Guild Wars 2

I started playing after living world ended, and never had much reason to go to Dry Top. Now I’m looking for more Tyrian mastery points and would like to do the Ambrite weapons collection. I’ve run through Dry Top, unlocked the waypoints, seen a pattern of events and sandstorm, but can’t figure out the best way to spend my time. I seem to get very few geodes, and zepherite keys look overpriced. What should I be doing to work on the collection? (I know there’s a PvP reward track, and I’ll probably be relying on that, but I generally prefer PvE and I’d like to learn the map)

TL;DR: What do I do in Dry Top to get geodes and insects for Ambrite weapons?

There are a few short event chains in Dry Top, but otherwise the whole map runs on a fixed hourly schedule.
Doing events advances the map tier. Each event gives <map tier> + 1 geodes, so at tier 2, each event gives 3 geodes. During the sand storm, the geode earnings per event are doubled. So the key to the whole thing is doing as many events as possible and finding an organized (or at least an active, populated) map, if possible. Some events (like basket defense or crystal race) give bonus favor when done perfectly, i.e. they advance the map tier considerably more. Learning the mechanics of these events is therefor rather useful.

Also, vendor prices and item selection improve with map tier. Their inventory is complete at tier 4, but higher tiers will still lower prices. I would not buy anything for geodes at lower than tier 3 (if you have trouble finding active maps) or tier 4 (if you don’t).

Fossilized insects are obtained from the Fossil Collector vendors from Unidentified Fossilized Insects. Be careful to obtain each fossilized insect only once if all you care for is the collection! Unidentified Fossilized Insects are a rare drop from the Zephyrite chests during the sandstorms, so always have Zephyrite keys with you in a sandstorm.

There is also a WvW track.

You get geodes by doing events. Events during the sandstorm get you more. You also get a bit from the piles of silky sands.

The events also spawn in a fixed pattern at specific times so once you are familiar with them you could tag most if not all of them. If you are going there for geodes you should check LFG for an organized map. Higher tier maps will give more geodes per event.

The WvW/sPvP tracks are much better for the fossils since they remove the RNG aspect of obtaining them and then you can just focus on using geodes for the recipes instead of buying lockpicks.

Do dry top map completion on as many toons as you have. You get 100 geodes for each completion every time plus some mats. And it’s fairly easy map to do.