Vik's Collector Tips
This is a page with several random tricks and tips about playing the collector class.
Contents
General info
In my opinion, the most important thing for a collector is going to quests at exactly the right times and places instead of simply farming only swamp quests for more pelt or just randomly picking quests. A collector with a great stamina management and useful quest time execution is an invaluable player in a guild. But don't worry, there are very comfortable tools to help with that. In general, you can check out Drop Time Overviews for an overview of tools that GeckoBot provides to help with that task. But in general, I'd advise you to study the drop time tables per tier:
| Player level range | Explanation | Link to overview |
| L20-L21 | no parts and recipes can drop, just go forest for more thread or swamp for pelt | n/a |
| L22-L31 | ๐T2 drops are here. Maybe focus on getting your own hunter gear. Night quests give more valuable parts and recipes. Go swamp and valley for parts and recipes, ignore forest quests | ๐List of T2 drop times |
| L32-L39 | Now you can find the ๐T3 cloak parts and recipes (Storm Cloak, Durable Cloak and Blessed Cloak) and as well the simple ๐T3 weapons (Thundersoul Sword, Guard's Spear, Composite Bow, Imperial Axe). The cloak items are more valuable, but drop at any time in swamp and valley. So no need to concentrate on anything. Just ignore forest questing again. Sadly ๐T2 items still drop and reduce the ๐T3 output. | ๐List of T3 drop times |
| L40-L45 | The cloak items stop dropping and no ๐T2 drops anymore, too. The most valuable items for you are the lion items. Lion helmet is a day drop, Lion boots, armor and gloves are an evening drop. I suggest you focus on swamp and valley during day and evening. If you are pushing for one of the advanced ๐T3 weapons, check the drop times table to find out where and when you have to quest. | ๐List of T3 drop times |
| L46-L59 | All ๐T3 items stop dropping and instead you find ๐T4 items. The drop times are more random now, you can't rely on parts dropping in swamp and recipes in valley like all the previous tiers. For specific crafts you really need to check the drop times table and focus at the correct times. Personally, I consider questing in valley most useful most of the time, because the Assault Cape parts drop there and the parts for Nightfall Bow too. | ๐List of T4 drop times |
| L60+ | ๐T4 items stop dropping, instead you only find ๐T5 items. My experience is, that Manticore Helmet and Manticore Armor stuff drops in generous amounts and you don't really have to farm for that. As of today (2021-06-01), the ๐T5 cloaks were released just recently and the parts are very valuable. Onslaught Cape parts drop at forest morning, which I consider the best time to quest right now. At other in-game times, I can suggest questing at forest evening for Windstalker Bow parts, which are also very valuable. At night time, again in forest, the very rare Manticore Gloves recipe drop. But in the end, you need to find out yourself what you need and where you have to quest for your needs. | ๐List of T5 drop times |
Not interested in studying the drop times tables
I can imagine that studying the drop times is a bit too much to ask for a casual player. I imagine that some players simply have time to quest at one random point in their real life and can't go quest exactly as optimized for the loot. That's why GeckoBot offers overviews about "which items drop just now, if I want to go questing now, what is the best place". Again, I advise you to check out Drop Time Overviews for a detailed info about these tools and how to use them.
Advanced Skills
Picky Eater
Picky Eater is typically considered to be a useless skill, but I disagree with this. Using Picky Eater lets you select resources to reject. Rejecting a resource means you will not get this resource in quests anymore and any potential drop could be rerolled instead. This means that instead of a rejected resource, you obtain a different resource. By selecting common resources on Picky Eater you get a lot of rerolls that can get you more valuable resources, or even parts and recipes.
| Level | Number of rejectable resources | Player level unlock |
| 1 | 2 | 50 |
| 2 | 2 | 55 |
| 3 | 3 | 60 |
| 4 | 3 | 65 |
| 5 | 4 | 70 |
| 6 | 4 | 75 |
Leveling up Picky Eater allows you to reject more types of resources and also increases the chance to reroll. Using Picky Eater to obtain more expensive loot pays itself back quickly!
It's a trap (For Collector/Ranger players)
Trapping players with regular traps is not worth the gold investment to buy the traps. But skilling "It's a Trap" higher -- at least to L3 -- gives access to buy other items. And one of them is very interesting:
/use_trp_tow Crafted: Observer ward x1
Equipping an Observer Ward in you Off Hand slot, works basically like regular traps. Going to quest with it can set up the Observer Ward. But instead of players from enemy castles triggering it, the Observer Ward will be triggered by a questing player of the same castle. If the Ward is triggered, the player who set it up gets a buff for 30min which increases the chance for encounters after quests. AKA: Go questing with the buff again, finish all encounters and enjoy all the bonus XP you get from it. Investing the gold to buy the Observer Ward in the first place pays off once you gain decently more XP in the following quests. Also: you don_'t need to equip an Observer Ward in every quest. Equip it once, wait for it to trigger, then go questing like you'd normally do. The buff will stay and there is no need to refrest the buff by setting up another ward directly after the first one.