XP leveling/Drop Rates and Lucilulu's opinion on why they relate

[Lucilulu]

I know there are a ton of threads regarding the topic of the 65 pink drop rates but I wanted to share a perspective that many may have over looked and one that I believe the devs may have considered when deciding the final rate for mt fang. First let me say I have no special insight other than my experience in pl (since day 2 of release) and rl (I have run companies as large and larger than sts). Second, I think after a gazzilion runs it's no secret this is the lowest rate we have ever seen for a new campaign. Finally let me explain why I think the devs went this direction and why I agree with them.

You must remember when the mt. Fang expansion was first announced as a new leveling campaign there was a major uproar. People complained it was to fast for a level increase and more time should be given. (which sts did). Fast forward to the actual release, in addition, you also get the announcement that level requirements will be lowered thru the end of November. By offering the lower leveling requirements, while it sounds great at first, it does greatly change the entire pocket legends world. You also have to understand if sts runs it's company anything like me, they do not make their decisions on the whim. They made this decisions after much internal debate and after much wrangling over how it would affect the game play.

For instance, if you allow quicker leveling and also put a time limit on that leveling you are going to create several things in the macro environment (macro is the game as a whole, micro would be just what happens to you). First you are going to have many many more people leveling during that time period in order to take advantage of the lower leveling requirements. Second, if the drop rates are kept the same you will have more pinks in the over all game do to the increase in play. Third, you will ultimately have more people reach the game cap (or at least 65, which would have same effect for my point). Finally, if nothing is done to the rarest gear drop rates, you will unintentionally have much more gear introduced into the game then you ever intended during this time. Case in point, most people play the second map for xp and repeat. Currently the only 65 set gear that seams some what easily obtainable ATM is the helms which drop on this map. Imagine how many would have flooded the market if we had typical drop rates.

My point is, I believe the devs have decided to keep drops rates painfully low while we go thru this XP grant period (or whatever u Wanna call it). I believe once the xp tables are reset this will coincide with a slight bump in drop rates. I wouldn't except anything to noticeable at first so be patient, remember just a small increase on the micro level will have dramatic effects on the macro environment, resulting in slightly more gear for those players that are anxiously waiting to finish putting together there 65 sets.

Hopefully this makes some since and please remember this is just one mans opinion :)

[Gaunab]

Very nice insight on how the system works, but I highly doubt that this is the point.

This weekend there have been loads of hardcore farming runs and I didn't hear of a single set pink drop!
I myself did about 15-20 hours this weekend and.... nothing.
There must be something wrong when you don't even see many items (like 65 armors) in cs at any stage, the demand and therefor the prices for such items are insane. These prices are just offers tho, since NOONE is selling.

On a further note: The helms are more common, yes. But Duke Edward also drops other Set items (seen crossbow&leather- before the latest patch), and the market is in no way flodded with those...

[Lucilulu]

Very nice insight on how the system works, but I highly doubt that this is the point.

This weekend there have been loads of hardcore farming runs and I didn't hear of a single set pink drop!
I myself did about 15-20 hours this weekend and.... nothing.
There must be something wrong when you don't even see many items (like 65 armors) in cs at any stage, the demand and therefor the prices for such items are insane. These prices are just offers tho, since NOONE is selling.

On a further note: The helms are more common, yes. But Duke Edward also drops other Set items (seen crossbow&leather- before the latest patch), and the market is in no way flodded with those...

Hmm. Not sure if u actually read my post cause you are arguing my points without even realizing it.

[Kaarataka]

I also have not heard of a lvl 65+ player getting a single set pink drop since Fridays luck elixir fix update. I for one feel cheated since they decided to add a luck elixir that was broken and when they fix it(this is still up for debate) they either dropped the drop rate lower than it has even been by some margin or the system is mis-programmed and drops are just broken for lvl 65+. I don't believe any of the veteran players care too much about lower lvl reqs so if the trade off for drops is exp per lvol vs drop rate I feel they have gone in the wrong direction. Now as to the effect to their business, my guild has all together quit farming. Those of us who are lvl 66 will not buy elixirs to farm because they do not work. STS has made it so the truly hardcore players that brought them to this point with their hard earned cash has stopped giving them it. Maybe STS just made a slight error in the code, maybe they reduced the drop rate by on decimal point too many, maybe they think we are just stupid and will waste our plat...well it has had the opposite effect in my guild.

[Gaunab]

Hmm. Not sure if u actually read my post cause you are arguing my points without even realizing it.

Yes, I did and I also see your point.
The problem is: many items are not super rare, they seem to be nonexistent!
Of course I can't prove that they don't drop, but there is a whole thread about people and also hardcore farmers complaining about not getting drops. Have you seen a single Set piece in the past few days?

Lowering the droprate, to increase rarity is ok IMO, eventho many casual players wouldn't be also to purchase these items.
But like it is atm, I feels like a rip-off and many people already decided that they won't blow all their plat and time for these totally frustrating and demoralizing runs. Something has to happen...
Hoping for dev's answer after this weekend, eventhough i doubt that they would admit that something went terribly wrong with the droptables since that would upset many farmers and people who spent plat on elixiers. But I would also be happy with a silent but effective droprate-patch... :)

[mackjack]

Maybe I'm too cynical, but I'm seriously thinking that STS hired some egghead mathematicians from failed finantial companies to help them "optimize" their money earning potentials...

faster leveling + super low drop rates + short time betwen level caps = little gold and sub-par gear = encourages heavy elixir use to survive new campaigns

Perhaps hardcore plat-using farmers are a relatively small portion of the PL pouplation -- thus making them an acceptable trade-off in order to encourage plat elixir use by the more casual players. It wouldn't surprise me if plat bought sets with better stats than looted sets appear soon.

[WhoIsThis]

Agreed.

If this is deliberate, then they have destroyed a ton of goodwill with their current practices. If this is a bug, then it's forgivable.

It is no longer worth farming for the 65 sets. The only use of this has been to identify who is super-rich; usually the PL merchanting community.

[Slush]

I think they dropped the rates because they wanted more people to buy elixirs. I also think they made it that mobs hit 1/5 of your hp at one time for the same reason. I also think the "elite" caps were implemented for the same reason....Notice the trend?

[WhoIsThis]

Well, the 56 wasn't as elixirs were buyable for gold.

But the drastic rise in difficulty with Nuri, combined with the low drop rates are troubling.

[DJMdivine]

I think they dropped the rates because they wanted more people to buy elixirs. I also think they made it that mobs hit 1/5 of your hp at one time for the same reason. I also think the "elite" caps were implemented for the same reason....Notice the trend?

I was thinking the same thing earlier slush, but I dont want to believe it... I just hope they wouldnt do such a thing like that. On a note to everyone though, as the levels go up the campaigns become harder and the drop rates should continue to become lower or at least thats I think should happen.

[Whirlzap]

My suspicion is that an error went wrong and the drop rate got moved down a decimal point.
Say the drop rate was originally 5.0000%
This glitch made it .50000%, at least 10 times harder to drop.
But who knows, with the 4x combo luck elixirs running around, it could just seem to be that high. The real naked drop rate could be like... (.1%)
Since we have STILL not heard from devs, it could be on purpose, but in two ways.
One could be to increase the prices of the pinks. Everything quickly deflated to crap low within the first few days due to overfarming. Second, would be to encourage more elixirs. But honestly, with 1/3 or more of the high levels depending on elixirs and not running without them, what more could they do? Try to encourage those who don't use Plat to buy elixirs? Doesn't work, honestly. With the mobs, for a normal player without elixirs, they hit lower damage than in Nuri, where a zombie took 1/3 of my Mage's HP. And the EXP comes faster from the skulls, that can be killed fast. This means faster EXP, lower elixirs used. That could go another wayof STS's full intentions. But with the EXP event, people could be quick to pot elixirs to 66 before it's over. That could go the other way.
Lot of mixed opinions on this, but I think STS is chugging only pretty decently.

[Rare]

Hmm. Not sure if u actually read my post cause you are arguing my points without even realizing it.

Maybe I am misreading... it seems that your argument is that the overall intent of STS is to keep the quantity of pink gear at the normal level (as in Nuri's or BS). Meaning, decreased drop rate + increased playing time = normal supply (as opposed to normal drop rate + normal playing time = normal supply).

Or are you saying you think STS wants to somewhat limit any pink availability during this time?

[Rare]

I think they dropped the rates because they wanted more people to buy elixirs. I also think they made it that mobs hit 1/5 of your hp at one time for the same reason. I also think the "elite" caps were implemented for the same reason....Notice the trend?

This is natural for business. They hit the jackpot with the elixirs. And people don't mind spending the money on it. Can't blame them for that. But you can DEFINITELY tell this is the way the game has been trending for a while (since the plat elixirs were introduced).

EDIT: Just to add an opinion... if this really is the case (which I'm not so sure of. I'm not sure why STS would take such an interest in keeping demand so high for only two weeks), I think it is something that STS should have made mention of as well. Otherwise a lot of people will feel like their time was wasted if it comes out that this is the case.

[Lucilulu]

Maybe I am misreading... it seems that your argument is that the overall intent of STS is to keep the quantity of pink gear at the normal level (as in Nuri's or BS). Meaning, decreased drop rate + increased playing time = normal supply (as opposed to normal drop rate + normal playing time = normal supply).

Or are you saying you think STS wants to somewhat limit any pink availability during this time?

I'm saying that during this time (xp requirements lowered) you have many more players running the fang maps. I believe sts intent was to limit the amount of end game gear dropped during this period. My take is we are seeing much lower (which is intended) drop rates than we ever saw in nuri and bs. But remember the xp changes don't last forever and if I'm right we should see some sort of drop rate increase after the first of December. Also, this is just a theory and some may say a guess, but I would like to think an educated one.