Returning to EQ2? What you might have forgotten - Part 2 : Fertilisers

Returning to EQ2? What you might have forgotten - Part 2 : Fertilisers

EverQuest II has a long history of turning seemingly ordinary loot into something much more useful.

 

If you are returning to EverQuest II after several years away, you may find yourself picking up strange pieces of loot that you have completely forgotten about. Some are collectibles, some are status items, and some are ingredients for systems that you may not even remember existed.

Fertilisers are a particularly good example.

In EverQuest II, fertilisers are not simply items for growing crops. They are part of a long-running system involving house pets, shiny seekers and special NPCs who will exchange sets of fertiliser items for collectibles. The system has grown over the years, with different expansions introducing new versions of the items and new ways of using them.

If you have been away from the game for a long time, the important thing to remember is simple: don't automatically vendor strange bags, flasks, bones or other items that describe themselves as plant food.

What Are Fertilisers?

Fertiliser items are a type of treasure that you can obtain while adventuring. Their item descriptions usually give away their purpose, describing them as something that would make good plant food, plant water or nourishment.

There are three broad types of ingredient used by the older fertiliser systems: fertiliser, water and bone. To use one of the traditional shiny-seeking house pets, you normally need one item from each category.

The items are deliberately disguised as rather unremarkable pieces of loot. A small bag of compost, a flask of water or a bone may not look particularly exciting when it drops from a creature. If you are returning after years away, it is very easy to assume that these are simply vendor trash.

They are not.

The Original Fertiliser System

The system goes back to the early expansions of EverQuest II. The first major use was the Carnivorous Plant, a house pet associated with the Kingdom of Sky era. By feeding the plant combinations of fertiliser, water and bone, you could obtain useful items and other rewards.

The Rise of Kunark expansion subsequently introduced the Burynai seekers, which provided another way to turn the same basic ingredients into collection rewards. These systems are still useful to remember because older fertiliser items continue to appear while you are adventuring through lower-level content.

One important point for returning players is that you do not need to understand every possible combination before you start collecting them. The important first step is simply recognising what these items are.

Fertiliser, Water and Bone

The traditional ingredients are divided into three categories. The names change as the level of the creatures dropping them increases.

Level	Fertiliser	Water	Bone
10	Pouch of Peat	Flask of Rancid Water	Small Decaying Bone
20	Small Bag of Ammonium Sulfate	Flask of Stale Water	Large Decaying Bone
30	Small Bag of Muriate of Potash	Flask of Pond Water	Small Polished Bone
40	Small Bag of Diatomaceous Earth	Flask of Fresh Water	Large Polished Bone
50	Small Bag of Ammonium Nitrate	Flask of Pure Water	Small Meaty Bone
60	This tier has historically had reported drop issues, with creatures sometimes dropping ingredients from other tiers.
70	Small Bag of Compost	Flask of Enchanted Water	Large Meaty Bone
80	Bag of Tundra Compost	Flask of Glacial Water	Large Frostbitten Bone
100	Bag of Gypsum	Flask of Deep Water	Gnawed Bone
120	Bag of Grave Soil	Flask of Embalming Fluids	Vampire Bone Shards
125	Chest of Scorpion Exoskeletons	Desert Charger Horns	Red Desert Sand
130	A Pristine Aviak Wing	A Spotted Hooluk Egg	A Pristine Aviak Claw
130	A Golden Dankmar Pear	A Melted-Fields Snow Pear	A Wormy Apple

The level in this table refers to the tier of the dropped ingredient rather than necessarily being the level of the character using it. As you move through older expansions, the names of the ingredients change with the content you are fighting in.

The important exception is that not every fertiliser system accepts every tier. Different house pets and NPCs are tied to particular expansion ranges.

House Pets and Shiny Seekers

The Carnivorous Plant is the classic example. It can be placed in a player house and fed combinations of fertiliser, water and bone. The combination determines what the plant produces, and the quality of the ingredients affects the level of the resulting item.

The Burynai seekers work differently. They require one of each ingredient type and provide a random collectible rather than using the same combination system as the Carnivorous Plant.

The Fathomlurker Shiny Seeker, introduced with Terrors of Thalumbra, is another important returning-player landmark. It accepts the level 100-plus fertiliser ingredients from that era and can reward collectibles. It is obtained through the Lore Delver in Terrors of Thalumbra achievement.

The important point is that these house items are not simply decorative pets. They are part of EverQuest II's collection system and can turn otherwise uninteresting loot into collectible rewards.

Fertilisers and the Expansion System

Over time, EverQuest II expanded the idea beyond the original house pets. Several expansions introduced their own fertiliser sets and their own ways of exchanging them for collectibles.

Expansion	Fertiliser Use	Location
Kingdom of Sky	Carnivorous Plant	Player housing
Rise of Kunark	Burynai Seekers	Player housing
Terrors of Thalumbra	Fathomlurker Shiny Seeker	Player housing
Visions of Vetrovia	Hungering Ghoul shiny exchange	Ghoulinda's Lair, Mahngavi Wastes
Renewal of Ro	Merchant Fiza Tazi	Raj'Dur Plateaus
Ballads of Zimara	Merchant Ragoof	Splendor Sky Aerie
Scars of Destruction	Spelth Cruncher	Western Wastes
Rage of Cthurath	Doreen Ercel	The Unknown

This is where the system becomes particularly useful for a returning player. You do not necessarily need to remember what every fertiliser is used for. Instead, remember that different expansions have their own shiny-seeking uses and that the items can become valuable once you reach the appropriate content.

Visions of Vetrovia

In Visions of Vetrovia, fertilisers became part of a more direct collection exchange. After completing the required access quest, To The Lair, players can take Vetrovia fertiliser items into Ghoulinda's Lair in the Mahngavi Wastes.

Inside the lair, the Hungering Ghoul accepts the appropriate set of level 120 fertiliser items and exchanges them for collectibles. The system therefore gives Vetrovia adventurers another reason to keep these otherwise unusual drops.

Renewal of Ro

Renewal of Ro continued the idea with Merchant Fiza Tazi in the Raj'Dur Plateaus. Her exchange uses three specific items: a Chest of Scorpion Exoskeletons, Desert Charger Horns and Red Desert Sand.

A complete set can be exchanged for a random Renewal of Ro collectible. These same items also became part of the process for obtaining the Manaspark Lotus Flower associated with the expansion's epic spell progression.

So if you are returning to EverQuest II and working through Renewal of Ro content, those strange desert drops are definitely worth paying attention to.

Ballads of Zimara

Ballads of Zimara continued the expansion-specific approach. Merchant Ragoof in Splendor Sky Aerie acts as the shiny trader for the expansion's fertiliser items.

The important lesson is the same: when you start seeing unusual plant, animal or organic materials dropping in a new expansion, do not assume that they are ordinary vendor loot. EverQuest II has a long tradition of turning apparently strange ingredients into collection rewards.

Scars of Destruction

Scars of Destruction uses the same general idea. Spelth Cruncher, found in the Western Wastes, acts as the expansion's shiny trader.

The exchange requires one each of three items: a Golden Dankmar Pear, a Melted-Fields Snow Pear and a Wormy Apple. These items are obtained as body drops in the expansion's content.

There is an important access requirement here. Spelth Cruncher only becomes available after you have completed the required adventure signature line together with the relevant dropped quests and points-of-interest quests in the two overland zones.

Rage of Cthurath

If you are returning to EQ2 now, there is an even newer example to remember.

Rage of Cthurath introduced another fertiliser-based shiny exchange. Doreen Ercel, in The Unknown, can exchange a set of three different plant fertilisers for a random collectible from the expansion's overland, solo or heroic collection pools.

The three items are Oogothlan Dahlia, Oogothlan Poppy and Oogothlan Dark Lotus. These are body drops from creatures in Rage of Cthurath zones.

This is particularly useful for a returning player because it demonstrates that the fertiliser system is not merely an old piece of EverQuest II history. The developers have continued to use the basic idea in modern content.

What About Gerion's Reckoning?

The next major collection content, Gerion's Reckoning, is worth mentioning because it shows that not every new expansion continues the fertiliser system.

Gerion's Reckoning introduced its own collection timelines, but its tradeskill collections use ordinary harvesting nodes rather than another new set of fertiliser treasures. So if you are playing the most recent content, do not assume that every collection system follows the older fertiliser pattern.

Do You Need a Guild?

Not necessarily.

Some older fertiliser systems include guild-hall amenities such as the Herbalist Hireling, which can accept fertiliser ingredients and provide collection rewards. If you eventually join a guild with access to one, it can be useful.

But you do not need to make guild membership the starting point for understanding fertilisers. Several of the most useful systems are based around player housing or NPCs located in the expansion's own zones. If you have returned to EQ2 without a guild, there are still plenty of reasons to keep these items.

What Should You Do With Fertilisers?

The easiest rule is to keep them until you know what they are for.

If an item says that it would make good plant food, plant water or similar, it is worth checking before you sell it. You may be able to use it with a house pet, a shiny seeker or an expansion-specific NPC.

If your inventory is getting crowded, the bank is often a better place for these items than the merchant. Once you reach the expansion that uses them, you will be glad that you kept a supply.

The same applies to the Broker. If you do not need a particular fertiliser yourself, other players may be looking for it. Before destroying or selling a strange ingredient for a few coins, check whether it has a collection-related use.

Another Thing You Might Have Forgotten

Fertilisers are one of those systems that perfectly demonstrate how much EverQuest II has accumulated over the years.

What begins as a simple house-pet mechanic in an early expansion eventually becomes a recurring way of acquiring collectibles in later expansions. The names change, the creatures change and the NPCs change, but the basic idea remains the same.

You kill something. It drops something strange. You wonder why you would possibly want a bag of compost, a flask of questionable water or an oddly specific piece of bone.

The answer is that EverQuest II probably has a use for it.

So if you are returning to EQ2 after a long absence, add fertilisers to the list of things you should not automatically throw away. Keep an eye on those strange ingredients, check where they are used, and you may find that yesterday's junk loot becomes tomorrow's collection reward.