[Treasure Hunting] Lack of experience at its finest

[Cyric_SP]

I got my thunter set up finally and headed out to try some nice level 2 maps. I dug up 3 of them and this is how all 3 basically went.

On the initial dig, I died all 3 times from the guardians that spawn. I was way off on my timing to hide to avoid being targeted. I know hiding use to work great since I use to solo lvl 5s back in the day. Just hoping it was my timing and not something they "fixed".

Being very much out of practice, I died at least 4 more times on the first map trying to clear the guardians from around the chest so I can loot it. The 2nd and 3rd times went much better. With more practice and getting to know my macros and how I have my hotbars set up, I'm sure I'll improve and be able to solo those lvl 5 maps I have. Then it's off to upgrade to SA and even better maps.

One thing that did work, all my maps matched my library exactly, even the ones that were tattered, so I'm guessing since they are pre-SA all of them I have should match my old library. I dug up one that was already decoded and decoded 2 just to see if they were random or not. So I'm guessing before I upgrade to SA AND before 30 days have gone by I need to dig up all these maps. I can only assume that since my acct is now active, the 30 day reset on my maps will kick in.

Being only lvl 2 chests, the items aren't the greatest. I really have no idea what I'm looking for in todays UO, but back pre-2007 the majority of what I got is trash. The few items I did get:

Bracelet
Animal Taming +14
DCI 6%

Bracelet
Throwing +11
LMC 5%

Bracelet
Int +5
Luck 50
FCR 2
FC 1
LMC 4%

A few pieces of mid level medable LRC items
SoA: Blacksmith 15 min

Overall I guess not bad from a few lvl 2 chests and a "newb" thunter

 

[Petra Fyde]

Personally, from today's maps I'm looking for rare recipes, scrolls of transcendence, scrolls of alacrity, tasty treats, mibs, more maps and imbuing ingredients. Most of the armor/weapons I count as raw materials for unravelling.

 

[Faeryl]

Personally, from today's maps I'm looking for rare recipes, scrolls of transcendence, scrolls of alacrity, tasty treats, mibs, more maps and imbuing ingredients. Most of the armor/weapons I count as raw materials for unravelling.

I'd also add skeleton keys to that list. I use them till they only have one use left, then I turn them in for 500 cleanup points.

As for the timing on hiding, I tend to do a mental countdown as I start digging and invis as soon at the chest is 100% above ground. Takes a bit of practice at first, but you'll get the hang of the timing quickly enough

 

[DreadLord Lestat]

I use to hide or invis but if you are even the slightest bit off, they will reveal you and all will be on you. I mark a rune a couple of screens off and have recall pre-cast. As soon as the guardians spawn I target the rune and then invis. I no longer have agro and can go in and pull them one or two at a time and rarely have issues now. The level 6 guardians use to get me 50% of the time until I started recalling a couple of screens away and invising. Be careful though because there have been a couple of times that I forgot to invis and the guardians rushed to meet me and I was caught off guard lol.

 

[Percivalgoh]

I have changed my timing on casting invis for maps. Now I precast after map starts digging and then target myself when the chest pops but before the monsters appear. As far as I could tell before they used to appear at the same time but now the chest pops before the spawn and in that instant you can hide. The higher level guardians (3+) always reveal you though so I am prepared to run away then come back and deal with them.

 

[elspeth]

I have changed my timing on casting invis for maps. Now I precast after map starts digging and then target myself when the chest pops but before the monsters appear. As far as I could tell before they used to appear at the same time but now the chest pops before the spawn and in that instant you can hide. The higher level guardians (3+) always reveal you though so I am prepared to run away then come back and deal with them.

This is what I used to always do. Like exactly

 

[Zannette]

Hi Cyric,
Can you please post your template so that we can give you some more direct pointers.

Thank you,
Z

 

[Cyric_SP]

Hi Cyric,
Can you please post your template so that we can give you some more direct pointers.

Thank you,
Z

I'm finally back into the swing of things. Been digging up lvl 5s without any issues, just took me awhile to hang of it again. I did stone my hiding and went with the recall method, seems to work alot better. Its easier to run up, invis, then provo then trying to do it from the middle of 8 creatures. I haven't found any maps 6+ yet but I would love to try one and see how I do.

My template now looks like this:

100 Cart
100 LP
115 Music
115 Provo
115 Peace
110 Magery
65 Med

The 3 bard skills will go to 120 once I get ahold of the scrolls for them. The 110 magery seems more then enough to cast what I need, usually EVs or eles to drop the peaced creatures.

Thx to everyone for all the pointers. I still have over 100 lvl 4s and 5s to dig up from my stash I had before I left. It seems like their locations were set when they were created so every one of them I have done so far still matches my old library, no searching for the chests, yet

 

[Zannette]

That's awesome Cyric,
I'm glad to hear you are back in the swing of things.
One thing I would suggest is to spawn earth ellis or EVs as soon as you start digging than once you recall out they will agrro guardians and on lower lvl maps you will cut down through mobs even before you come back.

For lvl 6 maps i suggest doing Ter Mur and Malas first as I find guardians much easer to deal with.

For Tram and Fell lvl 6 maps I strongly suggest maxing out you bard skills and choosing a mastery as greater dragons and ancient Whims have 160 barding difficulty so make you maximize your success chance as they can be a real pain. They are also quire notorious for dispelling things and peace does not hold them for very long.

Hope this helps
Z

 

[popps]

Being only lvl 2 chests, the items aren't the greatest. I really have no idea what I'm looking for in todays UO, but back pre-2007 the majority of what I got is trash. The few items I did get:

Bracelet
Animal Taming +14
DCI 6%

If you upgrade to Stygian Abyss, you will discover imbuing which is a great skill.
In order to save up imbuing resources, it is convenient to store items that one might later on want to imbue because of the mods it spawned with and 1 or some are maxed out or close to because this will later on save up resources when imbuing it.

For example, let's say that one finds a bracelet with Taming +15 (which is the max possible), and no other mods on it or other mods lower but compatible with what one might want to imbue later on for taming use, I would consider that item a keeper because the +15 taming just saved up some expensive imbuing resources.

 

[popps]

For lvl 6 maps i suggest doing Ter Mur and Malas first as I find guardians much easer to deal with.

May I ask how you get your level 6 Treasure Maps for Ter Mur, Malas and Felucca ? What do you hunt for them ?

For Trammel I usually get them from Miasma but am not sure what is best to hunt for the other facets.

 

[LeBaiton]

One thing that did work, all my maps matched my library exactly, even the ones that were tattered, so I'm guessing since they are pre-SA all of them I have should match my old library. I dug up one that was already decoded and decoded 2 just to see if they were random or not. So I'm guessing before I upgrade to SA AND before 30 days have gone by I need to dig up all these maps. I can only assume that since my acct is now active, the 30 day reset on my maps will kick in.

Hi Cyric,

I have lots and lots of old tattered t-maps which still decode into the old fixed spots, and I've been active a lot longer than 30 days, with SA installed. As far as I know, only decoded t-maps have reset once during the initial patch after 30 days. Not since...

There's no other way I can explain the fact that my old t-maps still decode to the old spots...

 

[Zannette]

May I ask how you get your level 6 Treasure Maps for Ter Mur, Malas and Felucca ? What do you hunt for them ?

For Trammel I usually get them from Miasma but am not sure what is best to hunt for the other facets.

I hunt paragons in Ilshnear,
Mostly Bloods and Balrons at the Blood dungeon. Chests that they drop have LvL 6 Map for random facet.

However my primary source of LvL 6 maps are vendors and I prefer T-Hunting instead of dungeon crawl.

I alos noticed that on average 1 in 5 lvl 5 maps come with lvl 6 map as well.

On the side note: LvL 6 maps in ilshnear can be fun to do in pairs as spmetimes they spawn tough paragons.

Z.

 

[LeBaiton]

On the side note: LvL 6 maps in ilshnear can be fun to do in pairs as spmetimes they spawn tough paragons

This info is not correct. The devs have stated paragons never spawn as t-chest guardians in Ilshenar, and that they did so on purpose. Neither do paragons spawn when emptying the chest...

You must be mistaken...

 

[Zannette]

This info is not correct. The devs have stated paragons never spawn as t-chest guardians in Ilshenar, and that they did so on purpose. Neither do paragons spawn when emptying the chest...

You must be mistaken...

Thank you for clearing that up. I was under the impression that they do spawn but this is good news as i have quite a few ilshnear maps that need doing.

Z

 

[popps]

May I ask how you get your level 6 Treasure Maps for Ter Mur, Malas and Felucca ? What do you hunt for them ?

For Trammel I usually get them from Miasma but am not sure what is best to hunt for the other facets.

I hunt paragons in Ilshnear,
Mostly Bloods and Balrons at the Blood dungeon. Chests that they drop have LvL 6 Map for random facet.

However my primary source of LvL 6 maps are vendors and I prefer T-Hunting instead of dungeon crawl.

I alos noticed that on average 1 in 5 lvl 5 maps come with lvl 6 map as well.

On the side note: LvL 6 maps in ilshnear can be fun to do in pairs as spmetimes they spawn tough paragons.

Z.

Thanks for the info about level 6 Maps for Ilshenar.
What about those for Ter mur and Felucca ? What MoBs drop them as loot ?

 

[Basara]

Random Facet: Means maps from them can be for ANY shard, not just where found.

So, Paragon Chests can give maps for any facet, not just Ilshenar.

 

[LeBaiton]

Thanks for the info about level 6 Maps for Ilshenar.
What about those for Ter mur and Felucca ? What MoBs drop them as loot ?

As Basara said, the facet is random. If you kill a paragon monster of which the base creature drops a t-map lvl 1 to 5, that paragon can drop a paragon chest with a t-map for a random facet ranging from lvl 2 to 6...

Level 7 t-maps can only be found in lvl 6 t-chests, or on Corgul the Soulbinder as loot. Lvl 7's in t-chest will be for the same facet where you dug the original chest. So dig up a lvl 6 in Felucca, you'll have the chance to get a lvl 7 in Felucca...

Long story short, if you're looking for lvl 6 maps for particular facets, farm Miasma or any other lvl 6 paragon chest dropping monster, unlock the chests and hope for the best...