Guild Wars 2

First thank you for noticing this thread Regina.

But the drop rate is REALLY low compare to a few months ago. I haven’t gotten 3 ectos from salvage for at least 2 months and I salvage at least 2 68+ rares everyday.

Also it’s not just one or two person and many noticed this. It could be some bug? If you don’t mind, please send someone to investigate on that.

I personally have not salvaged any rares in the last 2 days, but I can tell you that as far as the last few months go, I’ve been getting a normal spread of ectos (average 0.9 per rare).

Mystic salvage kits seem to be okay too. At least I’m still getting 2’s and 3’s. I think there is a difference between what I’m getting now and what I got a couple of months back, but from before this patch to after it seems about the same.

Same here. I’m somewhat of a professional salvager, if there is such a thing. Ecto salvage results have been cut in half. Rare kits used, as always.

Have a friend that yesterday salvaged over 100 rares, with a return of ~50% ectos. This is exactly what everyone else has been reporting.

Looks like ecto rate has gone from 0.9 to 0.5, pretty obvious change.

Regina Buenaobra.6193:

Changes to important things like salvage rates would be listed in the update notes if they have changed. If it’s not in the update notes, then no changes have been made by the development team.

allow me to beleave you.

end of sarcasm

Just adding in my voice – done a bunch of meta events today again and salvaged at least a dozen rares, getting only 2 ectos in total (one from each of two.) This was all using master kits as well. Now it could be explainable by a run of bad luck, but this feels awfully low to me compared even to earlier this week.

Just did 100 rares, yielded 31 ectos, never once did i get a reward of more than 1 ecto per rare.

This is definetely a bug.

Not sure how GW2spidy plays into it, but since the patch, ecto prices have rocketed.

evidence? i dunno.

Is it possible just dungeon items’ salvage return was nerfed?
it seems like most people complaining of conspiracy back it up with “5000 cof tokens’ worth gave me 0.5 ecto per rare”

The ecto price has not changed since this post started, and it only went up exactly after this post started (NOT when the patch went live). If it were a rate-of-ecto-supply nerf, the rate of change of the ecto price would go up, meaning the price would keep rising. Since it was a set price change, it had to be a set price alteration, meaning someone bought a bunch then others saw the higher price and decided to sell at that higher price.

You did not read very well, since it’s only 2-3 people talking about dungeon-token-rares. Others, including myself, explicitly stated, that they used dropped rares and/or bought them from the TP.

So: no, that is not the case.

John Smith.4610:

Hello everyone, I’ll look into this and get back to you.

Thanks John!

I’ve also had a string of horrible luck breaking rares or even exotics. I’ve gotten one (1!) ecto from the past 10 rares/exotics I’ve broken with BLACK LION KITS. Even before I really started to take notice and get irritated about it, I seemed to be having horrible luck.

I thought it was just me having a string of bad luck, but seems like something fishy is defintiely going on.

For what it’s worth, I’m still getting an average of ~ 1 ecto per item, using masterwork salvage kits. The rares are from random drops and boss chests.

1500 tokens = 50 rares = 22 Ectos, not a single Ori. Mystic and Black lion salvage kits used, never more than 1 ecto per salvage.
Boy, do I wish i knew about this thread sooner

John Smith.4610:

Hello everyone, I’ll look into this and get back to you.

They sent in “The Man”, it’s serious bsns now

Thank you John Smith, we always appreciate your work ^^

1100 Rares form TP 563 Ectos with Mystic-Kit -.-
only 0 or 1

Honestly, who didn’t see this coming?

Salvaged pre and post patch and still getting 2 ecto and 3 ectos at about the same rates. The thing is nobody knows how ecto salvaging works like are there rates for 0, 1, 2, 3 ectos or is it more like rerolling where you first get a chance at ecto or no ecto (0 or 1) and then you get a % chance to reroll for chance at another ecto (0 or 1) and then for the 3rd you get an even lower % chance [think Minecraft enchantments].

The point is that it could be something wrong with 2 or 3 ectos so that would overall decrease people’s average salvage rate.

As for the price of ecto it increased after this thread and if you look at the sell listing you see that people are trying to make a quick profit like any other market that people “flip” . 1k listing at a specific price point smells of this, I am sure the price of ecto wouldn’t change if this thread wasn’t made

Curtoky, You might want to check the posts made by the people before you. Some people buy rares by the thousands, and then salvage them.

I’m counting on John. Last time he did a test he salvaged 1 million rares. Yes. One million.

Just to be clear, Anet doesn’t have to publish everything in the patch notes, They owe us nothing, we agreed to their terms and they are beholden to NcSoft, so they can say whatever they want us to hear

Rama.6439:

Just to be clear, Anet doesn’t have to publish everything in the patch notes, They owe us nothing, we agreed to their terms and they are beholden to NcSoft, so they can say whatever they want us to hear

They don’t have to no, but if/when we find things not listed that affect the game it ruins credibility. That’s a no-no and business 101. Not saying that is what this is, but there is missing notes.

The “changes” to mesmer GS#2 and #4 weren’t in the patch notes, either.

CuRtoKy.8576:

Salvaged pre and post patch and still getting 2 ecto and 3 ectos at about the same rates. The thing is nobody knows how ecto salvaging works like are there rates for 0, 1, 2, 3 ectos or is it more like rerolling where you first get a chance at ecto or no ecto (0 or 1) and then you get a % chance to reroll for chance at another ecto (0 or 1) and then for the 3rd you get an even lower % chance [think Minecraft enchantments].

Looking at Geotherma’s numbers, we can make an educated guess, assuming whoever did the coding picked nice whole numbers.

150 Salvages
63 1’s
21 2’s
25 3’s
109 Ecto Successes
180 Total Ectos

Let’s make some simple assumptions: first, there is a .75 chance for “ecto success” when salvaging. Then, there’s another loot roll afterwards for the number, with a .6 chance of it being 1, .2 for 2 and .2 for 3. For 150 salvages, this estimation would give us

150 salvages | 112.5 successes | 67.5 × 1 | 22.5 × 2 | 22.5 X 3 | 180 total ectos | 1.2 total rate

Pretty close to Geotherma’s observed returns. It would make sense to have 2 separate loot rolls, and to use nice whole numbers like that. I tried to make a similar guess for the master’s kits, but using a .5 initial success rate instead of .75. Unfortunately I couldn’t get to the .9 observed total rate of return without changing the numbers on the resulting loot roll, and to me that doesn’t make sense that there would be 2 separate roll tables depending on which kit you used. I would think the only thing that changes would be the first roll. However, now that I type that out I just realized that’s exactly what we’re observing right now, a different roll table for Master’s kits versus BLSKs. So maybe I’m not too far off?

Just for info’s sake, an initial rate of .5 with a secondary loot roll of .4/.4/.2 for 1/2/3 gives you a .9 total return rate. Food for thought.

realy can feal no ectos from salveged secon day no ecto from 40 rares what is strange

There is also the question of dust. The last time I transmuted it was totally different and looks as tho it was in the same ballpark.

I saw a corrolation the last time they made an adjustment (stealth) to the transmutation of the items using the dust. I was using the 250 T5 + two other mats and + 1 dust to create the T6 materials. It was huge compared to any other time I’ve done the transmute. I got 56 of one material and 37 of another. So basically they’ve adjusted the number of dusts that drop to offset the increase in mystic forge transmutations. I tried it twice to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. In the past, when I did it before the change, transmutation only gave me 17 of the item 18 max. Back then, two months ago, I could get a T6 item from every single box/craft bag I purchased with my laurels/karma and I could get these things without magic find armor or buffs of any kind.

Basically transmutes and RNG boxes work completely different now than they did a couple of months ago. The increase in the items gathered from transmutes would definitely explain the sudden loss in dust used to transmute 250 T5 items in to T6.

The problems with the RNG boxes also seem to have increased. More then two months ago I opened those bags from laurels and those boxes from the Karma vendors in Orr. I got all kinds of drops (altho none of them were the most rare lodestones, etc). This month I tried it again and got absolutely nothing after opening 35 boxes/bags.

I’m waiting to hear the explanation as well. If they’d just give us a limited number of karma purchases per day from vendors in town it would solve the problem.

John Smith.4610:

Just a quick update, I want to be thorough, so it will be a couple more hours before I have anything to say.

There are 2 options to be taken from John’s response in my view:

1. The drop rate shouldn’t have changed so it’s a bug.
2. NCSoft wanted more gem sales by nerfing ecto drops, I better get PR advice on what to say.

I hope it’s number 1.

StormageddonBK.9842:

John Smith.4610:

Just a quick update, I want to be thorough, so it will be a couple more hours before I have anything to say.

There are 2 options to be taken from John’s response in my view:

1. The drop rate shouldn’t have changed so it’s a bug.
2. NCSoft wanted more gem sales by nerfing ecto drops, I better get PR advice on what to say.

I hope it’s number 1.

But more than likely number 2…

BuD.7851:

StormageddonBK.9842:

John Smith.4610:

Just a quick update, I want to be thorough, so it will be a couple more hours before I have anything to say.

There are 2 options to be taken from John’s response in my view:

1. The drop rate shouldn’t have changed so it’s a bug.
2. NCSoft wanted more gem sales by nerfing ecto drops, I better get PR advice on what to say.

I hope it’s number 1.

But more than likely number 2…

There are two people that I know don’t mince words or sugar coat things using marketing strategy. John is one, Gaile is another. I have full faith that his research will give us insight on the issue one way or another. They are like the Gordon Ramsays of GW2, minus the bad words. That would be a lot of kittens.

ok somting coing wrong here becous i both 100 rares items 3 extois and i try to get adlist 30 ectos out of it i dint get ifen 1 ecto soo somting cone wrong i ting with ecto drop chans or it not drop on my acc add all?

I can confirm a significant change in the %rate of ectos from salvaging rares. Wether anet says no or not I know someone did do something to the %rate because there is a significant change just from past week up to today.

I do cof most of my time spent in gw2 to salvage for ectos and it has never been this bad before. So i will look forward to what anet has to say since it is clearly not stated in build updates what they did to ecto drops.

Oddly, my ecto salvage rate has been perfect recently. I don’t think I’ve salvaged a single rare that hasn’t yielded an ecto in the past week, so it’s strange to hear that everyone else is having exactly the opposite results. It’s all anecdotal until we hear from Jon, but until then, I’m just going to assume that I absorbed all the luck in GW2. Apologies for that, everyone.

Soryuju.8164:

Oddly, my ecto salvage rate has been perfect recently. I don’t think I’ve salvaged a single rare that hasn’t yielded an ecto in the past week, so it’s strange to hear that everyone else is having exactly the opposite results. It’s all anecdotal until we hear from Jon, but until then, I’m just going to assume that I absorbed all the luck in GW2. Apologies for that, everyone.

Most people are referencing either this month, or this very recent patch.

Geotherma.2395:

BuD.7851:

StormageddonBK.9842:

John Smith.4610:

Just a quick update, I want to be thorough, so it will be a couple more hours before I have anything to say.

There are 2 options to be taken from John’s response in my view:

1. The drop rate shouldn’t have changed so it’s a bug.
2. NCSoft wanted more gem sales by nerfing ecto drops, I better get PR advice on what to say.

I hope it’s number 1.

But more than likely number 2…

There are two people that I know don’t mince words or sugar coat things using marketing strategy. John is one, Gaile is another. I have full faith that his research will give us insight on the issue one way or another. They are like the Gordon Ramsays of GW2, minus the bad words. That would be a lot of kittens.

You mean like when Gaile said that the killcredit bug was our perception and not real?

tigirius.9014:

Geotherma.2395:

BuD.7851:

StormageddonBK.9842:

John Smith.4610:

Just a quick update, I want to be thorough, so it will be a couple more hours before I have anything to say.

There are 2 options to be taken from John’s response in my view:

1. The drop rate shouldn’t have changed so it’s a bug.
2. NCSoft wanted more gem sales by nerfing ecto drops, I better get PR advice on what to say.

I hope it’s number 1.

But more than likely number 2…

There are two people that I know don’t mince words or sugar coat things using marketing strategy. John is one, Gaile is another. I have full faith that his research will give us insight on the issue one way or another. They are like the Gordon Ramsays of GW2, minus the bad words. That would be a lot of kittens.

You mean like when Gaile said that the killcredit bug was our perception and not real?

She said that the “nerf” was our perception, and she was correct. The actual problem with loot had to do with a bug, not some insidious plot to terrorize players.

Colin- ". As I mentioned a few weeks ago, we verified that all loot tables are indeed working correctly in the game. "

“Since then, we continued receiving reports that there seemed to be an issue, so we extended our search to all systems that created opportunities for you to get items from loot tables. Here we found an issue that we were able to verify was consistent across everyone who reported problems:” etc etc, not the place for that topic.

Anyway, I feel as though John will be thorough and we will get an answer soon.

John Smith.4610:

Hello everyone, I’ll look into this and get back to you.

Thank you John.

John Smith.4610:

Just a quick update, I want to be thorough, so it will be a couple more hours before I have anything to say.

Take you time.

Geotherma.2395:

Anyway, I feel as though John will be thorough and we will get an answer soon.

I suspect he did a cursory look, saw something that piqued his interest, and moved on to a deep dive.

Whatever the public answer, I think it’s going to be interesting.

Pedra.4381:

Geotherma.2395:

Anyway, I feel as though John will be thorough and we will get an answer soon.

I suspect he did a cursory look, saw something that piqued his interest, and moved on to a deep dive.

Whatever the public answer, I think it’s going to be interesting.

New build in 1-2 hours… ::crosses fingers:: lol

Geotherma.2395:

Soryuju.8164:

Oddly, my ecto salvage rate has been perfect recently. I don’t think I’ve salvaged a single rare that hasn’t yielded an ecto in the past week, so it’s strange to hear that everyone else is having exactly the opposite results. It’s all anecdotal until we hear from Jon, but until then, I’m just going to assume that I absorbed all the luck in GW2. Apologies for that, everyone.

Most people are referencing either this month, or this very recent patch.

So was I. Since the patch, I’ve had a perfect ecto salvage rate, and for the few days before it as well. During the rest of this month, my salvaging luck has been fairly normal. That’s why it’s odd for me to hear so many people reporting the opposite.

Broadicea.8294:

The “changes” to mesmer GS#2 and #4 weren’t in the patch notes, either.

I hope GS doesn’t suck now, I love my mesmer in pvp, and GS is my fav…

StormageddonBK.9842:

John Smith.4610:

Just a quick update, I want to be thorough, so it will be a couple more hours before I have anything to say.

There are 2 options to be taken from John’s response in my view:

1. The drop rate shouldn’t have changed so it’s a bug.
2. NCSoft wanted more gem sales by nerfing ecto drops, I better get PR advice on what to say.

I hope it’s number 1.

I hope so to, I tend to give Anet a hard time, but I do like the game and think it has a lot of potential. And I wouldn’t be giving them a hard time if I didn’t give a kitten.

Soryuju.8164:

Geotherma.2395:

Soryuju.8164:

Oddly, my ecto salvage rate has been perfect recently. I don’t think I’ve salvaged a single rare that hasn’t yielded an ecto in the past week, so it’s strange to hear that everyone else is having exactly the opposite results. It’s all anecdotal until we hear from Jon, but until then, I’m just going to assume that I absorbed all the luck in GW2. Apologies for that, everyone.

Most people are referencing either this month, or this very recent patch.

So was I. Since the patch, I’ve had a perfect ecto salvage rate, and for the few days before it as well. During the rest of this month, my salvaging luck has been fairly normal. That’s why it’s odd for me to hear so many people reporting the opposite.

It cannot be a coincidence that the majority of people notify anet on this event. I am confident that they will find something wrong with the %rate. If not, then they have an insider.

New build peoples!!!!!

Ectos arent listed as a fix though.

Just to make things clear: the issues, we posted about in this thread, have just started with the patch on tuesday. On tuesday, before the patch, I salvaged >1000 rares and had the regular 0.9-ratio just like all the months before. Then, directly after the patch, I salvaged another 300 and got the ~0.5-ratio.

Just did a 75 salvage run – got 30 ectos. And never more than 1 at the same time. Before i had an average of around 0.9 like everyone else. Sad day for ectos sellers, unless price raises accordingly.

I am still awake hoping for a response for this soon! :P 01:53 here. XD

Buttercup.5871:

Curtoky, You might want to check the posts made by the people before you. Some people buy rares by the thousands, and then salvage them.

I’m counting on John. Last time he did a test he salvaged 1 million rares. Yes. One million.

Anyone here work for ArenaNet? Anyone know the actual code? Ok then. I have 2k ecto so to say I don’t salvage by the thousands is soo wrong just because I don’t post. I am just posting it out there for others to understand that the system may be more complicated than what it seems. This happens a lot when people write about stuff like RTL or something as if they know 100% how the system works when it is completely more complicated or about precursor stuff when the business side and such is complicated where they won’t have a system in place in a very short period of time. Please be careful what you post beforehand, just because someone choose not to post on these forums about things doesn’t mean they don’t know what they are talking about (I choose not to post because of individuals that jump the gun like this).

CuRtoKy.8576:

Buttercup.5871:

Curtoky, You might want to check the posts made by the people before you. Some people buy rares by the thousands, and then salvage them.

I’m counting on John. Last time he did a test he salvaged 1 million rares. Yes. One million.

Anyone here work for ArenaNet? Anyone know the actual code? Ok then. I have 2k ecto so to say I don’t salvage by the thousands is soo wrong just because I don’t post. I am just posting it out there for others to understand that the system may be more complicated than what it seems. This happens a lot when people write about stuff like RTL or something as if they know 100% how the system works when it is completely more complicated or about precursor stuff when the business side and such is complicated where they won’t have a system in place in a very short period of time. Please be careful what you post beforehand, just because someone choose not to post on these forums about things doesn’t mean they don’t know what they are talking about (I choose not to post because of individuals that jump the gun like this).

You don’t have to know anything about the code to post your experiences. As a software developer myself I find feedback from laypeople essential because they don’t have the detail of the code and are just looking at it from a user’s perspective. It is then up to the me (the writer of the code) to investigate and see if the outcomes are symptomatic of something not right or if it’s working as intended.

To back up what Stormageddon just said….

I don’t think people are here claiming they know how things work or what the code is. They are stating that as “end-users” there is sort some of issue, complete with back up data.

I think you misunderstand the point of this thread, which to ask Anet for clarification and help with what appears to be a bug.