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Darkmoor drops are too low

AuthorMessage
Geographer
Sep 07, 2011
823
Dr Von on Apr 21, 2015 wrote:
when people post stuff like this, i hear:

the gear exists because it's required for survival in future worlds, but you can skip the dungeon if you want. just keep struggling along and, once you realize how outclassed you are, quit. but don't complain about being outclassed, because you wouldn't be, if only you'd done that optional dungeon.

as i have said before, if it is the best gear in-game and has no crafted or purchasable (whether bazaar/vendor or crowns) alternative, then it is not optional.

-von
It is optional. Your comment "it's required for survival in future worlds" is speculative and probably incorrect. Mali gear isn't needed now to do anything, even Darkmoor, and it's unlikely that anything harder than Darkmoor will be main content in the next world. If you want Mali gear because you think it's the best, you can farm for it, but it's certainly not required.

I'd like to see better drop rates and less junk, but let's not pretend our wanting to have all the coolest stuff is a 'need'.

Explorer
Jun 22, 2010
65
Survivor
Aug 13, 2010
8
I completely agree that drops are way too low. I have two exalted wizards, a storm and balance. Both have full darkmoor but is missing the hat. Each one took about 15 darkmoor attempts to get Robe, Boots and Wand. But now I've done about 15+ more runs and i still haven't gotten my hat on either character! I have a storm friend that got full set in 2 runs and I felt that it is completely unfair that someone who put less work than me got the things that I wanted. Malistaire should drop Malistaire ONLY gear and not the Tier 1 and Tier 2 drops. Also if possible, raise the drop rates because it's a real struggle spending 2-3 hours in a dungeon to only get junk. In total, I've done at least 60 darkmoor runs, since my Exalteds are on the same accounts, and honestly it's outrageous of how much time i spend doing this one dungeon for nothing!
Kyle SoulGiver 100
Logan BlueGrove 100
Kyle SoulGiver 19

Explorer
Sep 26, 2013
60
How about an elixir that substantially increases the chance of getting a rare drop no matter where you farm or maybe KI could have a weekend where ultra rare drops aren't so ultra rare?

Explorer
Apr 26, 2010
62
TwilightVillage on Jul 8, 2015 wrote:
I agree with all of you, so tired of trying to do the dungeons and people fleeing. And being that I have several wizards I can say that when darkmoor first came out, gear was easier than now. I know we had a family pack on wizards, and most of the kids have left because it takes too long for these dungeons and they have lost interest and what parent is going to allow their kids to sit for four hours to do a dungeon that they are frustrated with, Wizard101 needs to fix this as you are losing the family aspect of the game, it saddens me that so many great players have left and now a new demographic of player has come on board and some of them are not very nice or friendly. You are losing site of what has grown your brand!
I agree completely with you. Part of the reason I was drawn to wizard101 is the family aspect of it. My cousins and I quested and pvp'ed in the 'good ole days'. I do not have the time to be a hardcore gamer ( nor do I want to be) and it appears as if the game is going more and more in the direction of hardcore gamers because they invest more money into the game than casual players. i completed Waterworks 8 times and got my full set. To me that is a perfectly fine time investment for that top tier gear. The game is evolving into one that isn't designed for kids and families.

Archon
Feb 07, 2011
3175
Gemma Luna on Jul 8, 2015 wrote:
It is optional. Your comment "it's required for survival in future worlds" is speculative and probably incorrect. Mali gear isn't needed now to do anything, even Darkmoor, and it's unlikely that anything harder than Darkmoor will be main content in the next world. If you want Mali gear because you think it's the best, you can farm for it, but it's certainly not required.

I'd like to see better drop rates and less junk, but let's not pretend our wanting to have all the coolest stuff is a 'need'.
again, if it is the best gear in-game (because, stat-wise, you can't argue that it isn't) and does not have a crafted or purchasable alternative, then it is not optional.

(yes, the gear looks cool. but that's not the primary reason people want it.)

it's not needed to do anything (except max-level pvp) of yet because there hasn't been any new main-arc content since darkmoor. but it marked a huge shift in the momentum of the game, and people are going to expect that level of difficulty going forward; if that's the direction in which things are headed, then yes- the stats on that gear will be the bare minimum required to survive, no differently than waterworks gear was at level 60 (but at least that had a craftable alternative).

i am so sick of darkmoor; it's one of my favourite places, in terms of music/story/art, but to say that the low drop rates are insulting is a huge understatement. and i'm obviously not the only one who feels this way~ if i was, this board wouldn't exist.

-von

Astrologist
Dec 16, 2009
1035
Dr Von on Jul 18, 2015 wrote:
again, if it is the best gear in-game (because, stat-wise, you can't argue that it isn't) and does not have a crafted or purchasable alternative, then it is not optional.

(yes, the gear looks cool. but that's not the primary reason people want it.)

it's not needed to do anything (except max-level pvp) of yet because there hasn't been any new main-arc content since darkmoor. but it marked a huge shift in the momentum of the game, and people are going to expect that level of difficulty going forward; if that's the direction in which things are headed, then yes- the stats on that gear will be the bare minimum required to survive, no differently than waterworks gear was at level 60 (but at least that had a craftable alternative).

i am so sick of darkmoor; it's one of my favourite places, in terms of music/story/art, but to say that the low drop rates are insulting is a huge understatement. and i'm obviously not the only one who feels this way~ if i was, this board wouldn't exist.

-von
No the best gear isn't needed gear. The craftable gear from KH is perfectly suitable for questing. Even DM does not require DM gear to complete. WW gear and/or it's crafted alternative was not needed either. My death did fine without either simply using the purchasable lvl 58 gear. The drop rates at DM have been consistently recorded at 30-40% which is are better than any other dungeon in the game.

Survivor
Jul 05, 2009
6
I have to say I get gear but the gear I get is for other schools which cannot be shared among your wizards in your account so it's as good as getting nothing after all those hours of doing the dungeon.

Survivor
May 05, 2009
36
The complaint of "it's unfair that some people get it quickly and some have to put in a ton of work farming forever" is not really a fair complaint. That applies to anything related to chance at all! If it was like a set number of runs until you got it, it would take the fun out of doing a run you knew was fruitless, and take out the unexpected excitement of getting the wanted gear. It's the best gear in the game and the drop rates are low and that is going to be how it is in these sorts of games. If you truly hate doing Darkmoor, it's not for you, and if you have some delusion where you think this gear is totally required as well as hating the dungeon, then you just have to get over your delusion or hate of Darkmoor. In my opinion, it's a fun dungeon that sometimes drops optional gear. If you think it's an awful dungeon that almost never drops gear that is totally necessary, then I don't know what to tell you.

Explorer
May 22, 2009
65
I understand everyone being upset over drop rates, but that is just a part of the game, yes the dungeon can take several hours, but that is why many people develop a strategy. I have gotten the dungeon to around an hour per run and probably done it 100 times or more, I did not complain about the drop rate, I just kept doing the dungeon until I got what I wanted. The drop rate could also be a lot worse, like Morganthe in Khrysalis who only drops one item. I highly doubt KI will change the drop rate or the level of difficulty of this dungeon. This is still fairly new and they wait for awhile before they change the newer stuff. Like in the last dungeon of dragonspyre you could not solo it because you had to interact with three different gem holder things, they changed it to one. Then at the doors there was a time limit before the other dragon thing came back once you killed one, they also changed that. This was when 50 was max level and dragonspyre was the last world. People also ran waterworks many many times to get the gear from there, for some people the gear did not drop easily and they fought it time and time again. The robe is only dropped in one spot and you had the fight the whole dungeon to get there. I do not think they should split up the dungeon, there are serveral dungeons that you have to fight all the way through before you can fight someone who drops something worth while. This dungeon although harder is not different, you have to take into account that this is a level 100 dungeon we have been encountering a lot more cheats and more bosses with mastery amulets. This was meant to be challenging, not some easy run. You have to work hard to get some good gear, and that's that. Throughout wizard101 there have been many difficult dungeons and battles, but people still fought them again and again to get what they wanted. Granted they will probably ease up on the cheats to make the run easier but that will not be for awhile since it is newer.
Level 100 fire

Archon
Feb 07, 2011
3175
Eric Stormbringer on Jul 19, 2015 wrote:
No the best gear isn't needed gear. The craftable gear from KH is perfectly suitable for questing. Even DM does not require DM gear to complete. WW gear and/or it's crafted alternative was not needed either. My death did fine without either simply using the purchasable lvl 58 gear. The drop rates at DM have been consistently recorded at 30-40% which is are better than any other dungeon in the game.
i have 3 exalted wizards and, after 8 months, not one of them has a full set of darkmoor gear.

i'd love to see some (unbiased) physical proof of those numbers, because i sincerely doubt that the drop rate on malistaire's tier 3 elite gear is 30-40%. for off-school junk, yes, it probably is that high. but, if that were true for the tier 3 gear, all 3 of my wizards would have full sets by now.

my death and storm are both in waterworks/crafted combos, but crafted gear for balance is awful. as has been the case for several levels, we have to craft 2 separate sets of gear, and both are subpar. a bunch of random critical is not worth the sacrifice to other, more-important stats.

you say that it's not needed; but perhaps i need to restate the obvious:

of course darkmoor gear isn't needed to do darkmoor~ when it was released, no one had the gear, so it makes no logical sense that an entire world would be tailored around gear that no one has yet. but, now that people have it and expect that level of difficulty going forward, ki will create worlds based on that gear (no differently than they did with waterworks), and those who don't have it will be outclassed.

-v.

Astrologist
Dec 16, 2009
1035
Dr Von on Jul 20, 2015 wrote:
i have 3 exalted wizards and, after 8 months, not one of them has a full set of darkmoor gear.

i'd love to see some (unbiased) physical proof of those numbers, because i sincerely doubt that the drop rate on malistaire's tier 3 elite gear is 30-40%. for off-school junk, yes, it probably is that high. but, if that were true for the tier 3 gear, all 3 of my wizards would have full sets by now.

my death and storm are both in waterworks/crafted combos, but crafted gear for balance is awful. as has been the case for several levels, we have to craft 2 separate sets of gear, and both are subpar. a bunch of random critical is not worth the sacrifice to other, more-important stats.

you say that it's not needed; but perhaps i need to restate the obvious:

of course darkmoor gear isn't needed to do darkmoor~ when it was released, no one had the gear, so it makes no logical sense that an entire world would be tailored around gear that no one has yet. but, now that people have it and expect that level of difficulty going forward, ki will create worlds based on that gear (no differently than they did with waterworks), and those who don't have it will be outclassed.

-v.
i have 3 exalted wizards and, after 8 months, not one of them has a full set of darkmoor gear.

i'd love to see some (unbiased) physical proof of those numbers, because i sincerely doubt that the drop rate on malistaire's tier 3 elite gear is 30-40%. for off-school junk, yes, it probably is that high. but, if that were true for the tier 3 gear, all 3 of my wizards would have full sets by now.

Sure- I have a thread where I posted every dm run for 50 runs and calculated the rate:
Are drops really low?

my death and storm are both in waterworks/crafted combos, but crafted gear for balance is awful. as has been the case for several levels, we have to craft 2 separate sets of gear, and both are subpar. a bunch of random critical is not worth the sacrifice to other, more-important stats.

How is the crafted gear for Balance awful? It offers the same benefit as other schools except that balance has the option to choose which triangle it will resist. The elemental schools are forced to choose elementals while the spirits are forced to choose spirit. Balance is the only school with the option-a clear advantage.

you say that it's not needed; but perhaps i need to restate the obvious:

of course darkmoor gear isn't needed to do darkmoor~ when it was released, no one had the gear, so it makes no logical sense that an entire world would be tailored around gear that no one has yet. but, now that people have it and expect that level of difficulty going forward, ki will create worlds based on that gear (no differently than they did with waterworks), and those who don't have it will be outclassed.

That's the thing- The lvl of difficulty of the next main worlds never reach the level of difficulty of the prior elite dungeons. WW was harder than Zafaria until the very end and WW gear only started becoming outclassed in late Azteca early Khyrsalis. If current trends are followed then KH crafted gear will be more than suitable for the next world until it's crafted gear becomes available.

Archon
Feb 07, 2011
3175
Eric Stormbringer on Jul 20, 2015 wrote:
i have 3 exalted wizards and, after 8 months, not one of them has a full set of darkmoor gear.

i'd love to see some (unbiased) physical proof of those numbers, because i sincerely doubt that the drop rate on malistaire's tier 3 elite gear is 30-40%. for off-school junk, yes, it probably is that high. but, if that were true for the tier 3 gear, all 3 of my wizards would have full sets by now.

Sure- I have a thread where I posted every dm run for 50 runs and calculated the rate:
Are drops really low?

my death and storm are both in waterworks/crafted combos, but crafted gear for balance is awful. as has been the case for several levels, we have to craft 2 separate sets of gear, and both are subpar. a bunch of random critical is not worth the sacrifice to other, more-important stats.

How is the crafted gear for Balance awful? It offers the same benefit as other schools except that balance has the option to choose which triangle it will resist. The elemental schools are forced to choose elementals while the spirits are forced to choose spirit. Balance is the only school with the option-a clear advantage.

you say that it's not needed; but perhaps i need to restate the obvious:

of course darkmoor gear isn't needed to do darkmoor~ when it was released, no one had the gear, so it makes no logical sense that an entire world would be tailored around gear that no one has yet. but, now that people have it and expect that level of difficulty going forward, ki will create worlds based on that gear (no differently than they did with waterworks), and those who don't have it will be outclassed.

That's the thing- The lvl of difficulty of the next main worlds never reach the level of difficulty of the prior elite dungeons. WW was harder than Zafaria until the very end and WW gear only started becoming outclassed in late Azteca early Khyrsalis. If current trends are followed then KH crafted gear will be more than suitable for the next world until it's crafted gear becomes available.
have you even read the responses to your thread on central? nearly every post is from people who, like me, have gotten nothing after months of farming and are just plain burnt out.

if you're okay with getting junk after 2-4 hours in a dungeon (1 of which was spent just finding a team that won't quit), i won't stop you. my time is worth more than that, and the drop rates are insulting at best.

some people are very lucky and, like you,have a highly-specialized team and have no problem getting their stuff in 10-20 runs max. the rest of us are burnt out and frustrated; the mental fatigue is very real, and the thought of having to go back just stresses me out, to the point that i don't want to play anymore. sometimes, i start out in good spirits, but i'm usually in a terrible mood by the time we get to malistaire. and i assure you that there's no one you want on your team less during that last battle than grumpy von (because unlike forum von, who's pretty chill and easygoing, she is not nice and helpful, and probably won't care about if or not you make it).

say what you will about crafted gear, but my wizards will only ever use the boots. there's no way i'm giving up my (way-better and more balanced) stats in favour of inferior ones on two different sets, for the sake of "choice".

if the gear is the bare minimum required for survival in future worlds (because you can't argue that it won't be, at some point), then we shouldn't have to farm for months or years to get it. my time is worth much more than that and this foolishness is a total waste of said time.

-von

Astrologist
Dec 16, 2009
1035
Dr Von on Jul 21, 2015 wrote:
have you even read the responses to your thread on central? nearly every post is from people who, like me, have gotten nothing after months of farming and are just plain burnt out.

if you're okay with getting junk after 2-4 hours in a dungeon (1 of which was spent just finding a team that won't quit), i won't stop you. my time is worth more than that, and the drop rates are insulting at best.

some people are very lucky and, like you,have a highly-specialized team and have no problem getting their stuff in 10-20 runs max. the rest of us are burnt out and frustrated; the mental fatigue is very real, and the thought of having to go back just stresses me out, to the point that i don't want to play anymore. sometimes, i start out in good spirits, but i'm usually in a terrible mood by the time we get to malistaire. and i assure you that there's no one you want on your team less during that last battle than grumpy von (because unlike forum von, who's pretty chill and easygoing, she is not nice and helpful, and probably won't care about if or not you make it).

say what you will about crafted gear, but my wizards will only ever use the boots. there's no way i'm giving up my (way-better and more balanced) stats in favour of inferior ones on two different sets, for the sake of "choice".

if the gear is the bare minimum required for survival in future worlds (because you can't argue that it won't be, at some point), then we shouldn't have to farm for months or years to get it. my time is worth much more than that and this foolishness is a total waste of said time.

-von
have you even read the responses to your thread on central? nearly every post is from people who, like me, have gotten nothing after months of farming and are just plain burnt out.

if you're okay with getting junk after 2-4 hours in a dungeon (1 of which was spent just finding a team that won't quit), i won't stop you. my time is worth more than that, and the drop rates are insulting at best.

Those replies on my thread were mostly based on anecdotal evidence. Every reply where people recorded their drops confirmed this drop rate-the hard evidence you requested. I can definitely understand the burn-out. DM is mentally exhausting and I recommend people only run it at their comfort lvl. If a 30-40% drop rate is insulting to you I am not sure what would be satisfactory.

some people are very lucky and, like you,have a highly-specialized team and have no problem getting their stuff in 10-20 runs max. the rest of us are burnt out and frustrated; the mental fatigue is very real, and the thought of having to go back just stresses me out, to the point that i don't want to play anymore. sometimes

My offer to run DM with you(and anyone else) still stands. If you are frustrated take a break from it-no sense in getting worked up about gear that is not a proven necessity for anything but PvP.

say what you will about crafted gear, but my wizards will only ever use the boots. there's no way i'm giving up my (way-better and more balanced) stats in favour of inferior ones on two different sets, for the sake of "choice".

Our definitions of inferior must be vastly different. Crafted gear is better than most gear bar dm/ultra dungeon and is more than sufficient.

if the gear is the bare minimum required for survival in future worlds (because you can't argue that it won't be, at some point)

I can argue that because no dungeon gear has been necessary without alternatives. WW gear wasn't necessary. Hades gear wasn't necessary and I doubt DM gear will be necessary.

Survivor
Aug 18, 2012
3
QueenKitty025 on Dec 9, 2014 wrote:
The drops rates arent too low there to high got the full malistaire set from only 2 runs.

Note: Using doom to kill malistaire faster lowers the drop rate, it has been tested.
oh i have done everything multiple times.The drop rate is very low.After doing 81 runs you really do try everything and nothing works for me at least.

Survivor
May 15, 2011
1
I had farm Darkmoor like 72 time in the past 3 week and I still do not have that armor so you can't say that the drop rate is higher then it lower.

Survivor
Jun 21, 2015
4
I too have seen these drop rate problems far far too often. Even in mount Olympus when I was a lvl 30 I had no Zeus gear and had to use the garbage they call the senators gear. I never got any Poseidon gear from atlantea all I got was the ares wand and now being a lvl 92 and seeing nothin drop from hades after about 15 tries makes me not even want to do darkmoor except for Glowbug. The only success I have had in dungeons is waterworks which granted took 53 tries to get only the boots hat and life mastery amulet. But come on KI work this stuff out and that will help a lot of played that may leave your game.

Survivor
Aug 23, 2009
2
I got Max lvl like yesterday. I did 3 darkmoor runs got the amulet, robe boots wand and athame. Maybe I'm lucky or maybe your guys just flee fights too often. If you flee you get less drops. So pick a good team when you go in!!

Happy farming

Squire
May 10, 2013
524
eSnowFrost on Dec 7, 2014 wrote:
This is making me very mad. I demand Kingsisle to change the drop rate of the gear that drops from Malistare in Darkmoor. I have farmed it over and over, but to get junk? HOURS of working hard, making strategies, to just get junk? I don't think so! If we wanted the ''junk'' we would farm the other bosses. Malistare should only drop his gear, not junk. This isn't fair.

Some people already have their gear, and only farmed it like 5 times! This is so unfair!

I got the following items for killing Malistare, instead of getting his gear. I have farmed him too many times to get the junk.

- 1857 Gold
- 283 Gold
- Bread Fruit Tree
- Bronze Gear
- Handsome Formori (Treasure Card)
- Wolfbane Loop (Seriously? Not even an upgrade from the gear from Aquila)

I'm so disappointed. Kingsisle, please increase the drop rate, as I am not the only one upset about this.
Too be honest, I don't really care about Darkmoor Drops for death.

I mean, for PvP + Questing I use the Krokopatra Hood, the Rattlebones Robe and Darkmoor Boots.
Plus (a little luck factor for me) I get all my gear from every farmable dungeon for gear 2-3 runs.
Waterworks in 2.
Tartarus in 4 (One extra because Amulet of Divine)
Darkmoor in 4 (One extra just so I can brag about the Wand)

Survivor
Jan 20, 2010
6
I wish KI would just release the exact % chance of the drops, because I have farmed that stupid dungeon 15-20 times now(I've honesty lost track) and have not gotten a single tier 1 gear piece. My Pyromancer is currently running a patchwork of gear, including the waterworks helm. No one should be level 100 and have to run WW gear after going through the Graveyard more than 5 times, let alone my 15-20. I have spent DAYS in that purgatory and honestly it's just dumb. You should have a guaranteed tier 1 drop for your school every 3-5 Mali kills.

Squire
May 10, 2013
524
PlayHard101 on Sep 3, 2015 wrote:
Too be honest, I don't really care about Darkmoor Drops for death.

I mean, for PvP + Questing I use the Krokopatra Hood, the Rattlebones Robe and Darkmoor Boots.
Plus (a little luck factor for me) I get all my gear from every farmable dungeon for gear 2-3 runs.
Waterworks in 2.
Tartarus in 4 (One extra because Amulet of Divine)
Darkmoor in 4 (One extra just so I can brag about the Wand)
Nvm, just realized none of them were malistare drops.

Survivor
Sep 03, 2012
2
I have beaten Malistair twice and didn't get a single item. Can my luck be that bad?

Survivor
Dec 22, 2010
3
I honestly believe the drop rate is good.
For me im missing just the Victor Boots for my Myth and its taking me so long to get them.
I realized that i happen to get items from other schools but their not tradeable.
If anything should be changed it should be either making items for other schools tradeable or for to discontinue the option to get other school based items.

Eric MythCaster- Level 100

Survivor
Nov 24, 2014
11
QueenKitty025 on Dec 9, 2014 wrote:
The drops rates arent too low there to high got the full malistaire set from only 2 runs.

Note: Using doom to kill malistaire faster lowers the drop rate, it has been tested.
wow thats extreme luck i am the opposite! i did darkmoor about 50 runs on my myth and got nothing until run 51 which i got wand but i already had terrors. on my storm did it about tenth times and nothing at all. so please do higher drop rate :D.

Alex misthead lvl 100 myth

Seth stormtamer lvl 100 storm

Explorer
Jun 27, 2014
82
I have taken 6 exalted through and completed sets from Darkmoor,and now working my 7th for gear, the drops rates are low which is what should be expected but my main issues are 1) What is the point of giving us gear for other schools than you are playing when you cannot trade them? 2) if tier 3 gear drops everywhere why cant they remove it from the Malistaire fight and restrict it to just tier 1 and 2? From my own experiencs of farming gear my first 2 wizards took 3 days of constant farming so maybe 15 runs to complete, my third took around 30 runs, 4th about 25, 5th about 10, 6th took 80 runs (seriously too long). The darkmoor gear for some schools gives best options but for other schools the one shot dungeons give better alternatives. The advantages of the ultra dungeons are they drop from other bosses, you can farm for one item like hat or robe, they usually dont take 2 hours to complete, more people are willing to join you. So for the moment until new gear is released consider how much time and energy you want to invest in running Darkmoor, and look at the Ultra dungeons if you dont want to spend as long each time farming for a specific piece of gear.