When it comes to essences, I found the quickest way to get them was not from Sleepers or VP, but rather combine ZP with a double or triple instance, targetting the various progression zones one by one.
If you are looking for a specific essence this is for sure the way. If you are just looking for bulk essences because you just need everything VP was by far faster for T5+ in the back half.
Essences still drop in VP, but the rate they drop at is not what it was. It should never have been nearly as lucrative for essences as it was, nor should I have left it like that for as long as I did.
The new rate is pretty rough after spending a bit of time clearing, but I definitely do think it was way too lucrative before so I don't disagree with the change.
There is a solution I am kicking around, that eliminates the economy busting rate of essence drops, but still gives some relief to people who really do need to come into T11 pretty well equipped. This solution is that VP will drop No Drop, all in one essences, that can be turned into the Essence Trader, and will give credit towards the 100 essence quests. While these won't drop as frequently as essences were, their utility will be far superior. I want to think on this for a few days though, and make sure it's not something else that could cause issues down the road.
I like this solution a lot. It makes Veeshan really sound like the final stop before T11 where you can clean up everything. I'd kind of be okay with this just being the only thing it provides because if we need a few essences here or there for other things we could go back towards the actual zones or sleeper.
Because people have been abusing (not in an 'against the rules' way) the Guardian Charm's overpowered effects for so long, I do intend to make a few changes, though it's not going to be extreme:
• Increase base faction rewards from kill quests, likely from 75 to 100.
• Reduce Plagueborne kill count, likely from 1000 to 800.
• Introduce a new item 'Sunderock Spear' - this item will be the result of a Magic Box combine of 5 Scorpion's Spears, and will be an area pull item with a short duration root (usable in Sunderock only). This will allow players to more easily pull camps in Sunderock, and not lose too much to the inability to zone pull (without GC).
Zone pull will still work in Sunderock, and it is certainly survivable with the right gear, but most people rely on GC to faceroll ZP it.
For clarity, GC will be useless by level 78. Level 77 it will be very ineffective, with 76 and 75 being slightly better. Ultimately, Guardian Charms are a cheat code, and they were never intended to be.
I see notes of Sunderock changes, but will there be any changes for Hills of Shade? I think it's a zone that kind of feels it's balanced around Guardian Charm at this point. I also understand if it's just sort of time to sunset HoS with the idea behind a new Halloween zone since the accessories from HoS have alternatives through Veeshan/Sleeper.
