. I ran it for a few hours and got most of my majors and two superiors. The drop rates don't seem quite as good there now, but yesterday my wife and I were running Borlis Pass and she gets a Major healing off one of the lower level monsters. I never would've expected to see a purple armor drop in that area.

Could you imagine a lil nooblites eyes light up when he's dragging his lvl 6 through the great north wall and a superior rune that was selling for the insane amount of 15k ("how will I ever get 15k with 12g per drop?" he asks) just drops right off of a char?

In isolation, farming is certainly fine. Were this a single player game, no one would EVER care.

Regarding unlocking stuff for PvP: In theory, this is supposed to be fairly equalized, but obviously it isn't. Eliminating the "grind" was at least partially to make PvP fair between people who have different amounts of time to play the game, but as it is, if someone is unemployed or 13 or whatever and has more time to hunt for Elite skills, they clearly have an advantage in PvP.

Lastly, there's a distinct chance to create a lot of inflation. Once players have little to spend money on, they'll be willing to spend massive amounts for otherwise cheap items. i.e. If you start a second character, and you have access to 500,000 gold, you might well offer 100,000 gold straight up for a Superior Rune of Vigor for your low level character. (You might not, but you might.) This obviously drives the price up for that item, and this will happen across the board for items in general (that can't be bought from vendors, which is nearly everything in GW). This is a highly debatable topic, but it IS true that totally new players won't be able to buy items from other players as cheaply when veterans have absurdly overflowing coffers (and still occasionally want to buy anything).

Thats if you play in one man only groups.
Sure guilds that farm for stuff find it easier to accumulate runes etc for their guild or to sell. As for the elite skills, they are easier to get now, you can only use 1 at a time, and they are in most cases, beefed up standard skills, a good player in a good team wont need them. TEAM is the most important aspect not what runes / elites I have unlocked.

Personally I would like to see the drop rate to be equal no matter where you went, so farming would become exploring rather than running the same area again and again.
I would also like there to be implemented a level based drop, i.e. a lvl 15 doing northern shiverpeaks has a chance of a purple / gold rune drop, but a lvl 20 player doing the same run would not.
Basically this way, by the time you have reached ascention your character could have actually unlocked some of the rare runes rather than having to farm once you ascend. It would have to have some sort of level restriction on drops, maybe no blue/purple/orange drops allowed if killer is greater level than npc hostile.

Probably not. I saw the same kind of image posted on my guild forum. Our rune farmer has unlocked all runes (minor, majors, and superiors) and given away quite a lot of majors/superiors to guildies. I personally have unlocked all minors, 3/4 of majors, and about 10 superiors. I'm not patient enough to do more than a few farming runs in a row. I've been giving away all minor runes as well as unpopular majors in various low level outposts or my stash would have exploded.

Farming is not hard and it doesn't require any skill. You just need to hear of a decent farming spot, and to have a farming profession & build. It's a repetitive and boring grind.

I agree with you that playing as a team is far more important than having runes (or other exotic items).

But it clearly IS advantageous to have the elite skills. There's no question there. As you say, they are beefed up standard skills. They are just better to have than to not have. Also, in many cases they effectively let you have two of a skill (the elite version and the normal version, i.e. the glyphs of energy), which is clearly more powerful.

I'm not trying to say that having all of the elites and all of the runes automatically makes you win, but it's at least slightly infuriating to me (and I know I'm not alone) to play PvP, lose, and wonder if I/we would have won with access to more Elite skills or better runes.

Maybe the severity of the problem isn't as bad, but this really does remind me of a major deterent to fairness in Magic: The Gathering (which partially inspired GuildWars) -- people with more time and / or money have a huge advantage.

(I'm not really against people who practice more doing better, mind you. But it's not really "practice" to go hunting for elites. That doesn't prepare you for PvP much, per se.)

You know what I want to see, Class based quests as you go through the game where the NPCs give you runes as rewards, say sometime between searing and lions arch you have gotten all the basic minor runes if you did all the quests.

Then You have all the majors by the time you hit ascension or so.

Then all the superiors by the time you get fissure/underworld cleared.

- Edit - They must be customized.

Tsunamii Starshine