SHING JEA - PANJIANG PENINSULA - KINYA PROVINCE - MINISTER CHO'S ESTATE - SAOSHANG TRAIL - JAYA BLUFFS - HAIJU LAGOON NM

  • After having restarted the game, I am now on my third warrior. The first is somewhere in the Shiverpeak Mountains, having received her calling and now living the life of a pious nun:saint:

    The second began life in Cantha, a true warrior relying mostly on her strength and trusty axe ~ a Defender of the Luxons, rising in rank and power... But little does she know that across the great divide, her twin sister has also taken up arms; a young warrior loyal to the Kurzicks...


    I have played mostly on my main account, rushing through content in order to get my characters ready for GvG or just creating PvP characters. My 2nd account has remained dormant although I do have a level 20 Dervish and a baby Paragon who are mostly sitting in Kamadan as additional storage.

    Seeing that I have unused character slots, I decided to create a warrior in Cantha as well as a monk in pre-searing, and may also start a mesmer or elementalist in Istan. The idea is to follow the stat range provided in Red Fireball's:

    Red Fireball
    December 11, 2016 at 10:58 PM


    After having left Shing Jea Monastery at level 2, Amber has been repeatedly farming Sunqua Vale to see if we can equal or better the minimum and maximum stats for 0 requirement items:

    Axe

    The most common drops are Tribal Axe, Crude Axe, as well as the Rusty Axe ~ the minimum damage of 2-5 which was a drop from pre-searing Ascalon is difficult to beat, and my maximum was only 5-11.

    Most axes were within 3-5 or 3-6 range, but this dropped from a Sensali Fighter today ~

    Bow

    The most common drops are Naga Shortbow, Naga Longbow, Wooden Flatbow, Feathered Flatbow, and the Shortbow (rare) ~ most drops come with a minimum damage of 4-6 so very common indeed, but Amber's maximum was only an 8-11 purple from a chest drop. I brought in my main account warrior Jade for a quick run in normal mode and she got an uncommon 8-12 Shortbow from a Shing Jea chest as well.

    Incredibly, most inherent mods on low damage bows (single digits) from chest drops were + dmg while hexed, but Amber's feathered flatbow drop from yesterday will be a keeper for pulls:

    Jade went one better today...

    Daggers

    If I ever see another Kamas again, I'll @#$@%#...

    Almost a third of the drops (whites/blues) were with minimum damage of 1-3 but otherwise, 2-3 or 2-4. I may have to move to another map to see if I can get higher, but as I began to test Amber against the hidden Lesser Oni, I was fortunate to get a keeper:

    Focus

    Paper Fan seems to be the most rare when compared to other off-hands. Minimum (+3) and maximum (+6) range for 0 requirement off-hands are easily found as common drops as well as chest drops:

    Hammer

    The Bludgeoner and Supreme Bludgeoner are probably the rare skins for this area, with Melon Hammer and Wolf Hammer being the more common drops, as well as the likes of Ball Hammer, Runic, etc... Although Amber could easily find the minimum of 4-6, anything above 8-10 just wouldn't drop unless it was with a requirement from a chest:

    If only it didn't have req 5, it would have been a new hammer stat for 0 requirement Hammers...;(

    And Jade just has to rub it in with her single run on this day...

    Shield

    Anything between Armor 4 to 6 is common, with Kappa Shield being the most common drop. Thought I would never find max unless it was from a chest, but Ziinjuu was kind to drop the staff and also this yesterday:


    Staff

    Minimum and maximum for white/blue easily achieved, but purples are difficult and also rare since they are dependent on chest drops. Will have to see what the other maps provide.

    Sword

    Sunqua Blade found in Sunqua Vale sounds about right... They make up 99% of the sword drops and most tend to have a damage of 3-5. Didn't get any swords from chest drops either so could not get beyond single digit damages.

    Thought minimum damage of 3-4 was another impossibility until Jade almost merch this:

    Wand

    Was hoping for something lower than 4-6 but I guess I'll have to work a little harder in another map or campaign... Didn't think I would get max either but everything seemed to drop at almost exactly the same time as I was thinking of moving on to Panjiang Peninsula...


    The idea is to move on to the following quest at level 10 or when I have accumulated a stack of Mantid Pincer. I currently have 230 pincers so my final run tonight should do it, and I am also a quarter of the way to level 10 anyways...

    I will return to SV in the future as I chickened out on Amber's mini vanquisher attempt of the map... There are two foes that I will not attempt as a new warrior without a secondary ~ Red Yeti (lvl 12) & Yingko the Skull Claw

    Jade's wounds run deep after she failed her early survivor years... Will also need to complete green drops for the map...

    Amber picked up Jin's Hornbow today after getting Ziinjuu's Sanctuary yesterday...

    Jade didn't want to be left out so she picked up Ziinjuu's Sanctuary today and followed up with a HM chest run in Zhengjo Temple where there's always one or two easy chest...

    Amber: <show off>:cursing:

    Jade: Anyone want to buy a clean 200gv high req SOtW?;)

    I am not playing Melandru's Accord thus have transferred some gear as well as funds from my main account in order to be able to clear the area and retrieve every drop without having to worry about exceeding inventory space.

    Salvage kits are an explorer's best friend so I tend to break down any white martial weapons and off-hands apart from staves and bows unless I do struggle with inventory space. Blues are identified since some may have added value (there's always at least one or two).

    While identification kits are bought from the merchant in Shing Jea Monastery, the salvage kits are exchanged with Hai Lae:

    as well as Hao Zhang in Shing Jea Monastery:

    Or, if you are not saving up to exchange for Gifts of the Traveler from Nicholas the Traveler who will only receive them on the 1st of November 2027 at Saoshang Trail, you can exchange Mantid Pincers for Identification and Salvage Kits from Marik Kuri at Sunqua Vale:

    At the end of a complete run, I tend to add about 200-300 gold to the coffers... It's a measly sum but it's the stored trophies that will help later on in-game.

    42 Feathered Scalps, 250 Mantid Pincers, 79 Naga Hides, & 37 Copper Crimson Skull Coins later, and it is time to move on to Panjiang Peninsula where I'll be collecting 250 Naga Hides for next week's (16th March 2026) exchange with Nicholas the Traveler.


    NOTE: It is definitely easier to go in with a level 20 fully geared character and one-shot everything for better loot as well as item drop stats. Anything above level 5 on the map will probably drop an uncommon (purple) item as was the case with the Lesser Oni today:

    Sad it's one req higher...;(

    However, repeatedly targeting a single mob such as the Lesser Oni (lvl 9 NM/lvl 23 HM), which pops up along the cliff just north of Tsumei Village will not work due to the game's 'diminishing returns' mechanism.

    Purple uncommon drops in normal mode tend to have a gold value of between 14-30 after having been identified so using lockpicks on the chest would be better although Shing Jea chest keys do drop quite often. Success of lockpicks depend on the Lucky and Unlucky title track ~ The luckier you are, the higher the chances of retention. However, if a player is able to afford lockpicks, it's one method of maxing out the titles.

    A lvl 20 running in normal mode would probably also get one or two rare materials in the form of a Monstrous Eye or a Monstrous Fang while clearing the map.

    PS. Would like to bring a lvled Mesmer here some day for Hard Mode...

    Edited 12 times, last by Marcus Ferret (March 15, 2026 at 6:18 AM).

  • Picking up some minor quests along the way, Amber headed off to Panjiang Peninsula to complete her secondary profession quests, foraging into Kinya Province, while avoiding bosses and level 15 foes. The weapon drops were the same as in Sunqua Vale, dull and worthless...

    A few dozen Naga Hides later, this dropped from a hidden Lesser Oni:

    One off max for requirement 2, but it'll have do for now. Seems like the Onis are the only ones providing decent drops around the areas... Guess the bosses would have some good stuff to offer as well but will need to level up a little bit more first...


    Meanwhile, Jade decides to show off her prowess by soloing Minister Cho's Estate mission in normal mode...

    Martial weapons and shields galore:

    White requirement 0 Armor 8 for Bladed Shield, Round Shield, Ornate Buckler, Crude Shield, Bronze Shield, Reinforced Buckler, & Skeleton Shield completed (top row).

    Couple of runs later, Jade added a blue Bladed Shield, Crude Shield, Tower Shield, and the 9 armor requirement 1 Skeleton Shield...

         

    (Ok...ok... Maybe the req 8 bladed doesn't count due to 'improved sale value', but I'll take anything for now...)

    As for weapon types, the mission foes tend to drop various skins such as the Brute Sword, Serpent Axe, Canthan Cleaver, both the Canthan Farmer Sickle as well as Double-Blade Tyrian Sickle, Katana, Tribal Axe, etc...

    I guess it's mostly common as well as some uncommon skins found in-game...

    This made my day...:love: And this as well...

    And though I dislike the skin, this came in blue:

    Caster weapons and off-hands make up only about 20% of the drops with some pretty uncommon skins thrown into the mix such as the Grim Cesta Claw Skin:


    Not wanting to be outdone, Amber headed to Minister Cho's Estate... Now level 15, she is definitely capable of taking on the level 8 foes in the mission, but just to be safe, a set of consumables wouldn't hurt... After all, she is still on Survivor mode...

    All whites req 0 armor 8... Not as impressive as her sister's haul, but it was her maiden run and she would say she did it just to get to Ran Musu Gardens for the 50 Armor set:


    NOTE: Both Jade and Amber (with consumables) took about 10 minutes to complete the mission... The good thing about farming foes in missions is that there's no diminishing returns, and it's a good way to get to lvl 20 for a new character.

    Now, if only it was as easy to solo in HM... I really dislike 'baby-sitting' missions:cursing:


    With Ran Musu Gardens unlocked, Amber has easier access to Kinya Province, while Jade had other plans and decided to set off to explore Minister Cho's afflicted infected estate thereby adding a Spiked Targe to her white req o armor 8 collection:

    She also picked up a:

    One off max, but I like the skin so will hang on to it for a bit... Also, a requirement 1 max 6-12 Canthan Farmer Sickle:

    Ugly skin, but it's a tick:thumbup:

    And finally, a max requirement 0 bow:

    Also had a req 0 9-13 Shortbow, but I accidentally salvaged it as I was in need of inventory space...:|

    Age must be catching up with me... I've never ever gone into an explorable area without first making sure I had a couple of 25 uses Salvage Kits and at least a 50/100 Superior Identification Kit as well as a 50/100 Superior Salvage Kit... Ran out of everything after completing 80% clearance of the area...

    I've never left a map so full of trash before...;(

    Anyway, it doesn't seem like Amber will be following in Jade's footsteps in clearing the area any time soon... Level 8-10 foes aren't difficult for a level 15 and there aren't any bosses to worry about in the area, but it's better for her to get to 20 as well as get her 80 Armor set first before attempting a solo run. There aren't many Afflicted but a few bunched up together can be very painful on a warrior with low health and armor when they go BOOM at the same time... I guess it'll be fine with consets but hey, I don't own an Armbrace of Truth factory:P

    In the meantime, Jade seems to be ahead on drop rates, but she's a veteran so I would say that Amber isn't doing too badly since she has to be extra cautious and not get struck down by Dhumm...

    But just to rub it in and add to the competition, here's something I've never ever gotten when farming Minister Cho's Explorable Estate for Forgotten Trinket Boxes... As far as I can remember, the drops were always purple...

    Came from an Afflicted Necromancer, so...

    Display Spoiler

    :DJust kidding... Sold this one to Pleikki a while back and it now funds part of my adventures with my new characters:thumbup:

    This is the actual drop...:(

    1

    15/20 perfect 10/10 so still functional... Will just save it for a baby necro...:)


    NOTE: Noticed that it's mostly the Sickened Peasants and some caster types that drop the Forgotten Trinket Boxes...


    Well, it's time to take a break...

  • Marcus Ferret March 10, 2026 at 7:51 AM

    Changed the title of the thread from “SHING JEA NM” to “SHING JEA - PANJIANG PENINSULA - KINYA PROVINCE - MINISTER CHO'S ESTATE NM”.
  • Well, I've been back to Minister Cho's Explorable Estate with Jade twice today to complete a stack of Forgotten Trinket Boxes... Wish the infected animals would also drop some loot but I guess that would make farming too easy...

    Anyway, each run gives about 30 trinket boxes and I can also probably confirm that at least one of the Afflicted Necromancer will drop a gold item on each run.

    Following up from yesterday's drops, Jade got:

        

    And later:

    Where white drops are concerned, I finally got my first two max requirement 1 staves... Both were Bo Staves dropping in separate runs:

       


    Still have a few runs to go before I complete my stack so will update on the gold drop ratio... At the moment it's 3:3 from an Afflicted Necromancer...:):thumbup:

    .....................................................................................

    After a short break and a quick run through Minister Cho's Estate normal mission which rewarded Jade with a dual mod requirement 0 energy +6 Plagueborn Focus,

    it was time to head back to the explorable area and see if it holds true that the afflicted would drop at least 1 gold Plagueborn item... True to form, here's another Plagueborn Staff:

    This time it was from an Afflicted Ritualist... But crappy inherent mod...

    ...............................................

    Had a strange feeling about the 5th run, 'What if it didn't drop?' And true to my words, there was no gold drop this time...:(

    Feeling a little tired and dejected, I took Jade on another mission run and picked up a couple of runes from Diseased Minister Cho... Wasn't worth much, but maybe, just maybe, luck is changing for the better again.

    I'm halfway to a full stack of Forgotten Trinket Boxes and my hands and fingers are starting to numb and ache... 'One last run...', I thought to myself.

    And so I headed into the exploration area for the fourth time today with aching hands as well as fingers, and what a run it turned out to be.

    An Afflicted Necromancer dropped gold again, but it was crap as usual...

    Afflicted Necromancer - 4

    Afflicted Ritualist -1

    No gold drops - 1 ~ Gold item might have been on one of the Afflicted Assassin killed by the Canthan Guards:/

    There is a saying that when an area is farmed frequently enough, the drops tend to get better... Or potentially worse...  I am not much of a believer in such stuff, nor do I look for favor when doing my farming runs.

    Apart from kneeling at the shrines and getting the 30 minute buffs from whichever Avatar is there, I tend to to just go out and play and see what happen. My final run for the day was without Favor of the Gods, but this is what happened:

    Paid for all the salvage kits and a bit more...:D

    Another 70 Forgotten Trinket Boxes to go... Hmmm... Think I might just go for another 6 runs...:P

    Edited 5 times, last by Marcus Ferret (March 13, 2026 at 9:27 AM).

  • 'What's happened to Amber?'

    Well, Amber is still surviving but feeling miserable after seeing Jade brag about her gold drop rate from Minister Cho's Explorable Estate... So far, she has been running around the southwest region of Shing Jea Island completing minor quests and working hard on levelling by escorting an agriculturist and delivering a message to the Aerie, doing a bit farming (definitely boredom for a warrior but it's all about the experience...:sleeping:), fought off sickened guards attacking Kaitan Village, and even braved Minister Cho's Explorable Estate by assisting an Imperial Guard in finding his 'lost treasure'.

    NOTE TO SELF:

    Here's a very important TIP for Mending Warriors playing survivor in tough situations, DO NOT SPEAK TO ANY NPC AND CAST MENDING AFTER!!!

    As Raitahn Nem rushed into the group of six sickened foes, Amber ran in to support as well as to hold aggro and I watched in horror as her health dropped by half... I was wondering what was happening until I noticed that I had cast the skill onto the NPC instead||

    Thankfully, a young warrior with very few skills still has a backup, and a Heal Sig later, it was back to slashing and bashing, and chasing after a suicidal idiot... (I really, really hate baby-sitting missions...)

    Would have killed Raitahn Nem myself were it not for his reward at the end of the quest... 15 Attribute Points...:thumbup: Now I can afford to pump Mending up another pip...:love:

    ..............................................................

    Back at Shing Jea Monastery, Amber visited Master Togo and was directed to speak with Guard Tsukaro and was given directions to Seitung Harbor... (What!?! No horse carriages or protected caravans...@#$@&#)

    Thankfully, it was a mere 5 minutes trek with just Mantids in the way...

    Geared with brand new 65 Armor, it was time to test her prowess against tougher foes... Maybe Minister Cho's Explorable Estate again?:/

    Probably not... That's Jade domain for now, and I doubt that 65 armor would survive the ASE of Afflicteds... 'Wait, that guy with the strange mark over his head... Maybe there's an easy quest...'

    O, it's Brother Pei Wan... I forgot I had to bring him along... O well, he's here now and he's sending me to 'look for trouble' to the north, in Jaya Bluffs...

    Hmmm, what a strange request... One can never trust these healer types... I have a strange suspicion that he's sending me out to get beaten up for not escorting him from the monastery... Or maybe these monk types are just pure sadists who enjoy watching others suffer and go through pain in order for them to show off their healing skills...

    Well, the only way to figure this out was to take a little peek...

    .......................................

    O dear... Yetis with huge clubs!!! I was right... 'That sneaky no good monk...'

    Amber was not going to back off so easily though... With 2 pips to her mending and an additional blessing from Dwayna's Shrine, it should be just fine... (I hope...)

    Picking a single yeti to start with, Amber charged forward and surprise, surprise, the blows from the Level 15 Mountain Yeti felt like a tickle... But what was more surprising for a level 17 warrior was this:

    Amber's first gold drop from the first Jaya Bluffs kill!!!:love: This will be a day to be remembered for eternity8o:thumbup:

    And I now have something to bash that sneaky monk with... (Will be a gentle tap since this was the result of his guile...:P)

    It's far from max for even a requirement 5 and the -10 Armor is a death sentence, but it'll get the job done on a monk for sure...

    Laterz.... Off to bash a monk's head in...;)

    .....................................................................

    Jade: 'Just so you'd know, little sis... Very little goes by around here without me noticing... Now, this is what a 'real head basher' should look like...' ;)


    Amber: @#$@%#@!!:cursing:

    Edited 3 times, last by Marcus Ferret (March 13, 2026 at 4:26 PM).

  • Marcus Ferret March 13, 2026 at 11:54 AM

    Changed the title of the thread from “SHING JEA - PANJIANG PENINSULA - KINYA PROVINCE - MINISTER CHO'S ESTATE NM” to “SHING JEA - PANJIANG PENINSULA - KINYA PROVINCE - MINISTER CHO'S ESTATE - SAOSHANG TRAIL - JAYA BLUFFS NM”.
  • It has been rather slow getting to level 18, with a couple of close shaves along the way due to over-confidence as well as lag issues... Amber started her day killing the only foes that would provide enough xp ~ yetis in Jaya Bluffs. However, she has little to show for it except for getting to level 18 and a common requirement 4 12 Armor Wooden Buckler to add to her collection:

    Feeling a little tired and frustrated, I decided to assist The Emperor's Blade in delivering Togo's Ultimatum to the Crimson Skulls. Everything seemed easy enough until Captain Quimang laid siege to Tsumei Village...

    Believing the quest to be easy for a level 18, I headed out to Sunqua Vale from Tsumei Village to confront the bandits, making light and easy work of the earlier groups... The Crimson Skull Spirit Lord leading the raid however, was not too happy and with my health down to only a third, I made a quick retreat back to the safety of the village.

    I needed a better plan for this quest and at my second attempt, I started out from Shing Jea Monastery, made a quick contribution at Dwayna's shrine, and ambushed the leader from behind, making the cleaning up of the lower level bandits much easier.

    As this was probably going to be one of my last visits to the area, I decided to help out Wulk Cragfist on his mission for revenge. Quite easily done with 3 Mending pips; and while I was in the area, picked up Yingko's Claw as well to complete my collection of greens from the three bosses on the map.

    Time to head over to Panjiang Peninsula to deal with the other groups of bandits, and having learnt my lesson from earlier, I decided to circle around south and ambush the leader again...

    WIN! And to cap off, I decided to take out Pei the Skull Blade as well since she looked at me funny the other day. Plus, I like her ship...:love:

                                                                                                                                     Pei's ship... Amber's ship

    She's a tough one to take down once her Shroud of Distress is up, but I persevered and was also rewarded with:

    Not the greatest of stats, but I'll hang them up as trophies in my ship cabin...:P

    ........................................................................................................................

    Meanwhile, Jade has been wondering whether soloing Jaya Bluffs would be worth the effort... 'O well, why not??? Anything is worth a try...'

    The only thing to really worry about are the Sensali Darkfeathers...

    Pumping up on steroids, the run started off well with a Longhair Yeti dropping a gold:

    Such a pity it wasn't max (6-27/6-28) for requirement...:(

    Farming the Sensalis took a little bit more effort as well as a couple of donations to Dwayna and Grenth, plus a couple of deaths when I over-aggroed but I picked up about 25 Feathered Crests in total. Also got a pair of:

    Think I'm starting to like Kamas now...:)

    Maybe even starting to <3 them...

    Maybe not anymore...@#@$@#:cursing:

    However, I'll always have a soft spot for Oni Daggers...:love:

    ........................................................................

    Well, it was bound to happen eventually...

    Amber killed Captain Quimang solo, but the pop-up spawns got her... So close to Survivor as well ~ about 20k to go...;(

    O well... Life goes on... 140,600 xp to go... Guess I can be more reckless now... Or should I just start over...8)

    Went back to get revenge on the Crimson Skull Ether Fiend, and she dropped this:

    Low damage Req 10 with crap mods, but had a +20 vs dragon...:)

    ....................................................................................

    Jade: Welcome to the club, sis... It's not going to get any easier from here...

     ;)

    .....................................................................................

    Well, I decided to do a 'reboot' with Amber and try again... Game play will be more or less the dull and boring attempt at levelling to 20 and beyond without dying so not much to add except a chest drop from her first run through Sunqua Vale (...again...||):

    Pity it doesn't have a second inherent mod but it's the first requirement 0 purple shield so I'm pretty happy to have started over...

    Edited 4 times, last by Marcus Ferret (March 15, 2026 at 1:48 AM).

  • So, after going through the grind of levelling, Reincarnated Amber is back up to level 15 and grinding yetis once again at Jaya Bluffs. First day on the job, and the foes were rather generous:

       

    Sadly, I've had purple with better stats and inherent mods...||

        

    O well, it is only the first run so hopefully things get better... Otherwise, the xp is working out well for her...:)

    .......................................................

    Meanwhile, Jade realised that she had been neglecting her other duties while competing with her sister, i.e. Zaishen Challenge Quest ~ 15 March 2026... A whole week of soloing Minister Cho's Estate mission NM and I was wondering why there was a crowd of level 20s lately...:D

    Well, made it just in time and as always, there is a need to up the standards even if it was only a single gold drop:

    Jade: You still have so much to learn, little sis....:P

    ................................................................................................

    You know a player is a scrub when they bring Remove Hex instead of Purge Conditions...:cursing:

    Jade: ^^^^Hahahahaha:D:D

    Still... Didn't really need it tbh...:P

    Wall hugging in Jaya Bluffs is all about avoiding the groups of Sensalis in the northwest which would make minced meat out of a lowbie in less than a minute.

    And working on the Cartographer title track is definitely risky business since there's always a group of those birdbrains close to the northwest bridge... Yet some times, one might get lucky and be able to sneak through when the Sensalis are busy fighting the yetis...

    Forget it... Not going any further than this point no matter what the quest marker says...

    .................................................................................

    Jade: Bawk-bawk, bok-bok, buk... Bawk-buk:D:D:D

    Amber: @$%$#@%^:cursing::cursing::cursing:

    Still farming yetis for xp and it has been 3 rounds whereby the second was without any gold drops...

    It's strange, but Jade tends to pick up mostly 15^50s or 15% enchanted, and Amber tends to get mostly 13-15% vs hexed foes with both purple or gold...:/

    Edited 4 times, last by Marcus Ferret (March 16, 2026 at 3:19 PM).

  • I do have to say that I pity the yetis sometimes... On one side, they are being wiped by the Sensalis, and on the other, an xp grinding warrior...

    Amber did 3 yeti runs today and managed 2 gold drops. Surprisingly, not hammers this time:

    A Kamas, which should normally drop from the Sensalis...

    And in her 3rd run, a Tyrian Cleaver...

    As I've mentioned before, the inherent mods on Amber's drops are pretty bad when compared to Jade's...

    Feeling a little tired out after 3 runs, Amber decided to visit Nicholas the Traveler to exchange Naga Hides for Gifts of the Traveler. Along the way, she managed to pick up a nice Prot set for beginners:

    And of course, Jade decides to pay a visit to Nicholas as well and decides to wipe out the Crimson Skull bosses along the way... Feng the Skull Symbol was the first to fall, and although he did not drop his unique item, he did a little better:

      :love:PERFECT REQ 4 ENERGY +9:love:

    Now for the identification...

    Please have dual mods... Please.... Dual Mods Please....

    8o

    Well, as I said... Jade tends to be more lucky with her drops and inherent mods...

  • Have been spending the past three days and levels grinding yetis at Jaya Bluffs and 368 Stolen Supplies, 114 Shamrock Ales, and 115 Four-Leaf Clovers later, Amber (Renewed) has now reached the first Survivor cap of 140,600 xp.

    It can be presumed that at least two gold drops are possible when clearing the map in normal mode with the items dropped by either a yeti or a Sensali as tested with Jade. Amber however, avoided the Sensalis and stuck to grinding yetis and the odd Oni or two, and on Thursday did not have a single gold drop at all after doing over a dozen experience runs.

    Rest of the time, her drops were nothing to shout about either:

         

     

    There were quite a few naked golds as well...

    Probably the best and most surprising drop was this:

    Doubt the skin appears very often and too bad the damage is so low...:(

    At the end of each run, I tend to pop over to take a peek at Sanhan Tall Earth to see if he survives the battle with the Sensalis. On one occasion, he dropped:

    Guess it is the only decent drop I've had apart from the runes... Have to add that farming runes is good but way too random to get anything of worth with just a couple of runs. I've probably done close to a hundred yeti runs and have only picked up 1 Rune of Major Vigor and 3 Prodigy's Insignia [Mesmer], Still, the drops and runes help to break even...

    It's back to Ran Musu Gardens to assist Raitahn Nem with his 'lost treasure'... In the meantime, I hear there's a decent bounty out for Tahkayun Tsi8o

    Got 1 at 36 gv and another at 39gv...:(

    Lucyperia I believe I traded you a couple of Tahkayun's Pincers a long time ago...:/

    Well, he doesn't drop very often, if at all... Think it's something like 1 in 20...|| Will keep hunting him for as long as I am playing on Shing Jea Island...:thumbup:

    ...................................................................................................

  • Assisting Raitahn Nem turned out to be a walk in the park at level 20 as Amber could easily maintain a safe distance up ahead and control aggro with the level 8 foes. Having picked up the 15 Attribute Points after completing the quest, it was time to clear the map as well as hug the walls and coastline for the Canthan Cartographer title...

    As expected, the highest level drops were purples confirming the earlier tests with Jade that only Afflicteds drop gold items.

    Feeling bored, I decided to take Amber for another yeti run and onwards to Haiju Lagoon... It's a huge map with foes ranging from level 10 to level 16 for the bosses:

    With conditions and degens, I decided to play it safe by running the map on steroids although it wasn't really necessary as long as one does not over-aggro...

    Condition removal would come in handy for the map to remove blindness... Hex Removal would also be good... Otherwise, having some form of health regeneration would be sufficient...

    'Know what... Just don't go there!!! It's instant death...':cry:

    Honestly though... The area is not that tough except for the level 15 Crimson Skulls which are manageable or easily avoidable with the right pull.. Even the bosses are easy when on steroids...:)

    I was focusing more on the Afflicteds and in the second cluster, I got this:

    :love:

    Unfortunately, it turned out to be this...

    O well, onwards towards the lagoon and I got this from a Dragon Lilly:

    Pretty sad pickings, but still gold worth 260gv....:thumbup:

    Trying to get the perfect low req purple or gold drop is just a dream... If it happens, it happens...

    However, one can always rely on the map bosses for a consolation at least:

    Didn't even realise I had killed Baozo Evilbranch as I 'accidentally' aggroed the whole island...:D

    I do think the map is worth a few more runs so going to spend a bit of time there with Amber... Jade's not eligible to hunt Afflicteds in the area as she assisted with 'Cleansing of Haiju Lagoon' during her days of explorations...:(

    Minor problem though... Amber still has to run through parts of Jaya Bluffs to get there as she really, really is not interested in looking for trouble...:P

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  • Marcus Ferret March 22, 2026 at 3:14 PM

    Changed the title of the thread from “SHING JEA - PANJIANG PENINSULA - KINYA PROVINCE - MINISTER CHO'S ESTATE - SAOSHANG TRAIL - JAYA BLUFFS NM” to “SHING JEA - PANJIANG PENINSULA - KINYA PROVINCE - MINISTER CHO'S ESTATE - SAOSHANG TRAIL - JAYA BLUFFS - HAIJU LAGOON NM”.
  • A second visit to Haiju Lagoon and the Afflicteds were feeling generous:

    But as usual, the requirements and mods were pitiful:

    Thought two was max but a Grasping Root decided to drop:

    300gv ftw...8o

    O well, am just using the map to farm for plant fibers as well as some xp from the Dragon Lilly while seeing what type of gold drops I can get. Would be easier if I didn't have to run all the way from Seitung Harbor...

    Guess I will have to recruit some henchmen and start looking for trouble at Jaya Bluffs...:/

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    Meanwhile, Jade decided to visit Vabbi to vanquish Resplendent Makuun. Chest drops were miserable and 3 out of 4 lockpicks broke...:( A Skree Harpy did however drop a high req Crested Machete:

    Merched...:P

    Back in the days, I used to head out from Yahnur Market to hit Jishol Darksong in the hope of getting his spear... It never, ever dropped...

    This time, I started the vanquish from Honur Hill and left the boss for last, and:

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    Just took Jade out to Jaya Bluffs for a quick run to see if it would be possible to solo the entire map with Amber later... Gathering the Sensalis around a warrior wielding Cyclone Axe and Triple Chop is easy but one miscalculation and it will be game over as the Sensali DarkFeathers can be a real pita if not dealt with first. Also, the need to manage energy level is crucial in order to assure survivability so it would be best to deal with the yetis first and head over to Kaanai Caverns in the northeast in order to pay Lyssa's Muse a visit for the +10 energy boost for 20 minutes.

    Once the yetis are cleared, head back to Dwayna's shrine for the +1 health regeneration and then start killing Sensalis.... However, steroids are still recommended as the conditions and degens can be over-whelming... For optimal survival, +5 health regeneration is a pretty safe spot.

    However, Amber currently doesn't have Triple Chop nor any other elites so building up adrenaline will be much slower... Plus, her armor level is still only at 65 so not as resilient as Jade. Think I will have to hench this in order to assure her survival status.

    As for drops, Jade didn't get any gold drops but her rune drops were pretty good:

    There were other less significant runes, but 7-8k isn't too bad imo... Might give Jade another run to see if the results are the same...

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    The usual 2 low level gold drops:

    From a Sensali...

    From a yeti...

    And the runes:

    Another good run...:love:

    Apart from the superior rune, everything else is from the three runs so far with Jade...

    Wonder if they have the potential to drop gold armor for Superior Vigor as well...:/

    Fourth run was a bit poor, but still made around 4k...

    Getting used to Tab-targeting the Sensali DarkFeathers so am able to now work with 3 pips of regeneration as well...

    Think I'll work on farming this area for a bit as my new characters need some runes8o