Talk:Precursor weapon

How can one craft or obtain a precursor?

guildwars2guru says "They can be obtained by throwing 4 rare/exotic weapons above level 76 (research ongoing) of the type you want to obtain into the Mystic Forge (4x Greatsword for Dusk or Dawn) and getting lucky. Or you might be able to obtain them as loot from events or enemies while being out in the world." --Ras 22:18, 28 September 2012 (UTC)

This isn't guaranteed as the only way, though. I believe they can be dropped, and there's a recipe for them, but drops are very rare, and the recipe very specific.

Who said there was a recipe for them? SarielV 16:34, 24 June 2013 (UTC)

The "4 level 75/76+" part is wrong. It's the sum of the levels of the 4 items (or average level, if you want to look at it that way). I've received a Chaos Gun with a level 69 rare weapon in the mix and a sum of 309 levels. Professor Privy 05:38, 4 March 2013 (UTC)

Trivia

This ascribes the term "precursor" to the wiki page itself, which is an indirect claim that the term was invented by User:Strill. I feel that this requires some form of evidence that this term was not used anywhere prior. Strill can explain how he came up with it if he likes. 65.87.26.122 20:59, 7 November 2012 (UTC)

Searching for this phrase on google with date constraints shows that the claim is false. This wiki article was created on Sep 17, 2012 and there are many instances of this phrase existing before that on various forums. Hold Me Closer, Necromancer 05:27, 18 November 2012 (UTC)

Transmutation

An important note about Legendary precursors. Do NOT, under any circumstances, transmute your precursor! It ceases to be a precursor upon transmutation. After much research at the time, and finding no warnings against it, I had transmuted 'Leaf of Kudzu'. I contacted customer service and they told me that they were unable to help me with this issue, so if you DO transmute your item, you are stuck with it. I have learned from that mistake, and hope that you will heed this warning! Sincerely, Mister Squish of Maguuma. --The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.119.56.101 (talk).

No date on the above. This should no longer be the case, and the weapons are *probably* safe to transmute. SarielV 17:40, 13 January 2016 (UTC)

Comment was added 13:17, 6 January 2013. Well before the wardrobe change. Even back then it was safe transmute so long as you didn't get rid of the stats - the IP who added that comment likely transmuted it onto a different weapon keeping the precursor skin thus losing the stats and in turn losing the precursor status. Nowadays, you can only transmute skins, not stats, so yeah it's 100% safe to transmute - just don't toss them into the Mystic Forge for changing stats in the case of the new precursors (which are ascended) as that replaces the item, thus rids of the precursor. Konig 18:03, 13 January 2016 (UTC)

Drop research?

Is there any large scale drop research being done on precursors? I would probably be making a long shot here but if there's just a list of skins and all have the same chance, probably there's something to deduce here?62.159.14.62 13:41, 5 February 2013 (UTC)

Crafting legendary weapon with soulbound precursor?

If I find precursor, and want to use it before sacrificing it for legendary weapon, it will soulbound precursor to my character. Can I use this soulbound weapon to craft legendary?--79.186.247.7 15:49, 25 February 2013 (UTC)

Yes--Relyk ~ talk > 18:57, 25 February 2013 (UTC)

Precursor Mystic Forge Rates

Has there been any research or some form of data as regards to the rate at which a precursor is returned for 4 rares or 4 exotics? Obviously, I can understand that to post that in the page article would be to assert a validity the numbers just do not have. However, I'd just like to know if any external source has been close to finding out numbers (specifically for 4 exotics -> Precursor)

I'd like to know some statistics about this topic too. What would the chance be of a precursor coming out of the Mystic Forge when throwing in 4 rares or 4 exotics. With that chance, we could calculate if it's (statistically) worth buying lvl 80 rare greatswords and try to get Dawn/Dusk, e.g. We could make some sort of drop page for this rigth? So far, I have thrown 480 lvl 80 rare greatswords in the forge, with no results. 137.224.227.145 16:14, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Rate to rare and exotic is easily explained. As you only have a certain chance to get an exotic on throwing in 4 rares (if we assume it is a 20% exotic return) the chance on 4xrares is way lower then on 4xexotic (If we take the assumed 20% ratio it would be five times the chance on a precursor with exos compared to rares) - this only counts if both the rares and exos have the same sum of level (i.e. 320 for 4x lvl80).

Basically: Everytime you get an exotic weapon random dropped or as return from the Forge you had a chance to roll on the pre

Please note: This is my personal understanding of how it works. But otherwise i cant explain how precursor weapons drop everywhere where random exotic weapons can drop

Another note: Precursors can drop from the forge if you use armor in the mix and at least one weapon. That way you get a completly random chance on what you will get. I got the sword pre with 3 armors and one weapon Magistrella 16:27, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

I think the MF works that way too: if it gives you an exotic, that exotic can/could be a prec. The chance of getting a prec is then 1 / all the possible exotic drops. After all, a pre is just an exotic. But then you still don't know what the actual chance of receiving prec is. I'd like to know the chance of getting a prec, so you can calculate what a cheaper way is: buying from TP or getting it from MF. Of course it depends on luck, but knowing the statistical cheaper way would be nice. 137.224.227.145 20:45, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

I think the same way you do, but the chance to get a precursor instead of exotic is definitely a constant and doesn't depend on the total number of exotics. See "The mighty Zommoros has slightly increased the drop rate on Legendary precursor weapons from the Mystic Forge from both Rares and Exotics." MalGalad 20:59, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

It probably rolls for the chance to get a rare or exotic; if the item is an exotic weapon, it rolls for whether the item is a precursor. The chance to get the exotic depends on whether the level and rarity of the weapons (or armor), so you'll have to use the same weapons every time to get a good result.--Relyk ~ talk > 01:19, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

That actually makes more sense. But then my question is: would it be useful to set up a drop rate page? Qiff 21:54, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

A drop rate page is always useful, so yes--Relyk ~ talk > 02:07, 9 April 2013 (UTC)

I'll try to set it up. Will take some time as I have no idea how that works. :) Qiff 10:31, 9 April 2013 (UTC)

I would contribute my Rare and Exotic Mystic Forging to the drop rate page, currently at 174 forges on rares with about a 16.5% exotic return(no precursor). I have a detailed list of each weapon name, and level--Syntropic The Red 17:43, 9 April 2013 (UTC)

guaranteed weapon type

"One or more of these items must be a weapon, with four weapons of the same weapon type guarantee receiving a weapon with that weapon type."

For what it's worth, this is not true 100% of the time. One of my guildies threw four axes into the forge and got The Bard back. He was upset because he wanted Tooth of Frostfang. Vili 点 19:32, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

Also, you can no longer throw in a mix of weapons and armor. It has to be 4 weapons. Mystikpretzel (talk) 00:30, 3 December 2014 (UTC)

^ That's not true at all. Try it. -- x

Sukadikchicken its not true you can still mix match and forge

^ You can mix and match rares but you cannot with exotics

Level requirement when opening bags

"To note, only high level players (62 - 80) can receive exotic quality weapons and may be more likely to receive precursor weapons from loot as loot often scales with level." Is level 62 and above really mandatory ?

If I can get a named exotic weapon from Embroidered Coin Purse whilst on a level 30 player, I'm sure you can get precursors from bags below level 62. -Chieftain Alex 17:41, 13 January 2016 (UTC)

I've likewise gotten a named exotic on a lvl 13, but it seems most people believe that this section of the drop list is specially triggered. Random nameless exotics probably do require the level to be in that range. As for Precursors, who knows? SarielV 17:47, 13 January 2016 (UTC)

Nightsword/Daysword vs Dusk/Dawn

In the Precursor box below https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Precursor_weapon#References , we have Dusk and Dawn labeled as Night/Day sword. Wouldn't it be prudent to change them to Dusk and Dawn respectively? or like a "Greatsword ( Dawn • Dusk ) HeroineDark 05:25, 7 September 2021 (UTC)

I agree. I've changed it to say Dusk/Dawn. --BuffsEverywhere (talk) 05:33, 7 September 2021 (UTC)