Curse

Saraphim · Dec 02, 2006, 09:04 AM // 09:04

Apart from a couple of lucky gold max drops (and I mean a couple) the general drop standard (not quantity, just quality) has been hilariously bad for me now I've been playing for a couple of weeks.

One example - a level 24 monster that drops a fire wand, damage 6-9 !

T1Cybernetic · Dec 02, 2006, 10:08 AM // 10:08

There is definitely something wrong with the drops plain and simple

i've only seen one gold drop for me and i've got two characters
completely through the game over the last few weeks

i've opened a few chests and had gold loot but nothing so special

The general green /gold percentage for us all seems to be worse in nightfall for some reason but not only that
it's the drop rate of all the regular stuff that seems to be lacking too including gold coin drops /Sadness.......

Vahn Roi · Dec 02, 2006, 10:21 AM // 10:21

Green drops are horrible in Nightfall, even with overfarming taken into account.

38 solo runs of Wandalz the Angry and he still has not dropped his shield.

Mad King Corn · Dec 02, 2006, 10:38 AM // 10:38

Unfortunately for me drop rates from chests in all 3 campaign have been 99.9% worthless. Purple = crap and most gold items if you are lucky enough to get them are crap. Even if you get amax damage gold, most of the time the mods make the item worthless anyway. Im done with chests. For what you get, keys are not worth buying at all. I have a character for every profession and the monster drop rate in nightfall is pathetic. I very rarely got good drops in Factions or Prophicies either but Nightfall max damage or gold weapons just are not being found. I agree if you fight a level 20+ monster and it drops a less than max damage item something is not right.

TideSwayer · Dec 02, 2006, 02:01 PM // 14:01

I don't know if there's any truth to this, but it seems to me that offhands in general don't drop all that frequently in Elona. I'm trying to get some offhands for my heroes, but all I ever seem to get in drops are armors and weapons.

In general, the collectors suck in Elona too. Most of them offer ridiculously-modded caster weapons such as 15% while enchanted staves, when all I really want are 20/20 stuff for, yes, my heroes. Don't throw away Factions just yet. If Chapter 2 did anything right, it's how organized the collectors were.

Red-Tide · Dec 02, 2006, 02:08 PM // 14:08

Ive been through all of NF with my dervish and I am halfway through with my monk.

Dervish - Total gold drops through NF campaign - 3 (2 req13 Sword & Hammer & 1 armor, sup expertise)
Monk - Total gold drops through NF campaign so far - 1 (req 12 scythe, crap mods)

Does this seem right to anyone? Anet please look into this.

Dcom67 · Dec 02, 2006, 06:57 PM // 18:57

Heros defintely suck up items.
A few times I have seen a colored item drop , only to vanish very quickly.
No henchies just heros with me. Was not just in Elona either seen the same thing happen in Tyria.
(heros koss,dunkaro, melonni)

Heros shouldnt take as much as henchies IMO, you give them weapons,and what ever runes etc you might hapen to get.

I dont know if the drop rates bewteen the campains are actually different, But i seem to get more colored stuff , from tyria or factions. I dont do chests unless a key drops. And those have not been anything to rejoice over.

Runes seem to be harder to get in NF Imo.

weaver keras · Dec 03, 2006, 12:21 AM // 00:21

Haha, I thought the same, after all you are the one that kits the hero out. I was pretty lucky once in NF, just after I commented to my guildies that I never get any green drops, I got two greens from a boss one right after the other (don't worry my luck soon turned back to normal...meaning none) another good drop was an aurelated gold shield, with crappy stats...thank god you can now mod them

Hou Lifu · Dec 03, 2006, 12:55 AM // 00:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dcom67

Heros defintely suck up items.
A few times I have seen a colored item drop , only to vanish very quickly.
No henchies just heros with me. Was not just in Elona either seen the same thing happen in Tyria.
(heros koss,dunkaro, melonni)

Heros shouldnt take as much as henchies IMO, you give them weapons,and what ever runes etc you might hapen to get.

I dont know if the drop rates bewteen the campains are actually different, But i seem to get more colored stuff , from tyria or factions. I dont do chests unless a key drops. And those have not been anything to rejoice over.

Runes seem to be harder to get in NF Imo.

Err, "vanish very quickly"? I'm pretty sure they just don't appear.

When people run their expectations so high and hype themselves up about how awesome it will be that there are new weapons that they want, and the monsters they fight won't drop them. You honestly cannot expect a Superior Vigor and 15^50 Elemental Sword to drop for you every mob you fight.

The Ernada · Dec 03, 2006, 01:00 AM // 01:00

I guess the "Elitists" had their complaints heard and Anet made rares and good items harder to obtain to compensate for the inscription system.

Of course, the bad drop rate can all just be skewed perception and bad luck but I'm getting the same bad luck in drops.

MithranArkanere · Dec 03, 2006, 02:02 AM // 02:02

I had only Gold ones in Vabbi.
I had only perfect bases in de Desolation.

In the tormet, so far I found 2 keys and tons of white ones.

Ah, and foun some green ones... all in Istan, all while helping other ally. Never had a good drop going solo, hench or pugs, only with Guild member fellows.

gstricto · Dec 03, 2006, 02:06 AM // 02:06

This is as good a place as any to post my opinion on the matter:

Firstly, a few things we can all agree upon:
- Players like having max items for themselves
- Players don't like bots
- ANet doesn't like bots
- Bots sell money to people who can't get enough money/drops for themselves to be happy
- Economics is based on supply and demand
- Supply goes up, demand goes down
- Supply goes down, demand goes up

Some things that can be interpreted in different ways
- Green items were billed as "poor man's perfect items" (in not so many words)
- Over and over and over, we have heard that GW is not about farm grind
- Anti farm code designed for bots is getting in the way of players playing normally through the campaign
- People with 500 ectos in storage should not have any more say over the economy than someone who just picked up the game (meaning that if good items plummet in price, their complaints should not restrict new players to being forced into farming)

What I find so amazing is that bots are only in the game because there is not enough supply of gold or items or whatever else players (especially those with little time for farming) want.

Knowing the rules of supply and demand, and knowing ANet wants to get rid of bots, why in the world would they limit drops? This seems to be a surefire way to encourage players to use gold services.

Some small changes could get rid of bots, reduce any need at all for farming, and generally keep most players happy.

As I propose them:
- Increase cap on gold dropped from enemies
- Merchant sell values for items without a fixed cost (i.e. not keys or collector items) should be doubled across the board (perhaps more bonuses for purple and gold items)
- White items (especially at the end of the game) should have boosted stats... by the time I get to the Realm of Torment, every white item should be max, req 7-9
- Blue drops as they are now are random mods with the lowest stats... fine
- Change purple drops to be random mods, completely random stats (no range restrictions)
- Change gold drops to be random mods, all max stats (maybe not the mods you want on that particular item, but since it's max, it could be useful somewhere for you)
- Chests with keys costing 1500 are instantly gold drops (following the rules above)
- Each boss should be guaranteed to drop his green item (flood the market, crash the prices, alternative to this is to introduce an in-game trader since the stats never vary)

(I feel very strongly about this last point... Imagine going off to cap a skill and once you kill the boss, only one party member could cap his elite skill. And even if you solo-kill the boss, you only have a 10% or lower chance of actually seeing the skill show up on the list. Frustrating? You bet.)

The reasoning is simple: flood the market... Get it to the point that if anyone wants a green item it's a single run with some guild mates. Make it so that there isn't any room left in the economy for bots and their gold. Keep your uber rare items (Crystalline, ectos, etc) for the people that still feel a need to farm. But seriously, when items are still costing more than a single character can hold in their inventory, there is an issue.

Heroes should have been made account-wide, but that's an entirely different topic and it seems to late to rectify now.

Don't get me wrong, the inscription system is GREAT and there have been many steps in the right direction, but for every step forward it seems like there is a step back... Example: Why can't my Tyrian and Canthan armors have inscriptions applied to them? It can't be that hard to check if a piece of armor or a weapon (referring to pre-inscription weapon drops) has an inherent mod that would fit under the new inscription system and allow it to be over-written.

The most frustrating part of all of this is that Guild Wars keeps seeming to take a step in the right direction (in which case I cheer) just to turn around a week later and take another aspect in the wrong direction (maybe ANet is afraid that one day they will arrive at perfection).

Yes people complain quite often about things they see in the game as a problem, but nobody would be here complaining and continuing to play if we didn't love the game. We aren't here to say ANet is just doing a bad job, but we've been spoiled. Guild Wars seems to be constantly on the brink of perfection and never willing to take the last step. Perhaps the complaints that are so readily given are more of an expression of regret that the game can't take that last step.

I just wish for one day I could sit down and talk to the people who actually work on the game. They don't even have to take any of my ideas at all, just being able to see their reasoning would be awesome. Gaile, if there is any way possible, (I know there really isn't since it would set a precedence you can't afford to establish) could a dev send me a PM here? Just one afternoon on AIM/MSN or Ventrillo or however they would like to talk.

I wish I could enroll in the Make a Wish Foundation just to have that granted.

Throttle · Dec 03, 2006, 02:28 AM // 02:28

I've played for a bit over a week, one character to level 20 and one to 17. I found my first green today, a fairly useless staff in one of the earlier areas. I've found less than 10 golds, and basically nothing of value. Usually plenty of white and crappy blues, no max damage items, one 16 armor gold lotus shield (req 12 or 13 str...) and some moderately valuable mods like a +5 energy inscription, a 15^50 and a +30hp hammer grip. I'm hoping things will get better in the end-game which I haven't reached yet.

Pompeyfan · Dec 03, 2006, 04:06 AM // 04:06

I've found the drop rates in NF extremell;y poor to - Went through NF with my ranger and also did 90% of side quests to so far, and have arrived at kodash with my warrior and so far I've had 2 green drops, 1 decent gold drop and 1 key otherwise they've been piss poor, and chests haven't been much better with a gold on average every 10th chest, although still to get a decent one with max stats or mods on it - I don't farm, so it shouldn't be anti-farming code, I just play normally in either full parties or with heroes/henchies.

Throttle · Dec 03, 2006, 04:08 AM // 04:08

Then again, I can see the reasoning behind a lowered drop rate in Nightfall compared to the previous chapters. I'm a new player so I can't compare, but from what I've heard, in the previous games you had to be lucky enough to find an item with the desired mods already on it. In Nightfall you can find a max damage weapon and then find various other items with the desired mods, and assemble the weapon you want. Maybe you're finding less purple/gold items in NF than the previous chapters but you have a lot more freedom in customizing them and shaping the items you want instead of praying that you actually get a max damage weapon with three perfect mods on it. Now you just have to find 3-4 items where one thing is right on each and you have what you want. I wonder if it's not actually easier to get what you're looking for in NF?

Kha · Dec 03, 2006, 05:45 AM // 05:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Throttle

In Nightfall you can find a max damage weapon and then find various other items with the desired mods, and assemble the weapon you want.

In theory, but as many have pointed out (and is the purpose of the thread) even max whites are not easy to come by. Hours of playing Realm of Torrent and Domain of Anguish, the TOP TWO areas in the game, are full of non-max weapons. Lvl 28s that can group spike for 600+ AoE damage in a second, that can steal 30 energy with a skill, don't even drop max items...

Dec 03, 2006, 07:37 AM // 07:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by gstricto

This is as good a place as any to post my opinion on the matter:

Firstly, a few things we can all agree upon:
- Players like having max items for themselves
- Players don't like bots
- ANet doesn't like bots
- Bots sell money to people who can't get enough money/drops for themselves to be happy
- Economics is based on supply and demand
- Supply goes up, demand goes down
- Supply goes down, demand goes up

Some things that can be interpreted in different ways
- Green items were billed as "poor man's perfect items" (in not so many words)
- Over and over and over, we have heard that GW is not about farm grind
- Anti farm code designed for bots is getting in the way of players playing normally through the campaign
- People with 500 ectos in storage should not have any more say over the economy than someone who just picked up the game (meaning that if good items plummet in price, their complaints should not restrict new players to being forced into farming)

What I find so amazing is that bots are only in the game because there is not enough supply of gold or items or whatever else players (especially those with little time for farming) want.

Knowing the rules of supply and demand, and knowing ANet wants to get rid of bots, why in the world would they limit drops? This seems to be a surefire way to encourage players to use gold services.

Some small changes could get rid of bots, reduce any need at all for farming, and generally keep most players happy.

As I propose them:
- Increase cap on gold dropped from enemies
- Merchant sell values for items without a fixed cost (i.e. not keys or collector items) should be doubled across the board (perhaps more bonuses for purple and gold items)
- White items (especially at the end of the game) should have boosted stats... by the time I get to the Realm of Torment, every white item should be max, req 7-9
- Blue drops as they are now are random mods with the lowest stats... fine
- Change purple drops to be random mods, completely random stats (no range restrictions)
- Change gold drops to be random mods, all max stats (maybe not the mods you want on that particular item, but since it's max, it could be useful somewhere for you)
- Chests with keys costing 1500 are instantly gold drops (following the rules above)
- Each boss should be guaranteed to drop his green item (flood the market, crash the prices, alternative to this is to introduce an in-game trader since the stats never vary)

(I feel very strongly about this last point... Imagine going off to cap a skill and once you kill the boss, only one party member could cap his elite skill. And even if you solo-kill the boss, you only have a 10% or lower chance of actually seeing the skill show up on the list. Frustrating? You bet.)

The reasoning is simple: flood the market... Get it to the point that if anyone wants a green item it's a single run with some guild mates. Make it so that there isn't any room left in the economy for bots and their gold. Keep your uber rare items (Crystalline, ectos, etc) for the people that still feel a need to farm. But seriously, when items are still costing more than a single character can hold in their inventory, there is an issue.

Heroes should have been made account-wide, but that's an entirely different topic and it seems to late to rectify now.

Don't get me wrong, the inscription system is GREAT and there have been many steps in the right direction, but for every step forward it seems like there is a step back... Example: Why can't my Tyrian and Canthan armors have inscriptions applied to them? It can't be that hard to check if a piece of armor or a weapon (referring to pre-inscription weapon drops) has an inherent mod that would fit under the new inscription system and allow it to be over-written.

The most frustrating part of all of this is that Guild Wars keeps seeming to take a step in the right direction (in which case I cheer) just to turn around a week later and take another aspect in the wrong direction (maybe ANet is afraid that one day they will arrive at perfection).

Yes people complain quite often about things they see in the game as a problem, but nobody would be here complaining and continuing to play if we didn't love the game. We aren't here to say ANet is just doing a bad job, but we've been spoiled. Guild Wars seems to be constantly on the brink of perfection and never willing to take the last step. Perhaps the complaints that are so readily given are more of an expression of regret that the game can't take that last step.

I just wish for one day I could sit down and talk to the people who actually work on the game. They don't even have to take any of my ideas at all, just being able to see their reasoning would be awesome. Gaile, if there is any way possible, (I know there really isn't since it would set a precedence you can't afford to establish) could a dev send me a PM here? Just one afternoon on AIM/MSN or Ventrillo or however they would like to talk.

I wish I could enroll in the Make a Wish Foundation just to have that granted.

anet better hire this guy, cause this post is what needed to be said.

The Ernada · Dec 03, 2006, 08:04 AM // 08:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by gstricto

This is as good a place as any to post my opinion on the matter:

You made some really valid points there and some good proposals. But as long as Anet is too afraid to anger the minority of power traders/farmers then things will continue to be hard to obtain. These power traders love nothing better than for things to be so rare so they'd have that elite status for having such things. or to just sell them for ridiculously high prices.

That is the reason why Anet is taking the one step forward one step back approach. It's the reason why the inscription system is sort of half-assed at this point and why it doesnt apply to previous chapter items. It's so that they dont alienate and anger these power traders who feel their items that they've hoarded will be rendered useless. Notice how many of them scream their heads off at the new system?

But I have faith that eventually the inscription system will apply to all items. And that items will drop more frequently once the uproar over "killing the value of things" dies down.

Irongate · Dec 03, 2006, 09:39 AM // 09:39

Just drops, agreed. They are VERY crapola compared to the other two chapters!

Especially, oddly, in the higher areas. The higher you go the worse the drops get! Bizzare!

Jijimuge · Dec 03, 2006, 09:57 AM // 09:57

Strange....my dervish is in Vabbi, and I was wondering why I seem to be getting *more* gold drops than I used to when playing my characters through Factions. Chests also seem to be dropping more golds than I remember them doing- I'm guessing that the ration of gold to purple drops I get from chests in NightFall is perhaps 1:3 or 1:4 or so

I've managed to obtain a decent number of max damage weapons too (mostly bows and scythes) - but strangely no max swords or axes yet (apart from 1 green axe drop - Chorr's).

Again (perhaps strangely?) none of the gold drops I've obtained from chests have been swords or axes. I don't recall having received a gold focus item yet in NightFall FWIW

I can't comment on the high level areas of Nightfall, however, as my dervish is loitering in Vabbi, hoovering up the trade contract quests.