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Comment by Kiilala

After completing the Undermine campaign (including the defeat of Chrome King Gallywix) a letter sitting on the front desk in the Incontinental Hotel gave a quest to meet Sitch Lowdown in the sewers. After meeting up, accepting his offer and completing the quest, Market Research began dropping from rares, scrap heaps, etc.. Market research is used to purchase items from Sitch Lowdown and gain Darkfuse Solutions reputation.

Comment by Niixten

You will need 8,400 Market Research to reach exalted or 7700 Market Research with 10% reputation increase. I’m farming S.C.R.A.P and it will take me roughly 25 hours to reach exalted with Darkfuse Solutions with 10% extra reputation. (I also looted Shiny Trash Can between S.C.R.A.P heaps for some extra Market Research)
~~If you aren't in a rush you can wait for patch 11.1.5, seems like you will get 100% more rep with this Winds of Mysterious Fortune~~

After two days farming S.C.R.A.P heaps I finally reached exalted with Darkfuse Solutions 7/3/25

Comment by kickasskie

You can get quite a few from S.C.R.A.P heaps i had 14 drop off 1 scrap heap from the box at the end of it.

Comment by priestguy

Once you hit renown 13 with Cartels of Undermine, you can start looting the big trash dumpsters and they always have at least one market research. I also get market research out of the normal trash cans and scrap heaps. The chest rewards at the end of a SCRAP dig drop a guaranteed 14-16 market research. There are many mobs that drop them as well. You won't get market research from any source until you have unlocked the Darkfuse Solutions faction. To unlock Darkfuse Solutions, read this guide.

Comment by Scheixanter

Alright, so. We did some experimenting because we almost died of boredom rummaging through trash during the S.C.R.A.P. events, with the vision of having to do this nightmare grind for some 30 hours until exalted.

So instead, we tested the mob farm method.
Does it work? Yep.
Is it faster? Yep, roughly 3x faster than (S.)C.R.A.P.

So what do you do?
Step 1: get to friendly doing S.C.R.A.P. stuff (600 Market Research)
Step 2: buy TONS of and at the Darkfuse vendor in the sewer.
Step 3: sign your group in custom PvE, wm off and make a group of 5 people, then go past the pond next to Blackwater Marina towards the smaller pond in the back, occupied by Darkfuse mobs.
Step 4: activate potions, then the entire group drops Pillar on the ground at the same place in the middle of the zone, and you continuously aggro mobs and drag them inside the circle. This is roughly 4x more efficient than doing S.C.R.A.P. trashdigging.
Step 5: don't leave after pillars disappear like we did - just keep going, the mobs respawn fast, and you can just drop another pillar in sync every 5 minutes at the same spot

Here's our third attempt while we were still figuring it out.
We ended up grinding roughly 1100 Market Research in around 2 hours, which ultimately adds up to "only" around 14 hours of nonstop m+ madness, provided you wanna get it done within Darkmoon Faire. You better wake up early, as it ends today, in 22 hours.

Enjoy your weekend!

PS: Don't bother with the honored item and trying it on rares, it's just not worth it as a systematic thing. It makes the drop go from 7 to like 12, which is just absolutely ridiculous for a 10 minute cooldown. Just kill the Darkfuse scum before they nerf the respawn rate or their droprate, which is already comically low anyway, especially without the items.

Also, after you get it done, the feeling pairs well with

Comment by Tokage

The base research drop rates I've noticed are:

1: Randomly from normal enemies/scrap mining, guaranteed from elites and trash can/dumpsters.

2: Normal rares

6: Elite rares

12-15: Chest from S.C.R.A.P jobs.

20: Darkfuse Preciptant spawned from the associated vendor's item.

Using the potion and/or auto-advertiser boosts the drop rates from normal enemies and seems to add +1 to the guaranteed drop amounts from enemies with the exception of the precipitant who dropped an additional 5 when I had a potion active.

Using the electropuncture device adds +2 to normal rares and +5 to elite rares (But does not seem to work on any of the spawned rares from the cartel events).

Comment by Danrad77

~~How is this not warbound ?~~ This is now warbound.

Comment by ptarjan

To help out with another benchmark we did the standard farming at the beach. With a group of 5 people all with amps and 2 Subtlety rogues pulling the two far wings using tricks of the trade we got 800 Market Research per hour.

Comment by Cronoghirian

Darkfuse Quartermaster at:
/way #2346 29.69 40.99 Sitch Lowdown (Sewer Entrance)
/way #2346 30.6 38.8 Sitch Lowdown

Comment by Cakedonut

To convert Market Research to Darkfuse Solutions rep, buy Box of Darkfuse Miscellany from Sitch Lowdown which gives 500 rep each.

Comment by Aiyun

No stress getting these. You will get it whilst playing the game, killing rares, scrap jobs etc. We will be in undermine for a while.
I got it to exalted 90% just playing the game with alts. The other 10% I was in group farming mobs and it was very boring.

Comment by Frostaphim

When doing the mob grind for Market Research, make sure to have Prototype Auto-Advertiser and Experimental Goblin-FUEL Supplement
I created a handy Weakaura to easily track if you have the Speakers and the Potion UP.

Weakaura: https://wago.io/BC8JZrNmB

or search for: Darkfuse Rep Farm - Utils
By Frost#24363

Comment by maows

Whilst farming this I had another player let me know that if you enter the Sidestreet Sluice delve and open the Box of Darkfuse Miscellany inside you will earn 625 rep per box instead of 500. He mentioned his delve level was 11 but I tried this when mine was at level 9 so not sure if that matter but its a brilliant boost to your farm.

Comment by AziNoctis

It is just barely possible with 2 players if you are focused on digging and resolving issues to reach the Gallagio Garbage, but only if you spend the 100 gold on the S.C.R.A.P. Bot to help immediately upon starting the heap, otherwise I would encourage 3 players to reach 500 because it is difficult depending on the interruptions that trigger and make sure you get 1 in every 3 cans of Kaja'Cola thrown by the Kaja'Cola Dispenser (the blue circle on the ground) which are thrown regardless of purchasing from it to get a 30% dig speed and movement buff. The rare only has around a 30-50% chance of occurring when the heap reaches 500 and will only spawns upon hitting 500.

The 3 events that makes the heap untargetable can be resolved as follows:

Wiggling Bag - Help the cat out of the bag by clicking to open, the last player to click gets a cat on your head buff for a few seconds with an actual cat... on your head.
Discarded Bomb - Just kick these as fast as possible, and help others because not everyone will know they have to kick them as many have been running from the bombs.
Fire - Step on the fire, this is the fastest to resolve, especially if you have the Kaja'Cola speed buff.

Gallagio Garbage can drop both the Salvaged Goblin Gazillionaire's Flying Machine and the Gold-Inlaid Jetpack after the first kill of the day, when it no longer counts as a rare, and multiple times per character per day. These items are tradable to all who tagged him on that particular kill.

Each tier achieved while digging will give you more Market Research and a higher chance for a Vintage Kaja'Cola Can from the end chest. You also have a chance of Market Research and a Vintage Kaja'Cola Can from every pick at the heap, although the chances are rather low, especially for the cans. This is still the fastest way to earn the Darkfuse Lowdown Coat by earning an easily farmable amount of guaranteed Market Research, and often in doing so you can and likely will get multiples of the unique drops from the Gallagio Garbage, so if you do please offer these to other participants :)

Comment by Melandroso

Horribly hard to find out how to do this. Well, once these start to drop for you, you bring them to the Darkfuse quartermaster, who can be found by going underground in Hovel Hill, more specifically by lifting the Sewer Grate at /way #2346 29.7, 41.1

Sitch Lowdown will then sell you Box of Darkfuse Miscellany in return for the Market Research. You simply use the item and it grants you 500 rep. Rinse and repeat. He also sells items that will enhance the drop rate of Market research.

TL;DR: Turn this item in at Sitch Lowdown for Box of Darkfuse Miscellany, which grants rep when opened.

Comment by cyc5216

2025/05/08 update
Seems not working anymore. Got hotfixed I guess.

I tested open Box of Darkfuse Miscellany in Sidestreet Sluice with darkmoon faire buff.
You will receive 675 rep.

Sidestreet Sluice additional rep = 625 - 500 = 125
Darkmoon faire buff additional rep = 500 * 10% = 50
So total rep = 500+50+125 =675

Comment by sanarc

It seems Blizz hotfixed the delve 8-11 strat. It no longer gives extra rep while inside the delve. Of all things to fix, I wish they just left it. I regret not farming the rep early on in the patch. :(
Edit: Grammar

Comment by Xlsfd

You'll need 600 to hit friendly, 1200 to hit Honored, 2400 to hit Revered, and 4200 to hit Exalted. In total, you'll need 8400 Market Research to hit Exalted, assuming no rep bonuses.

Comment by ShurqElalle

If you have a lot of alts, even ones you don't really play much, you can kill darkfuse participant rare once a week per char for 20 market research each time. It might not seem like a lot, but it adds up, and ths rare has a chance to drop mechanica items

Comment by deiXide

My suggestion: only turn in market research for Darkfuse rep when the "Winds of Mysterious Fortune" event is live, as it will provide double rep. This is a torturous reputation to gather, and this event will cut your time in half, which IMO is worth it even if it takes a few months to re-appear. So far this event has occurred twice, including this week (2025-07-15), and hopefully it will be a recurring event in the future.

Comment by Alexplayswow

*Blizz nerfed this farm so it is no longer available, good luck out there*

New farm for Market Research started involving the ability to click a battery located behind some wooden palm trees in the zone. This hyper spawns tons of moths from a single spot that drop market research. Having access to the battery click is goblin faction specific. I was told Venture has it and another faction as well. Can sign up for any faction to participate in the farm tho. You will just stand in one spot the whole time and kill/loot. They melt so fast that you will need to constantly loot.

40p raid groups can be found in custom dungeon finder.

I must have sent 5-6 hours farming this over two days and picked up over 15k market research from it.

With the winds of fortune buff and including the research/rep I already had I will hit exalted and have enough to buy 16 paragon boxes for the mount and some misc. machanica.

Comment by Alexplayswow

This got nerfed by Blizz so no longer an option

New new farm for these after new farm was nerfed by bliz.

Look in custom group to find darkfuse farm 40p raid group.

Involves being part of Steamwheedle during the Counterfeit Potion Maker Quest. Click on cauldron to endlessly spawn goblins that drop market research. Don't need to be Steamwheedle to farm it but do need Steamwheedle to click the cauldron to make the farm happen.

With the potion and pylon you will get a few thousand an hour.

You'll likely find yourself standing in a single spot and looting/killing.

Get it before Blizz nerfs this one as well.

Comment by Beelzebutt

Seems like the beach farm has been removed. Just spent about 15 minutes there with 4 advertisers up and the pot without 1 drop.

Comment by Khaegar

This farm without the wq and the beach is so awful they should just remove the faction you need to farm it forever with rares and scrap heaps.

Comment by Dinacti

Now that they removed every decent way to farm this, including the beach farm, this now might one of if not the most painful TWW factions to grind rep for

Comment by Imjustazu

Sooooo, now that every possible way of farming this is nerfed, what's the purpose of the Prototype Auto-Advertiser and the Electropuncture Test Model? I am so confused. How am I supposed to farm this rep with all these changes. I wonder, are these nerfs are temporary due to the Winds of Mysterious Fortune buff? Otherwise we are doomed. :S

Comment by Heartline

This no longer works according to comments below, have not verified it myself
Blizz nerfed this farm so it is no longer available, good luck out there, have fun grinding this alone for 30 hours.. or dont. Respect your time

~~This is the current fastest method to doing it as of patch 11.2~~

You do the SCRAP event to spawn the box, you loot everything in the box except for 1 thing (Valorstone as an example, also the only thing i tested). Then you wait 3 minutes and loot it again and the chest will have restocked. If you loot before the 3 minutes are up, it will reset the restock timer. So you check the map, if the SCRAP event is at a location you havent spawned the chest at yet, go there and spawn it and when all 7 are spawned, just drive around.

TURN OFF AUTO LOOT (I tried shift clicking with auto loot on but it still autolooted, i have plumber or it just bugged momentarily but imo, just turn it off)

Theres 7 SCRAP locations, an average of 12 Market research box. Im already exalted so I dont need this but i did a quick roundtrip and it took me about 2 minutes so you need to wait a little before looting again.

12x7 = 84
60/3 = 20
84 * 20 =
1680 Market Research per hour
2380 Resonance Crystals per Hour
420 raw gold per hour (nice)
70 Gunk Covered thingy
Exalted in 6 hours without any reputation buff and can be done while distracted with other things. The other fastest way to do this is takes about 20-30 hours to exalted

SCRAP locations
/way 32 21
/way 36 44
/way 50 63
/way 38 80
/way 52 82
/way 70 76
/way 67 28

There seems to be some variance with the restock timer and it seems to being linked to how many/often SCRAP events are being done so i would recommend joining a raid group that farms this while doing it. I had a 3 minute restock timer everytime doing that.

Comment by BeerWolf

Seriously, screw Blizzard for nerfing these to hell... now literally the only 'feasible' way of "farming" them is doing SCRAP for 10-15 per site...

j f c ... the worst rep farm in game now towards a Paragon Trove for a CHANCE at a mount...

Edit -- Got the mount with the 2nd Trove, thank God. No way in hell am I touching their rep again, it's beyond brain numbing. For Misc Mechanica I'll just stick to quickly doing Undermine weeklies and WQs for rep with one of the 4 Cartels to grab troves off.

Comment by AveryZan

9-17-2025 Was doing my usual weekly stuff, noticed more of these dropping off rares and normal mobs than I usually got. Is it possible they buffed the drop rate? I chose the steam cartel if that makes a difference.

Comment by Ninielly

After July last update, seem like the only viable farm is loosing your life into S.C.R.A.P heap.
Couldn't find a mob respawn that is worth it
meaning = If you loose the raid "glitch" "exploit" or w/e you wanna call it.. You got fkd by blizzard

Comment by Wolfen75

I hope the devs of this grind will get what they deserve.

Comment by rmiskin

With how terrible a grind this is now, I think I'll wait until war within remix to buy the mounts

Comment by Kisses

So if you need 8400 to reach exalted, would be anyone capable calculating how many you need now? With the +60% rep (fortune+darkmoon). But the +15 per scrap farm seems too tedious anyways :( .

Comment by fendred

12-16 Research per Scrap chest, say 14 average
2 minutes per event, plus 30 sec to respawn, plus a few seconds to travel there and activate, say 2.6 minutes average
That's about 23 Scrap Piles for ~323 Research per hour
Gain 5 rep per Research (turn in @ 500 rep per 100, unbuffed)
42,000 reputation to exalted, 10,000 more for paragon (because unlike every other faction since DF, this one is 10k per paragon not 7.5)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Equals about 26 hours of doing Trash Content (tm) for 8400 Research to exalted
Plus a further 2000 Research (~6 hours) per attempt on the paragon mount
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
With Winds + DMF it goes to 8 rep per Research; ~16 hours to exalted plus ~4 hours per paragon

Comment by Cuffouis

Currently receiving 800 reputation with the following buffs:

Winds of Mysterious Fortune = 50%
WHEE! = 10%
~~Diplomacy = 10%~~

Box of Darkfuse Miscellany normally rewards 500 Darkfuse Solutions reputation.
Each box cost 100 Market Research purchased from Sitch Lowdown.
Bronze Goblin Waveshredder has a chance to drop from Darkfuse Trove.
Being Human no longer rewards extra reputation.

Comment by NorthCode

I'm all for it taking a while, but why did they make it so brain dead and boring..?

Comment by dagouor

i tried at 6th of february to farm darkfuse rep with the old fashioned og way. the one with killing darkfuse mobs near the darkfuse with potion and pylon items from vendors. What i noticed is that i didn't get ANY market research only looted gold except from the rare nearby. Did anyone else try it and have an issue?

Comment by Kimaa

Tried to farm this on Midnight Expansion because i find the coat super neat.

But the farm is just madness impossible. To hell to this

Links

Market Research

Darkfuse Solutions is on the lookout for market research to find where to focus their activities. You can exchange this with Sitch Lowdown at Hovel Hill to earn reputation with their cartel.

Guides

Cartels of Undermine Renown Guide

Market Research

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