Nerve

It is a difficult one for sure since you can't solo the Drow Champions.  i'm not sure what Jace's original logic was in restricting their drop rate, other than the fact that the Drow Blade Mage is otherwise very easy to access for what it drops.  It is possible to go for another boss while you wait for the respawns, but when I did just that, I found players had to switch weapons (from Royal Sword to Sarin Trident to take on the Hornet Queen in the interim).

Before I take action though, there are some things to consider, like the Abstinok Key is sometimes dropped by the Locksmith, although that's more of a bonus than anything.  However, I have one possible alternative (or coupled with an increase to the drop rate)... how would you feel if there were more Drow Champions in other locations, for example, a few spawning in the Subterranean City?

Adding spawns to Subterranean City seems worse in my opinion, since you either need characters in ttk already or a long trip to get there everytime...might as well just wait on the long spawn times of the 3 in sacred woods if thats the case. No one wants to farm the keys so this boss just doesn't get done very much for that reason.

Which classes are the worst for farming their leveling items and gold?

How much less efficient are they?

 

I think mages have always been designed to be less efficient because they are supposed to be so strong - but on Main, they really fall flat compared to most other classes post-level 30. They are utility bots moreso than strong characters of any kind.

Paladins are similar.

 

Is that the case on 1-Alt? Other classes that are bad at their necessary paths?

Any specific reasons to consider, such as not having good damage multiplier weapons or being limited to lower quality monsters due to what drops their leveling items, etc?

Thief (because of low end damage from the nerf years ago, struggle to kill anything without a mod from training weapon or craft), Paladin, Mage are all awful for farming leveling items. The fact you are on a single character trying to farm gold where most areas still drop gold amounts from the 1-30 era makes gold farming take longer on most classes, some are better than other sure.

Ranger probably excels in the item farming area, mages don't benefit from training weapons and use a ton of mana... so generally I dont think they are used for farming their own items (at least I don't)

Thief did get a new crafted weapon (Norinth's Bane) that is amazing and helps a ton considering how bad they hit with just basic weapons regardless of BD, but most items they need it doesnt help at all. Maybe one day the nerf with get reverted, but the Norinth's Bane helps in the meantime.

Druid is decent I guess, a lot of armor blocks

Paladin, fighter both suffer from the armor block issue as well unless they are using a training weapon or crafted with modifiers, helps but its still rough sometimes.

Berserker is good if you're with someone on a cleric but solo.. its a drag because of hp loss when smiting/zerking (Vamp hp gains from weapons with modifiers is broken, you don't gain the hp you should. Same with thief assassinate)

Staff have increased some area's gold which has helped but no character ever gains 12.7 to 17.5m 36 - 40 on that crit alone.. usually having to play other classes/crits or they are sitting red ready for level while you are still trying to get the gold so that you can level.

But yeah like I said we are on a single character and cant just heal ourselves especially when you arent playing together. When exping  or even farming gold a lot of us don't group up, not playing the same characters so sometimes thats not possible anyways due to mods and type of characters.

This post was mostly about giving us a high gold option and reward for getting to level 40 to make your next character you level a bit easier which is why the token/trinket drop chance was mentioned, and also giving us a reason to play a 40 crit (instead of getting it 40 and letting it rot) and maybe occasionally using it for farming a seal/key.

I see what you're saying but an area would incentivize me to play a level 40 crit more so then a item or anything else else I can think of.

GM leveling is expensive on 1a is why several of us has mentioned the high gold option and the Token/Trinket for alts idea, there really isn't much of an economy on 1a not a whole lot of selling/trading going on anymore.

In case you didnt know actual costs on 1a...

Item Leveling

 36 - 600k
 37 - 1.2m
 38 - 1.8m
 39 - 2.4m
 40 - 5.5m Token/trinket leveling (can't use items to level for 40)

 Tokens/Trinket Leveling

 36 - 1.5m
 37 - 2.5m
 38 - 3.5m
 39 - 4.5m
 40 - 5.5m

(100k gold entrance fee to fight boss to get a token, 5 required each level and 1 additional 1m gold Tarnished trinket each level)

Item leveling is obviously better but sometimes they take a while to obtain and its easier to just pay the extra gold to token level, like on monsters that have lower exp/gold I generally don't like to kill and we are playing 1 character so gold doesn't come as easy as it does on say 20 of them.

Yeah, a 40 only high gold area maybe with drops giving you a reason to use a crit that was worked hard on to get maxed would be cool.

I didn't add Perfect Emerald Ring because I really have no idea what could be done with this as Wisdom at that level doesn't seem all that useful when most people go for damage, I guess it's okay but I don't see anyone choosing to upgrade this over the others with how high the cost is. And for Perfect Garnet Ring I've already seen someone suggest ingame +1 str +1con that I agree with, thieves only need +3 con for very little stam loss. Amulet of Sylos/Whispering Moccasins/Perfect Garnet Ring with +1str/+1con would give enough con(3) for easy movement without using Norinth's Bane(4), allowing you to equip GoV/GoM and Shadow Brace.  For Perfect Sapphire Ring I also think +1str/+1dex is best if you're unwilling to do +2 dex, I don't think anyone is willing to spend 10 Hellish Tourmaline for +1 charisma so their cleric can use it when Diamond Ring is probably just as easy to get without having to use any Hellish Tourmaline.

Agree with all of this, and I also do not know what change could be suggested for Emerald Ring that would make me want to use 10 Hellish Tourmaline on over the other rings.