EightySix should (probably) drop thrones

[loramin]

In this thread (https://www.project1999.com/forums/showthread.php?t=211114&page=2) it sounded like EightySix (in Plane of Mischief) got given crowns as his loot table:

EightySix has no loottable currently. What should it be?
Looks like up to any Crown

If this is incorrect, and he instead has thrones, I apologize: please disregard this whole bug. I just couldn't find any reports one way or the other, and with PoM's low drop rate and long respawn time it could take killing him for quite awhile to "prove" that he doesn't drop thrones.

But if he doesn't ... I think the evidence originally presented for crowns was weak (which is natural as this is Plane of Mischief we're talking about):

http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/quest.html?quest=1251

If you follow the link the relevant sentence is:
Knights can rarely be found on the 4 halfings in the forest around the chest, and used to be semi common on "86" and "donk"

But 86 and Donk are quite different, and neither one just drops knights: on P99 at least Donk drops crowns. It seems very likely that this report came from someone who did a few kills of 86 and Donk (they're sort of a camp), got some knights (which of course can drop from crowns/thrones mobs) and that was all.

Similarly:

http://www.eqclerics.org/forums/showthread.php?t=14169&highlight=Plane+Mischief

From the Second reply:

The Throne cards are usually found in the Alice area of the zone and drop off Big and 22. Knight cards are dropped by the four halflings in the forest near the chest and on mid level npc's like Gorillas, Guards and 86. The crown cards are dropped by 86, Fenj and My Hand. The squire cards are dropped by mobs found in the forest area.

Having soloed him a few times hes not as hard as the throne dropping npcs with the exception of the giant halflings. He seems like a weaker version of "22" but it should certainly produce some kind of cards.

Ty for looking into this, I can try to google it some more but doubtful a whole lot will be revealed but he is mentioned as having cards up to crowns in his loot table.

Again, just because someone looted a crown off 86 does not mean that he should only drop up to crowns. And because 86 was so isolated from everything else, it's only natural that there would be fewer reports of his drops: why would anyone go all the way out to the upside down for two mobs when they could go elsewhere and have more to kill (in a zone far less crowded than P99's)?

But so then what evidence is there that he should drop thrones? Well first, off, he's doesn't seem to be any easier than A4 22 (who does drop thrones): both are level 60 invisible servant warriors. Since PoM's whole tier system seems revolve around giving the toughest mobs the best cards, it seems strange that the devs would have made two mobs clearly "at the same tier" have different drops.

Second, I found this on the live EQ forums (regarding EightySix and some other mobs being missing from PoM on Phinny, emphasis added):

Thank you very much for returning Peachy to Plane of Mischief and allowing us to bind there. There are a few other mobs missing. As far as I know, the mobs Zero, One, Two, and Three don't play a significant role in the zone however the mobs TwentyTwo and EightySix both drop some of the rarest cards and currently the drop rate is bad and has been for the last 2 weeks (6-12 hours per day 7 days a week). If someone could please help these mobs find their way back home to Plane of Mischief, I am sure the people who come to visit them would be very much appreciative of all your efforts and assistance.


Obviously not strong stuff (just the memory of a live player), but again the original evidence wasn't strong either.

Couple that with the basic logic about 22 and 86 both being 60s, and then if you're truly still on the fence... wouldn't one more (logical) place for players to farm and enjoy P99 be better than not?

[loramin]

P.S. He's also harder/higher-level than A4 Ape/Rat/Twins ... all of whom drop thrones.

[loramin]

I've killed him 20 times now and so far he seems to just not be itemized: I've never even gotten a grub or candy. But it's always hard to tell with such low drop rates.

[loramin]

I've been trying to find evidence to support the idea that EightySix should drop thrones, but instead found evidence against it (on planeofmischief.com (http://planeofmischief.com/rpool.htm)):

EightySix now hits for 120s and can still drop Crowns cards and Knight cards.

Honestly this is probably the strongest piece of evidence, just because there's so little good PoM information and that site was dedicated to PoM ... but even so I still think it's likely he dropped thrones.

I think it's really important to remember that this was a mob:


in an extremely under-utilized zone (PoM wasn't nearly as populated on live as it is here)
like much of the zone he didn't even work properly when first released
not all that long afterward (<2 years?) his loot stopped being relevant, so there was a relatively small window of time people farmed him
he's extremely remote, so people would have little incentive to make the one-way trip to him (with awkward jumping or levitating required)
any PoM card is already a super rare drop, and thrones are rarer still, so unless you kill a given mob A LOT (which I've been trying to do, and it's not easy to kill a level 60 on a 72 minute timer in the middle of nowhere A LOT) it's very possible you might see it drop a crown/knight/squire and think they don't drop thones


Altogether I just think it's unlikely this mob was killed that much on live, by the same individual, enough times to get a throne to drop ... and when that did happen many didn't report it anywhere (if you went through all that trouble to find a "secret" remote thrones spot that everyone else thought dropped crowns, would you?)

It just seems more likely to me that the random guy on the live EQ forum who claimed he used to get "the rarest cards" from EightSix and TwentyTwo wasn't lying (importantly he wasn't trying to talk SOE into adding Throne to them in that post, he was just saying these mobs, which are important because of their thrones, are missing) ... and that all the other (not much) evidence saying he drops crowns could still be entirely consistent with that.

But I'll keep looking, because obviously if I could find even a single in era report of a Thone drop from him that would be the holy grail ...

[Erati]

Have you gotten any Crowns from him Lora?

Hopefully we can get him itemized to at least that tier of cards.

[Telin]

I added loot to eightsix, not including Thrones for now. I'd like to find one more source. But it's clear he did have loot.