Curse

Levi Garett · May 04, 2007, 06:00 PM // 18:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by brian78wa

Interesting. I do 3-4 runs a day for farming in HM same spot. I get 2-5 golds every run plus 3-6k after selling. I dont have a problem with anti-farming.

Yep your not "over farming"...so your drops are staying good.

I'm going to say it again: Farming Route!

I cleared my flags last night (soloed HM Gates of Krtya!). Then the update came and I logged off for ~4 hours. I came back and did 3 runs on one of my farming spots and I got 5-6 rare drops, black dye, Elite Tome from a boss, and a couple non-elite tomes. This was in ~20 minutes (5 mins a run). I then went to Zehlon Reach and killed the Corsairs and got two rares on the first run with a couple purples and a non-elite tome, 2nd run yielded another rare, purples and blues, and coin drops. Then I went to bed...

So the point is I didn't farm the same place over and over and over. As much as I'd like to continue farming a spot that's dropping good you really should move on to your next spot to avoid overfarming. Once your account gets flagged your drops will go into the crapper...

Your results may vary but this method has worked good for me. It's really sad that I have to do this though considering it was reported that there was no anti-farm code present in HM and the "zoning/instancing" was removed...

IlikeGW · May 04, 2007, 06:16 PM // 18:16

does clearing flags work on vanquishing areas? I can't seem to get drops doing that to save my life besides the worst stuff.

Levi Garett · May 04, 2007, 06:23 PM // 18:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by IlikeGW

does clearing flags work on vanquishing areas? I can't seem to get drops doing that to save my life besides the worst stuff.

Not 100% sure but I'd say no. Just stick to missions for clearing flags.

Also there's a nice article around here somewhere that goes into great detail on this theory.

Keep in mind, this is a theory, and has still yet to be proven fact. My personal experience is that it seems to be accurate but your milage may vary.

Sir Kilgore · May 04, 2007, 06:32 PM // 18:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Levi Garett

Yep your not "over farming"...so your drops are staying good.

I'm going to say it again: Farming Route!

I cleared my flags last night (soloed HM Gates of Krtya!). Then the update came and I logged off for ~4 hours. I came back and did 3 runs on one of my farming spots and I got 5-6 rare drops, black dye, Elite Tome from a boss, and a couple non-elite tomes. This was in ~20 minutes (5 mins a run). I then went to Zehlon Reach and killed the Corsairs and got two rares on the first run with a couple purples and a non-elite tome, 2nd run yielded another rare, purples and blues, and coin drops. Then I went to bed...

So the point is I didn't farm the same place over and over and over. As much as I'd like to continue farming a spot that's dropping good you really should move on to your next spot to avoid overfarming. Once your account gets flagged your drops will go into the crapper...

Your results may vary but this method has worked good for me. It's really sad that I have to do this though considering it was reported that there was no anti-farm code present in HM and the "zoning/instancing" was removed...

There do seem to be ways around the diminishing drops, but that's not the point. I think you agree that based on the official word about the update there shouldn't be any drop degradation due to repeatedly farming the same area. I seem to remember Gaile said she thought farmers would "rejoice" due to that particular feature of the update.

Well, guess what? We aren't rejoicing because it just plain isn't true. We wouldn't be "rejoicing" anyway with the 1/8 chance for drops even with no degradation, but we're about as far as rejoicing as you can get with the combination of diminishing drops and 1/8 chance of getting them.

This isn't some wild accusation by one or two players. This is a clear trend noted by many players, some of whom have kept records of repeated farm runs as proof. Please ANet, if the intention was to get rid of decreasing value in drops in HM then check this out. Many of us would be happy to help gather the data you may need. If this is what you intended all along, then first of all shame on you for the PR spin that made it sound completely different. Secondly, just tell us that this is what you intended so we don't waste any more time trying to gather data and determine exactly what is wrong.

Red-Tide · May 04, 2007, 07:55 PM // 19:55

Well said Kilgore, I'm in total agreement.

I am willing to track runs to see if we can to the bottom of this. Hell I have a ton of data already from the last few days of tracking my farming runs.

Better yet, can't you peeps at aANET fire up a 55 and see for yourselves? We are not making this up...

MMSDome · May 04, 2007, 11:10 PM // 23:10

In response to the first post:

I havent really noticed it because I get frustrated enough that I dont play hard mode to much. I maybe vanquish 2 or 3 a night and then get angry and switch to getting some of my char's through elona (Getting so damn tired of this campaign!) and eventually go back to hard mode so the drops stay good for me

Diddy bow · May 05, 2007, 01:11 AM // 01:11

you know when the anti farm kicks in when a level 26 naga drops you 2 cloths

.

I think hm is drying up personally, or the anti farm is stalking me >.<

Neo Nugget · May 05, 2007, 02:06 AM // 02:06

yes. 1 solo boss run at the start i got 8 golds from 13 enemies in 1 run(wow).
now rarely 1 per run.>.<

manitoba1073 · May 05, 2007, 04:38 AM // 04:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gaile Gray

We removed the anti-faming code in normal mode. The code was never implemented in Hard Mode. So no, there is no anti-farming code in Hard Mode..

So this means there actually was an anti-farm code all the time when you guys where claiming it was just an anti-bot code. hmm seems like some people have missed that point.

Fallen Hunter · May 05, 2007, 04:51 AM // 04:51

Ive noticed this as well. I got three golds in the first few hours of hard mode, and only 2 since. However, I have been finding a huge number of purples.

IlikeGW · May 05, 2007, 05:08 AM // 05:08

So 4 things could have happened, as I see it:

1. Everyone had an incredible luck streak at the same time when HM started and can clearly remember all the good drops they got, which compares very poorly with later results, but only because their incredible luck streak ran out. This is improbable because why would so many people have similar incredible luck at the same time and lose it at the same time.

2. People are distorting facts, ignoring a rare here and there because it's poor stats, or whatever... maybe they got a skewed perception early on from excitement and didn't realize it took way more time then they are recalling to get those initial "great" results. This is plausible to some degree, but doesn't explain data at all of people doing runs that very clearly appear to be "anti farming" hammered.

3. Anet stealth nerfed the drop rates. This is possible. They have 100% control of the game's structure, we have zero and no way to check what they're doing short of very monotonous and time consuming tests. They don't have to tell us anything, or Gaile or anyone for that matter. Maybe they just decided, whoops, too much, and changed the numbers but refuse to publicize the fact because they know it would be anger people.

4. A bug was introduced, perhaps related to the game's old farming code, and drops are behaving abnormally. Possible. Unfortunately for players, we're on the outside on this one. They're not going to share much info about the drop system with us because of bot programmers, so that leaves the community at a disadvantage when trying to ascertain what's going on here.

VitisVinifera · May 05, 2007, 05:28 AM // 05:28

5. There is anti farm code in HM. People started out with *no* anti farm because.....noone had farmed in HM (obviously). Then as we farmed, the code kicked in. And Gaile is clueless even though she thinks she knows.

SuperDave · May 05, 2007, 06:16 AM // 06:16

I do believe HM is drying up... The release of HM was awesome, I got LOADS of golds. Vanquishing the areas in Ascalon yielded even more golds. I was ecstatic. Since then I've been telling my guildies how awesome HM is and that I'll get my wisdom title in no time at all. Alas, all the excitement was for naught. I can't remember what a gold drop looks like, (apart from chests of course). I’m not trying to contradict Gaile or Anet, but all is not well....

I just vanquished Snake Dance (374kills). Not one gold drop

Out of the 4 chests I found I got 3 crappy golds and a mesmer tome (not elite)

This is starting to suck

When I vanquished Old Ascalon a mob of Grawl actually dropped 3 golds.

Firebaall · May 05, 2007, 07:29 AM // 07:29

I have proof now.

The question is, does anybody at Anet care? 5000+ views and not a reasonable response from the PR or Developers on this subject.

I am starting to suspect they don't comment, because they don't know how to put a spin on it, so they don't look so underhanded in this situation.

Take it how you will, but silence speaks volumes too.

Tiny Biscuit · May 05, 2007, 08:01 AM // 08:01

I'm playing at least 5 hours/day (vanquisher). First HM day : 7 golds (two elite book). After : 1/3 gold per day (only one elite book since).

scottbigboy · May 05, 2007, 08:19 AM // 08:19

Well i`ve asked this countless times

WHY ON EARTH ANET WOULD YOU CHANGE THE LOOT SYSTEM AFTER 2YEARS AND 3 CAMPAIGNS?????????

-Cause you got our money
-Guild wars 2 is coming

These imho are the reasons, cause for the life of me i can`t understand why any company would wanna drop such a big bomb and upset so many of its customer base after they have spent there hard earned cash on the guild wars campaigns.

I mean if they changed the loot scaling system say during factions how many of us woulda bought nightfall ( i for one would not have )

Anyway before someone shoots me down dont forget this is my personal opinion which i have a right to express

Trinin Of Onyx · May 05, 2007, 08:27 AM // 08:27

Well I guess its old iron now, but I've done the same with farming runs.. I usually farm Oni, outside Zos Shivros - I remember the first 5-6 runs yielded at least 1 gold a run, usually 2 (9-12 Oni per run) but now, I'm lucky to see a purple.

Oh could someone clear up this 'flag' thing for me? I don't understand the process of clearing them. Thanks.

Thomas.knbk · May 05, 2007, 08:32 AM // 08:32

Drops in hard mode have never been awesome to me. I've found one gold hammer and one elite mesmer tome from a chest since it came out. That's all.

Marth Reynolds · May 05, 2007, 09:41 AM // 09:41

Rare drops seem to dwindle in HM for me and my guildy wich were vanquishing some parts of cantha mostly. I even remember a run where we were in full hero team (6 heros 2 humans) and in the first minute in a area we got both a rare drop.
Last few days i've seen 1 rare drop a area max, chests not counted.
Haven't seen a change in HM chests they still drop crap.

the_jos · May 05, 2007, 10:14 AM // 10:14

On-topic:
HM dorps have changed for me, but I can't remember how, since I was doing DoA the first days and am clearing Ascalon now.
I know we did a Breach vanquish yesterday and one of my guildmates was the one getting most purples.
That could be odd. I don't farm and my mesmer has no anti-farm code for sure. On the other hand, given drops are randon, it could have been random luck for him.
I'm watching it, but don't really care about it.

Off-topic:
scottbigboy: The change on the loot system is understandable for me.
They nerfed the gold drops and white/purples because they are sold to merchant most of the time.
The nerf creates less 'new' gold in the game.

The reason you want less gold in the game is to stop inflation.
Inflation was getting worse in Factions, most notably on the green items.
Prophecies items were, except a few, affordable to the crowd.
Equivalent Factions' items were expensive and stayed that a long way.
A-net did several attempts to cool down the market, with green item weekends and the 'chest' weekend.

You may not have been affected by the inflation, but many ordinary players can't afford the 20K+ asked for most greens.
And you can't just tell them: Go farm that 20K+, some just want to play the storyline.
Don't forget playing the storyline and helping others along the way is just as much 'work' as farming.

To decrease inflation (or slow it down), you have to slow down the new gold flowing in the game.
Gold drops and rare crafting materials were taken out of lootscaling.
That's because are often not sold to merchant, but sold to other players.
That way, there is no new gold in the economy and therefore no increase of inflation.