AREAS - MISSING COMPONENTS

[Dalvyn]

I am looking for a list of components that cannot be easily obtained and are currently heavily missing from the game.

Note that "easily obtained" might mean
- bought from mobs (though let me know if their stock is too low, i.e., if they are too often "out of stock"),
- collected from areas
- crafted through some means (alchemy or precision forge for example).

For the sake of this discussion, ignore player-owned shops please.

Also, I'm currently only interested in the surface (i.e., I know that drow have a harder access to components, but this is not part of the current topic).

[Elke]

Brightstones. Definitely brightstones. Oh, and darts.

[Dalvyn]

Brightstones ... should be fixed next Saturday.

As for darts, you can make them at the forge, no?

[Moloch]

Jacinth Gems and Lodestones..Thus far, I've found neither.

[Aveline]

jacinth gems and brightstones! Lodestones have a shop but not too many people know about it yet I guess. But I wouldn't be opposed to having them in another area...and darts can be made at the forge.

[Gwain]

Soot, the mobile that provides it for sale has been out for some time.
Maybe make it a byproduct of fire and charcoal grindings?

[Nedylene]

I have more issues with starstones then I do brightstones. A hollow cone of platinum.

[Brodnur]

Could just be me not knowing where to obtain, but saffron seed has been really hard to find as well.

[Moloch]

starstone has a merchant, and hollow cones of platinum can be forged somewhere.

[Aveline]

saffron seed has a merchant too, but it is another of those that is sort of off the beaten path and hard to find

[Gwain]

A lot of the problems with those components stem from the fact that the merchant mobiles are identical. In any given area there is 10 - 25 of these mobiles that wander or are situated over a large area. These components are usually held by only one mobile. I would suggest that maybe the components for sale be shared by several mobiles instead of one in one area, maybe three or four to cope with the ic demand. Or that the rarer components, like saffron seed or starstones, even earthstones and sulfur be available from stationary mobiles that can at least be identified uniquely from their fellow mobiles to cut down on the time to track them. Speaking from experience, mobiles walking around an area with 350+ rooms in all directions and looking all exactly the same, and resetting after a certain amount of ic hours is difficult and aggravating. Maybe balance easier availability with costlier prices, but no one likes to search through 25 identical mobiles moving from room to room. I would be more than happy to submit builder ideas for unique mobile merchants if such is possible.

[Elke]

I've never had a problem with earthstones, starstones yes but not after I was told about a relatively stationary place they were supplied in. Forging I know about but there isn't a mobile themselves selling them was what I meant. Soot I agree, I had a terrible time finding it...

[Elke]

Forging I know about but there isn't a mobile themselves selling them was what I meant.

My point there was that at low levels it's hard to find...

[Dalvyn]

Actually, forging was made as something that even low level characters can do more or less easily (and even make some coins by selling their products to higher level wizards who might not want to spend their time at the forge).

That being said, I don't know what the current status of the metal supply is?

[Tavik]

Metals are available if you know who to ask.

[Elke]

Metals isn't the problem, I was more thinking of people to teach you at low levels when your character hasn't made many friends/allies yet...if you see what I mean!

[Lathlain]

There's also a significant lack of available trading sources for evil and monstrous races, which isn't so amazing for things like metals and access to the forges etc. Similarly items on the wandering merchants of Waterdeep (such as soot and star/sun/moonstones) aren't necessarily easily available to everyone.

I'm afraid casters aren't my strong point so I can't cite many references, but the suggestion that components are always available if there's someone in game who can make them isn't technically accurate.

Lastly I know yuan-ti eyes are available from mobs in game, but it rather requires a group of high-level people to gather them. For those of low level or a lack of viable friends for whatever reason, it makes things like invisibility difficult to ever use - which is a little silly for such a low level spell.

My personal preference would be to see a few Yuan-ti mobs of a lower level and closer to the surface somewhere, just to bridge the gap

[Solaghar]

Lathlain speaks well of the supply of yuan-ti eyes, for those who can't manage to get down to kill those yuan-ti, it's kind of an annoyance.

When it comes to forging, for the evil or monstrous races of the surface that can be a real difficulty as most miners/smelters tend to be dwarves and I guess some humans from places like Waterdeep, those who learn those trades early on and with some relative ease. I know of no orcs, tieflings, halfdrow or the like who currently are anything near to active miners, and I know that the very act of mining for me at least is so tediously repetitive that it's a giant waste of RP time, to sit in a room and just spam a single command time after time after time, I'd rather hit myself in the head with a hammer repetitively in real life, kudos to those dwarves etc whose rp consists of mining and smelting and that sort of thing, but I'll never have the patience for trades the way that they work here.

[Gwain]

It would be interesting to create an enclave for Yuant-ti in another area, I'd recommend an enviroment that suits the creatures themselves but is very difficult to assail alone or without a group. Maybe 5-10 rooms with traps and other devices to make it dangerous and worth the trouble of obtaining the component.

[Ryldaen]

In answer to Solagher there is at least on half-drow who is a competent miner and does manufacture components using the precision forge. It has turned out to be a useful way of making a few coin selling to other wizards and a few clerics on occasion.

For myself the hardest components to aquire are Jacinth gems and the various kinds of stones, i have high hopes that the Alchemist changes in the next week or so should help with this.

And there is an in game location where soot can be gathered in as large a quantity as you could ever need. It is not a restricted area as far as race or alignment though you may have to fight some Mobs to get it.

Ryldaen