Can HM Drop Req8 Gold?

    Hey everyone, today I want to discuss a topic which has been on my mind for quite a few years. As has been discussed many times on this and the previous forums, the level for req8 max gold/purple drops is 17 - 21. This is known and accepted by most, however what some might not be aware of is that there is in fact a very small amount of enemies that fall into this level even in Hard Mode. Here are a few of them:

    https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Corsair_Cutthroat - These are level 20 at the beginning of the Moddok Crevice mission.

    https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Slave_Spirit - These are level 20 in both modes.

    https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Cantha_Courier_Crisis - According to wiki mobs are level 20 in HM. Never done this quest personally. Not Level20 :(

    There are more but I cannot remember them off the top of my head.

    I personally have done many thousands of runs in Moddok Crevice in the hope of getting a max req8 Colossal, but have not seen any max req8 golds, however there are 2 things to consider here

    1. They do not drop Focuses, the most common req8 drop.

    2. They drop an absurd amount of armor. I have done runs till full inventory and it has literally been all armor items.

    I have had many drops from there which could theoretically be req8 max per the research that Red has done on gold value and requirement, and I have had some pretty crazy 1 of max req8 drops from it, but the max req8 anything still alludes me.

    I think the Slave Spirits would be the more reliable farm since they dont drop armor, but the farm for them seems quite difficult in HM with the AoE scatter nerf and I am not sure how to farm them myself. I know these where a prime source for Req8 Dead Swords/Ancient Shields back in the day, but we all know that stuff could drop in the way before times. I am highly interested to know if anyone has had such drops in recent years.

    Farming for req8 in NM is just too tedious, it takes months to find anything and if we can narrow down some doable farms in HM with evidence that drops function as we believe regardless of mode, I think it will benefit many of us greatly. Ill finish by saying that if you wish to confirm HM drops gold req8 max in todays game, then please please please provide some screenshot evidence. A picture says a thousand words after all.

    Edited once, last by GhostKairi (October 7, 2018 at 7:21 PM).

    I obviously cannot confirm one drop myself (i dont rly farm other then ascalon), but i dont see single reason why q8 Couldnt drop in HM if the lvl range is right, as far as i know q8 can drop anywhere techically if the level is right.


    GL on your goal there tho! you allready archieved the goal most (almost everyone searching q8s) got so you got time for new projects ;) (q8 gold sword drop!)

    I don't have the answer to prove this one way or the other, but as a result of the what I would like to call proven statistics, they can drop from foes that are level 17-21 regardless of mode. HM chests can't drop them cause they are too high of level but that does still leave the minimal foes that are out there with low enough levels that the possibility is there.

    I would believe that the chances are lower in HM then NM cause those that are specifically farming one location for a q8, is more likely to do so in NM then HM, but that doesn't mean it isn't possible.

    There are at least 2 Q8 Colossal Scimitars known to exist, I am not sure where they dropped but I have always lead to believe that they would have to drop from a low level in HM, but that is just a guess.

    If you poke around on wiki through the different explorable areas, you will find a single foe that will be low enough level, but if there is only one per zone, the chances would even more than extremely rare. For Example, there is a level 20 boss in HM in Sunqua Vale, Ziinjuu Life Crawler. Edited: Just checked this boss, he is level 26, typo on wiki.

    So I guess my summed up thought is, I am a believer it can happen, but will be convinced when it happens for me :)

    I will join that journey to help prove this theory :)

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    Edited once, last by Agent Chevy (October 7, 2018 at 4:26 PM).

    Nice topic!


    I can say from my statistics that nm and hm drops work exactly the same, but the intersection set of levels is rather low - esp regarding the fact that technically everything above and including lvl 24 works exactly the same (they have cut the upper limits for drops or we'd have a situation as in pre, where there are a hand full of pre max dmg hammers after many years into the game). Regarding the q8 topic the question is even more difficult since regular mobs start at lvl 22 in hm, which cannot drop any q8. So as you properly pointed there is only a hand full of quests that spawn lvl 20 foes.


    That being said - I didn't farm any of those particular foes nor did I record a q8 gold/prpl item elsewhere in hm.


    But I am 100% convinced that lvl 20 in hm works just like lvl 20 in nm and thus can drop q8. I'll leave a little statistics here:


    The chance for a q8 max sword is around 1 in 5500 gold/purple sword drops. That means after having farmed 5500 gold/prpl swords you can expect to statistically have one to be max q8. The chance you have actually had one drop by then is around 63% (1-1/e for any mathematicians). If you'd want to have 99% certainty that'd mean you'd have to farm for 25000 g/p swords. So if I assume a sword drop rate such that you get a sword in 5% of the runs (is that approximately correct?) And a run taking 3min (I think that is rather optimistic including rezone etc - what would you put?) You'd have to farm that single spot for 3years. 24h a day 7days a week all year.


    For foci those numbers are significantly smaller, if trying to prove hm can drop max q8 by actually dropping one I'd search for a mob that meets the criteria but drops foci (no clue if such exists).


    Other than that: since nf was introduced nothing regarding dmg ranges and reqs of drops changed, so the dead swords insc q8 that exist would prove the point just as the independent drop of gold q8 items and max dmg items from the same mobs do. But I understand your curiosity to actually see one dropping and will look into proper quests myself when I find time - I mean a higher rare item drop rate is intriguing as well as farming for that one drop... ;)

    I WTB all kinds of Tower Shields and Defenders. I do drop research - if you find anything remarkable or want to see the results - check the thread or send a pm!

    IGN1 Red Fireball Rusher

    IGN2 Silberner Magier

    Such wise insight as always Red, much appreciated and your reasoning has me very hopeful. I started testing the Courier Crises but promptly found out they are not level 20 in HM which was sad. I am going to work on getting my Dervish further into NF to test the Slave Spirits since they can drop Focuses as you suggest which would prove the question at hand.

    Your point about Dead Swords rings true, I think the biggest issue is that AoE farming was nerfed very shortly after HM was introduced which made everything much harder - especially Slave Spirits.

    Your statistics (Which I trust with absolution!) make sense when it comes to farming those swords, since even over 10k runs I am very sure that I have not even come close to 1k sword drops even with blue/purple/gold combined. In this case it would probably be wiser to carry on chest running the shore for what I am after hahaha but I am still intrigued to find some HM source of req8, especially some shields that I am missing for my collection (Ancient) which cant drop req8 in any other place.

    just for comparison: every 25th foc from lvl 20 source is max q8 and every 75th shield. That means again for 99% certainty you have a q8 max one you'd have to farm 112 foci or 350 shields respectively. The times depend on the spot you are farming by their drop rates. Assuming similar drop rates and times at a virtual location as for swords at moddock that'd be 5 days for foc and 16 days for shield (roughly). But usually foci drop more often than swords...

    The chestrunning alternative would give better chance for max q8s as per time, but also terribly higher chance of purples - for one of any rarity you'd have to run somewhere around 80.000 chests for statistically having one max sword, 370.000 for a 99% certainty, and for getting a gold one those numbers are roughly 5times higher - 430.000 and 2.000.000 to be precise. A good chestrun yields 1chest/min meaning for the 99% at a gold max sword you'd be running 4 years constantly - compared to that the hm farming seems a little better even ;)

    Okay HM drops aren't all gold either, but there's maybe 20-30% purples, extending the calculated 3years to maybe 4years. But still equal to chestrunning nm. If the rates actually are lower though - times and sword drop rates (which I fear - the above estimation was rather optimistic) it could well be that HM farming is less effective.

    Just wanted to put those numbers for anyone who'd attempt getting one :P

    I WTB all kinds of Tower Shields and Defenders. I do drop research - if you find anything remarkable or want to see the results - check the thread or send a pm!

    IGN1 Red Fireball Rusher

    IGN2 Silberner Magier

    Edited once, last by Red Fireball (October 9, 2018 at 7:32 AM).

    Longstory short Kairi.

    I recent got a req 9 gold non-max Collosal Scimitar from Am Fah(lvl 20 NM) while going too eotn.

    Got a screeny but cant upload it now.

    I suggest looking there for req8 golds

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