Guild Wars 2

Ok, so I want to make a Sigil of Concentration which requires 25 Freshwater Pearls. Those cost near 5g each on the TP, so I thought I would do a little experiment to see if it is feasible to gather these myself and craft one.

I set out with;

• An Advanced Harvesting Sickle – Apparently they are “Highly efficient at gathering resources and uncovering rare components.”
• Enchanted Gathering Boost – 33% chance at extra resources when gathering.
• Item Booster – +33% Chance of Extra Gathering Strike and 10 seconds of Swiftness after Gathering.
• Guild Gathering and Swiftness Banner – +15% gathering critical chance.
• Guild Enhancement: Critical Harvesting – +20% gathering critical chance.

With enough banners and map swapping, I managed to use the entire 125 uses of the Advanced Harvesting Sickle on Mussels alone with all these buffs present.

The result? Not a single Pearl. I got 14 pieces of Mother-of-Pearl and 182 Mussels, but not one Pearl.

This is far too low a drop rate, if even with all the boosters available, its still a tiny chance (like 0.5%) and virtually impossible to gather oneself.

Sounds like Foxfire cluster all over again.

Yes given the price of this item it would suggest its ultra rare, maybe too rare.

So, I got a second Advanced Harvesting Sickle and used it up too, total of 250 mussel harvests. Got 3 pearls from this one. So its pretty RNG and very low chance. In the order of 1.5% chance. And that is with 35% additional chance. So more like 1% base.

This also points out how useless the boosters actually are, since if the base chance is so low, they are not really doing anything meaningful. Additional strikes is far better than additional chance.

Imo, they should be more like 10% chance. Otherwise, they are effectively taking Minstrel’s gear and the Sigil of Concentration out of the game.

If you want to gather the Pearls, I suggest you not go through the harvesting route. Instead, park all your characters at the small chests in Tangle Depth. Despite not any much better, I still manage to gather ~5 Pearls with 11 characters after a week. If you want to increase your odds, you can do the chest train daily (~8-10 chests in TD) with different characters.

The pearl is as rare as Giant Eyes before HoT.

The boosters just increase your chance of getting extra uses out of a node. That only indirectly increases your chances of getting rare items per node.

You only got 250 pearls with 2 125 use sickles? That seems a bit wrong. With just the 20% guild buff I am often getting an extra use from elder woods and flax.

You are not suppose to grind them, its pretty evident there is no efficient way of getting them
If you want a lot of them you buy it off the TP

Khisanth.2948:

The boosters just increase your chance of getting extra uses out of a node. That only indirectly increases your chances of getting rare items per node.

You only got 250 pearls with 2 125 use sickles? That seems a bit wrong. With just the 20% guild buff I am often getting an extra use from elder woods and flax.

No, I only got 3 Pearls with 250 sickle uses, with all buffs available. I got 27 Mother-of-Pearl and 386 Mussels.

JVJD.4912:

You are not suppose to grind them, its pretty evident there is no efficient way of getting them
If you want a lot of them you buy it off the TP

This is exactly the situation we do not want any material to be in.

Azure Prower.8701:

Sounds like Foxfire cluster all over again.

Not really like Foxfire Clusters at all. Actually, Foxfire is relatively common all things considered.

The closest analogue is probably Passion Flowers, and even then Freshwater Pearls seem rarer than those ever were as well.

Considering that Passion Flowers were deemed so rare that they went ahead and gave dedicated nodes just to allow people to gather them somewhat reliably… yah, I think Freshwater Pearls are far too rare currently. Something you need 25 of just for basic gear like upgrades shouldn’t be so rare that the price on the TP is twice that of even the most expensive lodestone.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

JVJD.4912:

You are not suppose to grind them, its pretty evident there is no efficient way of getting them
If you want a lot of them you buy it off the TP

This is exactly the situation we do not want any material to be in.

It’s exactly the situation any of the rare mats you get from gathering have been in since the beginning of the game and it’s fairly common throughout MMOs.

So my question is … how should it be different? Why is it actually bad the way it is?

Obtena.7952:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

JVJD.4912:

You are not suppose to grind them, its pretty evident there is no efficient way of getting them
If you want a lot of them you buy it off the TP

This is exactly the situation we do not want any material to be in.

It’s exactly the situation any of the rare mats you get from gathering have been in since the beginning of the game and it’s fairly common throughout MMOs.

So my question is … how should it be different? Why is it actually bad the way it is?

The Freshwater pearl is used as the T6 material for crafting Minstrel gear and also for the Sigil of Concentration. They should either be as available as other T6 or have the recipe modified so that they require less of them. If you want to craft a set of Zerker gear, you can go and grind mobs to get the materials you need, or farm a map when Powerful Blood is on the rewards, you cannot do that with Freshwater Pearls.

It is bad because nobody will experiment with Minstrel builds for anything because the Pearls are too expensive. Meaning it was pointless even adding it to the game. Same goes for the Sigil of Concentration, as it is, if you want to craft one yourself, you’d need to hit about 2500 Mussel nodes to get enough… For one sigil.

Kind of makes me think that a discovery recipe should be added for combining Mother-of-Pearls into Freshwater Pearls to alleviate this issue.

I don’t see the issue. Just farm 125 gold and buy what you need.

Omne.4603:

I don’t see the issue. Just farm 125 gold and buy what you need.

You don’t see a problem with a single sigil costing 125 gold?

Wondrouswall.7169:

Kind of makes me think that a discovery recipe should be added for combining Mother-of-Pearls into Freshwater Pearls to alleviate this issue.

Yeah, this would be a fine solution.

Or they could also make a promotion recipe for the Mystic Forge

Or even make the other Pearls a “core” and be able to use them as you would lodestone cores for promotion in the forge.

Or make vendors that trade the rare crafting mats for Airship Parts, Aurillium, Leyline Crystals etc.

Or just increase the drop rate.

Electro.4173:

Omne.4603:

I don’t see the issue. Just farm 125 gold and buy what you need.

You don’t see a problem with a single sigil costing 125 gold?

It’s actually over 160g atm. It would be 125g if you bought the FWPearls on the TP, but there are other mats included.

Not only this, but the entire supply on the TP is not enough to make even 10 sigils. The demand is five times the supply.

Iris Ng.9845:

If you want to gather the Pearls, I suggest you not go through the harvesting route. Instead, park all your characters at the small chests in Tangle Depth. Despite not any much better, I still manage to gather ~5 Pearls with 11 characters after a week. If you want to increase your odds, you can do the chest train daily (~8-10 chests in TD) with different characters.

The pearl is as rare as Giant Eyes before HoT.

So you farmed for a week something that cost 25 gold total?

You could spent 90 min doing SW events,and collect 30 gold by opening all bags on low level.

I will never understand logic of people farming something rare for weeks,when you can do SW for one day,earn 200 gold and buy whatever you want.

I don’t know,maybe i’m doing it all wrong.Maybe i should quit SW farm…Strange world this is…

Same as for people who wait 30 days for bolt 30 of damask…They could spent 2 days doing sw events,and buy 50 of those…

Werdx.2059:

Iris Ng.9845:

If you want to gather the Pearls, I suggest you not go through the harvesting route. Instead, park all your characters at the small chests in Tangle Depth. Despite not any much better, I still manage to gather ~5 Pearls with 11 characters after a week. If you want to increase your odds, you can do the chest train daily (~8-10 chests in TD) with different characters.

The pearl is as rare as Giant Eyes before HoT.

So you farmed for a week something that cost 25 gold total?

You could spent 90 min doing SW events,and collect 30 gold by opening all bags on low level.

I will never understand logic of people farming something rare for weeks,when you can do SW for one day,earn 200 gold and buy whatever you want.

I don’t know,maybe i’m doing it all wrong.Maybe i should quit SW farm…Strange world this is…

Same as for people who wait 30 days for bolt 30 of damask…They could spent 2 days doing sw events,and buy 50 of those…

Why even farm? Just do an hour of overtime each week, buy gems and convert to 400g.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Werdx.2059:

Iris Ng.9845:

If you want to gather the Pearls, I suggest you not go through the harvesting route. Instead, park all your characters at the small chests in Tangle Depth. Despite not any much better, I still manage to gather ~5 Pearls with 11 characters after a week. If you want to increase your odds, you can do the chest train daily (~8-10 chests in TD) with different characters.

The pearl is as rare as Giant Eyes before HoT.

So you farmed for a week something that cost 25 gold total?

You could spent 90 min doing SW events,and collect 30 gold by opening all bags on low level.

I will never understand logic of people farming something rare for weeks,when you can do SW for one day,earn 200 gold and buy whatever you want.

I don’t know,maybe i’m doing it all wrong.Maybe i should quit SW farm…Strange world this is…

Same as for people who wait 30 days for bolt 30 of damask…They could spent 2 days doing sw events,and buy 50 of those…

Why even farm? Just do an hour of overtime each week, buy gems and convert to 400g.

I know you’re being sarcastic but you know … that’s a PERFECTLY reasonable way to get things you want in this game ….

Electro.4173:

Azure Prower.8701:

Sounds like Foxfire cluster all over again.

Not really like Foxfire Clusters at all. Actually, Foxfire is relatively common all things considered.

The closest analogue is probably Passion Flowers, and even then Freshwater Pearls seem rarer than those ever were as well.

Considering that Passion Flowers were deemed so rare that they went ahead and gave dedicated nodes just to allow people to gather them somewhat reliably… yah, I think Freshwater Pearls are far too rare currently. Something you need 25 of just for basic gear like upgrades shouldn’t be so rare that the price on the TP is twice that of even the most expensive lodestone.

Ever?

Does that include the period before blooming passion flowers were added? Though there is an important difference. As far as I know there is no limit on gathering mussels but there is an account based limit on passion flower similar to quartz.

Obtena.7952:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Werdx.2059:

Iris Ng.9845:

If you want to gather the Pearls, I suggest you not go through the harvesting route. Instead, park all your characters at the small chests in Tangle Depth. Despite not any much better, I still manage to gather ~5 Pearls with 11 characters after a week. If you want to increase your odds, you can do the chest train daily (~8-10 chests in TD) with different characters.

The pearl is as rare as Giant Eyes before HoT.

So you farmed for a week something that cost 25 gold total?

You could spent 90 min doing SW events,and collect 30 gold by opening all bags on low level.

I will never understand logic of people farming something rare for weeks,when you can do SW for one day,earn 200 gold and buy whatever you want.

I don’t know,maybe i’m doing it all wrong.Maybe i should quit SW farm…Strange world this is…

Same as for people who wait 30 days for bolt 30 of damask…They could spent 2 days doing sw events,and buy 50 of those…

Why even farm? Just do an hour of overtime each week, buy gems and convert to 400g.

I know you’re being sarcastic but you know … that’s a PERFECTLY reasonable way to get things you want in this game ….

Then whoever did the design should consider themselves a failure as a game designer and a great asset to the accounting department.

Khisanth.2948:

Obtena.7952:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Werdx.2059:

Iris Ng.9845:

If you want to gather the Pearls, I suggest you not go through the harvesting route. Instead, park all your characters at the small chests in Tangle Depth. Despite not any much better, I still manage to gather ~5 Pearls with 11 characters after a week. If you want to increase your odds, you can do the chest train daily (~8-10 chests in TD) with different characters.

The pearl is as rare as Giant Eyes before HoT.

So you farmed for a week something that cost 25 gold total?

You could spent 90 min doing SW events,and collect 30 gold by opening all bags on low level.

I will never understand logic of people farming something rare for weeks,when you can do SW for one day,earn 200 gold and buy whatever you want.

I don’t know,maybe i’m doing it all wrong.Maybe i should quit SW farm…Strange world this is…

Same as for people who wait 30 days for bolt 30 of damask…They could spent 2 days doing sw events,and buy 50 of those…

Why even farm? Just do an hour of overtime each week, buy gems and convert to 400g.

I know you’re being sarcastic but you know … that’s a PERFECTLY reasonable way to get things you want in this game ….

Then whoever did the design should consider themselves a failure as a game designer and a great asset to the accounting department.

Actually, it’s a very smart way to recognize that players balance time vs. their money, and give options for players at either end of the spectrum to enjoy the game. I can see how that offends you if you if your money is worth more to you than time, because you believe it’s easier to just buy your way to things than earn them ingame, but that would be a rather ignorant view of how RL works. I can assure you, working IRL is MUCH harder than spending time ingame to earn something.

Obtena.7952:

Khisanth.2948:

Obtena.7952:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Werdx.2059:

Iris Ng.9845:

If you want to gather the Pearls, I suggest you not go through the harvesting route. Instead, park all your characters at the small chests in Tangle Depth. Despite not any much better, I still manage to gather ~5 Pearls with 11 characters after a week. If you want to increase your odds, you can do the chest train daily (~8-10 chests in TD) with different characters.

The pearl is as rare as Giant Eyes before HoT.

So you farmed for a week something that cost 25 gold total?

You could spent 90 min doing SW events,and collect 30 gold by opening all bags on low level.

I will never understand logic of people farming something rare for weeks,when you can do SW for one day,earn 200 gold and buy whatever you want.

I don’t know,maybe i’m doing it all wrong.Maybe i should quit SW farm…Strange world this is…

Same as for people who wait 30 days for bolt 30 of damask…They could spent 2 days doing sw events,and buy 50 of those…

Why even farm? Just do an hour of overtime each week, buy gems and convert to 400g.

I know you’re being sarcastic but you know … that’s a PERFECTLY reasonable way to get things you want in this game ….

Then whoever did the design should consider themselves a failure as a game designer and a great asset to the accounting department.

Actually, it’s a very smart way to recognize that players balance time vs. their money, and give options for players at either end of the spectrum to enjoy the game. I can see how that offends you if you if your money is worth more to you than time, because you believe it’s easier to just buy your way to things than earn them ingame, but that would be a rather ignorant view of how RL works. I can assure you, working IRL is MUCH harder than spending time ingame to earn something.

Working IRL is far easier than grinding in-game for items, the time spent ratio is far better. Unless you work a crap job for crap pay. Like I said earlier, one hour of overtime will buy me 400 gold which is orders of magnitude easier than hitting 5000+ mussel nodes for the same value.

It should not be so clear an advantage to just buy gold.

They are too rare, full-stop.

Time spent is not the only factor an objective evaluation of determining what work is easier. There is no clear advantage to just buy gold; that depends on your RL situation. Again, some players value time over money, some the opposite. Depends on players values. You’re just cherry picking what you want it to be to make your case. You’re ignoring the other side of the coin. If it’s so easy for you to work and buy the gold, WTH are you even making a thread about this? Just do it. That’s what it’s there for.

Same goes with your ‘full stop’ too rare ‘fact’. Everything you have said is very subjective. It’s not worth arguing a point with you since you view your opinion as THE basis for your argument. I don’t think they are too rare; from my perspective, they aren’t rare enough, because my interest is to sell them and I want as much as I can get for them. For a rare item, they aren’t worth that much ….

My point is, you’re not right, neither am I. What you think should be less rare, I think should be more. It’s simply a matter of your perspective.

I’ve obtained 5 Freshwater Pearls in the past week and I’m not purposefully after them.

All I can say is. You’re probably going about it the wrong way if you’re farming mussels.

Obtena.7952:

Time spent is not the only factor an objective evaluation of determining what work is easier. There is no clear advantage to just buy gold; that depends on your RL situation. Again, some players value time over money, some the opposite. Depends on players values. You’re just cherry picking what you want it to be to make your case. You’re ignoring the other side of the coin. If it’s so easy for you to work and buy the gold, WTH are you even making a thread about this? Just do it. That’s what it’s there for.

Same goes with your ‘full stop’ too rare ‘fact’. Everything you have said is very subjective. It’s not worth arguing a point with you since you view your opinion as THE basis for your argument. I don’t think they are too rare; from my perspective, they aren’t rare enough, because my interest is to sell them and I want as much as I can get for them. For a rare item, they aren’t worth that much ….

My point is, you’re not right, neither am I. What you think should be less rare, I think should be more. It’s simply a matter of your perspective.

I do buy gold for some things, but others I like to be able to farm. I do like to spend time that way, sneaking around on a thief, fighting nothing and just harvesting.

Basic materials to make armor insignias and sigils should not be so rare if the numbers required are as they are with the Pearls.

Cosmetic items and convenience items I have no issue with rarity or numbers required.

My point is that no armor stat set should be so much harder to craft or so much more expensive than others, the same goes for sigils, they are basic items. Looking at you too Zealots…

Your point is only valid because you do not desire to make a set of the armor or the sigil. If you did, it would change.

If those recipes were changed to require a fraction of the pearls they do now, I couldn’t care less that the drop rate is 1%, as the task of gathering some would be somewhat possible. Both parties happy, price stays high, cost to craft armor is vastly reduced.

Azure Prower.8701:

I’ve obtained 5 Freshwater Pearls in the past week and I’m not purposefully after them.

All I can say is. You’re probably going about it the wrong way if you’re farming mussels.

So, 5 weeks of whatever you are doing to gain mats to make a Sigil?

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

So, 5 weeks of whatever you are doing to gain mats to make a Sigil?

If you want it that badly. Must be worth it.

Azure Prower.8701:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

So, 5 weeks of whatever you are doing to gain mats to make a Sigil?

If you want it that badly. Must be worth it.

I don’t really want it that badly. But it would be an excellent Sigil for many builds I can think of.

160g for a sigil is too much no matter how much gold I have, which is a personal opinion, that is why I would like to be able to harvest the materials myself. Catch 22.

So I will just have to not have it. For a lot longer than I would like. And it would still end up costing me 120g+ because I could sell the Pearls.

The point I was making with quoting you is that the best known method (for you) will still take 5 weeks to aquire some of the materials to make the Sigil. No upgrade component should be that difficult to come by.

I have to agree that Freshwater Pearls seem absurdly rare as pure “drops” from Mussels. I’ve gotten more from opening Airship Cargos than I have from harvesting them.

From what some others have mentioned here though, it sounds as if chest farming in TD is the way to go if you want to get them. It may have been an intentional design by ANet to improve the desire for people to stay in that map. (Just like how the best source for Black Diamonds is by opening the chests beneath Tarir after a successful meta.)

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Basic materials to make armor insignias and sigils should not be so rare if the numbers required are as they are with the Pearls.

My point is that no armor stat set should be so much harder to craft or so much more expensive than others, the same goes for sigils, they are basic items. Looking at you too Zealots…

I guess Anet disagrees with you, which is fundamental here; they have created the game and the TP in a way that doesn’t allow them to control the price for specific mats. This makes your point completely irrelevant. They have also implemented a way for players to choose how to buy things based on how they value time and money to allow players to optimize how they decide to purchase things. Neither of those two things are going to change I can assure you.

Farm drinks from the bell choir or Wintersday JP. 3 rounds of bell choir takes about 20 minutes and gives you 54 gifts that will typically net you 4.5g to 5g in drinks alone. Plus, every 6 rounds you get 3ap.

Werdx.2059:

Iris Ng.9845:

If you want to gather the Pearls, I suggest you not go through the harvesting route. Instead, park all your characters at the small chests in Tangle Depth. Despite not any much better, I still manage to gather ~5 Pearls with 11 characters after a week. If you want to increase your odds, you can do the chest train daily (~8-10 chests in TD) with different characters.

The pearl is as rare as Giant Eyes before HoT.

So you farmed for a week something that cost 25 gold total?

You could spent 90 min doing SW events,and collect 30 gold by opening all bags on low level.

I will never understand logic of people farming something rare for weeks,when you can do SW for one day,earn 200 gold and buy whatever you want.

I don’t know,maybe i’m doing it all wrong.Maybe i should quit SW farm…Strange world this is…

Same as for people who wait 30 days for bolt 30 of damask…They could spent 2 days doing sw events,and buy 50 of those…

Nope, what I farm are the flax and the chests that also gives loads of Ley line crystals and Rare Reclaimed weapons. The Pearls are just a bonus that it seems to drop more frequently from chests than from mussels nodes. And no, if I had sold everything, which I did not because I am completing many collections at the same time myself, I could have made 20g per 50 minutes flat per day.

You really live in a strange world when you think it’s your right to preach about how to farm gold in a game that you have no ideas how easy it is to make gold outside of burying your head in the sand of Silverwaste.

Obtena.7952:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Basic materials to make armor insignias and sigils should not be so rare if the numbers required are as they are with the Pearls.

My point is that no armor stat set should be so much harder to craft or so much more expensive than others, the same goes for sigils, they are basic items. Looking at you too Zealots…

I guess Anet disagrees with you, which is fundamental here; they have created the game and the TP in a way that doesn’t allow them to control the price for specific mats. This makes your point completely irrelevant. They have also implemented a way for players to choose how to buy things based on how they value time and money to allow players to optimize how they decide to purchase things. Neither of those two things are going to change I can assure you.

As if ANet has no control over the price. If they doubled the drop rate, I can guarantee the price would come down significantly. You only have to look at Blooming Passiflora to see this or the Flax farm which was pointed out to bring the price down. I’m merely pointing out that the cost of crafting the items from FWPearls is too expensive, no matter how you go about getting them. This is because either they are too rare or the recipes require too many so the demand is high.

Obtena.7952:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Basic materials to make armor insignias and sigils should not be so rare if the numbers required are as they are with the Pearls.

My point is that no armor stat set should be so much harder to craft or so much more expensive than others, the same goes for sigils, they are basic items. Looking at you too Zealots…

I guess Anet disagrees with you, which is fundamental here; they have created the game and the TP in a way that doesn’t allow them to control the price for specific mats. This makes your point completely irrelevant. They have also implemented a way for players to choose how to buy things based on how they value time and money to allow players to optimize how they decide to purchase things. Neither of those two things are going to change I can assure you.

Anet controls the prices.

So it seems today we’ve come to a point where “just go buy it on the TP” isn’t going to work anymore. There’s 5 Freshwater Pearls left to buy. What’s the answer now, gentlemen?

Khisanth.2948:

Ever?

Does that include the period before blooming passion flowers were added?

Well, the original passion flower drop rates were about the same (and no, there was no gathering cap at the very beginning, that came later). Of course, that situation has been eventually recognized as a problem and blooming passiflora nodes were added.
We can only hope it will not take them as long in this case (though it’s already taking them too long)

Obtena.7952:

I guess Anet disagrees with you, which is fundamental here; they have created the game and the TP in a way that doesn’t allow them to control the price for specific mats.

On the contrary, they have been doing that since the beginning of the game. Things like changing droprates of specific materials, adjusting crafting recipes, or adding new ones are exactly that – attempts to influence prices of specific goods.

I’ve had good personal luck with Freshwater Pearls from Mussels. I often do the “mussels farm” in Verdant Brink on the way to the flax farm from the entry waypoint along the streams. I’d guess about 1 in 50. I had 2 in a row once from the end of the south lane in Dragon’s Stand.

Now Magumma Lily from jungle plants, no luck at all there..

Astralporing.1957:

Khisanth.2948:

Ever?

Does that include the period before blooming passion flowers were added?

Well, the original passion flower drop rates were about the same (and no, there was no gathering cap at the very beginning, that came later). Of course, that situation has been eventually recognized as a problem and blooming passiflora nodes were added.
We can only hope it will not take them as long in this case (though it’s already taking them too long)

Obtena.7952:

I guess Anet disagrees with you, which is fundamental here; they have created the game and the TP in a way that doesn’t allow them to control the price for specific mats.

On the contrary, they have been doing that since the beginning of the game. Things like changing droprates of specific materials, adjusting crafting recipes, or adding new ones are exactly that – attempts to influence prices of specific goods.

This discussion has been had many times before; Prices dictated by market. Anet will step in as needed changing material availability to impact runaway or slumping prices; that is not price control. Prices are not controlled in the sense that Anet steps in and says “The price for this mat is X”. That’s what I’m talking about in the quote you and others decided to argue with me about.

\Don’t confuse control of the FLOW of mats for the control of the PRICE of mats. Two different things.

Obtena.7952:

Astralporing.1957:

Khisanth.2948:

Ever?

Does that include the period before blooming passion flowers were added?

Well, the original passion flower drop rates were about the same (and no, there was no gathering cap at the very beginning, that came later). Of course, that situation has been eventually recognized as a problem and blooming passiflora nodes were added.
We can only hope it will not take them as long in this case (though it’s already taking them too long)

Obtena.7952:

I guess Anet disagrees with you, which is fundamental here; they have created the game and the TP in a way that doesn’t allow them to control the price for specific mats.

On the contrary, they have been doing that since the beginning of the game. Things like changing droprates of specific materials, adjusting crafting recipes, or adding new ones are exactly that – attempts to influence prices of specific goods.

This discussion has been had many times before; Prices dictated by market. Anet will step in as needed changing material availability to impact runaway or slumping prices; that is not price control. Prices are not controlled in the sense that Anet steps in and says “The price for this mat is X”. That’s what I’m talking about in the quote you and others decided to argue with me about.

You mean, that they don’t set the prices directly, and this is true, but on the other hand it is also true that they are perfectly willing and capable of controlling them indirectly. And they have been doing this since beginning of the game.

At least it isn’t stupidly rare as how Giant Eyes were. If not for the map bonuses I could probably play the game for another 10-20 years and still not get one.

Astralporing.1957:

Obtena.7952:

Astralporing.1957:

Khisanth.2948:

Ever?

Does that include the period before blooming passion flowers were added?

Well, the original passion flower drop rates were about the same (and no, there was no gathering cap at the very beginning, that came later). Of course, that situation has been eventually recognized as a problem and blooming passiflora nodes were added.
We can only hope it will not take them as long in this case (though it’s already taking them too long)

Obtena.7952:

I guess Anet disagrees with you, which is fundamental here; they have created the game and the TP in a way that doesn’t allow them to control the price for specific mats.

On the contrary, they have been doing that since the beginning of the game. Things like changing droprates of specific materials, adjusting crafting recipes, or adding new ones are exactly that – attempts to influence prices of specific goods.

This discussion has been had many times before; Prices dictated by market. Anet will step in as needed changing material availability to impact runaway or slumping prices; that is not price control. Prices are not controlled in the sense that Anet steps in and says “The price for this mat is X”. That’s what I’m talking about in the quote you and others decided to argue with me about.

You mean, that they don’t set the prices directly, and this is true, but on the other hand it is also true that they are perfectly willing and capable of controlling them indirectly. And they have been doing this since beginning of the game.

Yup, and to be clear, that’s what is meant (and implied when knowledgeable people talk about these things) when I said Anet doesn’t control the prices … the FIRST time I said it.

Now, if I what I read recently is true, and there is only 5 pearls on the TP, the next question would be what are the consumption rates for these. I’m totally for Anet reviewing their sources on these kinds of mats … as long as it makes sense to do so. If they are moving at the rate of 10 per day for example, 5 on the TP isn’t enough to supply the market. If they were moving at a rate of 1 per week, 5 on the TP isn’t that big a deal.

Obtena.7952:

Astralporing.1957:

Obtena.7952:

Astralporing.1957:

Khisanth.2948:

Ever?

Does that include the period before blooming passion flowers were added?

Well, the original passion flower drop rates were about the same (and no, there was no gathering cap at the very beginning, that came later). Of course, that situation has been eventually recognized as a problem and blooming passiflora nodes were added.
We can only hope it will not take them as long in this case (though it’s already taking them too long)

Obtena.7952:

I guess Anet disagrees with you, which is fundamental here; they have created the game and the TP in a way that doesn’t allow them to control the price for specific mats.

On the contrary, they have been doing that since the beginning of the game. Things like changing droprates of specific materials, adjusting crafting recipes, or adding new ones are exactly that – attempts to influence prices of specific goods.

This discussion has been had many times before; Prices dictated by market. Anet will step in as needed changing material availability to impact runaway or slumping prices; that is not price control. Prices are not controlled in the sense that Anet steps in and says “The price for this mat is X”. That’s what I’m talking about in the quote you and others decided to argue with me about.

You mean, that they don’t set the prices directly, and this is true, but on the other hand it is also true that they are perfectly willing and capable of controlling them indirectly. And they have been doing this since beginning of the game.

Yup, and to be clear, that’s what is meant (and implied when knowledgeable people talk about these things) when I said Anet doesn’t control the prices … the FIRST time I said it.

Now, if I what I read recently is true, and there is only 5 pearls on the TP, the next question would be what are the consumption rates for these. I’m totally for Anet reviewing their sources on these kinds of mats … as long as it makes sense to do so. If they are moving at the rate of 10 per day for example, 5 on the TP isn’t enough to supply the market. If they were moving at a rate of 1 per week, 5 on the TP isn’t that big a deal.

From this site, at the time of this posting, 912 were sold in the previous 24 hours. 611 through buy orders and 301 through sell orders with 110 as current supply.

https://www.gw2bltc.com/en/item/76179-Freshwater-Pearl

This item is absurdly rare for what it is, and I’m very glad I don’t have plans to make this stat set yet. I also find the people in this forum out of their minds. Farm Silverwastes, buy it with gems, use the flax farm method with chests? It’s an item that really should be less expensive than powerful blood! How is that not a glaring problem?

There are successful roundabout methods and you can get anything from Silverwastes. But if you can’t go to the main source of the item and get some, then that’s a huge problem and design flaw.

I use 3 parts of minstrel ascneded armor on my clerics and mistrels guardian.

It synergizes nicely with runes of the monk and give me a bunker guard… With boutiful sharps and rice balls it’s really nice to use, I use a sigil of transferance, and a sigil of concentration would be nice, but its just completely and utterly unaffordable. If I could get one I’d make a armor for my chrono first..

Eulolia.2467:

I’ve had good personal luck with Freshwater Pearls from Mussels. I often do the “mussels farm” in Verdant Brink on the way to the flax farm from the entry waypoint along the streams. I’d guess about 1 in 50. I had 2 in a row once from the end of the south lane in Dragon’s Stand.

Now Magumma Lily from jungle plants, no luck at all there..

QFT. I decided I wanted a Trailblazer set, checked my bank and saw I’ve never had a Maguuma Lily but have a few Pearls from the route you mentioned when the Jaka Itzel waypoint’s contested/taking new characters to the garden. I’m a self-confessed node addict who will harvest everything she sees but it staggered me that I’ve never had a single lily since HoT launched.

There is hope though!

There are some improvements on obtaining the new HoT gear in the April update but it won’t resolve the issue of having some builds difficult to gear than others until Living World Season 3.

Source: http://dulfy.net/2016/03/05/gw2-reddit-developer-ama-summary/#Items

There are some improvements on obtaining the new HoT gear in the April update but it won’t resolve the issue of having some builds difficult to gear than others until Living World Season 3.

Source: http://dulfy.net/2016/03/05/gw2-reddit-developer-ama-summary/#Items

[/quote]

Sooooo…. any update on this? Felt it was worth a bump since Freshwater Pearls and the like are still untouched. Is there some new way to get them or reward I’m missing?

They probably did not increase droprate. But Superior Sigil of Concentration only needs 5 instead of 25 pearls now, which is improvement enough.

What happened? The freshwater peral price went up from 6g to 12g in 1-2 days.

If you get what you want the moment you wants it, whats the point of playing?

Rogustol.8914:

What happened? The freshwater peral price went up from 6g to 12g in 1-2 days.

Yes, yes it did
Runs back to happy farming spot

Rogustol.8914:

What happened? The freshwater peral price went up from 6g to 12g in 1-2 days.

Total amount of pearls for sigils went from down from 25 to 5. Now more people can afford this best in slot sigil. More demand making up for the lower amount of pearls required.