Guild Wars 2

*The Black Lion Chest now has a common chance to drop Black Lion Ticket Scraps and a rare chance to drop Black Lion Claim Tickets, which can be redeemed for Aetherblade weapon skins. Players can visit a Black Lion Weapon Specialist to preview Aetherblade weapon skins. Black Lion Chest Keys can be purchased in the Consumable category for 125 gems each or 5 for 450 gems.
Collect ten ticket scraps and turn them in for a whole ticket.

Black Lion Chest Keys are now a rare drop from the Black Lion Chest. Most key drops have been replaced by Black Lion Ticket Scraps. This guarantees progress toward a reward rather than a simple retry.
Tickets and ticket scraps will continue to drop from the Black Lion Chest and can be used for select future weapon sets.*

While I had absolutely zero intention of purchasing these revolting RNG boxes before I now find myself throwing up in my mouth at the sight of them. There’s turning a tidy profit off of whales and stupids, and then there is just mindless greed.

I reserve the right to retract this statement if there has been an undisclosed change to the drop rate of black lion keys (ie they now drop) or ticket scraps are obtainable in other, non RNG, non vomit inducing ways.

Before, every ‘failure’ opening a chest would not provide you with any progress toward the item you wanted.

Now, every ‘failure’ will still reward you with a token. So if you ‘fail’ enough times, you will be rewarded in the end.

common chance is not 100%
if common chance is the same of getting a BLC key as it seems is something like 10%.
i wonder why they don t write the actual %

Vol.5241:

Before, every ‘failure’ opening a chest would not provide you with any progress toward the item you wanted.

Now, every ‘failure’ will still reward you with a token. So if you ‘fail’ enough times, you will be rewarded in the end.

You incorrectly assume that everyone who gets one of these chests wants one of those weapon skins. I, for one am more interested in some of the other extremely rare drops from the chests, and would rather have the keys for another try at those items, than a few points toward a weapon skin that I don’t want.

His complaint was quite valid.

While i’m too on the boat “RNG again, you never learn?”, i must admit that now it makes much more sense.

First: single token type for all the event weapons.
Second: as this say

Aetherblade weapon skins have been added to the Black Lion Weapon Specialist. For two weeks only, Aetherblade weapon skins cost only one Black Lion Claim Ticket! After August 5, Aetherblade weapon skins will cost their regular price of 5 Black Lion Claim Tickets. All Aetherblade weapon skins are soulbound on use and can be traded until used.

Skins are now soulbound on use. It’s possible to buy them off TP, on paper.
Third: yeah, having a progress with the 10 scraps thing even if you keep missing the jackpot is surely a iimprovement.

Brutal Arts.6307:

*
I reserve the right to retract this statement if there has been an undisclosed change to the drop rate of black lion keys (ie they now drop) or ticket scraps are obtainable in other, non RNG, non vomit inducing ways.

The replaced (most of) the Black Lion Chest Key drops from Black Lion Chests not the key drop rate from mobs or other sources.

The weapon skins purchased with the new claim tickets are tradeable so it’s technically possible to acquire them without directly experiencing any RNG at least.

havoc.6814:

You incorrectly assume that everyone who gets one of these chests wants one of those weapon skins. I, for one am more interested in some of the other extremely rare drops from the chests, and would rather have the keys for another try at those items, than a few points toward a weapon skin that I don’t want.

Use scraps to buy weapon skin. Sell weapon skin on TP. Convert gold from sale to gems and buy keys. Keep trying to find the rare drops.

It looks like the skins will still be rare enough that one will be worth quite a bit on the TP if you don’t want to keep it.

This is like, the best of all worlds.

Luck is still rewarded.

Each failure lets you progress toward eventual success.

You can purchase weapons off the TP.

Anet, love ya~

How is this change a bad thing? It is like the best of both worlds.

1. RNG luck to get skin
2. Scraps to slowly earn skin after enough failures
3. Buy directly off TP
4. Sell skin on TP to buy more keys if you don’t want skin

From what I gather they have basicly changed it to this:

Instead of having 1% chance to get a ticket, you have a 10% chance to get 1 out of 10 needed scraps in order to make a whole ticket.

Makes sense. I think.

Dawdler.8521:

From what I gather they have basicly changed it to this:

Instead of having 1% chance to get a ticket, you have a 10% chance to get 1 out of 10 needed scraps in order to make a whole ticket.

Makes sense. I think.

Actually it would seem that the chance for getting scraps would be closer to 25% based on the comment about Keys (which had around 25% drop-rate from the chest)

Well you can theorize about the cost per skin, for simplicity I will only consider scraps in this example…

• 5 keys for 450 jewels, ie 1 key for 90.
• 100 jewels cost about 3g 23s 49c
• Assuming 25% chance of a scrap

This brings the cost per scrap to around 11.64g and you need 10 for a full ticket so assuming scraps only youll have a minimum cost per skin at 116g (will most likely be around 150g).

Now assuming you can farm one key in 20 minutes, and you need 40 for one ticket, that brings it to around 13h per skin, so you could have a potential earning at 10g an hour.

And ofcourse if you get lucky and get a full ticket it gets to be a lot more… However I am not sure about the chance to get one, I assume it goes thru these gating events;

• Ticket chance 25%
• If a ticket has been triggered, 1% chance of a full otherwise scrap

Its roughly how the upgrade logic in the MF works so I assume theyll do the same here, ofc. the 1% after the first gating event might be wrong and it might be adjusted so the average chance is 1%

I opened 20 Black lion chests 5 minutes ago, and i didn’t get anu scraps or tickets. Am i unlucky or is the drop chance lower than expected? I know you can get them now cause it says so on the site. I quote:

“A new week means new items available through the Black Lion Trading Company! This week I’m pleased to offer up a very special new item: Candidate Support Bundles that let you show your support and stake a claim in the future of Lion’s Arch! I’ve also got a fancy new set of Aetherized Weapon Skins for you – read on to learn more!”

The new week is under way for almost 2 whole days now. So that can’t be the problem.

Morris.3470:

I opened 20 Black lion chests 5 minutes ago, and i didn’t get anu scraps or tickets. Am i unlucky or is the drop chance lower than expected? I know you can get them now cause it says so on the site. I quote:

“A new week means new items available through the Black Lion Trading Company! This week I’m pleased to offer up a very special new item: Candidate Support Bundles that let you show your support and stake a claim in the future of Lion’s Arch! I’ve also got a fancy new set of Aetherized Weapon Skins for you – read on to learn more!”

The new week is under way for almost 2 whole days now. So that can’t be the problem.

The patch is not live yet……

lordkrall.7241:

Morris.3470:

I opened 20 Black lion chests 5 minutes ago, and i didn’t get anu scraps or tickets. Am i unlucky or is the drop chance lower than expected? I know you can get them now cause it says so on the site. I quote:

“A new week means new items available through the Black Lion Trading Company! This week I’m pleased to offer up a very special new item: Candidate Support Bundles that let you show your support and stake a claim in the future of Lion’s Arch! I’ve also got a fancy new set of Aetherized Weapon Skins for you – read on to learn more!”

The new week is under way for almost 2 whole days now. So that can’t be the problem.

The patch is not live yet……

oh snap

Wesnoth.1705:

lordkrall.7241:

Morris.3470:

I opened 20 Black lion chests 5 minutes ago, and i didn’t get anu scraps or tickets. Am i unlucky or is the drop chance lower than expected? I know you can get them now cause it says so on the site. I quote:

“A new week means new items available through the Black Lion Trading Company! This week I’m pleased to offer up a very special new item: Candidate Support Bundles that let you show your support and stake a claim in the future of Lion’s Arch! I’ve also got a fancy new set of Aetherized Weapon Skins for you – read on to learn more!”

The new week is under way for almost 2 whole days now. So that can’t be the problem.

The patch is not live yet……

oh snap

so why don’t they say you can get them after the patch? They said this week and the next one as i quoted above. I find this most unclear and very lame.

Morris.3470:

so why don’t they say you can get them after the patch? They said this week and the next one as i quoted above. I find this most unclear and very lame.

Yes, this week and next week. The patch has not hit yet today (until recently).

Kinda thought this was one per box but have now learned that’s not the case lol Oh well, I thought they were wising up a little bit.

it’s nice they added a “when” component as opposed to “if” yuo get the weapon skins. but again, like a few have mentioned, i’d rather not have had the drop rate for the keys changed.

no rapier :o
its quite good the didn t put one o the most popular things ever in a rng TP chest.

I feared for the worst.

Well I thought “common” would be like “common” items, i.e. 50-100% drop rate…

Looks like the drop rate is closer to 10%….

This means to reliably get a weapon you will need either 1350g or $500

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Well I thought “common” would be like “common” items, i.e. 50-100% drop rate…

Looks like the drop rate is closer to 10%….

This means to reliably get a weapon you will need either 1350g or $500

A 100% drop rate would not be common, it would be guaranteed.

Real happy with my shot at the RNG again. 4000 gems bought, converted to keys, pulled 2 black lion exchange tickets and 9 scraps. Traded enough gold to get 5 more keys and got my 10th scrap. Apologies to those who haven’t shared my luck, not gloating, just giving my take on it, but that makes 3 fused, 3 sclerite, 2 jade and 3 aetherised with only a moderate investment towards each.

I bought my aetherized weapon from the trade house for 37g.

No RNG for me. I have no doubt I made the cheaper and safer decision.

Lily Miranda.5407:

I bought my aetherized weapon from the trade house for 37g.

No RNG for me. I have no doubt I made the cheaper and safer decision.

I just made a thread about how I spent like $35 on gems. Trust me, you did.

5 keys to test it out.. Zero scraps. Common is definitely not 100%. It could be 90% of course, but just not in my case. I will leave my “test” at that

Allisa Wonderland.8192:

5 keys to test it out.. Zero scraps. Common is definitely not 100%. It could be 90% of course, but just not in my case. I will leave my “test” at that

See below

Smooth Penguin.5294:

RNG means Random Number Generator

The “Random” part of RNG does not mean Guaranteed.

And note – Black Lion Scraps are not the only things that the chest can spawn. So if you have 10 “common” items on the loot table, and say the chest may only give one or two “common” drops, you have a 10% or 20% chance of getting what you want. That’s not factoring in the “uncommon” and “rare” chances either.

Use scraps to buy weapon skin. Sell weapon skin on TP. Convert gold from sale to gems and buy keys. Keep trying to find the rare drops.

But If I’ll have only a few chests to opened then I can only click “destroy” on these scraps because I won’t have enough of them.
I hope they’ll bring bl keys drop back like it was after ths living story mess, but I wouldn’t be counting on that.

Psychol.5783:

Use scraps to buy weapon skin. Sell weapon skin on TP. Convert gold from sale to gems and buy keys. Keep trying to find the rare drops.

But If I’ll have only a few chests to opened then I can only click “destroy” on these scraps because I won’t have enough of them.
I hope they’ll bring bl keys drop back like it was after ths living story mess, but I wouldn’t be counting on that.

If ArenaNet is wise they will allow you to turn your worthless (if you don’t have 10 after the event ends) into BLK’s. If they don’t do this, it would be a big mistake to please their players since they are losing out on extra chances at boosters/full tickets/contracts etc.

This change sucks. The one key I earn every few weeks while playing now has a significant chance to drop something I need a large number of before they have any use at all. It’ll probably take me a year to get enough scraps to change for 1 ticket, and then I’ll need 4 more tickets…

This change might be interesting for people who actually buy keys, but it’s awful for people who just open chests with random keys they pick up here and there.

Smooth Penguin.5294:

The “Random” part of RNG does not mean Guaranteed.

Yes thanks for quoting yourself. I read the threads, and as I said it my email, I am not offering anything other than my experience with an infinitesimally small sample set which proves nothing except that the chance is not 100%. Heck, this is possible for one.

I also understand the technical reason why we tend to see good and bad “luck” in runs instead of a truly random distribution. Do you?

Spent actual money on these not even a scrap what a kittening money grab by Anet.

THE LEAST YOU COULD DO IS UPGRADE YOUR SERVERS

Stealing all of our money like this highway robbery practically.

Its always humorous to see people find out that they are not lucky.

With three million copies sold, there is always going to be SOMEBODY with one-in-a-million bad luck .

…And its just about a statistical certainty that they’ll come on the boards to gripe.

Allisa Wonderland.8192:

Yes thanks for quoting yourself. I read the threads, and as I said it my email, I am not offering anything other than my experience with an infinitesimally small sample set which proves nothing except that the chance is not 100%. Heck, this is possible for one.

I also understand the technical reason why we tend to see good and bad “luck” in runs instead of a truly random distribution. Do you?

RNG can produce a 100% success rate with only 5 tries, or even 50 tries. I was just stating the odds of what we perceive to be a “common” drop, got lazy, and copy/pasta’d my post.

IBountyHunterI.4601:

Spent actual money on these not even a scrap what a kittening money grab by Anet.

THE LEAST YOU COULD DO IS UPGRADE YOUR SERVERS

Stealing all of our money like this highway robbery practically.

It’s not stealing if you willingly offer it. Everyone knows full well that there’s no guarantees with the chests. So basically, you give up all rights to complain by clicking on the button.

Used a BL Key I got from my level 30 Personal Story. One chest, one ticket scrap. No way near enough to get a decent sample, of course.

Once again, all is about mindless gold farm.
Perhaps one day usual play will be rewarded.

Opened 27 chest from the keys I have saved up over the months. Now I have 9 black lion claims scrap. I have to level up an alt to get more keys :P, 1 more for a ticket.

18 keys 1 scrap no tickets

I was bored and bought a pack of 5 keys with gold, and ended up with 1 Claim ticket and 3 scraps. Bought the skin that had the highest buy order and sold it, and thought the claim tickets dropped a lot. Used my profit and bought 2 more packs of 5, and got 1 scrap from all of them, lol.

I’ve also done the lvl 4 warrior doing his lvl 10 mission for keys about 9 times, and have gotten 0 scraps/claim tickets from those.

for me it took a little over 50 keys to get 11 scraps.. once they update the claim tickets to the normal price expect it to cost a stack of keys if your unlucky…

How frequently do keys drop from mobs? I used to get fairly regular drops from the chests themselves, which kept me happily opening chests, but now that they’ve replaced those drops with the scraps, I have no keys. I have never ever had a key drop randomly from any mob for me, so I always thought that really, the only way to get them was to buy them with real money/convert gold to gems (but never have enough gold to do this).

In general, I don’t think the change was a bad idea, but think it might have been better if they at least slightly increased the chances of keys dropping from mobs. Otherwise, the RNG is the same, just further up the line. You THINK you are getting a better deal, but you’re not really, as the RNG is now both on the keys AND the scraps/tickets.

CrossedHorse.4261:

How frequently do keys drop from mobs?

I’ve gotten 2 precursors in the last 3 months from loot… I’m 99% sure I haven’t seen a BL key as a drop in that time… that’s one thing I DO really remember when it drops.

keys do not drop very often. kinda like getting a precursor so to say. best way to get is 100% maps or the level 10 personal story if you don’t want to spend cash/gold.

I’ve been playing GW2 ever since launch, and in that time I’ve only seen 2 Black Lion Key drops.

I’ve got one drop in my time playing. It happens, but it’s about as rare as a precursor.

Huh, so IMO it’s worse than just opening thousands of Dragon Coffers to me. Oh well.

I’ve had more key drop as loot than I have had from map completion. I always get the useless low level transmutation stones.

I always get the stones from map completion in cities, but I usually get crystals for map completion in the other areas? I don’t think I’ve ever got a key from map completion, but then my world map is FAR from complete.

you got Keys from low level area mostly.