Drop Rates Still Borked

Too late, actually.

I would guess he didn't actually fight everything on the map with a character. We know they have a "Kill All" button that they said was SPECIFICALLY created for testing drop rates. All they have to do is paint the map and hit the button. For all I know, they have a shortcut to spawn all the enemies, too.

At any rate, it's a safe bet he's not doing it exactly the same way we are - which means the testing process might not be able to reproduce the issue.

That doesn't count, it was a different thread, like an different award so lol

But yours doesn't work...it's too far off from the meme.

Party pooper

I wouldn't so much call it a "lie" as them [the developers] knowing that if they admit to adjusting the recipe drop-rate, there will be a firestorm of fury and a lot of people deciding to decamp. So of course such a change would not be announced, or admitted to.

All I know is that nowadays, its very easy for a level 50 soloing on heroic to come out of a contact [not scanner, but contact] mission with either one basic IO recipe or.... no recipes at all. That is a DEFINITE downward adjustment, and I don't care who posts what; what I see with my own eyes will always trump a claim I cant see as being borne out by actual gameplay.

At this point I think a lot of people have left the game over AE-related issues. The last thing the owners/developers need right now is a confirmation that rewards have been reduced yet again, and you better believe they're smart enough to know that. Therefore I am hardly expecting a tacit admission of "Well yeah, we reduced recipe drops because of balance issues." Bwahahaha! So not happening.

The problem here is that an ever-increasing spiral of prices on the market is going to tick people off even more, which would be facilitated by a reduction in recipe drop-rates. Think about it: most people are doing regular content now, yet the market has not adjusted downward. Why not? This is the most likely scenario I can think of.

Wow. You really sounded just like Kanye West! And I imagine I could respond to your post in the same manner as Obama.

So... other people can post that they have seen nerfed drop rates, and because I haven't I can't post, or my post is somehow suitable to be dismissed?

I believe there is probably something wrong, but I doubt it's as bad as everyone states. I play pretty often and have noticed nothing different. And I've been looking. I plan on farming a bit this weekend and I'll start recording my results. When I do, I'll let you know what I find.

I like the way you think.

They nerfed the AE forcing people out into the real Paragon City.

Once these people spread their wings, and fight regular missions, and find a sorry drop rate for recipes, and a WW reflecting this drop rate......I see bad things arising.

Seems to me the Devs involved with this should form a team and spend an afternoon playing on the live servers as a real player.

But, what do I know....

Once again, good post.
Lisa

Not much.

First, you said "good post" to a conspiracy theory or a suggested code of silence about the drop rates. Plus, it's Bad_Influence.

Then, you suggest that the developers don't even play their own game as regular players.

You don't know much at all.

Not at all. I firmly believe that whatever's going on is somehow linked to account settings. It doesn't affect everyone, and we've not been able to come up with the variable that the folks who are experiencing low drop rates have in common. Nor have we been able to figure out what's different for the people who get drop rates significantly above average, like Synapse did. All data are relevant, and the fact that people aren't seeing anything different while others can't get decent drop rates to save their lives tells me that the bug exists in a form that masks it from detection by standard drop datamining.

That's because it's demonstrably worse for some people than for others. Beber, for instance, has consistently had a drop rate that's right around 70% of expected. He's got thousands of observations. Mine has ranged from 30-50%, with a comparable number. Synapse's was around 120% for the 15 missions he reported (5120 observations).

Please do. I'm guessing that you won't find anything out of the ordinary if I'm right about it being account-based, but if you could check out Archie Gremlin's "Dropstats" utility to track, that would be helpful since it allows a precise count of mobs defeated by class. Archie's utility is linked in his sig, and mentioned a few times in the thread on this topic in the Market forum. If you can't find it, PM me and I'll send you a link.

The thing that's making this bug so hard to pin down is that it isn't consistent across accounts, but it's very consistent within; so we can't provide a sequence of commands/behaviors that guarantee anyone else will be able to replicate our cruddy drop rates, other than, "Log in to my character and play him" or "Come play with me on the map I've been using and observe what happens." I don't know that either of those offers has been accepted by a member of the dev team, but I know that the latter has been publicly offered by at least two different players, and the former suggested at least once.

That fits my definition of lying just fine.

First, I have no real idea if they're lying or not. But if so, I wouldnt call this a malicious lie, but a "we've got to try to at least maintain the status quo" sort of lie.

Here's the foundation problem: we have read flaming thread after flaming thread where skilled players here have, with much chest-beating proclaimed "YOU, the scuzzy UNWASHED MASSES! Do NOT need purples. I know you THINK you do, but you DON'T. Rare recipes are the EXCLUSIVE PRESERVE of the ELITE GAMER otherwise known as ME AND MY FRIENDS. I have eleventy-billion Influence and I can buy whatever I want! Mwa-hahahaha, I can buy everything SO NO PROBLEM EXISTS, and meanwhile YOU can live without mah l00t, YOU don't need it so STOP WHINING ALREADY! ALL L00T IS MIIIIIIINEEE!!!"

All protestations to the contrary are "whining." Wait for it.

The problem with this is, people *do* want rare recipes. Frustrate them enough in this endeavor and face the consequences. In a game-world where a purple recipe can easily cost 150 million and up these days, most players are not able to fit themselves out as they wish. Hell, these days it does not have to be a purple to cost that much! Far from it.

This is a game, not a job, so people have small tolerance for being told "no." They have enough problems in real life being told "no" about things they want. Do [general] you think they have a lot of tolerance for being told that they cannot have the best things in Paragon, and they should shut up about it and accept that they are "lesser gamers" who somehow "don't deserve" elite l00t? I wouldn't bet a dollar on it, myself. Not to mention some of us have jobs and literally do not have the TIME to be on a farm 24/7, farming for inf. and purples.

Are 150 million+ recipes going to be good for the game? We're about to find out the hard way. I don't see a lot of cushion for a crash-landing on this issue, but perhaps I am not l33t enough to afford to craft one on the market.

That would be a starting point, at least.

I hear you BI.

My Warshade on Triumph, The Casual Gamer, has just started the "Your Markettears they are delicious" SG. Our motto is "It's not supply and demand, it's EBIL MARKETTEERS driving up the prices!"

I'll likely never get a purple. Surely with my already 20 Merits at level 20, just from running Kheldian and other arcs, a long life of poverty awaits me.
Heck, no one has bought that Volume of the Obisidian Libram I've listed for 2,609...but I struggle by daily. =(

I'll fight the Market though! I'll list low and charge low and I'll not make money! =(

In all seriousness, we don't know what's going on with the drop rates etc. The Devs aren't stupid and they know people are going to AION and CO. The last thing they want is to annoy more people...so this is likely a bug.

Yes, we saw that the first six times it was posted.

Do you really think the developers are 100% transparent when it comes to revealing every last thing they do to the game? If so, you have the right to believe that.

I am also amused at the idea that business decisions are automatically "conspiracies." All times when the game is adjusted to address "balance issues" are "conspiracies"? to hear people like you tell it, yes. The only people shouting "Conspiracy!" are people like you... a business-meeting where developers discuss issues is.... a business-meeting. I doubt they are cackling over their successful plot to assassinate Kennedy while they are in said meetings, but whatev.

Next mentions: "tinfoil hats," Nazis, and a few more reposts of the same link. Business as usual in here....

This attempt to polarize the issue has failed, please drive through.

You have just earned a golf clap.

What six times?

The post that Obscure Blade is referencing was posted by Synapse at 6:09 pm Pacific time, Sept. 24. (today).

The only posts in this thread after that time is Obscure Blade, yourself and Bookeeper Jay.

This is a NEW post by Synapse saying that they found the bug and a fix is in the pipeline for the test server.

Don�t say things. What you are stands over you the while, and thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary. - R.W. Emerson

Judging from what's been said in this thread, apparently not.

When people say that the devs are collectively lying in order to conceal a secretly implemented plan, that's an accusation of conspiracy.

If I wanted to be using the word "conspiracy," I'd be using it already. Thanks for the input but I'll decline at this time.

To hear the likes of you tell it, next we'd be hearing that last fall's economic meltdown was due to a "CONSPIRACY!!!" of banks deciding to let every last schmoe who applied have a million-dollar mortgage with no money down and no background check, either. *eyeroll* Conspiracy and stupid business decisions are not necessarily synonymous, and that goes for developers' decisions as well.

As I have said before, you're gonna believe what you're gonna believe. All I know is that my level 50s are running through entire large maps solo and coming out with vastly reduced rewards. I like to believe what I see with my own eyes. You do what you want.

You need to get a sense of humor dude.

It was an attempt to lighten up a thread that was getting a little too abrasive.

And it was that bad, or as bad as a bug can be.

I would write a Kayne-Taylor Swift like apology, but I hate typing in all caps...

And the devs have admitted it's a bug and a fix should be soon...are you not following this thread? No stealth nerf.