So I've been to FoW for about 5 or so hours today in two separate trips.
First trip we killed everything in the valley outside the forge tower and got the Seeds and Khobay quests from the Forgemaster before all had to leave.
Second time we cleared about half of that.
Each time no Obsidian Shards dropped.
Every other time I've been there in the past couple weeks would have seen 6 or so shards drop in a 2-3 hour period (yes, sometimes more than one going to a single person...after a year and a half of playing GW I still don't get how loot is awarded by the system).
I dunno if anyone else has been noticing this since the last game update or if my groups today just had a couple really unlucky runs but spending all that time down there for xp I dont need is umm..funless.
Not only that...but the drops were all crappy in general...some golds dropped but they all had horrible mods on them...stuff most peeps wouldnt even use if they got them for free let alone buy from you.
Anyways, was wondering if the same is true for Ecto's in UW and if others had experienced the same funless loot drops in FoW recently?
Miyamoto Tzu
Fissure of WTF?!?!
Miyamoto Tzu
Lord Iowerth
Fissure run (solo) last night yielded 2 shards (average), a few dyes, 3 golds, 1 chest, and plenty of loot + salvage.
Seems normal to me, but YMMV.
Seems normal to me, but YMMV.
=HT=Ingram
LOL went down last week and Shards were dropping like Candy Canes on X-mas!!! People were like OMG WTF??? I wasn't complaining. lol IDK Its the timing and the group you go with I guess... If your with a bunch that do nothing but farm FoW and UW for stuff all the time drops are poor. If you go with a FULL group that rarely goes down there, drops are really good...
I have no evidence to provide you except what I have seen in the past. I grab a few new guys from my guild that have not been, And I go, and we fill out the team with some elite farmers from allied guilds, go down and bingo we see a shard drop ALMOST every 2nd or 3rd MOB. I know each of us had at least 6 after clearing it. Do 2 maybe 3 runs like that, then we walk away from it for a few weeks and do it again... Seems to work for us... so IDK... Course I have no intention of wasting resources on Tired old FoW armor anyway. so I doubt I will be down there much except for helping guildies or allies get the stuff...
I have no evidence to provide you except what I have seen in the past. I grab a few new guys from my guild that have not been, And I go, and we fill out the team with some elite farmers from allied guilds, go down and bingo we see a shard drop ALMOST every 2nd or 3rd MOB. I know each of us had at least 6 after clearing it. Do 2 maybe 3 runs like that, then we walk away from it for a few weeks and do it again... Seems to work for us... so IDK... Course I have no intention of wasting resources on Tired old FoW armor anyway. so I doubt I will be down there much except for helping guildies or allies get the stuff...
Cador
Chest runs FTW
shaolin mind trick
A couple days ago just did forgemaster and his quests, and got 3 shards myself, with 6 total dropping. Guess anet just likes me...
cosyfiep
Last time I went....no one got shards....last time in UW no ecto for anyone (including a noob we brought with us).....but thats normal for me not to get anything (and why I dont bother to go there much).
CartmanPT
Today i heard someone telling that farmed the beach for a while and no shards.
Maybe last night update nerf them a little.
Havent tested yet, so, not sure
Maybe last night update nerf them a little.
Havent tested yet, so, not sure
eternal pho
Well theres a reason for that..from my experience from this game, I've seen that whenever a specific area is being farmed at the same time with many groups, good items never seem to drop, and thats why i usually farm at night where there are less people. (I'm not really sure about the drop system but this is just from my past experience.)
Griff Mon
I did a FoW run last night with a very good full PuG and we did the Forgemaster quest, Defend the Forge, cleared the spider cave and not a single shard dropped for anyone.
So, my guess is something is up.
So, my guess is something is up.
lambda the great
Bad luck, or try with a smaller party.
Jas D
Aww.. shucks. 
That's too bad.
That's too bad.
Mustache Mayhem
well I know they cut the drop rate on greens in factions.. maybe they did some other tweaking
Haggard
I had a FoW solo run with no shards whatsoever last time. It's only happened once before (out of about 50 runs).
Avarre
I've had FoW runs with 3~ or so, and runs with 15+.
So... yeah, unless literally none drop for anyone at all, in any group in the game (ie: deletion of the make_shard_drop code
) you can't really complain about the random drops. Well you can, but people don't have to listen 
So... yeah, unless literally none drop for anyone at all, in any group in the game (ie: deletion of the make_shard_drop code
Cybergasm
I'd just like to lend to this and say I did two runs past weekend. Friday run wielded two drops, and saturday wielded none and crappy golds I got from chests.
Arx Baron
Did one run ysterday, 2 shards dropped, it must have been bad luck for you, sorry...
Yakumo
Hmmm... Something doesn't feel right.
Before the update on 23 May, I spend two nights in FoW, clearing the Shadow Army and Skeleton Army. In a 55 and SS duo, we got a good number of shards, averaging 3-4 a run.
After the update, we've not seen a shard. In the two nights that followed the update, the Shadow Army and Skeleton Army yielded no shards. We then switched to warrior builds to clear the beach and do spider runs. And still not a single shard in sight.
Unlucky runs I've experienced, but usually a run or two after the unlucky one, things return to 'normal'. However, after two nights in a row, where most of the population is slaughtered and to not see a single shard, it is kinda strange to say the least...
Before the update on 23 May, I spend two nights in FoW, clearing the Shadow Army and Skeleton Army. In a 55 and SS duo, we got a good number of shards, averaging 3-4 a run.
After the update, we've not seen a shard. In the two nights that followed the update, the Shadow Army and Skeleton Army yielded no shards. We then switched to warrior builds to clear the beach and do spider runs. And still not a single shard in sight.
Unlucky runs I've experienced, but usually a run or two after the unlucky one, things return to 'normal'. However, after two nights in a row, where most of the population is slaughtered and to not see a single shard, it is kinda strange to say the least...
sYs|4DDh
Same feeleing as Yakumo - farmed my fow armour in few last months - on beginning usually had 2-4 ectos on a run, then it went lower, but usually in day's average i've been getting at least 1 ecto per run. After the last up: none, null, zero. Two days, made 8 runs, 6 on atxes/smites, 2 (one each day) with clearing start area, first quest, ice wastes, western area (west of first statue), and than chaos planes (few charging's on way there), killed some messes before got killed, and still, not a single ecto dropped.
Everything other was dropping in regular amounts, gold, gold/purple/blue/white items, chests. Just not the ectos. Will be doing spider cap tonight for a guildie,so I'll post the results, but either ecto/shard drops have beed heavily lowered, or some anti-farm code started working. We'll see, guildie for the spider wasn't wisiting uw too much, so maybe something will drop for him at least.
And if it's lowered droprates? Well, they've just taken out any point of reason for visiting uw/fow for players like me, who can spend 2-3 hrs a day only ingame. At least with befeore update rates i was able to get fow armor - took me 4 months to do it, but it was obtainable. If the rate keeps down, it's no logner obtainable foe me
Everything other was dropping in regular amounts, gold, gold/purple/blue/white items, chests. Just not the ectos. Will be doing spider cap tonight for a guildie,so I'll post the results, but either ecto/shard drops have beed heavily lowered, or some anti-farm code started working. We'll see, guildie for the spider wasn't wisiting uw too much, so maybe something will drop for him at least.
And if it's lowered droprates? Well, they've just taken out any point of reason for visiting uw/fow for players like me, who can spend 2-3 hrs a day only ingame. At least with befeore update rates i was able to get fow armor - took me 4 months to do it, but it was obtainable. If the rate keeps down, it's no logner obtainable foe me
randombuyer
Ok so far 5 spider runs 0 shards FOW spider run, and 2 Forrest Runs a nice gold shadowbow =P 0 shards something is up
Daft Frik
I, too, cleard the Spider cave twice today with no Shards.
Are they trying to get prices back up, or what?
Are they trying to get prices back up, or what?
nomercy
3 runs, 0 shards. gg Anet.
I hate PvE now, I might go back to PvP again and climb up in the ranks.
I hate PvE now, I might go back to PvP again and climb up in the ranks.
Ranger Rog
Looks like they fixed it with the latest update-
Update - Friday May 26
Fixed a bug that prevented ectoplasm and obsidian shards from dropping in the Fissure of Woe and Underworld missions.
Update - Friday May 26
Fixed a bug that prevented ectoplasm and obsidian shards from dropping in the Fissure of Woe and Underworld missions.
Nitradamus
Owned!
Crazyvietguy
Well FoW hasnt ever been my "favorite place to go". Sure its fun with guildmates and stuff, because it tests your skills, and theres always a chance for a good drop. I dont "farm" it though. As for UW, Anet has put in a system that makes rare drops less common each time you enter, kill a selective few monsters, and run out.. continously i might add. Just last night i did a UW run, 5 ectos for me, 2 for my cousin. We continued through the night, the next run 1 ecto, then in the collective next 5 runs we only got 2. So yeah, drops run dry if you keep drinking out of the cup of greed.