How to Effectively Loot Run in 1.18
Ever since 1.18 was released, there has been a very large majority of people who talk about loot running as if it's never going to be good again. I'm here to change the minds of those people, as well as supply everyone with the knowledge they need in order to make the most out of loot running in Update 1.18!
For those of you who may not know, loot running has changed a lot since the update. This is because a lot of players had routes that focused on collecting Tier 3 and Tier 4 loot chests. The vast majority of these Tier 3 and Tier 4 loot chests have either been moved, replaced, or taken away completely. This is not actually as big of a deal as people think it is. In fact, it doesn't really change much at all, regarding the amount of Emeralds you can make!
What Was the Biggest Change?
"Loot chests now attempt to refill once every 1 minute instead of 5 with 1/5th of the loot they got once every 5 minutes before. This means that you will find loot chests more often, but they may have less in them. I did however change the way it fills the chest to make sure that items don't delete each other, so chests will be a little fuller than before."One major thing that has changed was the addition of ingredients to loot chests. Some may argue that it takes up space in the chest, or lowers other item spawning in general, but I think it's a very healthy change. Loot running was not the only thing to get a slight balance change. Seavale Reefs got a balance change, as well as mobs in general, to drop ingredients and less items. So making money in the traditional manor, whichever way you preferred, is a little harder now. However, with new things added, like ingredients and crafted items, it creates new ways to earn Emeralds.
The biggest change however, is the way that chest spawning works. I've opened over 7,000 loot chests since the update and there hasn't ever been a chest missing from my route! At first I believed chests were client side, as other people were talking about the possibility. However, here's a quote from @jpresent explaining the changes made!
This is huge, as Loot Bonus now becomes a lot more relevant! If someone runs shortly before you do, having Loot Bonus means that you'd probably get the normal amount of loot that would be in those chests (if said person wasn't to run before you), depending on how long it's been and how much Loot Bonus you have. Basically every chest should be spawned as well, whereas before, a lot of chests wouldn't be spawned in!
Why Don't I Seem to Mind Tier 3 and Tier 4 Chests Vanishing?
Once I had my first Corkus loot run, I never took the time to get a newer one. I got my first run before all of the Tier 3 and Tier 4 chests had been put into one run, so I never had runs of full Tier 3 and Tier 4 chests, and I still made a lot previous of 1.18. Within my first 10,000 chests, I had two Mythics.
See AlsoLootrunning Tips and Tricks (2.0.4)Guide - Let's Document All The New T3 And T4 Loot Chests!The main reason Tier 3 and Tier 4 chests were good was because they were loaded with items, usually Powders, which sold for a decent amount. Now Powders don't sell for very much at all, so it doesn't really make too much of a difference.
One final reason is because in the amount of time it takes to go from one Tier 3 or Tier 4 to the next, you can open about 3-4, if not more, Tier 1 and Tier 2 chests. The amount of loot in those few chests will be on par, if not better than the amount you would find in a higher Tier chest.
Why are Loot Runs Better?
So why are they more profitable for the average player? The Marketplace, of course! There's multiple features within the Marketplace that really help this, but overall, having an extremely easy and quick way to sell items to other players in game is a major upside. This means that players who actively play, but may not actively check the forums or Discord, will be able to see the items you're selling, which leads to more purchases in the end.
So What do I Look for in Runs? What is My Way of Making Money?
Always take Emeralds! This does not take more than a hover and a click, there's no reason as to why you shouldn't pocket that money! If you need space later on in the run, you can swap out an item or ingredient for a stack of emeralds, but ending back up at the bank with open inventory slots is money that you threw out! I usually end my full runs with 32EB to 1LE worth of just raw Emeralds! That adds up quickly!
This is where a large amount of instant money comes from. I get about 10 Legendaries every hour of loot running. Sometimes I get more lucky, sometimes I get less lucky. All depends. Using the Trade Market's feature of revealing unidentified item names, I'm able to sell all of these Legendaries on the Marketplace, without needing to identify them.
My base price is always 4EB each Legendary (I'm sure you could raise it and they would still sell) If it's an item used in common builds, I sell it for 10EB. If it's an item that can be worth a lot if has good rolls, (Memento, Prism, Follow The Wind, etc...) I usually place the price at 1LE or 32EB, depends on what I'm feeling and how fast the front page of the Marketplace is moving. These items fly off the Marketplace and sell VERY quickly because of their low price.
Before, having to identify them and waiting for a buyer took so long. Your bank would often fill up, preventing you from doing more runs before selling to the item buyer, waiting, or throwing items out. You can still keep Legendaries that are in high demand, roll them, and try to sell them that way, but each Legendary has a lot of sellers on the Marketplace, so unless you undercut and or get an insane roll, it will still take a while to sell in most cases.
Nothing much to discuss here. Because of the Marketplace, Powder prices have gone down extremely low. You can now buy a Tier 6 Powder for 32EB in most cases. Just a few months ago, Tier 6 Powders were selling for 6LE each. However, Tier 4 Powders are still usually worth a couple EB, so it's worth taking over a stack of Emeralds. They aren't flooding the few Tier 3 and Tier 4 chests that are still out there either, which is an indirect buff to those chests, as they used to be flooded with Powders.
In my runs, I take every ingredient that is Tier 1 and higher. Tier 0 ingredients are easily farmed from mobs, so there's no need to collect them. The main motivation you have to collect these higher ingredients is because they can be used to gain a lot of xp for Crafting Professions. Players looking to level up quickly will pay a good amount for bulk ingredients.
I would suggest waiting to sell most ingredients until you have a good amount of them. Usually I wait until I have at least a full stack. If someone looking to buy ingredients to level up sees just a couple of Tier 1 ingredients on the Marketplace, they'll likely pass over it. If they see a good stack or more, their attention will certainly be grabbed. You can usually sell a stack of Tier 1 ingredients for 1-2LE, which is already equal to, or greater than the amount of money you'd make if you just took a stack of Emeralds over that single ingredient.
Some ingredients sell for higher prices. Things like Stolen Goods can sell for 4EB each, as a Tier 1 ingredient. Having ingredients saved is also helpful. Now and then, players will use shouts to or the Trade Market forums/Discord channel to look for bulk ingredients. I sold all of my Golden Avia Feathers for 500 Emeralds each to a player a couple days ago. Just today another player was asking for Lost Talismans, which they bought all 35 I had for 380 Emeralds each! When players want something, they will certainly go out of their way to pay for it most of the time. Take advantage of this when you can!
Tier 2 Ingredients aren't too much different from Tier 1. They'll probably sell for 2-4LE a stack of "okay" ingredients. In a lot of cases, they can be more expensive, as there's only so many Tier 3 ingredients in the game, so Tier 2 is the next go-to Tier, when looking for items used in end game builds. The good ingredients at this Tier are certainly worth holding onto, or selling for a little bit higher on the Marketplace.
Tier 3 Ingredients can be extremely valuable. In some cases, like the other Tiers, they're just okay, but you may be able to get away with selling a stack of something like Piquant Pork Fillets for 5-10LE every stack, if again for no other reason than the amount of Crafting xp they give.
There's a lot of Tier 3 ingredients that can't be found in chests though. Not enough information just yet, but I'm pretty certain it's just Rare Mob ingredients and Boss Mob ingredients that can't be found in chests.
A lot of high level Tier 3 ingredients can easily sell for a single, or even more, LE each. The most expensive ingredient by far is Linear Accelerator. This item has not been discovered yet, but is known to be from a mob in Corkus. Because of the data I've gathered, anything that drops from common mobs can be found in loot chests. If the Linear Accelerator can not be found from a Rare Mob or a Boss Mob, it is safe to assume you're able to find it in a chest. This crafting ingredient could easily sell for 32 LE at LEAST, as many people are trying to get their hands on it.
The great thing about Ingredients is that you can sell them in bulk and semi-quickly on the Marketplace, or you can hold onto all of them and invest long-term, waiting for that player looking to buy a specific ingredient that you happen to have stacks of! The flexibility is fantastic. On top of that, you're able to gather ingredients for yourself, or maybe friends, or other guild members who need them too!
You can also have a successful loot run with only picking up Stolen Goods, select Tier 2 and all Tier 3 ingredients, Emeralds, and Legendary items. I get about five Liquid Emeralds every 40 minutes doing this, with the added bonus of a possible Mythic. This may not seem like much now, but do keep in mind that most methods of making Emeralds have been cut down a bit, as stated above. It's also worth noting that spending less time hovering over tons of ingredients cuts the run time down too. It's all up to preference though!
The Conclusion
Previous to 1.18, I wasn't making more than a couple LE a day, because Identifying Legendaries to sell them to an Item Buyer was not profitable, and without an easy way to sell my items, they sat in my bank for long periods of time. Currently I make about 32LE-48LE each day, depending on what I sell! There are still a ton of ingredients that are in my bank too!
NOTE: If you don't have a donor rank and can't fit many items into the Trade Market, sell your Legendaries first! These sell the fastest! Within a couple minutes, after they're sold, you can place in some bulk ingredients if you have any to sell!
I personally find the loot runs a lot more fun. More chests means more times you open up a box of goodies, always with that same feeling of "Oh I can't wait to see what I get!" I will miss the satisfying particles of Tier 3 and Tier 4 chests all the time, but they're still thrown in now and then.
For anyone who is curious, this is my current Corkus loot run! I made one a couple days ago. Last night I scratched it though and made another new route that is much more efficient with inventory management, as well as including more chests and more of Corkus!
And for anyone who isn't quite sure about how to use the Trade Market in game, this is a thread I created to explain just that! https://forums.wynncraft.com/threads/using-the-new-marketplace.242896/
Thank you all for reading! Happy Loot Running!
Edit: I used there instead of they're in a sentence and I'm unimpressed... lol. Fixed now
DrakeM1, RemiDaYeen, BTK2000 and 61 others like this.
