I know this has been discussed in many ways on this forum and there will be a minimal solution in the next update. However, I would like to add an additional frustration to the problems this tiresome search has already created. Now, wizards are just parking at the reagent spawn sites and waiting for stone blocks to appear. At least, get on your broom or mount and ride around a little. Give others a chance to gather ONE or two stone blocks. I am puzzled at the reason for this policy and so far, KI has said nothing about the reasons for it. I am beginning to think that GM Artisan is a waste of time.
"Now, wizards are just parking at the reagent spawn sites and waiting for stone blocks to appear. At least, get on your broom or mount and ride around a little. Give others a chance to gather ONE or two stone blocks. "
(Disclosure: I completed the master artisan quest with 2 wizards before the Celestia update.)
This is an increasingly problematic situation. Crafting has gotten so competitive that it's almost impossible to gather or purchase the necessary reagents, even the common ones such as stone blocks, deep mushrooms and mistwood. An activity that used to be calm and rather solitary has turned into a race to get the black lotus, or red mandrake, or deep mushroom, or stone block, and some wizards are mean about it.
I find myself spending more and more time in the bazaar trying to grab reagents as they pop up. My poor master pyromancer is flat broke from spending all of her (and my other grandmaster wizards') gold on reagents. I also find myself entering the game at odd hours of the day and night just to see if I can possibly make a run in Tree of Life or Floating Land when there's not already someone else lurking around. It's kinda weird to get up at 6:00 AM just to search for reagents.
I have 2 master artisans and one wizard finishing up the crimson bookshelf task for the master artisan quest. Honestly, I don't look toward the Celestia crafting quests with much enthusiasm. :?
Something does need to be done about the shortage of reagents. Buying the majority of them at the bazaar has become something similar to Black Friday. Add to the fact that people camp over the spawning sites makes it even worse.
Because of these problems I have been going into instances to find my reagents. There is no competition and there is always a guarantee the reagent will be there. And the areas will reset by simply going in and out of the instance.
For Black Lotus, I go to the Tree of Life.
The Great Spyre is good for Stone blocks and ore. You only need to go up into the first encounter. I usually find 2 stone blocks within this area.
Scrap Iron can be found on the first floor of the counterweight.
Red Mandrake you can find in the sunken city.
For Pearls and Kelp I go to the Lunarium on Celestia. The portico area yields 2 pearl spawn sites, 2 kelps, 1 shell, and one wooden chest that sometimes has a reagent.
I do hope this advice helps others in the gathering of reagents.
Hannah Lifebringer Level 60 Life (grandmaster artisan)
"Because of these problems I have been going into instances to find my reagents. There is no competition and there is always a guarantee the reagent will be there. And the areas will reset by simply going in and out of the instance. "
Thank you, superluther/Hannah, for this excellent suggestion and the accompanying guide :-)
Something does need to be done about the shortage of reagents. Buying the majority of them at the bazaar has become something similar to Black Friday. Add to the fact that people camp over the spawning sites makes it even worse.
Because of these problems I have been going into instances to find my reagents. There is no competition and there is always a guarantee the reagent will be there. And the areas will reset by simply going in and out of the instance.
For Black Lotus, I go to the Tree of Life.
The Great Spyre is good for Stone blocks and ore. You only need to go up into the first encounter. I usually find 2 stone blocks within this area.
Scrap Iron can be found on the first floor of the counterweight.
Red Mandrake you can find in the sunken city.
For Pearls and Kelp I go to the Lunarium on Celestia. The portico area yields 2 pearl spawn sites, 2 kelps, 1 shell, and one wooden chest that sometimes has a reagent.
I do hope this advice helps others in the gathering of reagents.
Hannah Lifebringer Level 60 Life (grandmaster artisan)
Thank you very much for this helpful tip. I will complete the quest, but with only one of my three Master Artisans. Too much time involved to try it again.
Someone posted an article on wizard101central.com on getting Stone Block from the Grand Chasm Past dungeon. Search it out. Author is PunkyMax.
This is the solution we ALL need. No outracing the other person, just put in effort you will get stone blocks. You might not get them as fast as other locations, but your rate will not depend upon if someone else is farming the same location.
I have done it over the weekend, it works, the blocks are not fast and furious, but the rate is dependable. The more effort you expend, the more blocks you will get. Its linear, and not dependent on others or the time of day.
Furthermore, I'm not ruining the location. Its a dungeon, each instance of the dungeon is loaded up with its own set of reagents. 10,000 people could be farming it at the same time unless KI computers crash.
Someone posted an article on wizard101central.com on getting Stone Block from the Grand Chasm Past dungeon. Search it out. Author is PunkyMax.
This is the solution we ALL need. No outracing the other person, just put in effort you will get stone blocks. You might not get them as fast as other locations, but your rate will not depend upon if someone else is farming the same location.
I have done it over the weekend, it works, the blocks are not fast and furious, but the rate is dependable. The more effort you expend, the more blocks you will get. Its linear, and not dependent on others or the time of day.
Furthermore, I'm not ruining the location. Its a dungeon, each instance of the dungeon is loaded up with its own set of reagents. 10,000 people could be farming it at the same time unless KI computers crash.
Enjoy!
After posting about going to the Spyre for stone blocks, I discovered the grand chasm instance was much better. Within a half hour, i can harvest anywhere between 35 - 50 stone blocks. Each "run" takes anywhere between 1 - 3 minutes depending on speed of loading.
superluther, do you mean Grand Chasm, or Grand Chasm Past?
I have found blocks in regular Grand Chasm too, the area way back there seemed to be pretty devoid of other farmers. One area in particular seemed to have SB on either side of a dead end. See, we have two accounts, I like places that I can easily move the second character (Life) without it getting into a fight. It is very hard to run two separate battles!
I will have to admit though, last night I was farming Dragonspyre Academy. See, to craft the Feint Treasure card, among the items needed are Lava Lilly and Diamond, so although the overall Stone Block rate might be lower, the useful reagent rate is higher. At one point I thought the Academy was getting overfarmed so went to GCP, and got pulled into some fights. Moral of the story is, make sure you set up your deck to quickly dispatch these guys, and Death, you will want your Prism.
And good grief, I am SO CLOSE! URGH! This is killing me.
superluther, do you mean Grand Chasm, or Grand Chasm Past?
I have found blocks in regular Grand Chasm too, the area way back there seemed to be pretty devoid of other farmers. One area in particular seemed to have SB on either side of a dead end. See, we have two accounts, I like places that I can easily move the second character (Life) without it getting into a fight. It is very hard to run two separate battles!
I will have to admit though, last night I was farming Dragonspyre Academy. See, to craft the Feint Treasure card, among the items needed are Lava Lilly and Diamond, so although the overall Stone Block rate might be lower, the useful reagent rate is higher. At one point I thought the Academy was getting overfarmed so went to GCP, and got pulled into some fights. Moral of the story is, make sure you set up your deck to quickly dispatch these guys, and Death, you will want your Prism.
And good grief, I am SO CLOSE! URGH! This is killing me.
The Grand Chasm Past is great for stone blocks. Most of the time you don't need to repair the bridges to get to the blocks. Staying close to the edges will keep you from the fights.
Love how everyone is always impatient. With the new update, Sandstone and Sunstone will be dropping like flies from the Solarium and Trial of Spheres... And if its like it currently is in the test realm, all those annoying Science Center fishbots too!
THANK YOU KI. The small changes you have made in harvesting reagents will open up a whole new level of the game for me. I will continue on the GM Artisan quest with my other 2 Master Artisans, which I would not have done had I had to continue the boring search for stone block. It was isolating and frustrating. I have my first Grandmaster Artisan and will start crafting some gear. Thanks for listening. Grace Raincrafter GM Artisan
Love how everyone is always impatient. With the new update, Sandstone and Sunstone will be dropping like flies from the Solarium and Trial of Spheres... And if its like it currently is in the test realm, all those annoying Science Center fishbots too!
Actually the sandstone is dropping like flies in other areas. I got 6 as drops in the Grotto and a few more in the district of the stars.
i dont know about anyone else but i had a hard time gathering ore for the ds crafting quest always that one spot in ds that spawns the most ore and stone block just keep changing realms helps alot
i dont know about anyone else but i had a hard time gathering ore for the ds crafting quest always that one spot in ds that spawns the most ore and stone block just keep changing realms helps alot
Your problem is that you are restricting your search to just one area of one world. (And so is everyone else!) Ore and stone blocks can be found all over the place in Krokotopia. You can also find both ore and stone blocks in various places in Grizzleheim. Ore spawns in the Haunted Cave and Dark Cave of Wizard City. Stone blocks are also found all over the place in Marleybone.
Dragonsypre is one of the most heavily hunted places ... so for better luck you should try one of the many other worlds where these common reagents are spawned.
