ArenaNet: Linsey Murdock unveils High End Ascended Gear (2012-11-13)

[bokiz333]

PSO2 does drops right. Everyone gets exp/drops just like in GW2. Almost every mob type (bosses included) have set rare items that they can drop. And I mean some of them are like less than 1%, it doesn't sound like a lot, but when there are more people around more enemies spawn in each map. We're talking like 30+ enemies at times. And then more that spawn in as they die. So when they drop it's extremely satisfying. And you don't feel punished if they don't drop because everything can drop them.

Over the past 2 days I've gotten like 9 rares just from trying to level up.

Well I can tell you that AN is DEFINITELY working on the drop rate. Because seemingly they addressed the drop rate of badges in WvW which was a major gripe. I clearly noticed it. People in both of my guilds noticed. People posted about it in chat...badges drop noticably more often (because they used to never fricking drop) I got more badges last two days when then the last week combined. And I played about the same number of hours.

So I'm happy about that. Also I assume this change was made because the ascended gear in WvW will be bought by them so they adjusted the drop rate so people don't complain. Just a guess though.

[Zorac]

Well I can tell you that AN is DEFINITELY working on the drop rate. Because seemingly they addressed the drop rate of badges in WvW which was a major gripe. I clearly noticed it. People in both of my guilds noticed. People posted about it in chat...badges drop noticably more often (because they used to never fricking drop) I got more badges last two days when then the last week combined. And I played about the same number of hours.

So I'm happy about that. Also I assume this change was made because the ascended gear in WvW will be bought by them so they adjusted the drop rate so people don't complain. Just a guess though.

Yes I noticed that I got a good deal more badges this weekend then the last week or so. I've been saving them up for either my guardian or warrior for accessories/weapons with power/toughness/precis when they get to 80 (Gear I'll get the temple exotics in Orr) so I keep track fairly well of how many I get. Got 153 badges Friday night to sunday night (and no I didn't play constantly I play 2-3 hours and stop for 2-3 hours lol, plus I sleep till noon on weekends ) So I was pretty happy with that.

Still getting more whites than I used to, but blues and greens are more like what they used to be I think, but I've noticed a lot of times i'll get a weird drop, like a lvl 53 (white, blue or even green), when I'm lvl 80. I wonder if perhaps gear drops are being based off the true lvl of the person you killed, but just guessing there.

[Vayne]

Drops seem better in Orr too, as of today anyway. Both my wife and I got golds, and we weren't there that long. I got plenty of blues and a few greens too, along with the obligatory whites.

As I've said, balancing drops is going to be an ongoing thing, and you'll never keep everyone happy. If they were too high to start off with, the way to make them less is to make them a LOT less, then bring them more toward the middle and people won't be saying, damn we lost our drop rate, they'll be saying, ah, Anet fixed that. lol

[bokiz333]

Still getting more whites than I used to, but blues and greens are more like what they used to be I think, but I've noticed a lot of times i'll get a weird drop, like a lvl 53 (white, blue or even green), when I'm lvl 80. I wonder if perhaps gear drops are being based off the true lvl of the person you killed, but just guessing there.

Ahhhh, that makes sense...I noticed more "odd" level drops as well but didn't make the connection. When you're fighting 30 v 30 (I was a borning zerg baby yesterday) I didn't really think too much between fighting and trying to pick up my lootbags. If they ever put in a true auto loot system, I will be thrilled.

[Sericenthe]

Still no yellows for me in Orr. Well, I did get (1) yellow craft mat. A few greens though. That was with a 50% increase in magic find.

Just going to have to make do I guess. Been taking advantage of the lousy drops by working on alts.

[Fey]

As I've said, balancing drops is going to be an ongoing thing, and you'll never keep everyone happy. If they were too high to start off with, the way to make them less is to make them a LOT less, then bring them more toward the middle and people won't be saying, damn we lost our drop rate, they'll be saying, ah, Anet fixed that. lol

Honestly I don't think this was that big of an issue. I really haven't had any issues with drop rates in GW2. Maybe I'm just used to low drop rates, but I really don't think a game that's designed to give you appropriate/the same rewards no matter what you're doing is going to last. It literally just sounds spoiled and it retracts from the sense of accomplishment. Hearing people whine and say things like "Waahh I don't get amazing drops while mindlessly farming Orr and I feel shafted that people running dungeons get better drops and I don't get those because I don't want to run dungeons" blah blah etc etc is just foolish, I'd even say borderline ignorant.

The fact of the matter is: Dungeons are harder than Orr. That's why the drop rates are superior. I turned a blind eye to the fact that I can run around a low level zone and have a chance to get an exotic, though it's obviously much lower than in Orr, but that's still a ridiculous notion in and of itself. But I let that slide because it's w/e. But people that are complaining about being able to farm a zone 24/7 and aren't being "satisfied" with the rewards are just being ridiculous.

The object of farming in the open world has and always will be about one simple goal: Gold. Acquiring gold with little to no effort over a set period of time.

Rewards from Orr not including item drops are as follows:

• Exp from mobs

• Currency drops from mobs

• Exp from Events

• Karma from Events

• Currency from Events

• High-End gathering nodes for all crafts

Rewards from Dungeons minus item drops:

• Exp from mobs

• Currency drops from mobs

• Exp upon completion

• Currency upon completion

• Dungeon Tokens(from explorables)

If you factor in that every boss drops a chest, the rate at which you'll gain rarer item drops is higher in dungeons. However, meta-events also give chest rewards and are completely braindead to complete. In fact, I for one jump from zone to zone when different meta-events are taking place since most of them are on timers, all of them give chests that have a chance to give level appropriate rewards, and hey you can teleport to any zone whenever you want to. Where as dungeons have a much higher chance of giving you repair bills and are much harder to complete / organize a group for. Obviously at this point most groups don't have any trouble with dungeons anymore but that chance to fail is still higher than solo farming Orr.

That being said, I agree that the drop rates in Orr are a little low. But considering that the rewards are on pretty much on par with each other if you take risk and difficulty into the equation, people really shouldn't be complaining about it.

[mayito7777]

Fey since November patch no Champion or vet are dropping anything, boss chest are dropping only blues and if lucky you may get couple greens, no yellows whatsoever.

[Sericenthe]

For the last TIME. I don't expect amazing drops. I expect requisite value for my work. Getting zippo nada after defeating vet after vet and champ after champ is NOT ACCEPTABLE.

Oh, and EXPERIENCE is handed out like candy in this game and is really when it's all said and done, worthless. So getting EXP is meaningless.

Thanks.

[bokiz333]

For the last TIME. I don't expect amazing drops. I expect requisite value for my work. Getting zippo nada after defeating vet after vet and champ after champ is NOT ACCEPTABLE.

Oh, and EXPERIENCE is handed out like candy in this game and is really when it's all said and done, worthless. So getting EXP is meaningless.

Thanks.

You know about the mystic forge and skill points and mystic weapons and legendaries and upgrading siege and mats and stuff? Experience is needed for skill points. Skill points are needed for lots of good stuff. Ex is not worthless.

Drops not happening are one thing, and a legitemate gripe, but xp is definitely a good thing.

- - - Updated - - -

I bet you think karma is worthless too? For the longest time I thought it wasn't worth much unless you're working on a legendary...which I'm not. I went into Orr, bought a metric ton of exotic armor (which is account bound), threw it all into the mystic forge and got some nice sellable exotic gear. Made about 15-18 gold monetizing my karma. I'm saving it up again, just on an off chance (HIGHLY unlikely) that some ascended gear will be karma based. Once its clear that it's not, back to Orr and back to making them gold coins rain.

[Zorac]

I agree that higher difficulty enemies should give a higher chance at better drops, not nothing like it was when they broke it while trying to fix it lol. I certainly like the how drops are in this game, everything has a chance to drop everything pretty much. This does cause a problem with from botters and of course people who love to grind, killing the same things over and over to get the rares that are sure to drop eventually.

To combat this is fairly simple, diminishing returns, if you kill over and over again the same mobs your drop chances gets less and less, it wouldn't be too hard to program in to have it start after you've killed 50 or so of the same mob within a certain time fram, say 25 mins (thats 2 a min, which I think would be fairly heavy farming, but would also save you from getting nerfed from events).

It would also be possible to do something similar with the event chains that were being farmed, just adding a bit of programing to keep track of events done that day and say after your 3rd time through it gets nerfed for you. This I think would be much better than just nerfing everything for everyone.

As for experience being useless, well for people that don't play with the mystic forge or don't want legendary's yes once you get to 80 and have all your skills unlocked xp is pretty worthless and you will be getting tons of it. But for those of us that like making things in the forge (the special forge mats take skill points to make) and the people after legendary's need lots so that balances out pretty well I think.

Edit: Nice Idea on the exotic karmas to forge to resell, hadn't thought of that myself bokiz. I did plan on picking and chosing the power/tough/vit gear out of the temples for my guardian and warrior, but yeah I have over 500k karma on my thief that is pretty much uselss since I have no interest in legendary myself.