Talk:Glob of Ectoplasm

Glob drops by Ravagers
I think I need a confirmation on this, since I think it's a genuine GW urban legend. Anyone got any screenshots? -- (CoRrRan / talk) 04:09, 30 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Kinda late, but there's a screenshot on the first Guild Wiki of someone getting an ecto from a Ravager. It's int he talk for Ecto. Vengeance Signet 17:22, 20 July 2007 (UTC)
 * http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Talk:Glob_of_Ectoplasm#Ravager - Chrisworld 05:19, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

HM Increased Drop Rate?
Well, title says all. --Risus 01:49, 13 February 2008 (UTC)
 * More drops in HM. For everything.  Calor  [[Image:User_Calor_Sig.png|19px|Talk]] 01:50, 13 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Thx --Risus 17:28, 18 February 2008 (UTC)
 * source pls. ive heard hm does not affect the drop rate of certain items, and that ectos were one of them. 76.98.149.51 13:20, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
 * wrong, gold and purple drops will increase, not crafting materials. such as killing 20 enemies by huge AOE (so all (nearly) simultaneously) will not decrease ecto or shard rate or annything else, except items and(not sure) gold coins 78.20.153.111 17:23, 1 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Well, actually Charged Blackness seemed to drop one for the first time I ever saw today. [[image:user stokoe blacknessecto.jpg]] --Stokoe  [[Image:user stokoe warrior icon.png‎|19px|Talk]] 20:31, 9 September 2008 (UTC)

Use as currency
I understand why ectos are used as currency, but I've never seen anything that says how much each is worth. If they are used as currency there must be some sort of generally agreed upon value to them. For example, is 100K + 20e the equivalent of 120K, 300K or something totally different? Just curious...not that it really matters since all my characters are poor. Thefount 20:01, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The value of ectos change over time, so the safest way to know is to check the rare material trader. Round down to the nearest half plat and you will have a clue of their current value. It's also a good idea to check the trade chat/party formation window in the busiest cities and Temple of Ages, there are usually at least a few ecto sellers or buyers there. - anja  [[Image:User Anja Astor sig icon.png|talk]] 20:09, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

The Value of Ecto Since PermSF was possible
We all use Ecto as a supstitude for the max of 999K in storage and the max 100k in trade. My worries goes for the major amount of ecto's that have been farmed after PermSF made it possible(u can easy get 100ectos within a week). Fact is that the amount of farmed ectos, have a major impact on the value of Ecto in generel. Pll who have saved up Ectos for the purpose of holding Gold, are kind of "raped" actually in these times ...they can see there money desapearing in the air very fast ..like a blow in the wind. Not that i dont want everyone to have Fow-armor or being ritch if they like - i dont care(anyways.. I dont have FoW-armor, because i dont like it).

My point is that i do hope that Anet in future games(GW2) will keep more items rare and more materials rare dropping(so they KEEP there value a little more stable, than we have seen the last few month) ..Or they culd increase the storage-hold on gold to 100.000k and to 500k in trade(that would remove value-pressure and importens from ectos) ...again i dont care how they do ..just do/make something to save "your preciouse GW-economy" stable and save.

Ill gladly start from square/zero again, if there would be some more stedy items to invest in - But as it is now, theres nothing yet... only stable decrease of value in generel! ...killing the fun! Looser

they will go back up in value once favor of the gods runs out, save your ectos till then. shursh
 * They still drop in ToPK -  B y  a  k  k  o  [[Image:User_Byakko_Byakkopaw.png|User Page]] 20:16, 24 June 2008 (UTC)


 * The only way ecto will go back up in value is if SF gets reverted back to the way it was before the skill revert. Even then, the Ursan farms of UW have also had a huge impact on the value. This is the risk ALL commodoties traders worldwide face both in game and in the real world. It's value is based on supply and demand.--[[Image:User Wynthyst sig icon.png | Wyn's Talk page]] Wynthyst 20:42, 24 June 2008 (UTC)
 * There's also the matter of ecto being sold to the trader equaling a significant influx of gold. A higher average income devalues gold in trades between players, meaning higher prices.  --24.179.151.252 22:25, 24 June 2008 (UTC)
 * I have to say, i was surprised yesterday when i saw people selling them at 3.5k in ToA, but i was also surprised when i realized we were at 2.4k hours of favor left. I think the suggestion about "waiting and see what happends" stands. Also, Wyn, please let's not make this another "ursan" thread. Ursan existed for months, and the price for ectos fluctuated less than 10%, and it wasn't even constant (it kept close to 5k for most of the time, even with 30k favor and r10 ursan farmers). The SF-PvE buff, on the other hand, could actually be directly related to the effect on ecto's value (is hard to think of it as just a coincidence, even if it may be one).--Fighterdoken 22:40, 24 June 2008 (UTC)
 * I had no intention of making this another Ursan thread, I personally have said about all I have to say on that subject. I was just pointing out that even if the perma SF is renerfed, there are other builds that have made UW way too easy to make ectos ever seriously rise up in value again. As far as waiting until favor runs out, the scrolls are also going to make this less of an issue than it once was, I know I have over 3 dozen of them in storage, but I agree you may see a bit of a change once it's no longer possible to go just any old time.--[[Image:User Wynthyst sig icon.png | Wyn's Talk page]] Wynthyst 07:44, 25 June 2008 (UTC)
 * I'd say perma-SF most definitely IS the single reason of ecto price drop, fighterdoken. And tbh, i don't think ANET will nerf this since 1. they haven't nerfed ursan (which can clear UW in an hour or less, something a solo perma-SF could never do), and 2. if i'm not mistaken, it requires you to buy two or three of the campaigns to run (excluding the buying of essences of celerity off another player to drop GoS).  Also, if they DO nerf something, my bet is that they nerf the UW itself - put in a handful of charged blacknesses in the chaos plains (where the REAL ecto abuse stems from), or better yet give the Mindblade Spectres Signet of Disenchantment LOL.  Anyway, i apologize for my lack of a username, editing, etc. (plus i'm making the topic stray way too far away from actual Globs of Ectoplasm, but i thought i'd throw that out there.  Oh, and in case you were wondering, i DO have a perma-sin.   shursh


 * shursh i hope you realise that, that IS what happened for a period of time :P ~ Masmar


 * This ain't funny anymore, im saving up for an everlasting tonic (115e when they were 4.5) but now I have to get over 200 ectos to even start a bid! please tell me the price will go up so I require less ectos for an item :)  Jonny10  [[Image:Glob_of_Ectoplasm.png |19px]] 11:55, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

blame Ursan Blessing for price drops of items.. not perma SF for price drops in ectos. I have an example of why u should stop complaining: You farm 10 ectos, with lets say the D/Mo Dwayna UW solo build(or is it D/Me..?), they go for 5k each(50k at that time) You put lets say 1 hour in this. Then, you go A/E farming, take 1 hour for 15-20 ectos, ... price offcourse drops ALOT. What does it matter? selling 15 to 20 ectos for 2.5-3.5k is the same as selling 10 for 5k, for the same time.. it really doesn't matter imo. prices of weapons go up in ectos too, which changes your 1337 voltaic/Chrystaline,.. by a minimal ammount of ectos .. it really doesn't matter.. Overfarming prestige weapons(yeh, well nice rare weapons) on the other hand should get nerfed ASAP, as many people don't like it when they buy a 500e weapon and they see it go down to 200e because of overfarming. I don't like ursan but i won't blame that, since its just a game and its just pixels and i shouldn't get too serious about it:p.. i'll re-read what i wrote when my mind clears up lol 78.20.153.111 17:10, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Is the game economy we need to take care of it.(Games can die if things aren't stable). Please don't use the same-old cliche excuse of "Its just a game" clearly with your knowledge of ecto economy it shows that you care very much about it.--Troy 20:01, 28 September 2008 (UTC)


 * I agree with the person above me, the games economy is pretty much based on ectos, and it needs to be based on something with a constant price instead of something that fluctuates everytime someone finds a new way to farm it. either they need to set a permanent price on ectos, or they need to raise to amount of money a person can have at once. of course, raising the amount of money you can store might cause a crash since everyone will sell their ectos and lower the value. 24.129.79.94 21:20, 5 October 2008 (UTC)

Well, the nerfing was intended to raise price of ectos I think other contributors are leading to the drop in prices. I can't really speculate on what these are. But with sf nerfed, it is harder to get ectos making them slightly more rare. Does anyone have an idea of why the price is falling?

trading..
how do ppl trade 4000ectos?
 * Usually by trading armbraces in place of ectos. So if, for example, an armbrace equals 50 ecto, then 80 armbraces are worth 4000 ecto.--Pyron Sy 02:34, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

oh--99.244.204.77 21:18, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

Tips
I just found out how much Chaos Gaunlets cost O.O 75 ectos does anyone know the best way to farm them?
 * I recommened following Category:Drops ectoplasm Ɲ oɕʈɋɽɕɧ  23:25, 6 May 2009 (UTC)
 * thanks these guys are all in Underworld and Fissue of Woe..right? Zachariah Zuan 22:45, 7 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes, click the suggested links. -- Arduinna [[Image:User_Arduinna_Companionship.jpg|15px|talk]] 23:07, 7 May 2009 (UTC)
 * great Zachariah Zuan 14:41, 8 May 2009 (UTC)

Trivia
Which idiot changed the trivia, I've never seen a obsidian shard drop with light of deldrimor, so be more clear --81.246.173.231 11:27, 6 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Dont know if you noticed but this is the talk page of Ecto. Because you havent seen it doesnt mean that it hasnt happened.[[Image:User DrogoBoffin sig icon.png|Talk page]] Drogo Boffin 11:30, 6 June 2009 (UTC)
 * i've opened probably over a thousand hidden treasures (yes i'm a noob) and have never, ever, seen a shard drop. -- adrin [[Image:User_adrin_ecto_sig.png]] 11:35, 6 June 2009 (UTC)
 * I gotta say, in a case like this, screenshot or it didn't happen. -- Lemming [[Image:User Lemming64 sigicon.png]] 11:38, 6 June 2009 (UTC)
 * /agree with lemming, if someone can show that it has dropped amber, jade, or a shard, then it's valid in my book. it needs to be reverted.-- adrin [[Image:User_adrin_ecto_sig.png]] 11:40, 6 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Reverted. Foo 11:52, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

wth?
is this decrease again? >.> - Wuhy   14:50, 6 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Had the same question lol. [[Image:User_Qaletaqa_sig_icon.jpg|talk]] Qaletaqa Hania  03:22, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

They are
Ri Sing! In price(Woop woop UWSC nerf).-- Neil2250  20:44, 5 November 2009 (UTC)
 * 7k per ecto atm anyone want to check after the waiting game is over and see if they go back down?- Kage No  Yugata  00:32, 6 November 2009 (UTC)
 * 8k now. 87.207.244.38 15:46, 6 November 2009 (UTC)
 * I hope the price is going up because of the halloween event. I don't want ectos to get back up to 10k ea. Daeheru 19:26, 7 November 2009 (UTC)
 * You know the funny part about this? Ambraces and High-end weapons don't drop in price. I mean if Ambraces were 45e before UWsc nerf they still are now. Yay for ruining in-game economy once again. [[Image:User_Qaletaqa_sig_icon.jpg|talk]] Qaletaqa Hania  19:42, 11 November 2009 (UTC)


 * Its because we shouldent of built our econemy around these puppys,they were going to get horibly disformed anyway.-- Nei l2250  User Neil2250 sig icon5.jpg 00:19, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

still at 7500 as of december 15th.

Drop rate
Is it decreasing? I did a couple of smite runs and I didn't get one...has it changed or am I just unlucky?--65.93.27.93 14:05, 10 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Probably unlucky. People farm ectos every single day, so if a major drop rate change had occurred, we'd already have people bitching. Karate  [[File:User Karate Jesus KJ for sig.png]] Jesus  14:48, 10 January 2010  (UTC)
 * Thanks....KJ--65.93.27.93 23:28, 10 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Yeah, on a solo run I get from 1-4 ectos, at worst 0. (Clearing Lab + skeles in Vale). 85.19.140.9 20:08, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

(Reset indent) Well when I'm in there my goal is to get to the Ecto Plains and on the way I don't get one and when I get there I only get like 3.. But when my uncle does it he's getting 10-20 each run.... --The preceding unsigned comment was added by 98.196.104.81 (talk &bull; contribs) at 16:52, 30 May 2011 (UTC).

Why?
Why is it that Globs are restricted to the elite areas? Is there a good reason? Be honest. --Ravencroft0 09:38, 6 March 2010 (UTC)


 * WEll... Where else would you have it drop? If it dropped everywhere, or in easy areas it'd be worth nothing, making the rarest items very easy to obtain. 85.19.140.9 15:21, 12 March 2010 (UTC)

hmm.... yes... have you seen ? there is a reason it only drops in elite areas... and that is because the thing you shall use it for should stay elite. --Miriforst fox 06:16, 12 March 2010 (UTC)

Hidden treasure
Really? Opened thousands of them and never got 1, neither me nor my guildmates. I think this should be proved with a screenie or be deleted. --Lhoj 09:43, 23 June 2010 (UTC)
 * It was found in the research on the Hidden Treasure page, where all rare materials were eventually found to be dropping from the chest. I believe the info is good. Did you get every other rare material in the droptable? --Manassas  [[File: User Manassas Mannysig.png]] 09:50, 23 June 2010 (UTC)
 * I just see a list of materials crossed, but not a single proof of them dropping. I'm sure all of us have seen shapphires, rubies, diamonds, onyx, deldrimor steel, monstrous fangs/claws/eyes and so drop from them, but I've never seen globs or obby shards dropping. Also, there are many players complaining about this. As always, screenie or it didn't happen. --Lhoj 10:14, 23 June 2010 (UTC)
 * I'm going to remove it. The user that added the strikes on the talk page on hidden treasure, also added a line saying those drops were excluded, i.e. not possible. I think he just didn't understand what was going on in that list. Especially since he also crossed off Clay Bricks in the same edit. Ugh. Missed the fact that he removed the line saying they were excluded, not that he added the line. Vandalism then. -- FreedomBound [[Image:User_Freedom_Bound_Sig.png|19px]] 10:34, 23 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Yeah .. A vandal who striked almost everything on dec. 30th, but crept under the radar of the "Recent Change Police". I reverted him. --Manassas  [[File: User Manassas Mannysig.png]] 11:01, 23 June 2010 (UTC)

New Use for Ectos
I think that ectos need to have a new sink for them. Currently people having xunlai panes full of them is just ridiculous and isn't what it is they were intended for. Obsidian Armor crafting =/= the amount of ectos that are dropped everyday. Just a though. 75.131.246.36 22:17, 11 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Or you could be kind and give them to poorer players?-- Neil  2250  User Neil2250 sig icon6.png 21:24, 15 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Chaos Gloves? - Auron 21:26, 15 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Yeah lol maybe we should have a "share the wealth" program in guild wars. Im a democratic, I'm all for it, lol. 75.131.246.36 17:13, 16 July 2010 (UTC)
 * share the wealth!
 * But then how would the elitists flaunt themselves over the pathetic masses? Seriously, give us some love, too. Ifm2181 03:45, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

A Good Deed
one of my guild members just said that he got 2 ectos after doing the quest A Good Deed in eotn, as part of the WiK/hotn storyline, i didnt think they could drop outside the UW/FoW areas, can anyone confirm this as an official drop zone or if its a bug worth noting.Spark-TBa 22:28, 6 March 2011 (UTC)
 * my guildie is unable to provide any kind of proof or screenshot, so im gonna say he was trying to sound cool and failed miserably, pls disregard this post if you want. or add your own little stories of people lying about ectos dropping :PSpark-TBa 23:01, 6 March 2011 (UTC)

Drop rate of 2%?
Unless anyone has objections, I plan on removing the drop rate notes for Wailing Lords, Smite Crawlers, and Bladed Aaxtxe (and any other ecto-dropping foe). (Those articles currently list 2% or 4% as the drop rate.)
 * 1) We very rarely post drop rate data in primary articles.
 * 2) We only do so when we have hard data (collected here, at Guild Wiki, at guru, or sourced to developers)
 * 3) The origins of the specific numbers used are ...suspicious.

Here's the what I've found in attempting to find a source for these numbers:
 * 1) The 2%/4% notes were added by two anonymous IPs (that doesn't make the numbers inaccurate, but the body of their contributions provides little confidence).
 * 2) Threads on guru that include "drop rate" and "ecto" claim the same numbers...but provide no other source than GWW.
 * 3) The closest I could find to hard data is on Guild Wiki, which has somewhat different numbers. Worse, the data is 4+ years old and it comes from very few players. (To be fair, some of the data includes a lot of drops.)

Accordingly, I don't think there's any hard evidence that we know specific rates. At best, we only have enough data to publish in a drop rate subpage (as we do with drop rates for certain types of gifts).


 * Histories


 * Wailing Lords 2%, added July 2009 by Special:Contributions/74.251.60.85
 * Smite Crawlers 2%, added April 2008 by Special:Contributions/82.38.53.202
 * Bladed Aatxe 4%, added April 2008 by Special:Contributions/82.38.53.202

These numbers are thin for something this well farmed.
 * Guild Wiki drop rates


 * Smite Crawlers: 1.63% of dropping rare mat (including gems). Only 4 players posted, newest result is 4 years old. (95% of data predates changes to anti-farm code)
 * Aatxes: 4.06% rare mat (including gems). Only 7 players. Only one post is newer than 4 years. (93% of data predates anti-farm code changes)
 * Dryders 1.89%. 3 players, 4 year old data, only 212 drops. (100% of data predates anti-farm code changes)
 * Wailing Lords: no data

— Tennessee Ernie Ford ( TEF ) 18:37, 30 March 2011 (UTC)
 * You have the source, I wouldnt call it suspicious and those numbers are hard data.--83.81.45.95 19:01, 30 March 2011 (UTC)


 * (1) The only source I can find doesn't support the posted numbers (2% or 4%). (2) In at least one case, the data set is too small; in the other cases, the number of reporters is too small. (3) Over 90% of the data pre-dates changes to farming code. (4) There is no data at all for Wailing Lords.


 * This wiki only rarely publishes drop rates (in the main articles); when we do, we have stronger supporting evidence. — Tennessee Ernie Ford ( TEF ) 22:07, 1 April 2011 (UTC)


 * I haven't seen anyone offer a counter-argument in support of retaining the current notes for a week. I've removed the Wailing Lord note already (there's no supporting evidence at all that I can find). I'll remove the other notes later this weekend. — Tennessee Ernie Ford ( TEF ) 09:53, 9 April 2011 (UTC)


 * I've started to collect new data from my UW runs, only counting ecto drops by creature type. My first run yielded a total of 7 ectos for 194 kills (3.61%), but (subjectively) that was a lucky run, and it's not enough data to be conclusive, yet. Should I create Glob of Ectoplasm/Drop rate and add detailed statistics there?
 * I'm only farming UW if I got 2 hours of time, there's no interesting daily quest and the DoA outpost is empty, so it'll take a while for me to get enough data on my own. Is anyone else interested in adding data? Tub 11:49, 11 April 2011 (UTC)


 * New data would be great. Please take a look at the Guild Wiki drop tables (linked above). There are several ways to go about collecting data, and the more thorough the method, the more tedious. So, it might be useful to discuss whether people want to have a simple count or something more complicated. (That discussion should probably take place in a new thread, since this one is about removing estimates based on insufficient and outdated data.) — Tennessee Ernie Ford ( TEF ) 15:44, 11 April 2011 (UTC)

Drop Data
Since I've got my obsidian now, I'll likely do a lot less UW farming, so here's my data so far. All done on normal mode with a party of one. The confidence interval is the interval of all possible drop rates that I cannot reject with p<0.05 (p<0.01). That doesn't mean that "it's 95% (99%) likely that the actual drop rate is in that interval", it just means that "for any drop rate outside that interval, my measured drops are less than 5% (1%) likely to happen". Not sure how mathematically sound that approach is, but it shows that the data I collected isn't enough to be conclusive.
 * 1) Possibly subject to loot scaling, since they're the first foes to be killed
 * 2) Aren't listed as dropping ectos on any wiki, and I can't disagree with that
 * 3) including the drop rates documented here, intervals are currently missing due to errors in floating point maths at large n

The kill counts are weird because I did some failed tests with different farming builds; I also had to abandon one run mid-plains and failed another due to migraine. Tub 10:26, 31 May 2011 (UTC)


 * This is great. Thanks for posting.


 * A couple of thoughts:
 * Could we create a more general table that everyone can add to? I would suggest we include:
 * # of foes killed, ectos dropped, # of cash drops, # of other drops, # of no drops, and a signature. (the cash/other/none columns are to help counter any anti-farm, loot-scaling effects)
 * If that's too complicated, at least kills, ectos, the sig, and any other drop (again, to counter anti-loot/farm impact)
 * Could we leave off the confidence interval for any subtotal with less than 1000 foes? While there's a technical definition of confidence, I am not confident that other variables aren't more influential (reporting errors, potential issues with GW's randomness, differences in foes depending on areas, ...).
 * Unless you are Tristan, I am suspicious about including that data. Based on how it's posted and the limited # of data sets posted by that contributor, I'm not as confident about their 1067 foe deaths as I am about your 89. (Mind you: your 2/89 is consistent with his (her?) 25/1067.)


 * I'd like for us to end up with data that is compelling and convincing, because care has gone into collecting and collating it. All the numbers that people toss around are plausible, but I think we can do better than that. — Tennessee Ernie Ford ( TEF ) 19:19, 31 May 2011 (UTC)
 * You can create any table you want, but given the lack of people interested in contributing drop rates I currently see little value in that. The table I posted was meant as a FYI, not something to get research started.
 * Drop scaling should only affect aatxes, and nobody deliberately farms them anyway; they're just in the way of getting to the real spots - that's why I didn't bother writing down any more numbers than I did. Fumbling in a spreadsheet slows you down and gets you killed. I'm just glad the number of foes in the chaos planes, beach and spider cave is constant; those aatxe and graspings are probably miscounted, anyway.
 * Oh, and somehow data for another run appeared in the table above. Tub 22:30, 31 May 2011 (UTC)
 * drop scaling doesnt effect ectos according to the page on wiki. []Spark-TBa 16:24, 2 June 2011 (UTC)


 * No, but other anti-farming code affects the Bladed Aaxtxe, since they are first to be tackled. — Tennessee Ernie Ford ( TEF ) 16:49, 2 June 2011 (UTC)