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Everything You Need to Know About Arena Treasure Hunting


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Okay, first of all, let me just say that I will be editing this whenever I think of something to add that can be beneficial to anyone hunting for those last few treasures in Hunter Arena (notice I did not include Arena; we will discuss that later)

 

A little synopsis on how I came to 100% Uncharted 3:

 

I saved the treasures for last like most people and did all the Adventure Treasures before starting on the Arena Treasures. I never played a single round of arena or hunter before the trophy patch so you can only imagine how few treasures I had to begin with (hint: none). I did get a few from just doing the trophies but not one set was completed before I started. On Thursday, September 27 I started playing Hunter Arena as described in the topics on this board. I needed 28 treasures at that point. Today, at 5:58 I found my last treasure: Gold Fibula Thogchag. During this time, I only went ONE day without receiving a new treasure and that was because I was foolish enough to agree to farm treasures in Arena. I know at least 10 people that have been searching for one or even more treasures for over a week with no luck and I only had to endure a total of 7 days to go from needing 28 treasures to 0. I learned way too much about how the treasure system works in this game and I want to share everything that I have discovered from this grueling experience.

 

Now, on to what everyone wants to know: What is true, what is speculation and what is the fastest way to achieve Hoarder and Collector?

 

I am going to list a few things that I hear people talking about all the time when it comes to collecting treasures in arena and hunter. There is going to be a statement and following the statement I am going to say whether it is true, false or simply speculation

 

1. "Playing with different people and different maps helps with increasing the variety of treasures"

FALSE - I played with HybridLinX 98% of the time and without him I highly doubt I could have done it this fast. Again, playing with different people does not change a thing. As for maps, whenever there was a map that I knew was a hassle (location, chests, enemy spawns, villain spawns, etc.) I never chose it. There were some maps I never even played on.

 

2. "Farming Arena once you need fewer than 10 treasures is a waste of time"

TRUE - Allow me to explain myself because I know that some people got their last treasure in Arena instead of Hunter. Once you need less than 10 treasures it is most definitely a waste of time to farm treasures in Arena. 99% of the time if a treasure drops while farming in arena it is a common treasure AND if it is a rare treasure it usually means that all 3 people already had it. I never received a single new treasure from farming Arena once I needed 8 or fewer treasures. Trust me when I say your time is extremely better off spent in Hunter once you need less than 10 treasures. If you need more than 10 then by all means go crazy farming in Arena; especially if you need commons (treasure 1/2 or 1&2/3 of a set)

 

3. "Treasure Chests are better than kills in terms of receiving the treasures you need"

SPECULATION While I personally believe that treasure chests are the best option for when you need fewer than 5 treasures, kills can also drop a rare that you may need. Out of the last 3 that I needed they all came from chests. For example, my last treasure came from the bottom chest on Fort.

 

4. "Playing with a second account instead of a guest is better when doing Splitscreen Hunter with 2 controllers"

FALSE - No need to even explain this one as it does not matter in the slightest.

 

5. "The person you are playing with has to have the treasure you need in order to get it"

FALSE - Now, while you may have already figured this out, let me go a little in depth here. Playing with a person that already has your treasure slightly increases the chances that you will find it. While the game's coding is set on a purely percent basis, it does recognize when someone already has a treasure so it is more likely to drop it for the person that needs it. I have always had much more luck with a person that had fewer than 10 treasures left than a person that needed 15 or more. Always. No exceptions. The last treasure that I needed came when playing with someone that didn't have it, but that was because the coding, again, is purely based on a percentage. My advice on this subject: Play with a person that has what you need and/or has fewer than 10 treasures left, minimum.

 

I'm going to attempt to describe the coding in this game so that people can understand that the game is not out to get you and that it is, in fact, the same percentage chance for everyone.

 

Of course, I do not know what percentage the treasures have of dropping but I am going to break it down under the following 3 rules:

 

1. Commons drop more often than rares. Commons are either the first treasure listed in a set of 2 or the 1st or 2nd in a set of 3. I hope that makes sense.

2. Rares all drop at the same rate even when you are down to your last treasure. Oh trust me. I will explain ;)

3. The chance of getting any common treasure is always the same as is the case for rares.

 

Let's take a closer look at this (*all %s are made up):

1. Common drop rate 5%

2. Rare drop rate 2%

Now, looking at that, you would never believe this to be the case if you are one of the unlucky people that need 1, 2 or even 3 treasures. Allow me to explain.

 

Starting out, let's theoretically say the game has 10 common treasures. The chances of you getting one that you need is 10/10 or 100%. Now, you need nine common treasures. Well, the chance of the one dropping that you already have is 1/10 at a 5% drop rate. Which means that the more treasures you need the less duplicates you will receive. It's always funny reading people complain about duplicates when they are down to their last few treasures when, in reality, it makes perfect sense...Let's get down to only needing one treasure. Since there is a chance that it can still be any of those ten treasures you only have a 1/10 chance multiplied by 5% that you will get the treasure you want. So, when you are down to your last treasure the chances are 5%(1/10) = .005 or .05%. The difference between a 5% chance and a .05% chance is HUGE. And that is why it seems like the game is messing with you once you need those last few treasures when, in reality, it is still operating at the same percentages all along.

 

Then why oh why does it seem like you keep getting duplicates of treasures that you have already gotten? Go ahead and flip a coin. The chances of it being heads is 50%. Flip it again. Do the odds change? No it is still a 50% chance it will be heads. You can get heads 10 times in a row until you get tails (aka the last treasure :think:). This does not mean the odds changed at any point in time. I'll be willing to bet anything that if I kept playing I would end up getting my last treasure numerous times while I would seemingly stop getting duplicates of a rare that I got on the first day (and numerous times since). Something to really think about when cursing the treasure gods. They are only following their orders :rolleyes:

 

To illustrate this further: There literally are 25 Rare Treasures in Arena/Hunter. Let's say the chances of getting a rare treasure is 2% like I stated earlier. You only need that last rare treasure. So let's do like we did before and multiply .02 by 1/25. That comes to .0008! That is a .008% chance of getting the treasure that you need. This is of course assuming that the drop rate of a rare is even as high as 2%. It could be even lower for all we know. And in Arena I wouldn't doubt if it is 1/1000. Now do we understand why it seems like the game is against us? When we are working with these odds it's hard not to!

 

Lastly, I will be listing what worked best for me:

1. Maps - Village, Fort, Chateau, London Streets (not for luck but for efficiency reasons in terms of spawn and chest locations)

2. Heroes get kills/chests - I don't know why people would do anything else. This is the simplest way to do it and gives you the greatest opportunity to get more kills and chests.

3. Kickback: Speedy G - Use this kickback to get to the chests much quicker. Any other kickback is useless when playing SS Hunter.

 

Oh, and I am extremely relieved that I got 100% before 1.15 because for all we know they could mess up the treasure drops further than what they already are. They released the game with it being impossible to get a treasure in adventure so I would be very weary of what they are supposedly "fixing" or "improving" about the trea$ure drop rate$. *$'s indicate that Naughty Dog will lose out on potential profits if they improve the treasure drop rates too much.

 

Okay, that's it for now. There is so much to talk about that I can't possibly mention everything on my first edit. Keep checking back to see if anything is added and remember: the chance of getting the treasure is always the same.

Edited by GorgeousDre
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I know one thing that's a fact. I was about 98.89% from losing my mind from doing this stupid treasure grind.:rofl:

But most definitely agreed, Heroes getting all kills/chests is by far the most effecient method.

And remember kiddos, don't accept any rides from strangers if they tell you that they have the last treasure piece you're missing. It's a trap!!:eek:

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1. Maps - Village, Fort, Chateau, London Streets (not for luck but for efficiency reasons in terms of spawn and chest locations)

2. Heroes get kills/chests - I don't know why people would do anything else. This is the simplest way to do it and gives you the greatest opportunity to get more kills and chests.

3. Kickback: Speedy G - Use this kickback to get to the chests much quicker. Any other kickback is useless when playing SS Hunter.

 

1. Chateau and London Streets were exceptionally generous to me for hunter arena drops. Syria and Village sometimes were as well.

 

2. I agree. This method worked for me. I highly recommend it.

 

3. Hail Mary cluster bombs were occasionally useful for killing on maps where chests spawned too far away from the live spawns. (i.e., plaza)

 

On a more convenient map such as Village or Chateau, Speedy G plus anticipating the chest spawns sounds like a good plan.

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Awesome guide! I have 1 common treasure left to get. Would you suggest I grind Arena instead of Hunter?

 

A common? Hmmm I would need to know which one, but I have a hunch it's in the ivory, silver or gold incan set.

 

If it is one of those I would suggest Arena treasure farming in either Village or London Streets. Village gives up the Incan sets a lot and London Streets likes to give up the Silver Incan set, specifically.

 

But again, even though the odds of each treasure dropping are the same, there are maps that favor certain treasure sets in terms of overall time it takes to drop.

Edited by GorgeousDre
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I would disagree that farming on Arena is a waste of time once you have less then 10 treasures. I have 5 remaining treasures and 4 of the last 5 (the fifth being an Adventure treasure) came from Chateau farming and I've farmed about 6 times total at max because I rarely find farming partners. So from my personal experience I would have to say that you're definitely wrong on that matter Dre.

 

Furthermore one of my Partners has been going after the treasure sets for month's, no kidding, literally month's and he's mostly been doing hunter with no luck at all. Then about a week ago he got it legit on Arena. And personally speaking from my own experience, I get about on treasure in Hunter from chest and at max two drops from kills which are always and I mean ALWAYS Just Cash.

 

That said, I don't write this to prove you wrong but rather to share my own experience which in some parts contradicts to what you just said. The main problem here is the treasure drop mechanics themselves because the only thing that I would say is certain is that works for one might not work for another player.

 

That said, congrats on the 100% mate. Hope I'll get there at some point too.

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Wow, great research. This will save me some pain. And congratulations with your 100%! You deserve some rest from Uncharted MP (for well, forever).

 

I got most of the Adventure treasures, but not much of all the rest. What do you recommend is a good start? Just play Hunter, or Arena first and Hunter at the end? Can I just casually play online and still get a bit of the grind done? Or is that a waste of time and is it way better to have a co-op buddy instead of a random?

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I would disagree that farming on Arena is a waste of time once you have less then 10 treasures. I have 5 remaining treasures and 4 of the last 5 (the fifth being an Adventure treasure) came from Chateau farming and I've farmed about 6 times total at max because I rarely find farming partners. So from my personal experience I would have to say that you're definitely wrong on that matter Dre.

 

Furthermore one of my Partners has been going after the treasure sets for month's, no kidding, literally month's and he's mostly been doing hunter with no luck at all. Then about a week ago he got it legit on Arena. And personally speaking from my own experience, I get about on treasure in Hunter from chest and at max two drops from kills which are always and I mean ALWAYS Just Cash.

 

That said, I don't write this to prove you wrong but rather to share my own experience which in some parts contradicts to what you just said. The main problem here is the treasure drop mechanics themselves because the only thing that I would say is certain is that works for one might not work for another player.

 

That said, congrats on the 100% mate. Hope I'll get there at some point too.

 

Let me know how Arena farming goes for those last 5. I was just saving people even more time and frustration by going with 10. Your experience is unique to say the least. I would only recommend Arena farming when needing below 10 treasures if you are having zero and I mean zero luck in Hunter. I am extremely skeptical that luck will continue for your last 5

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Wow, great research. This will save me some pain. And congratulations with your 100%! You deserve some rest from Uncharted MP (for well, forever).

 

I got most of the Adventure treasures, but not much of all the rest. What do you recommend is a good start? Just play Hunter, or Arena first and Hunter at the end? Can I just casually play online and still get a bit of the grind done? Or is that a waste of time and is it way better to have a co-op buddy instead of a random?

 

To save as much time as possible I would recommend:

1. Farming treasures in Chateau until you have 10 treasures left

2. Playing with a friend via splitscreen Hunter Arena

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Congrats Dre.

 

Quick question. Does that mean that playing with randoms is the same as hunter ss?

 

 

Not sure what you mean exactly but the drop rate is the same no matter who you play with.

 

If you are asking what SS Hunter is then it is when you use a second controller, sign in as a guest and your friend does the same and you search for each other in Hunter Arena until you find each other and then go on from there.

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Not sure what you mean exactly but the drop rate is the same no matter who you play with.

 

If you are asking what SS Hunter is then it is when you use a second controller, sign in as a guest and your friend does the same and you search for each other in Hunter Arena until you find each other and then go on from there.

 

I read from forums that there is a theory that your chances of getting the treasure you are missing are higher when playing with randoms. So, according to you it doesn't matter if you play with randoms or not. Thus, the theory is false. Correct?

Edited by spunkysky
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Let me know how Arena farming goes for those last 5. I was just saving people even more time and frustration by going with 10. Your experience is unique to say the least. I would only recommend Arena farming when needing below 10 treasures if you are having zero and I mean zero luck in Hunter. I am extremely skeptical that luck will continue for your last 5

 

Well as I said I've farmed only 5-6 times since I rarely find farming partners so I doubt that this will change. But I won't continue with Hunter either because it's terrible and the treasure drop rate for me is little to non existant. If a treasure drops only to be Just Cash then I consider this to be as if none treasure has dropped at all. And 80% of the time it really is just cash. And from the chest I cannot expect anything great either. If I get one treasure per match it counts as an accomplishment.

 

That said, I'd rather try and see if Arena legit will net me something. I just went Legacy (something I never wanted to do) just to make the grind lesser tedious because when you level up at least something happens when treasures are the only things I need.

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Ah dammit, another one gets the 100%... and lets face it people, no matter how generous you may be or how willing you are to help other people, the chances of someone willing to grind out unnecessary time to help you goes down the tubes. In other words, once you're done you will very rarely, if ever, help anyone else after that.

 

I'm speaking from personal experience, at least 3 people I've met on here who told me they would still play the game and help me after they got 100% have not helped me at all since they got it.

 

For someone who doesn't play very often and who chose to get the rest of the trophies legit after the bannings, this is going at quite a slow pace for me, I still need competitive wins for Christ's sake. By the time I decide to work on treasures, will there be anyone left on here who wants to help? My gut is telling me NO.

 

Rant aside, congrats Dre, if I'm lucky maybe you'd stick around and help me at least play competitive once in awhile, but I know not to expect any more help in farming from anyone who has 100%. :(

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Ah dammit, another one gets the 100%... and lets face it people, no matter how generous you may be or how willing you are to help other people, the chances of someone willing to grind out unnecessary time to help you goes down the tubes. In other words, once you're done you will very rarely, if ever, help anyone else after that.

 

I'm speaking from personal experience, at least 3 people I've met on here who told me they would still play the game and help me after they got 100% have not helped me at all since they got it.

 

For someone who doesn't play very often and who chose to get the rest of the trophies legit after the bannings, this is going at quite a slow pace for me, I still need competitive wins for Christ's sake. By the time I decide to work on treasures, will there be anyone left on here who wants to help? My gut is telling me NO.

 

Rant aside, congrats Dre, if I'm lucky maybe you'd stick around and help me at least play competitive once in awhile, but I know not to expect any more help in farming from anyone who has 100%. :(

 

Fortunately, there are very few people who go by their word. I've helped people on many games I've finished before them and have accepted requests for help even when I was done with the game. I'm not saying I will help you (as of right now I have SA2, RE6, MW3 DLC, ToV, LBP Vita and Jak 2 that I need to get back to, I normally never build up a backlog of more than 3 games, I don't know what I've been thinking and don't get me started on school) as I have even limited my time on this game, though it is a possibility, but at this very moment, highly unlikely. I need to get at least half of the trophies for SA2 today. Then It'll be a mix of RE6 and UC3. I can help you from there even after i finish.

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Thank you Eternal21 for helping me find my last treasure the Gold Incan Cup! I do believe that if certain treasures fall for certain people it definitely increases the chances of someone who doesn't have it to get the treasure in Arena. I helped a couple people get their 100%s that way and Eternal was kind enough to help me with mine. So glad to be done with this shit. =D

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Ah dammit, another one gets the 100%... and lets face it people, no matter how generous you may be or how willing you are to help other people, the chances of someone willing to grind out unnecessary time to help you goes down the tubes. In other words, once you're done you will very rarely, if ever, help anyone else after that.

 

I'm speaking from personal experience, at least 3 people I've met on here who told me they would still play the game and help me after they got 100% have not helped me at all since they got it.

 

For someone who doesn't play very often and who chose to get the rest of the trophies legit after the bannings, this is going at quite a slow pace for me, I still need competitive wins for Christ's sake. By the time I decide to work on treasures, will there be anyone left on here who wants to help? My gut is telling me NO.

 

Rant aside, congrats Dre, if I'm lucky maybe you'd stick around and help me at least play competitive once in awhile, but I know not to expect any more help in farming from anyone who has 100%. :(

 

Don't worry Wise, when I get my PS3 back I'll help you. I still need 11 treasures and some "wins" trophies. We can team up and get some shit done!

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