Grinding for gear: Fire Dragon on Floor 7

[Ninth Hour]

If you have patience, the Fire Dragon on the 7th Floor (2E, 9N, through a whole series of secret rooms) provides probably the most efficient way to grind for high tier loot.

I did so for about 2-3 hours per day, over a span of 3 days, and brought in the following haul:

2 Lords Garb
1 Ring of Health
1 Ring of Pro Undead
1 Muramasa Blade
1 +3 Evil Plate Armor
1 Evil Helm (I think it's +2 or +3)
2 amulets of Makanito
2 Rods of Fire
1 +3 Breast Plate

A bunch of +2 Longswords, +2 Maces, +2 Shortswords, and suits of +2 Plate Mail and +2 Leather Armor

A whole bunch of Dragonslayers (which I consider useless, as it is outperformed by the +2 Longsword)

I also picked up an array of useless scrolls, potions. and cursed items (which I mostly dumped on the spot to make room).

Sadly, the item I was aiming for, the Cuisinart Blade, was nowhere in sight, and it's a tier lower than the Muramasa blade. RNG will be RNG I guess.

What makes this method so efficient is how quickly you can reset it. After beating the dragon, simply Save and Exit back to Title Screen. When you reload, you will be in the room where you just fought it. Simply turn around to the opposite wall, head out the secret door, turn back to the secret door, and reenter the room. The dragon will respawn.

This certainly beats going back to the stairs and coming back up to reset the encounter, as some other players have suggested.

While the drop rate of the best items is really low (much less than 5%, if you consider that cursed items can also drop in the high-tier category), you will eventually find something worthwhile, just through the sheer number of fights you can generate in a short span of time. It's superior to grinding on Floor 10, where you aren't guaranteed to meet the enemies that drop the highest tier loot. And the single dragon is much less dangerous than most encounters on the lowest floor.

[Jok'Xan]

Man you're the Goat thanks for the tip :D

[Thrandarian]

The Blade Cuisinart' was renamed Vorpal Blade due to copyright. I found one on the 9th floor.

[Ninth Hour]

Originally posted by Rooster:

The Blade Cuisinart' was renamed Vorpal Blade due to copyright. I found one on the 9th floor.

I like the new name. Too bad it doesn't give a chance for critical hits as the "vorpal" moniker would suggest. Also, too bad that there isn't a Jabberwocky in the game.

[Wizardsmana]

great tip! Thanks!

[Thrandarian]

Not sure how you got the old school map, Level 7 on my game is not the map you are describing.

[Ninth Hour]

Originally posted by Rooster:

Not sure how you got the old school map, Level 7 on my game is not the map you are describing.

Under the Old School Options menu, there should be a way to toggle between the original and SNES maps, as they are indeed different past level 6 (?) I had original maps selected (I thought it was the default option but I could be wrong).

[Thrandarian]

Originally posted by Ninth Hour:

Originally posted by Rooster:

Not sure how you got the old school map, Level 7 on my game is not the map you are describing.

Under the Old School Options menu, there should be a way to toggle between the original and SNES maps, as they are indeed different past level 6 (?) I had original maps selected (I thought it was the default option but I could be wrong).

No option under my old-school options to change maps *Shrugs*

[Ninth Hour]

Originally posted by Rooster:

No option under my old-school options to change maps *Shrugs*

Actually I'm mistaken. You can only specify the maps you want to use when you start a New game. I thought it was an option that you can freely toggle but looks like it is only offered when you first start.

So if you want to use the original maps, you have to select a save slot and choose New Game.

There seems to be a workaround involving altering the command line when the game is run, to load the old maps in.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/2518960/discussions/0/7007112969436875805/

[Thrandarian]

Thanks for all the info. I guess I'll stick with the new...Messing with save files can be sketchy. =/

[Ninth Hour]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3260599178

Specifically, this is the screen you get when starting a new game, which determines the selection.

[stoney_skor]

When I first played Wizardry: the Proving Grounds, it was written in pascal and played on a Apple ][. I have also played the pc version of proving grounds. The drops were a lot better than in this version. By the time I had reached the 7th level I had most of the best equipment tin the game. So why is the drop rate so bad in this version?

[Ninth Hour]

Originally posted by stoney_skor:

When I first played Wizardry: the Proving Grounds, it was written in pascal and played on a Apple II. I have also played the pc version of proving grounds. The drops were a lot better than in this version. By the time I had reached the 7th level I had most of the best equipment tin the game. So why is the drop rate so bad in this version?

This game is based on the Apple II version. I would assume that's the reason.

[stoney_skor]

Originally posted by Ninth Hour:

Originally posted by stoney_skor:

When I first played Wizardry: the Proving Grounds, it was written in pascal and played on a Apple II. I have also played the pc version of proving grounds. The drops were a lot better than in this version. By the time I had reached the 7th level I had most of the best equipment tin the game. So why is the drop rate so bad in this version?

This game is based on the Apple II version. I would assume that's the reason.

That is what I'm saying. The drop rate is very flawed. I fully mapped out the 7th, 8th and 9th levels several times, and the best item was a +2 shield.

[Slux]

Originally posted by stoney_skor:

I have also played the pc version of proving grounds. The drops were a lot better than in this version. By the time I had reached the 7th level I had most of the best equipment tin the game.

If that is true then the PC version must be _extremely_ different to the Apple ][ version.

I can confirm the drop rate of items in this remake is pretty much identical to the Apple ][. Most top tier equipment wouldn't be found until you were adventuring on level 9 or 10. Stuff like Blade Cuisinart could be found on level 8 but was pretty rare. Even Long Sword +2 was level 7 or 8.

[Ninth Hour]

Yes, in the Apple II version, you won't naturally find the best gear just through exploration. You have to specifically grind for it, which makes it an exercise in old school tolerance.