Heartwood carpenter quests... broken or RNG?

[Mudde]

So last week I ventured down to Heartwood and turned in about 5000 boards worth of foot stools to Sleen the Trinket Weaver for the Arch Support quest. As a result, I ended up with 5 or 6 runic dovetail saws (50/50 oak & ash).

I headed back down today to pick up some more having used all the others.

I turned in ~15000 boards worth of foot stools to Sleen, and not a single runic to show for it.

I even tried a couple thousand worth to Aniel the Arborist (also gives the Arch Support quest) and received nothing.

Oh there were two times that I got a craftsman's satchel that had 3 items in it. Normally there are 1 or 2 items in the quest reward satchel, and 3 when there's a runic. Both times I got 3, the third was a deed for an elven piece of furniture.

WTH happened? Did the Heartwood quest rewards get monkeyed with in the patches or is the RNG pwning me?

 

[Thunderz]

So last week I ventured down to Heartwood and turned in about 5000 boards worth of foot stools to Sleen the Trinket Weaver for the Arch Support quest. As a result, I ended up with 5 or 6 runic dovetail saws (50/50 oak & ash).

I headed back down today to pick up some more having used all the others.

I turned in ~15000 boards worth of foot stools to Sleen, and not a single runic to show for it.

I even tried a couple thousand worth to Aniel the Arborist (also gives the Arch Support quest) and received nothing.

Oh there were two times that I got a craftsman's satchel that had 3 items in it. Normally there are 1 or 2 items in the quest reward satchel, and 3 when there's a runic. Both times I got 3, the third was a deed for an elven piece of furniture.

WTH happened? Did the Heartwood quest rewards get monkeyed with in the patches or is the RNG pwning me?

RNG my friend, iv got 10 from 5 pack horses worth of boards [8000 boards] and other times nothing in 3 trip [24000boards].

We can still count our self lucky.... Before the change when they "increased" the drop rate id burn like 80000 boards before getting a heartwood.

Thunderz

 

[hen]

RNG mucker. I've gone tens of thousands without a runic drop.

 

[Mudde]

It just felt wrong that I got so many with less boards last week I wanted to see if anyone else could shed some light -- and you have. Thanks for the info!

 

[DENNAR]

So last week I ventured down to Heartwood and turned in about 5000 boards worth of foot stools to Sleen the Trinket Weaver for the Arch Support quest. As a result, I ended up with 5 or 6 runic dovetail saws (50/50 oak & ash).

I headed back down today to pick up some more having used all the others.

I turned in ~15000 boards worth of foot stools to Sleen, and not a single runic to show for it.

I even tried a couple thousand worth to Aniel the Arborist (also gives the Arch Support quest) and received nothing.

Oh there were two times that I got a craftsman's satchel that had 3 items in it. Normally there are 1 or 2 items in the quest reward satchel, and 3 when there's a runic. Both times I got 3, the third was a deed for an elven piece of furniture.

WTH happened? Did the Heartwood quest rewards get monkeyed with in the patches or is the RNG pwning me?

Since the High Seas expansion went live I stopped doing the quests. I burned through at least 80k wood and got ZERO runics from the Bowyer.

 

[MalagAste]

I've never gotten much of anything worthwhile from doing those quests I quit years ago.

 

[Jhym]

I've never gotten a runic from ANY of the quests.

But I also don't sit there for hours and hours either.

 

[Gheed]

I've been trying to get a heartwood runic dovetail to make a decent fishing pole Three days questing in the evening and still no heartwood. RNG is streaky here like just about everywhere else. I got a single yew runic first day, going through about 20k wood. Got an ash and oak the second day using just as much. Tonight I went through @5k and won 5 oaks and an ash. I couldn't stand doing them any more after that.

I remember the devs saying the ML expansion was a last minute effort. Originally they were going to do High Seas and got re-directed. Amazing how half-assed these mind-numbingly boring heartwood quests are along with community collections. Yet they still exist virtually unchanged after so many years. Oh well a couple folks stopped by and scavenged recipes and talismans from my discarded reward packs. So someone got something out of it.

 

[virtualhabitat]

I was discussing Heartwood quests today with a couple of guild-mates. I compared quests in UO to nothing more than simple errands or mind-numbing, repetitious actions (as in the case of Heartwood crafting quests) with little reward and much frustration.

I pointed out that earlier UO quests, such as the escort quests, while still repetitious and mundane, at least there was a measurable gain toward a benefit. I know that becoming a Knight of Compassion is somewhat useful and one can easily keep track of one's progress. There are even steps to the benefit as one reaches seeker and follower. The incentive to continue is that knowledge.

Perhaps if the rewards for crafting quests were just as measurable in terms of progress, more people would actually attempt doing them. The RNG is notoriously cruel when it comes to favoring some characters over others.

I am not suggesting that high end rewards be easily obtained, but rather that a given set of conditions be met should award the prize.

This current lotto questing system is boring and tedious.
There is a distinct disincentive to continue the Heartwood quests because there is no measurable progress toward an ultimate goal.

How about a little consistency?