YES fates are broken.

[Ashkendor]

If you're sitting and waiting, you're doing it wrong.

Get out there and complete other fates in the same zone. Only so many will be up at any one time, and you can clear a fate faster than the time it takes for it to expire.

I agree that you're doing it wrong if you just sit and wait, but in a zone like Coerthas you really can't go do other fates and expect to make it back to the one you need when it does pop. The zone being so huge is bad enough, but then you have the lack of aetherytes outside of Dragonhead to deal with. What I do when I'm waiting on book fates is I just take some items to craft, then throw them on the market when I'm done with the fate. It can be anything, really. Ingots, food, whatever. You can at least make the wait time productive.

[Parawill]

The main issue as to why I haven't finished my books are the fates. Waiting for coil reset is very different when it comes to waiting for fates. Unlike coil, if you don't actively pay attention (or have someone doing it for you), there is a high chance you will miss the fate. Coil, you can do and get a chance for a drop; however, you do not have to actively pay attention to look for that specific fate.

Besides, there's a difference between doing an instance vs. sitting hours on end for a specific fate. Though you can be doing something else, there are times where the hoard of players waiting for the fate to finish it before you even arrive. And back to the coil thing, I rather cherish coil lockout so I can craft and do things rather than sit and wait for a dumb fate to pop.

(I've actually yet to wait for 2+ hours for a fate, and the time I did wait for an hour or so I was doing something else. But the issue is still there... It's boring waiting to do something that happens once in a blue moon... and if you miss the chance, you practically double your wait time.)

[Amiantos]

People sure are impatient these days. Who remembers waiting 12+ hours for a mob pop in FFXI with a single digit chance for a drop?
Pepperidge Farm remembers.

[Dano]

i remember waiting for 6 hours on the one roselet FATE in east shroud.

[XNihili]

Wait actively ? Well not on PC.
You just have to activate the "sound even if offscreen" and when you hear the music, you just switch back to the game.
Quite boring still.
I think there was one Fate near Zan'rak that has been said to be on 24h repop on some site.

[Nutz]

I'm not getting this issue. 2 weeks ago I did all my books in 9 days, so 1 book per day....

I just have to say that the vast majority of people can't play this game as though it's the most important thing in the universe. 9 days? Sure myth is easier to get now, but I averaged 5 hours per book and the myth must take close to that still. Obviously you got lucky with a few most FATES (several people have seen book FATES not spawn for 2-3 hours+, myself included), but low level dungeons too? Most of those were a 1 hour queue for me, granted you can kill enemies during that time, but usually I'd run out before the second dungeon popped.

[Fynlar]

If you're sitting and waiting, you're doing it wrong.

Get out there and complete other fates in the same zone. Only so many will be up at any one time, and you can clear a fate faster than the time it takes for it to expire.

Way to have other people come by and zerg down the FATE you need before you even make it there. Especially in a big ass zone like Coerthas.

No, he is not doing it wrong.

[Verranicus]

After reading the live letter today about how people complain about the fates for animus.
Tonight Coerthas , taste of fear fate, 2am I turned up at the area, it's about to hit 5am and the fate hasn't spawned once, (real time not game time)
If your aim is to lose subscribers, you really are going the right way about it
clearly 3 hrs is not working as intended /rant off
Sitting in a zone for three hours for one fate to spawn is beyond a joke, Coerthas suffers due to the fact so many fates spawn here. Surely giving priority to ones that are in books is better

They're not broken.

[ElHeggunte]

They're not broken.

"Working as intended" isn't synonymous with not being broken. They may not literally be broken, because they still spawn (eventually), but SE needs to take a long hard look at their spawn priority since they're tied directly to quest progression.

[Verranicus]

"Working as intended" isn't synonymous with not being broken. They may not literally be broken, because they still spawn (eventually), but SE needs to take a long hard look at their spawn priority since they're tied directly to quest progression.

No they don't. They're fine the way they are.