Running speed versus non-speed trials.

Recently I've had trial members want to kill everything on a trial for geting more iXP and threads. This doesn't make too much sense to me for a long term strategy.


So we run a speed trial in about 15-20 minutes (BAF and Lambda), kill-all/farm trials take over 40 minutes.

Considering you halve your rewards at this rate (assuming peak times and enough members for all trials), this is what you gain and lose,

Gain:
.) about 50% more iXP, assuming your slots are not all unlocked
.) About 2-3 more threads

Lose:
.) 1x component (instead of 2 in the same time); that is a minimum of 20 threads, i.e., 40% iXP
.) 3-4 astral merits = 12-16 threads
.) Possible 1 emperyean merit (if you switch trials and toons), = 20 threads



That's a total net loss of at LEAST 30+ threads, assuming you get only a common drop; uncommon/rare drops make it a MUCH more of a loss.



Does this make sense? It seems that speeding trials seems to be MUCH more beneficial than farming everything.

So on a farm BAF, you can do about a 45m run, compared to a 15m run, how many more threads would you get? 5-10? That's versus a component (20-200 threads) + 3-4 astral merits (12-16 threads).

I still don't see how the math adds up.

because it takes time to set up since there are inevitably players who leave and those spots need to be filled and the idea of running something 4-8 times to get a slot open pushes players into wanting to get as much iXP out of each run. (if you're not on the ambush team you get significantly less iXP) a 15 minute run can include up to 15 extra minutes of setup just in getting players together (maybe its a server issue, i am on a low pop server), so its never 15 minutes per run even if thats how long the trial takes.

you also assume everyone knows what they are doing in terms of the trials, and its only been here, what, a week?

i've ran <10 trials total and barely have 2 slots open. i'm getting enough salvage already, but its not very fun when i can't even equip anything and seeing destiny and lore pets and judgement attacks i haven't gotten yet.

It's about how many runs you can catch. If it's slow and unlikely that people will piggy back for a second, third, forth run... kill all. If it's the revolving door league like I always seem to get in with trials starting every half hour, speed run for the merits and salvage.

Either way is viable. One is quicker, but less likely.

Had a guy chirping on a BAF the other day. Wanted us to slow down and kill all. We were rolling this trail over and over pretty quick. He kept telling us kill more mobs, wait for more ambushes... blah blah blah. Why? He was not going to convert any of his salvage or merits for iXP.

Let's see.

If we focus on unlocking all the slots through conversion of merits and salvage.... we can have all four open in 6 to 7 runs max. I know this because I have all 4 unlocked and have only done 7 runs. I even have three slotted. He had two unlocked and slotted and never got he's third and 4th unlocked while we jammed this out. Who came out ahead? He said he'd been trying for days to get everything unlocked. I did it in 5 hours and almost had all slotted too.

Don't sweat the math. Practical experience shows the speed run is king. Anyone who disagrees is hoarding salvage and strictly working off of mob iXP.

The same ppl who want to run longer trials are the ones who are converting threads into IXP too. They are impatient, or just aren't thinking long term at all. If you're impatient (and I was a bit too; I mentioned elsewhere I don't exactly mind too much if we have to fight NS & Siege a couple of times) and wanted to be the first on your server w/all 4 T4s, I can see it, but otherwise, it makes zero sense not to speed run through all trials and stock up on A & E merits.

I can understand getting through the BAF. Kill to the objective.

Lambda I feel a bit different about.

Outside, Street, court yard, and guns all die. That is good to keep you alive later when someone "forgets" to use their temp.

In the maze, kill the glowie and leave the rest. Then kill Marauder, and those around him during the process.

Like it's already been said, regular runs are better for gaining incarnate xp. Otherwise, if you have the time for multiple trials, speed runs will be better due to the increased astral and empyrean merits and components.

Eh, I'm not a big fan of speed run on these trials (yet) and the reason is uneven iexp distribution between teams. That leads to slots taking longer to get unlocked if you are unlucky. I'm working on my 3rd level 50 now and the progression I'm seeing on average is, each BAF run gives you between 10-15% toward unlocking while Lambda gives you between 20-25%. This is assuming no crashes or d/c during the runs which will obviously make you lose out on some iexp. In all cases, I have my Tier 3 rare (and then some) ready to go before the corresponding slots are even unlocked. My Brute has all 4 of his Tier 3s with 100 threads and 6 components left over. My Dom has something like 160 threads and 8 components left. This is after having to craft 3 rare components with 100 threads and 100 million inf between the two of them.

With the current setup, earning threads/merits/components to build the enhancements is not the issue. Gaining iexp fast enough to unlock the slots is. Speeds run do not solve this imbalance.

Of course, there is an exception here. Speed runs does indeed help get your Tier 4 very rares faster once all 4 slots are unlocked since at that point, iexp earning rate becomes a moot issue. At that point, you do want to complete as many runs as possible to get merits and chances at very rare end rewards. I guess I just haven't switched over to that mind set yet because I have far too many level 50s to equip with incarnate goodies. The strategy of getting all Tier 3s before moving on to the next character will have to do for now due to time constraints.

personally for these trials i would prefer speed runs, since every successful run you get a reward table, and when your trying to get a very rare reward table, you want the chance to happen as much as possible

honestly, i would rather do all the converting to xp possible to unlock the slots faster, once the slots are unlocked it does not take that long to get tier 1 in everything

on my main toon, i only ran 2 total trials to unlock all 4 slots (mostly because i had about 225 shards stockpiled pre i20 which i converted), all my other toons will take a few more runs because they do not have the shard piles my main had and so will be converting everything they get in the trials into xp to unlock ASAP

I wouldn't call it a speed run. A speed run is, perhaps, where you skip to the courtyard in Lambda, ignoring the streets and turrets.

The trials expect a certain pace, and accomplishing goals without going out of one's way to clear adds is not a speed run.

Personally, I can see the advantage of farming ixp, especially on a baf, but I have never done it personally. This is especially true if you have a team which would otherwise lose members between runs. Having to rebuild even 8 members can be a serious waste of time.

I just do not get it.

I have never done a Lamda that did not clear the street, courtyard, and turrets. It just makes the last phase go so much smoother, increasing the chance for success.

The warworks in the first phase of the BAF despawn after 40, or I could see people POSSIBLY farming more of that. But you can't. I have never seen a BAF where they consciously put off taking out the AV to farm the adds. Though having people handle the adds is (in my mind) essential. I have never had a team succeed without taking care of them because of there +dmg +acc increasing over time.

The great thing about this game is that people can enjoy it in different ways.
Last night, I had the same problem with people wanting to run a MoBAF. Team leader told us we were running it up front, and several people quit only for it to fill up immediately. The people who didn't want to run Mo left and formed their own successful BAF.

If you tell people up front what they're doing, and recruit for it appropriately, there shouldn't be a problem.

On a personal note: I waver between speeding and killing, because sometimes that's how I enjoy the game.