So farming is a thing now? I know about exploits now and then, but people are actually using bugs in DAI to justify getting so and so item? I mean it's not like - dude, you filthy cheater lol baby. It's moar liek - dude, just farm it - now. Much gameplay. Very BioWare.
I spent the weekend making a mage after seeing some vidya or I forget exactly what bla bla something something rift mage. Knight-enchanter was my previous mage and ultimately very boring because when played right they were simply unkillable and didn't really contribute anything to the party. But anyway. Farming. I tested out farming amulets of power for Varric as that's the earliest one you can get - well, you could head to the swamp to do the same for Cassandra but whatever. Then I figured I'd try other items in containers. Well shit. As long as you leave one item, doesn't matter what, the container will respawn with new contents. Just fast travel out of area somewhere else and return. Although in some areas you don't even have to do that - Redcliffe village chantry works and Valammar exterior works. Result after a bunch of hours - 30k+ in cash, unlimited supply of (some elemental) rune materials, access to pretty much every schematic in the game not tied to a quest, plus access to tier 2-3 equipment pretty early, oh yeah, with enough time you could have every potion upgraded before you reach Skyhaven if you really want because well shit of course tier 3 herbs can load in containers early, why not? But shit, even with 200 chests to go through who does that kind of shit?
I also did a test with a dragon to see if I could farm the shit out of his remains but nope. Somebody call 911 shorty fire burning on the dance floor. This is a thing now BioWare? You're so goddamn lazy in your coding loot tables you fuck it up and you end up with unlimited items in containers? What the shitballs?
They did kind of bugged it - although some biowarians are calling it a sneak fix. All amulets of power were removed from containers, I don't think this affects other equipment though. I'm leaning towards sneak fix, because fuck, why fix something properly when you can just delete a bunch of items. Nevermind the kind of equipment you can actually get real easily, and it's not like a few extra skill points will affect anything considering the quality of the skills, or rather, utter lack of quality. I gave Varric all of subterfuge and sabotage. Conclusion - knockout powder is shit and toxic cloud likewise.
Anyway, here are some farm locations if you're interested.
Temple of Shard or whatever it's called in the shard temple desert area. There are initially three doors, a fourth one opens after you finish all three or somefink. In the first room of each is a sarcophagus, and a single other container. Sarco loads with 5 of first tier elemental/spirit materials and one minor belt of resist element. Leave the belt, farm materials endlessly. The container I've seen loads with up to tier 2 stuff, including schematics. Next room has a sarcophagus too and two containers - although ice room has three containers. Sarco in this one has 5 first tier, 5 second tier, better resist belt and a pretty sucko ring that improves so and so spell in whatever elemental school. Leave ring, grab belt and materials - repeat. Stuff in containers here can be really good stuff and belts sell for pretty decent dinero. There are also a bunch of other containers around the desert, some of which can load with tier 3 stuff. As long as you leave one item, you're good. If it only loads with one item, leave it and come back later, usually adds money the second try, which you can leave - or take and leave the other stuff if it's shit.
When testing if dragon remains could be farmed I went by this dock with a ship near the Hinterlands dragon. This loads with 20+ obsidians, one fade-touched obsidian (used on armor you get 3 guard every hit you do/get hit lulul), uh buncha gems and money I think. And this can of course be repeated indefinitely if you're so inclined, just leave one item.
Think unique chests in areas where you need the perk um, something lockpicking stuff from Leliana, is safe from BioWare bugs? Nobe. You can farm the shit out of those too. Another chest that loads with obsidian including a fade-touched one is in Redcliffe.
Sacks in that swamp place sometimes load with one herb, but, on occasion if you're patient, next time you might get two, and will you look at that, one of them has a chance of being a rare tier 3 herb. Woohoo. Also the special locked room here loads with a bunch of goodies. Use sacks near the zombie pillar things because - lots of sacks, quick fast travel spot.
There's a tier 2 chest on the bridge near where the quest to seal some rift for some cultists is. It's hiddenish behind a rock. Also the sack nearby sometimes loads with goodies. Plus there's a second chest opposite the sack that's not quite as good as the tier 2 one, but some nice stuff loads occasionally.
Chests in templar encampment in Hinterlands can be a goldmine for some reason, mage encampment not so much that I tested, go figure. Also next to it [templar encampment] is a waterfall and stream, and there's a hidden small chest near a broken boat. Goodies there. Sack next to it - eh, not that special.
Heading down the stream, across a broken bridge, keeping to the right side of a small incline there's a cave. In the back is a chest that gave me a few tier 2 schematics.
Aaand so on. Continue, please, BioWare.