Which is better value - Saltmarsh or Isle of Dread?
- Thread starter Haphazard
- Start date
Lazuli
Well-known member
Isle of dread for my tastes. IoD gear is top right now, Saltmash's is irrelevant. IoD has raid and saltmarsh does not. I like IoD quests better, but that's a matter of taste; the saltmarsh ones aren't bad. The xp is significantly better in IoD than in Saltmarsh.
The value of saltmarsh's expensive xpack is also worse than IoD.
The value of saltmarsh's expensive xpack is also worse than IoD.
kmoustakas
Scourge of Xaos
Saltmarsh is actually really bad. The only good thing is the epic wilderness chests dropping sentient xp, artifacts and named items (which only happened after two revisions because NOBODY was running that). Heroic loot is bad, legendary loot is overshadowed by everything before and after. Epic loot (which you must get heroic and upgrade) is nice but very few people care about level 20 loot and instead use sharn gear to 29 (now 30)
RangerOne
Well-known member
Better is a relative and loaded term. Both have some good and bad, depending on your playstyle.
The wilderness looks good but you'll hate them both as a ranged character since they have my favorite technique. You know the one. I am standing in full view of you but until you actually get close to me I cannot be harmed. I give a slight nod to IoD. It really feels primordial. Sagas for both so that is a wash. IoD quests are a little more interesting. OMG I am wasting all this time to say IoD now and Saltmarsh later. The only thing that annoys me about Dread (and Sharn) is one of the quests lies outside the area, so running for saga usually means I forgot to do the first one.
The wilderness looks good but you'll hate them both as a ranged character since they have my favorite technique. You know the one. I am standing in full view of you but until you actually get close to me I cannot be harmed. I give a slight nod to IoD. It really feels primordial. Sagas for both so that is a wash. IoD quests are a little more interesting. OMG I am wasting all this time to say IoD now and Saltmarsh later. The only thing that annoys me about Dread (and Sharn) is one of the quests lies outside the area, so running for saga usually means I forgot to do the first one.
FVSHasBeenEvenMoreGutted
If you read my posts you have already lost
saltmarsh is good for making shards and sentient xp. the star frags also nice for making legendary sss items without wasting 500 pack ingredients. other than that its a waste of time, herioc is impossible and gives bad xp, the quests are all very short (and I'm not a huge fan of them), danger at dunwater exists (how long of a quest can they make?), the weapons are bad, most of the gear is bad, and there is only 1 sec bonus that's a 5 piece artifact, not profane like every other 5 piece set released since ravenloft!
gravisrs
From DDO EU servers
There are some points where Saltmarsh is better:
- when you want to quickly gain Sentient XP - as sentient xp stones drops alot (and at all) in that content
- when you want to upgrade many S/S/S items to legendary - as star fragments drops only in this content (well you can turn-in old content mats for it, but Saltmarsh is still better to farm them directly) - and also drops Nebula fragment directly
- when you want slayer area with nice XP/min for quicker epic reincarnations (Isle slayer is way worse xp/min but has higher milestone 7,5k)
- when you want to quickly gain Sentient XP - as sentient xp stones drops alot (and at all) in that content
- when you want to upgrade many S/S/S items to legendary - as star fragments drops only in this content (well you can turn-in old content mats for it, but Saltmarsh is still better to farm them directly) - and also drops Nebula fragment directly
- when you want slayer area with nice XP/min for quicker epic reincarnations (Isle slayer is way worse xp/min but has higher milestone 7,5k)
Lazuli
Well-known member
Sentient xp stones haven't had a high drop in saltmarsh for a long time. In fact, I get more sentient xp with IoD artifacts and named drops than I do with saltmarsh xp stones.
There was a time when the drop was higher, I am convinced that they lowered the drop significantly.
There was a time when the drop was higher, I am convinced that they lowered the drop significantly.
saekee
long live ROGUE
this is my experience
I have the ship mage attire out of Saltmarsh for heroic and use the cap til cap (forgive pun)
IoD is where it is at now. I like Under the Cover of Darkness in Saltmarsh, and the Dreadbringer filligrees that drop there are sweet (you can buy them off AH). Sentient xp stones were nerfed—I have some quests in Saltmarsh where I can easily ransack chests on R10 without a fight and almost never see sentient xp drop their like WPM tunnel couple
kmoustakas
Scourge of Xaos
Remember they added the xp stones because initially the only HEROIC items dropped and you had to upgrade them. After all the complaining (and bad terrible sale numbers no doubt) they ADDED the legendary items on top. Mind you, it already seems as if the sentient weapon system is being forgotten. It's been what, a year since we've seen new filigrees?
Lazuli
Well-known member
I remember it, but at the beginning of introducing the stones they had a much higher drop. I remember farming stones in the wilderness, and it was a rare run that I didn't get any. Now it's rare that I get any. The same thing happens in quests. Before, in a high reaper run doing almost all the optionals I came out with four or five stones. Now, if I get one (playing the same optionals), it's already a lot. Yesterday I did a run of all the Saltmarsh quests, I didn't get any, my partner got one.
The drop has decreased a lot. Before it was noticeably bigger. I guess a high drop is "fiscally irresponsible" from their point of view, given that they sell Tenser's.