Fusionstrike
02-15-2012, 05:50 PM
I want to address the common practice of parties skipping bosses and why that strategy costs more than you think. I'm speaking of the practice of a party doing runs "for xp" and clearing all the way to the boss and then leaving the zone to start over rather than clearing the boss.
The conventional wisdom is that boss fights take too long relative to the amount of xp earned, so if you're trying to optimize the amount of xp gathered, you're always better served to concentrate only on clearing normal mobs as quickly as possible. While this is technically true, I'd like to point out what you're missing out on when you use this strategy. If you're truly only interested in xp and nothing else, then you may as well stop reading here.
For everyone else who has at least a passing interest in earning money and getting good item drops (that should be most of us on PL), I'm going to tell you why you really ought to be fighting the bosses rather than skipping them. To do that, though, we first have to examine the value of clearing bosses and the strategy you need to use to make this effort work for you.
The value in killing a boss is that it is the only way to get pink (legendary) drops of the highest value. (They may also be valuable for quest purposes, but that's not relevant for this discussion.) The problem with pinks is, well, their drop rate is very low. If you do get one, though, it's valuable, either to use directly or to sell. So what's the best strategy to get them if they only show up very rarely? To answer that question, let's examine another game with very rare but valuable payouts: video poker.
Professional video poker players (yes, there is such a thing) play the game for one reason only: the payout for a royal flush. Typically, a royal flush pays out at many thousands of times the bet, making it extremely attractive. It's a very rare payout, but not so rare that you won't ever get one if you play enough hands. As a result, professional players aim for the royal flush with every hand that has a chance at it. Even if they could go for a different hand with a smaller payout but better odds, they always shoot for the royal flush. Why? Because the best (and really only) way to get this magic hand is to try for it as many times as possible, knowing that eventually that long-odds hand will show up.
Getting pink drops in PL is exactly the same: it's high payout for a rare but not impossibly rare event. Even "bad" pinks from endgame levels can be sold for a few thousand or tens of thousands. And the really valuable pinks go for hundreds of thousands or even millions.
Now let's apply this information back to my original point. You're in a party. You've done all the work to reach the boss going for xp. The cost to try for a pink drop is low: a minute or two of combat with your party to clear the boss. Now is the perfect time to use what you just learned. You can invest the relatively small amount of extra effort to roll the dice on the boss drop, knowing that if you do this consistently you're maximizing your chances and you'll eventually see that big payout happen. The cost is low enough that even though most tries will fail, a single success will make up for it all.
What's that you say? You're on a 4x elixir so you don't have time to do the boss? Actually, this is the perfect time to clear the boss and take your chances on a jackpot drop. Think about it this way: you're in a position to clear the boss even faster than usual, making the cost even cheaper. And if you're with a whole party of 4x users, you can clear the boss in no time. There's never been a better, cheaper time get your drop chance in. It'll probably take you under a minute to blast through the boss anyway, so it's not like you're taking a fatal hit to xp efficiency. And if you do get that big drop, you'll make plenty of money to validate the small amount of extra effort the boss clearing strategy has cost you during your runs.
In conclusion, I want to make sure everyone considers the cost/benefit trade-off the next time they do all that work to reach a boss only to turn aside. For a little more effort you can set yourself up for success with a chance at a far greater payout, a reward you'll never get if you always skip out. So think like a pro and take down the bosses when you can. It's the smart way to play.
The conventional wisdom is that boss fights take too long relative to the amount of xp earned, so if you're trying to optimize the amount of xp gathered, you're always better served to concentrate only on clearing normal mobs as quickly as possible. While this is technically true, I'd like to point out what you're missing out on when you use this strategy. If you're truly only interested in xp and nothing else, then you may as well stop reading here.
For everyone else who has at least a passing interest in earning money and getting good item drops (that should be most of us on PL), I'm going to tell you why you really ought to be fighting the bosses rather than skipping them. To do that, though, we first have to examine the value of clearing bosses and the strategy you need to use to make this effort work for you.
The value in killing a boss is that it is the only way to get pink (legendary) drops of the highest value. (They may also be valuable for quest purposes, but that's not relevant for this discussion.) The problem with pinks is, well, their drop rate is very low. If you do get one, though, it's valuable, either to use directly or to sell. So what's the best strategy to get them if they only show up very rarely? To answer that question, let's examine another game with very rare but valuable payouts: video poker.
Professional video poker players (yes, there is such a thing) play the game for one reason only: the payout for a royal flush. Typically, a royal flush pays out at many thousands of times the bet, making it extremely attractive. It's a very rare payout, but not so rare that you won't ever get one if you play enough hands. As a result, professional players aim for the royal flush with every hand that has a chance at it. Even if they could go for a different hand with a smaller payout but better odds, they always shoot for the royal flush. Why? Because the best (and really only) way to get this magic hand is to try for it as many times as possible, knowing that eventually that long-odds hand will show up.
Getting pink drops in PL is exactly the same: it's high payout for a rare but not impossibly rare event. Even "bad" pinks from endgame levels can be sold for a few thousand or tens of thousands. And the really valuable pinks go for hundreds of thousands or even millions.
Now let's apply this information back to my original point. You're in a party. You've done all the work to reach the boss going for xp. The cost to try for a pink drop is low: a minute or two of combat with your party to clear the boss. Now is the perfect time to use what you just learned. You can invest the relatively small amount of extra effort to roll the dice on the boss drop, knowing that if you do this consistently you're maximizing your chances and you'll eventually see that big payout happen. The cost is low enough that even though most tries will fail, a single success will make up for it all.
What's that you say? You're on a 4x elixir so you don't have time to do the boss? Actually, this is the perfect time to clear the boss and take your chances on a jackpot drop. Think about it this way: you're in a position to clear the boss even faster than usual, making the cost even cheaper. And if you're with a whole party of 4x users, you can clear the boss in no time. There's never been a better, cheaper time get your drop chance in. It'll probably take you under a minute to blast through the boss anyway, so it's not like you're taking a fatal hit to xp efficiency. And if you do get that big drop, you'll make plenty of money to validate the small amount of extra effort the boss clearing strategy has cost you during your runs.
In conclusion, I want to make sure everyone considers the cost/benefit trade-off the next time they do all that work to reach a boss only to turn aside. For a little more effort you can set yourself up for success with a chance at a far greater payout, a reward you'll never get if you always skip out. So think like a pro and take down the bosses when you can. It's the smart way to play.