Guild Wars 2

I know this sounds a bit off but for the last month of so I have realized that my loot drops gets vastly better esp off chests at around 12pm UTC. Sometimes I do play at around 4am UTC but the loot is complete crap. Anyone noticed something like this as well?

No, there is no ‘reset’, you are experiencing RNG (alimo)
maybe anet would be willing to remove any doubt by standing up and being transparent about their policies instead of being afraid of telling us what they are.

Reanne.5462:

No, there is no ‘reset’, you are experiencing RNG (alimo)
maybe anet would be willing to remove any doubt by standing up and being transparent about their policies instead of being afraid of telling us what they are.

The DR policy is, at least in part, there to thwart bots and gold sellers who farm. It prevents them from farming the same thing over and over.

If you become transparent, all you’re really doing it telling them how to design better bots.

Vayne.8563:

Reanne.5462:

No, there is no ‘reset’, you are experiencing RNG (alimo)
maybe anet would be willing to remove any doubt by standing up and being transparent about their policies instead of being afraid of telling us what they are.

The DR policy is, at least in part, there to thwart bots and gold sellers who farm. It prevents them from farming the same thing over and over.

If you become transparent, all you’re really doing it telling them how to design better bots.

If that’s the case it’s ridiculously lazy and heavy handed of them. Why implement a device that effects everyone but because of that is no deterrent to the bot? Bots were always going to exist, they always do so all that DR does is make the value of the items that the bots are farming higher.
Also why make the most desirable items, the legendaries, a massive farm fest if you have also implemented a system to deter farming?

It would have been far better for ANet to be more creative in identifying the bots and removing them than a non-system like DR.

Cardstar.1963:

Vayne.8563:

Reanne.5462:

No, there is no ‘reset’, you are experiencing RNG (alimo)
maybe anet would be willing to remove any doubt by standing up and being transparent about their policies instead of being afraid of telling us what they are.

The DR policy is, at least in part, there to thwart bots and gold sellers who farm. It prevents them from farming the same thing over and over.

If you become transparent, all you’re really doing it telling them how to design better bots.

If that’s the case it’s ridiculously lazy and heavy handed of them. Why implement a device that effects everyone but because of that is no deterrent to the bot? Bots were always going to exist, they always do so all that DR does is make the value of the items that the bots are farming higher.
Also why make the most desirable items, the legendaries, a massive farm fest if you have also implemented a system to deter farming?

It would have been far better for ANet to be more creative in identifying the bots and removing them than a non-system like DR.

It affects regular players less, if at all. And is much less problematic than people think. I could give a hundred examples on how to avoid it but that would only help bots and RMT, so I refuse to do that. People who farm areas regularly simply know at some point they need to do something else to switch up. And this generally is what players do anyway “naturally”. There are many variables to how it works, but again, no point in helping people bot/rmt.

It’s entirely possible for there to be a point where loot appears to be better than normal based only on time. It’s not DR, it’s how they generate random values. Since true random numbers can’t be generated, they rely on different methods to generate a number. Depending on the algorithm used, you theoretically could be able to predict the result, since at that exact moment, it would always have the same value.

How loot is determined also becomes a factor depending on if it’s generated the moment it’s rewarded, or if it’s predetermined. For example, some games don’t actually reward random loot. They generate loot tables then reward you based on what’s in the table, by either picking something randomly or in sequence. In this scenario, it’s possible that only X amount of people can gain a specific item before the table is reset.

The specifics on how loot is randomized is usually never explained. The only thing guaranteed is that it’s not truly random.

I’ve read the discussions about computers generating “sufficiently random” vs. “truly random” results and it’s an easy concept to misunderstand, especially if you want to spin it a certain way.

However, the computers running this game generate millions of sufficiently random events every second, and a casual observer cannot predict the results nor see a pattern in an individual player’s events. You simply do not have access to all the information being generated by the game.

In GW1 I experienced getting exceptionally better loot the less players are online, meaning during nighttime/early morning.
When I farmed during peak times the loot was quite bad.

So if there is a say 1% chance of certain rare loot divided amongst 100 or 1000 players, it would make a difference, wouldnt it?

Unfair? Yes, but making loot dependable on active players would be some sort of inflation-control I guess.

I am not so much into farming anymore, but it wouldnt surprise me the same happening in GW2.

Geotherma.2395:

Cardstar.1963:

Vayne.8563:

Reanne.5462:

No, there is no ‘reset’, you are experiencing RNG (alimo)
maybe anet would be willing to remove any doubt by standing up and being transparent about their policies instead of being afraid of telling us what they are.

The DR policy is, at least in part, there to thwart bots and gold sellers who farm. It prevents them from farming the same thing over and over.

If you become transparent, all you’re really doing it telling them how to design better bots.

If that’s the case it’s ridiculously lazy and heavy handed of them. Why implement a device that effects everyone but because of that is no deterrent to the bot? Bots were always going to exist, they always do so all that DR does is make the value of the items that the bots are farming higher.
Also why make the most desirable items, the legendaries, a massive farm fest if you have also implemented a system to deter farming?

It would have been far better for ANet to be more creative in identifying the bots and removing them than a non-system like DR.

It affects regular players less, if at all. And is much less problematic than people think. I could give a hundred examples on how to avoid it but that would only help bots and RMT, so I refuse to do that. People who farm areas regularly simply know at some point they need to do something else to switch up. And this generally is what players do anyway “naturally”. There are many variables to how it works, but again, no point in helping people bot/rmt.

Your point may be true, but it does not address the reason for DR to exist. If its to stop botters then it doesn’t, the only time i have noticed a decrease in their numbers was after the last purge. I can think of three things will stop them, banning their accounts so fast the process of farming is impossible, removing all methods of gold transfer or removing the market for the gold. Having DR does nothing to remove the botters, it just necessitates a change in behavior on their part, at best its an inconvenience to them. Remember they have access to a great many likely hacked accounts, and have to put little or no effort into the actual farming.

Also Anet keep the mechanics of DR under their hats as they don’t want to give away anything to the botters, the only way to see it is in the effects on drops. Who do you think has best access reliable, repeatable and consistent farming results? Who has most to gain from understanding DR?

So we are in the ironic situation where DR is in place to deter botters, but they would likely have the best knowledge of anyone on when it kicks in and how to avoid it. It does not stop them, only direct action from Anet does that which also has nothing to do with DR.

So whats the point in DR as it only effects real players?

Cardstar.1963:

Geotherma.2395:

Cardstar.1963:

Vayne.8563:

Reanne.5462:

No, there is no ‘reset’, you are experiencing RNG (alimo)
maybe anet would be willing to remove any doubt by standing up and being transparent about their policies instead of being afraid of telling us what they are.

The DR policy is, at least in part, there to thwart bots and gold sellers who farm. It prevents them from farming the same thing over and over.

If you become transparent, all you’re really doing it telling them how to design better bots.

If that’s the case it’s ridiculously lazy and heavy handed of them. Why implement a device that effects everyone but because of that is no deterrent to the bot? Bots were always going to exist, they always do so all that DR does is make the value of the items that the bots are farming higher.
Also why make the most desirable items, the legendaries, a massive farm fest if you have also implemented a system to deter farming?

It would have been far better for ANet to be more creative in identifying the bots and removing them than a non-system like DR.

It affects regular players less, if at all. And is much less problematic than people think. I could give a hundred examples on how to avoid it but that would only help bots and RMT, so I refuse to do that. People who farm areas regularly simply know at some point they need to do something else to switch up. And this generally is what players do anyway “naturally”. There are many variables to how it works, but again, no point in helping people bot/rmt.

Your point may be true, but it does not address the reason for DR to exist. If its to stop botters then it doesn’t, the only time i have noticed a decrease in their numbers was after the last purge. I can think of three things will stop them, banning their accounts so fast the process of farming is impossible, removing all methods of gold transfer or removing the market for the gold. Having DR does nothing to remove the botters, it just necessitates a change in behavior on their part, at best its an inconvenience to them. Remember they have access to a great many likely hacked accounts, and have to put little or no effort into the actual farming.

Also Anet keep the mechanics of DR under their hats as they don’t want to give away anything to the botters, the only way to see it is in the effects on drops. Who do you think has best access reliable, repeatable and consistent farming results? Who has most to gain from understanding DR?

So we are in the ironic situation where DR is in place to deter botters, but they would likely have the best knowledge of anyone on when it kicks in and how to avoid it. It does not stop them, only direct action from Anet does that which also has nothing to do with DR.

So whats the point in DR as it only effects real players?

I still think this isn’t 100% true. I believe it makes botters work harder to avoid this. In doing so slowing down the average program from working at full potential. Yes there are programs/bots that probably are coded better to deal with it, but I’m sure not every baddie uses the same one. In the meantime they (Arenanet) find the botters while they can, ban them and those who may have dealt with them in an RMT way. Sooner or later they will find a fix for the teleporting and regular bots. But all in all how much RMt spam do you see in this game? Compared to Aion/WoW etc. So they are already ahead of the largest problem. Giving them more time to work on fixes for bots, which are really all thats left besides hacking. I think the B2P model really helped with this as well. Big losses to someone who gets caught, probably far more than they earned.

I would also say that legitimate farmers also know ways around DR and do not share them with bots. As the bots are actually hurting the economy by mass selling at low prices at times. Thus driving down our worth when we work hard for those drops. If it was simple enough to just ban all bots instantly every MMO would have figured it out already. I compare bots/rmt to viruses online. A company has a loophole and hackers find it and get in or send trojans. Company repairs the hole and now the hackers have to find something else to get in. DR is Arenanets step 1 to closing that gap. There is no doubt in my mind they are already working on step 2, 3, 4. Just as RMT/Botters are working on them. Hence the great need in the world for Information Security Specialists. And why they get paid so much :P

Geotherma.2395:

I still think this isn’t 100% true. I believe it makes botters work harder to avoid this. In doing so slowing down the average program from working at full potential. Yes there are programs/bots that probably are coded better to deal with it, but I’m sure not every baddie uses the same one. In the meantime they (Arenanet) find the botters while they can, ban them and those who may have dealt with them in an RMT way. Sooner or later they will find a fix for the teleporting and regular bots. But all in all how much RMt spam do you see in this game? Compared to Aion/WoW etc. So they are already ahead of the largest problem. Giving them more time to work on fixes for bots, which are really all thats left besides hacking. I think the B2P model really helped with this as well. Big losses to someone who gets caught, probably far more than they earned.

I would also say that legitimate farmers also know ways around DR and do not share them with bots. As the bots are actually hurting the economy by mass selling at low prices at times. Thus driving down our worth when we work hard for those drops. If it was simple enough to just ban all bots instantly every MMO would have figured it out already. I compare bots/rmt to viruses online. A company has a loophole and hackers find it and get in or send trojans. Company repairs the hole and now the hackers have to find something else to get in. DR is Arenanets step 1 to closing that gap. There is no doubt in my mind they are already working on step 2, 3, 4. Just as RMT/Botters are working on them. Hence the great need in the world for Information Security Specialists. And why they get paid so much :P

I have no doubt that Anet are looking at ways to tackle botters as they are in direct competition to their own selling of gold via gems, but DR is a blanket and untargeted approach to a specific problem. One that can only be solved by acting on the individuals perpetrating it. It does no good to lower my drop rate, or yours or any other legitimate players. But every player has the potential to suffer that punishment and likely has just to make the botters less efficient!