Tip drop rate

Running hero tip missions is sort of my default activity. Usually my tip runner(s) are able to defeat large spawns of -25s in a shot. So typically I can tip hunt for 2-4 minutes before I get 2 in my inventory and can begin the day's work.

However, I was doing tips the other day playing a Stalker (not my A-merit farmer). It felt like it was taking forever to get a tip to drop. Being an empiricist, I checked my combat log to see I had defeated over 120 mobs before a tip finally dropped. Let me head off now any comments of "are you sure that [insert condition that keeps tips from dropping] didn't happen?" Yes, I'm 100% sure I was eligible for tips. Being a Stalker, those 120 had to be taken out one at a time (for the most part). This took over 20 minutes. This isn't the worst luck I've ever had, by the way, I once counted over 150 mobs to get a drop.

I have no idea what the drop rate is. Here is the probability of an unlucky streak of 100 mobs with no tip drop for 3 scenarios - tip drop rate = 1%, 2% and 5%.

1%: 36.6%
2%: 13.2%
5%: 0.6%

That is, if tips drop off 2% of mobs, there's a 13% chance you'll defeat 100 mobs without seeing a drop, it's only .6% if the tip drop rate is 5%.

Note - this isn't saying the tip does drop at mob 101, just that you can go 100 mobs with no drops. The losing streak may well continue.

Now, I'm going to make an assumption that the development staff is not averse to players getting tips quickly. As mentioned at the beginning, the expected tip hunting time for my lvl 50 tip runner is in the neighborhood of 2-4 minutes. What I think the dev staff may not have accounted for is the extended losing streak. Hunting grey mobs fruitlessly for 15+ minutes is not fun for me, and I'm sure others as well.

On to the crux of the matter - I would like to see measures taken to minimize the risk of these streaks, or perhaps even eliminate them. Two ways come to mind:

1) Increase tip drop rate
2) Implement some sort of "streak breaker" for tips

Personally I'd love to see #2, that at mob #50 you get a tip, given that you are eligible for one. Even increasing tip drop rate would still result in long droughts, it's just they would become much rarer.

I don't believe there is any harm, market-wise, to increasing the tip drop rate. Given that the expected wait time for drops, is already low, an increase drop rate would speed this part up by what, a minute?

Anyway, this is just a quality of life suggestion. I know I'm not the only one that gets dry spells. I occasionally see people ask in global channels "are tip rates broken?" when they get on a losing streak. Other channel members ask to make sure it's been 20 hours, etc, and the answer tends to be yes, they're just on an unlucky streak.

Bottom line - I think the current drop rate creates unneccesary frustration when the inevitable losing streak occurs. I also think there's no downside to taking steps to reduce this frustration.

I refuse to accept your anecdote qualifies as statistics in any way.
Additionally I refuse to accept that your anecdote is the norm, when I and most people I've played with have a different experience.

Translation: I've heard barely a handful of people complain of these dry spells you're talking about. The only time I've had it take me more than 10minutes hunting for a starting tip was once when an event hit and I had to move to another zone.

I don't think detailing your worst case scenario is an effective reason to make a change.

My personal tip hunting tactics never really vary, and have yielded consistently good results. I go to Talos or Sharkhead and look for lvl 20+ bosses or Lts. I generally ignore minions. Drop rates have been consistently better on higher ranks for me, and I never feel like the time spent looking for them was wasted. If I'm on someone whose level is low enough that they're not blue or gray conned, then I ask in a channel for someone to let me be their sidekick for the few minutes I'm hunting. If no one is available to help, I just take the few extra minutes it takes to kill them straight up.

Bottom line - I don't think you've demonstrated what the actual tip drop rate is. Any frustration you felt was because the situation you were in doesn't seem to have made a few simple allowances for smoothing out your experience. This isn't a matter of lack of downside, it's a matter of lack of upside making it not worth the development time.

On the same character I've gone through multiple mission without getting a single Tip to drop and there there are times like last night where I had three drop... while I was in my Morality mission. <shrug> RNG is random.

RNG is vindictive and hates players. Fact >_<

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

I did read your post. I just don't care about dealing with outlier experiences through system changes when there are easy methods available ingame to alleviate them. I didn't try to follow what you were saying about drop rates, because they're clearly made up numbers that don't mean anything in practical terms.

Had the same issue on several characters at different points in their careers, and while it might not be the norm when it happens it's a bloody pain. Especially on characters that cannot wipe out huge mobs in a few shots. Personally all I'd like see done is add tips dropping to the end of any mission if you haven't got any or have less than 3 and still have empty rep slots. (The things you can only fill five of a day, no idea what they're really called.)

I don't think it'd effect anything as you can get tips off any enemy even if much lower in level to you so it's not like there is any point in restricting the drop rate.