Looking for a Few Good Orks

[Ruvanal]

They probably didn't give warriors specific aggro control skills at level 1 because the mobs are simply too easy to be bothered with it.  Around level 7 you will get a few helpful combat stance skills, one to slow mobs footspeed (this also helps to avoiding attracting additional mobs), and an attack-from-behind skill that will lock the monster onto you for 6 seconds.  At level 10, you guys can do a fun little quest to learn the art of defense, and everything you know about playing a warrior will be out the window :)

In the beta2 push that skill has been changed and no longer requires being used from only behind. You can use it from any position.

Pete:
First, a digression. Seems that mobs focus on who hit them first. So I think a ranged attack may be useful for warriors. Takes about level 20, I think.

At your current levels the aggro is being set by the amount of damage that each character is doing to the mobs. Try letting the warrior hit a target once with a normal attack and then see the mage pull the mob off with a single spell. Not fun then your warrior has to try to chase the mob down again to continue the attacks. At this point in the game either accept that this is going to keep happening or the casters will need to learn to try to use their spells primarily for finishing off instead of starting encounters.

The missile weapons will become available when you save up the skill points to learn that weapon class. I do not remember what the bows and guns were set at but it should be possibile (but not practical) to get to use one of them prior to level 20. Thrown, Bows and Crossbows take 100 skill points for my warrior and Guns take 200 skill points. If I did not spend the points that I have on trade skills, I would be close to the 100 points and Vrak is only level 11 now. If I also took into account what skill points were spent on stats, then I should have had over 100 skill points now. But I do consider most stat expenitures too important to skip (of course the intellegence for the warrior could be skipped).
I don't know yet how well the warrior skills will play out, or even what they'll look like in the final cut (as if any Blizzard product is ever "final") of the game. The list that I was looking at is too general to give more than a hint.

That list is terrible, do not try going by it. I have not even seen Impale as a possible skill to use yet. Early combat skills to look at are
Strike- you will get a nice boost in damage
Rend- a DoT skill that can finish off a mob that starts to run away. I do not think that it stacks.
Hamstring- as Nystul pointed out it will slow their movement down alot. Also seems to slightly slow down their attacks also, but not by much.
Charge- broken in beta2. Watch the boards for a fix to it. Charge rank 2 may still be very good with its stunning of the target charged.
Punishing Blow- changed in beta2 to be usable from any direction. It will override the aggro for its duration and lock you as the mobs prime target. Note the long cool down time between uses.
Pommel- very effective in beta1 at disrupting the casters like those Black Dragon Welps and their devastating fire attack. Toned down some in beta2, but I have not had a chance to see by how much.
Thunderclap- slow down up to 4 mobs near you and give your warrior some agro to help pull some of them off of the other characters.

...any buffing shout that takes rage (i.e., needs to be used after combat has started) seems a waste, ...
Not so. The Battle Shout has a nice duration and I have been able to utilise its effects for 2 or 3 encounters after the one that I set it off in. This is with taking time to loot, first aid if needed and picking a target instead of just hitting something close. It may not be that useful on the encounter that you first use it, but it is useful overall.

See Nystuls comment about getting Defensive Stance and Taunt (along with some of the other defensive and duel stance skills); it will really change the way the charater is played. You will at times need to make coice as to which stance that you are going to be using. Also note that when you change your stance, you will erase any rage that you have already built up and need to start the build up again.

Also do not forget to grab that bag quest (6 socket bag reward) in Razor hill. It will help with gathering all that loot you will be coming across.

[--Pete]

Hi,

Some good ideas to think about there. I was building a warrior in Phase 1 to try to get some info, but between a late start and lack of time I didn't get him far enough to matter. Hopefully he'll be "released" soon (by which time, I might have someone bigger anyway :) )

I found Charge to be not too useful in Phase 1 -- haven't gotten it in 2. I'd rather bring the targets to me rather than jumping out to where additional threats might be waiting.

Rend and Hamstring were looking appealing, since I finished most battles with a drunken stagger to catch and finish off my target :)

Pummel, IIRC, I added thinking Charge/Pummel would make a decent combo soloing against mages. However, I haven't used it yet -- no opportunity.

I suspect that as things are tweaked, added, and dropped, the skill mix will change as will the tactics.

--Pete

[Nystul]

Birds gotta fly, fish gotta swim, and orks gotta crawl. Ug is very happy to be back on dry land, chomping on breakfast from Cook Torga, after some very wet adventures off the eastern coast of Durotar. We didn't get to kill any elfs and only a few humans, but our raid of the evil voodoo troll camp was a nice substitute! Seven quests cleared this week, only two left on the books, and it looks like our troll friends in Sin'jin Village can get back to life as normal.

Where do we stand on trade skills? See if I have this right:

Grisk - knows mining, will add smithing
Azo - knows fishing, will add cooking
Ms. E - knows herbalism, alchemy
Smash - nothing yet?
Ug - nothing yet

Still available: skinning, leatherwork, tailoring, enchanting, first aid, survival, engineering.

With five people, we can cover all of the trades if we want to. Any preferences at this point, Charis? Due to skill point demands, you and I should probably split skinning and tailoring (they are the most expensive trades remaining) and each pick something else as well. First aid should probably go to either Azo or Elvira?

[Charis]

Smashers gotta smash! :rolleyes:

A good summary, Ug. Good to see the diversity in skills and such. I'm glad Grisk is going
for mining and smithing - that was top of my list if no one else took. As it stands now,
my thoughts in terms of preference is probably:

- Bows proficiency (100 skill pts)
- Wide weapons proficiency (several 30ish pt weapons)
- Enchanting or engineering (though I know nothing of the latter)
- Survival or first aid

Do we have any cloth users in the group? Warlock?? I know the shaman and
rogue can use leather, and the two warriors are on the chain gang. Can anything
really of any use be made by tailoring? With two leather-wearers and Ug needing
to pick up a skill, I'm guessing skinning/leathercrafting to be good for him. My shaman
has that combo and it's moderately useful (though I'ld prefer not to take that combo
so I can try out a greater range of things :P )

I knows bows are tough to get due to the high skill requirement, but once achieved,
are they useless? I would really like to try a bow character - if they suck or the team thinks
it would be useless, I'll pass and wait for a hunter character. So any other feedback
on bows (or guns!) would be useful.

If folks think that's not too useful, *OR* if we want to make an effort to pick up all skills
to some degree, I might go for Enchantment. Engineering sounds interesting, but I would
need someone to describe that to know for sure. For that matter I'm not sure on the mechanics
of how First aid helps. But I think it's equally valid (perhaps better) for non-healer characters
to take up that skill, as they can make bandages and healing items to heal themselves in battle,
which is something the healer classes don't really need.

Charis

PS - I'm still reeling from the grandeur of the city of Ogrimmar and its environs. I'm a bit
concerned that I'll be hopelessly lost or disoriented once we shift over there. It's a major
weakness of mine, both in RL and gaming (knowing my way around town and having a good
sense of direction) - and one reason I've never had interest in MMORPG. I sure hope at least
one of you is very good at this - I'll be using /f a lot :P

[--Pete]

Hi,

Can anything really of any use be made by tailoring?

Bags. :) Perhaps someone can take this skill and use it till we're all "bagged up" and then trade it in.

I knows bows are tough to get due to the high skill requirement, but once achieved, are they useless?

The consensus seems to be that bows are just useful for pulling, and that thrown is better because it does not eat up a bag slot. I too want a physical ranged attack, but might be tempted to wait for a huntress.

For that matter I'm not sure on the mechanics of how First aid helps.

Me neither. There is a discussion of this in the trade skills forum but there is no clear answer.

Indeed, a number of skills seem to have mostly a fun value, or at best a slight monetary value. Looking at the official skills page, I think that Fishing, Tailoring, Cooking, First Aid, Lockpicking, and Survival Skills are all at best marginally useful. If someone wants to play with any of these, I don't think that would hurt. Otherwise, if the skill point surplus at high level is true, we might try these out just to have something to do.

I'm still reeling from the grandeur of the city of Ogrimmar and its environs. I'm a bit
concerned that I'll be hopelessly lost or disoriented once we shift over there.

Me, too. I hope the maps of the major cities get implemented Real Soon Now :)

--Pete

[Nystul]

Do we have any cloth users in the group? Warlock?? I know the shaman and
rogue can use leather, and the two warriors are on the chain gang. Can anything
really of any use be made by tailoring?

Yeah, Ms. Elvira is the only one who can't use leather. I don't have a good feel for tailoring to know how useful it would be to our group. Aside from the possible armor upgrades for the warlock, tailors can make things that could be useful to the rest of us depending on how early the tailor can start making them and how good they are (bags and hats, for example). And of course they can make nifty blue undershirts.

With two leather-wearers and Ug needing to pick up a skill, I'm guessing skinning/leathercrafting to be good for him.

Yes, I will probably go that route.

I knows bows are tough to get due to the high skill requirement, but once achieved,
are they useless? I would really like to try a bow character - if they suck or the team thinks
it would be useless, I'll pass and wait for a hunter character. So any other feedback
on bows (or guns!) would be useful.


Angus started using a gun around level 22. It is usually used to deliver a "wakeup call" to whichever mob he would like to parley with. When it actually hits the target, it does damage probably comparable to a two-handed melee weapon. With the BKG Enforcer, he really only gets one shot, but with a faster gun or bow against a slow mob you might be able to squeeze off a second round before they get into melee range. In terms of our group, I'm not sure if it would be worth it. It is hard to tell until we start using more group tactics.

If folks think that's not too useful, *OR* if we want to make an effort to pick up all skills
to some degree, I might go for Enchantment. Engineering sounds interesting, but I would
need someone to describe that to know for sure. For that matter I'm not sure on the mechanics
of how First aid helps. But I think it's equally valid (perhaps better) for non-healer characters
to take up that skill, as they can make bandages and healing items to heal themselves in battle,
which is something the healer classes don't really need.

Engineering is quite a hodgepodge. Early on, you make crude dynamite to damage enemies with. Later you can make guns, ammo, and scopes (slight damage mod for gun). But there is also a variety of gadgets like goggles for the hat slot, remote controls to mess with mechanical mobs, exploding sheep...

First aid bandages require a couple seconds to use, and IIRC that time will stutter if you are attacked. They can be used on yourself or on others. So they are like a priest healing spell, without mana. Then there is a cooldown time afterwards. My gut feeling is that it would be good for the warlock, who is not a healer in the usual sense. I could be wrong though... if warlock is applying a band-aid she can't be casting "fear" or something.

PS - I'm still reeling from the grandeur of the city of Ogrimmar and its environs. I'm a bit
concerned that I'll be hopelessly lost or disoriented once we shift over there.

I'm not sure how much time we will spend in Ogrimmar. It doesn't have to be much. The skyport is essential to any horde character, but the rest of the city really is not.

[Ruvanal]

Can anything really of any use be made by tailoring?

Bags.  Perhaps someone can take this skill and use it till we're all "bagged up" and then trade it in.

If that is all you are looking to it for, it may be worth more to get the bags from one of the other guild members for the early part of the adventures. You can contact Vrak/Kraytok for requesting some 6 slot bags currently if you need them. You may need to help supply some linen or light leather for their fabrication. Also if you have not done so, get the bag quest (6 slot bag as reward) that is available in Razor Hill (top of tower above the smithy).

For that matter I'm not sure on the mechanics of how First aid helps.

Me neither. There is a discussion of this in the trade skills forum but there is no clear answer.

First Aid allows you to make bandages from some of the cloth scraps that drop from the humanoid type mobs. To apply the bandage, the user enters into a 'crafting state' similar to when skinning. If you are hit during this the process is interupted but the bandage is not used. Fairly useless for using in battle unless you have some way to avoid getting interupted. Also there is a cooldown time after the user applies the bandage before they can apply another bandage to anyone. This means that one first aid user cannot go around the group and quickly apply bandages to several different people; but on the other hand several first aid users could all apply their skill to one recipient.

Survival skill has changed some from the first beta push. When learning the skill it no longer lists you as learning apprentice then other levels after that. There are only 2 listings at the trainer, making a campfire (5 skill points iirc) and making a big campfire (req skill of 75 in Survival and 50 or 75 skill point cost, I forget).

Food and Cooking
In the beta1 push the values on what food did for you were fairly accurate in terms of what you would recover. You would actually recover a bit more due to factors like regeneration and the effect of spirit and that while sitting you had a boosted recovery rate.

In the beta2 push they messed around with the way the natural recovery and spirit values affect this. Also it is easier to keep a players spirit maxed by using the more readily available skill points compared to having use talent points in the beta1 push. This boost in recovery can be enough to make mild to moderate damage not something to have to do a special stop for if there is already a pause for things like looting some corpses, skinning, picking herbs/mining ore being done at times. Also these boosts in the recovery rates are having some effect on the way the food works. The numbers do not accurately reflect what you will recover in a given time period.

When playing with Vrak, I was trying to use up some of the more marginal food and noticed the difference. i then took some time to get some rough measurements of what he could expect to recover and found that if using a 98hp over 21 sec food, he acually ended up recover somewhere between 300 and 350 hp during the span of those 21 sec. The recovery has been so fast with this type of low quality food that a low hp character like Kraytok barely needs to sit down for more than 4 seconds to get fully healed in most cases. This has meant that for Vrak at least (current level 20), the need to aquire more food than is normally getting dropped from teh mobs has not really been needed. Even to the point of usually selling the lowest quality food supplies back to the vendors.

The changes that they have done to way recovery works has effectively undermined the value of cooking compared to way it was in the beta1 push.

[--Pete]

Hi,

If that is all you are looking to it for, it may be worth more to get the bags from one of the other guild members for the early part of the adventures.

I think we're playing this group "group pure" (i.e., no gear, etc. from outside the group). Something like shirts doesn't matter, since they are decorative only. But bags would be a pretty big item to import.

And thanks, we've each gotten that Razor Hill quest bag.

First Aid . . . recipient.

OK. Sill have a few questions. Is the health "fixed" by first aid fixed all at once? Is the chance of using first aid on oneself or on another in combat reasonable? Given your observation about food that "The recovery has been so fast with this type of low quality food that a low hp character like Kraytok barely needs to sit down for more than 4 seconds to get fully healed in most cases." does first aid do anything that is significant (i.e., worth the cost of the sp to get it?)

Thank you for the comments on how other skills changed from the earlier pushes. And, I suspect, they will change again before (and even after) the game goes retail. But, from what you've said, I suspect that you pretty much agree with the lack of usefulness of many trade skills at this time.

--Pete

[Ruvanal]

For tailoring to get to the point of making 6 slt bags requires that the skill be pushed up to 45 iirc. Making those 5 shirts was needed for Kraytok to make the last little bit. To get up to the point of making 8 slot bags will require journeyman tailoring and a level of 115 iirc. To do this just for the bags may be debateable. I have usually found enough 6 slot bags through normal drops to max out the bag positions before I could get the skill that high in the first place. And it looks like there is a good chance of usually doing that same situation with the 8 slot bags before gaining the needed skill to make them. Your milage may vary on this.

For the First Aid, when the player begins to apply the bandage there is a timer that runs just like when skinning, mining or herb gathering. When the timer is finished then the bandage is used up and the damage is then fixed on the recipient. Not very useful in combat since it will take away from damaging the enemy and probably not succeed anyway. It can be good for an alternative way to fix some damage quickly after combat. Have someone pick up the skill and test it out a couple of times. If you can see the results easy enough and then sell the skill back if you like.

Also checked on the engineering, it is complemtary to the mining skill and at first can be used to make small area effect explosives. I did not actually try any of these out to see how they actually functioned.

[--Pete]

Hi,

I have usually found enough 6 slot bags through normal drops to max out the bag positions before I could get the skill that high in the first place.

That seems to be a common problem. Kamm (L12 human warrior) has been developing mining and blacksmithing pretty aggressively, but has only been able to make one thing (runed copper gloves) that he actually had any need for. Long before he could make an item, he usually had a better from a drop, quest, or even vendor. Perhaps with more care in developing skills he might have gotten a little bit ahead of the curve, but I think the trade skill paths need to be looked at to make them more valuable.

For the First Aid, . . .

Thanks for explaining that. I suspected it would be something like that from what others have said. Perhaps we might give it a try. But if we're playing in a group (which we're doing more of and better as the mobs get a little tougher), then a second or two to loot, same to skin, and we're typically ready for another encounter. So far there has not been a real need for first aid, or even much healing (I think. Healers, want to chime in?).

But, as you say, learn it, try it, dump it if it doesn't work out. Not much lost except some linen.

Also checked on the engineering, it is complemtary to the mining skill and at first can be used to make small area effect explosives. I did not actually try any of these out to see how they actually functioned

I'm sure that we will, eventually. I just got enough sp to get mining, saving up for blacksmith. I'll probably want to go journeyman on both of those before adding a third since apprentice doesn't seem to yield much of value (that I've seen). But if the sp flood I've heard about really does come in at the late teens, then I'll give engineering a try. After all, I enjoyed it in RL :)

--Pete

[unless]

Also checked on the engineering, it is complemtary to the mining skill and at first can be used to make small area effect explosives.  I did not actually try any of these out to see how they actually functioned.

Engineering seems like a sort of catch-all tradeskill for making "neat" stuff. In addition to the explosives, you can make a pet mechanical squirrel, charges to blast open locked chests, land mines, speed-enhancing rocket boots, and (my favorite) jumper cables that you can use to try and resurrect someone. This is all explained on the official WoW site, here.

I'm not in the beta and so I don't know how useful all this would be, but it certainly seems pretty cool - probably the skill I'll try out first.

[Jarulf]

I hope you don't mind someone outside you group posts a bit :)

Regarding charge, I have found that the main problem (almost only problem for e right now), is that your character seems to end up just short of being able to start making attacks (or simply needs to be moved for some reason). I usually do the charge, and move forward a tiny bit, and the fight starts. With level 2 and the stun, the end effect is almost the same as before. The character usually do the first attack and I end up doing the first strike just after the monster starts fighting (compared to before the stun was over before). I noticed the rage can be too low at times to get of a strike though.

As for trade skills, I think investing 5 points in cooking and getting it up to 75 was well worth it, especially since I have fishing too. In the Tauren starting area (the town south of Thunder Bluff, whatever it is called), one can learn a recipie for the common fishes one get when fishing low level areas. So, getting my fishing skill up from 25 to 55 gave me enough fish to get coooking up from 15 to 75!! (Plus some surplus uncooked fish). It seems those recipies (and many others you do with food you get from low level monsters) are quite high level so you end up raising cooking for every time you use it.

That green fish that heals 98 out of the water is turned into a 298 healt healer with a cooking recipie that is still orange for my cooking skill that is now up to 85 or something. As a warrior with no healing, I like the easy way to get fast healing after fights. I have no idea if one get better and more fun stuff to cook later though, just increasing the amount of food healed is not enough really for it to be a good skill as you increase the level, we have to see.

It is a good complement to my fishing though and my main trade skill "tree" that is currently mining and blacksmithing (although I find it not THAT usefull yet). All those trade skills mean I have had to neglect my stats some lately and I can currently (at level 17) put in some 7-8 points in strength and some other good warrior stats. I want to invest 50 sp into fishing to go above 75 though and also sometime to boost mining past 75 but I can keep it there for a while. So I guess I will stay a few levels with no increase in stats.

Oh well, turned out to be a long post for saying how I work with charge :)

[Ruvanal]

...you can make a pet mechanical squirrel,...

I have not seen the formula for building one of these in the lists anywhere, nor have I ever seen any other player running around with one these mechanical squirrels. Some of the information that has been posted on the official site has been outright inncorrect at the time that it is actually put up. Until I see others actually in the game talking about these things or the actual formulas listed at some NPC, I will reguard many of these with a large bit of salt.

...charges to blast open locked chests, land mines, speed-enhancing rocket boots,...

All of these are pretty much at journeyman level or higher for being able to do. As such it will probably be at character levels of 15+ before you can afford the skill points to be actually thinking of getting these to use (and probably at lot later due to need ing to get other things to go along with it).

...and (my favorite) jumper cables that you can use to try and resurrect someone.

This was one of the highest listed formulas at the trainers (upper expert level required) and would be quite awhile before most player could expect to get access to it. Most of the classes that have a raise dead spell would have had their version long before this.

I'm not in the beta and so I don't know how useful all this would be, but it certainly seems pretty cool - probably the skill I'll try out first.

Better plan on it being the second trade skill you try out. The materials that you get from mining are some of the starting items you will need to do engineering. While you could try purchasing these items from the open market, their cost would likely be too prohibative to be a practical source in the earlier part of the game. It is much cheaper to be getting the materials from your own gathering skill in the first part of the game.

[Tal]

I have not seen the formula for building one of these in the lists anywhere, nor have I ever seen any other player running around with one these mechanical squirrels.  Some of the information that has been posted on the official site has been outright inncorrect at the time that it is actually put up.  Until I see others actually in the game talking about these things or the actual formulas listed at some NPC, I will reguard many of these with a large bit of salt.

Two days ago when I was at the crossroads there were a couple of engineers talking in the General channel about building a pet squirrel. I never saw the pet but one of them eventually said "I see a squirrel!" and the other replied "Seems kind of pointless now" but they may have just been pulling a prank.

[--Pete]

Hi,

I hope you don't mind someone outside you group posts a bit

By all means, please do. This is a learning experience for all :)

Regarding charge, I have found that the main problem (almost only problem for e right now), is that your character seems to end up just short of being able to start making attacks (or simply needs to be moved for some reason). I usually do the charge, and move forward a tiny bit, and the fight starts.

I've been trying this, and it sometimes works. Sometimes, though, charge seems to put me where the mob was when I initiated it. If the mob moves while I'm charging (very common) I could end up anywhere within a short distance of the mob, facing any direction relative to the mob. Sometimes I have to do my impression of a top just to reacquire my target. The funniest is when I end up directly on top of the mob, with us facing in opposite directions.

Now, since rage seems to climb too slowly and drop too rapidly in this push, by the time I do the twist and stagger dance to get the mob in front of me and within striking range, a lot of the rage is gone. I don't even get one attack out of it. At that point, recently, I'm changing to defensive stance (trying out some of the defensive stand "attacks" like shield bashing) and so I lose all my rage from the charge without doing anything.

Sometimes, when I charge and end up close to and facing the mob, I can tap the w key and everything works fine. But still, I think that charge is broken. It should *always* put you adjacent to and facing the mob and it should trigger an attack. When I can train level 2, I'll be interested to see if it works better.

Interesting about the fishing. My experience so far is that none of my characters have eaten or drunk much, just once or twice early on to check it out. Maybe my playing style is different or maybe I'm just still too low level. Whatever, I don't seem to have a need for food, and putting skill points into trades that generate food just doesn't appeal to me. I might be eating those words when my characters get bigger :)

--Pete

[--Pete]

Hi,

I thought I'd posted this already, but it doesn't seem to have made it. Probably just senilely on my part.

As I mentioned in game last Sunday, I'll not be there this week -- I'll be visiting in Atlanta. But y'all have fun :)

If someone could post or PM which quests you guys get done and what level you hit, I'll try to catch up by the following Sunday. Thanks.

--Pete

[Nystul]

We didn't get too carried away this week, not wanting to get too far ahead of Azo and Grisk. First, we did the razormane killing quest already in our logs, in their camps east of Razor Hill and turned it in. Then, we picked up a harpy quest. To get this quest you take the road north from Razor Hill towards Orgrimmar about halfway. You'll notice it goes through a canyon, and when you get out of the canyon look to your left. You should find a little green goblin peddler off to the side there. We picked up his first quest, finished it, and got his second quest to do next week. About that point, we hit level 10. If you aren't level 10 by the end of those two quests, grind it out. Back in Razor Hill, you should be able to pick up a "conscription for the Horde" quest, and a quest specific to your class. Do the messenger part of your class quest, and optionally do the first part of the conscription quest. Then, back to Razor Hill and you'll be caught up.

So where we stand right now is: level 10, in Razor Hill, with the following quests: one class quest (second part), one quest to kill a guy in Thunder Ridge, one quest to kill harpies from the goblin, and Consciption for the Horde.

That sets us up nicely for a raid on Thunder Ridge next week.

[--Pete]

Hi,

Will try to get caught up today or tomorrow.

--Pete

[--Pete]

Hi,

Then, we picked up a harpy quest. . . . We picked up his first quest, finished it, and got his second quest to do next week.

OK, I'm about to go out of my gourd. Got the quest OK. Found the canyons (one on each side of the NS road). Found and killed many harpies. Quit killing them when I topped level 10.5. Started running through the canyons looking for bags and ignoring harpies. Talked to others looking for bags (no one found any). Had Magi show me where she found them (close to the tunnel to the another area). Camped there long enough for the harpies to respawn twice. Even got two spawns of copper from the same spot next to the tunnel. Over two hours looking for bags and still nothing.

So, could someone tell me where you found the bags? Because I'm about to bag it myself.

--Pete

[Ruvanal]

Typically there bags scattered about the canyon on both sides of the road. Placement is usually about 2 bags per 3 harpies along both sides. I have usually been able to get enough bags with only about 20 minutes of effort. And that was due to needing to stop and rest between all the fights, not because I could not see any bags on the ground. Usually just a matter of getting past enough harpies to grab ~2/3 the required amount and then pick up the last 1/3 on the way back out (respawning by then in a couple of places).

I suspect that there was either a problem with the server respawning them or way too many players trying to do this quest at teh same time. I never had to 'camp' to find these bags. On the second part, I have had to camp a little to sometimes get a respawn of a needed harpy type if there were too many groups in the area working it.