I have found the blueprints for a whole pile of Transcendant Relics, some of which are even good for me, but I have not yet unlocked the Empowered Relics they use as materials. If I continue playing Elite difficulty will these eventually drop (random is random), or would I do better to change to Veteran difficulty for these specific blueprints (lower-level opponents for lower-level drops)?
From what I can tell, blueprint drops are 100% random. Are there any locations/situations where the probability is higher, and would be better to hit-up when I need to farm for them?
You will have better chance of finding higher level blueprints in elite. Since the monster level is higher. Also the shrine of forgotten god run is one of the best way to farm blueprints.
I’m pretty sure on my first toon I spent a while in Veteran farming SoT and buying as many Empowered BP’s off the Spectral merchant as I could.
There are also a few quests that give random BP’s as rewards which include the quest for Hargates Formula, collecting 3 Forgotten Passages from Twin Falls/Undercity and a few more.
When you get to Ultimate, Mythical relic are best farmed from Nemeses. Whilst you can get them from Troves, you are guaranteed to get them from Nemeses.
I’ve only gotten 4 BP’s from over ~120 Trove runs, 2 of them being Malediction and Oblivion relics the others being Markovian’ Visor and Whisperer of Secrets helm BP’s. The rest of my relics have come from Nemeses and accessory/helm BP’s have come from mainly Heores/normal mobs. But RNGus hates me so probably will be different for you.
Thanks! Coincidentally, I got the blueprints I needed on the first SoT merchant run 