Guild Wars 2

How does MF really works ?

Long story short – me and 2 of my friend went back to old school mob farming.. The results:
Friend 1: 65 mf – got 2 exotics, one of which lvl 80, costs 10gold, 1 rare.
Friend 2: 141 mf – got 2 exotics, medium in price, 3 rares.
Me: 350 mf – 1 rare, lvl 76.

Would someone like to explain to me how this thing called “Magic find” actually works???

Not to mention, your sample size may have been pathetically small. You’ll be surprised how many people farm for 1 measly hour then complain how rates are bugged.

Either you got less kills/hr, or you simply got unlucky in your hour. You had a higher chance per kill to roll for the “rarer” or “more desirable” drops, your friends were just fortunate.

Do note, that Magic Find does NOT take prices into account. For example you are not more likely to get “Yakkington’s X” (worth about ~10g) than you are “Khilbron’s X” (worth a lot less) at 200% magic find than you are at 20%. All you are is more likely to roll a level 80 named exotic armor piece.

Your chances at a drop are the same. Your chances that it’s a better grade than what you would have got is increased by magic find.

Everytime you kill a monster you roll on a number of tables, inside these tables are different rarity categories. Magic find increases the chances you will get higher categories. For example if there is a 1 in 10 category, and you have 200% magic find you will have 3/10 chances to get that category.

Sadly the chance to get an exotic is so small that even 1000% mf wouldn´t increase it noticeable. So it comes down to luck.

I don’t know, I have over 100% more raw MF than 2 of my friends, yet they are rolling exotics daily to my 1 a month maybe from enemy kills, something be broken, why invest in MF if those who don’t invest in it are still rolling better drops????

do you play a ranger? i noticed 3x more exotic and rare drops on my warrior then on my ranger ( true story )

You maybe have a class who’s not actually good at tagging mob instead of doing big damage.
Magic Find sound good only for farming mat tbh, don’t even try to think that you will have more exotics, it’s pure luck.

There is another parameter, that people forget to mention. Did your friends returned from a long offline period? Or do you farm a lot more, than your friends? There is such thing in this game, which called diminished returns (DR). If u was farming yesterday for a whole day and, then, today, tested your chances with a friends, who was away for a week from the game….I would totally expect such results. (though, anything about DR is unknown ground and this might be a myth too)

Sergoros.4398:

There is another parameter, that people forget to mention. Did your friends returned from a long offline period? Or do farm a lot more, than your friends? There is such thing in this game, which called diminished returns (DR). If u was farming yesterday for a whole day and, then, today, tested your chanced with a friends, who was away for a weak from the game….I would totally expect such results.

The “offline” mechanic is a rumor. Sure, diminishing returns is a thing, but it doesn’t work like that, it doesn’t take days to reset, I believe it is just 1 hour in a different area, so you can still be logged in.

Flissy.4093:

Sergoros.4398:

There is another parameter, that people forget to mention. Did your friends returned from a long offline period? Or do farm a lot more, than your friends? There is such thing in this game, which called diminished returns (DR). If u was farming yesterday for a whole day and, then, today, tested your chanced with a friends, who was away for a weak from the game….I would totally expect such results.

The “offline” mechanic is a rumor. Sure, diminishing returns is a thing, but it doesn’t work like that, it doesn’t take days to reset, I believe it is just 1 hour in a different area, so you can still be logged in.

U never know the truth, until they reveal the code of this DR.

As for myself, I believe they added DR for almost everything. It could be value of materials per week. Or per month. It can even account for mystic forge.

I play for almost every day, but when i stopped farming for around a month and then came back….u know what? My drop was really good for a few days.

feydriva.8047:

You maybe have a class who’s not actually good at tagging mob instead of doing big damage.
Magic Find sound good only for farming mat tbh, don’t even try to think that you will have more exotics, it’s pure luck.

I hope they weren’t stupid enough to be unpartied. In a party you get credit for kills even if you don’t tag them.

Sergoros.4398:

Flissy.4093:

Sergoros.4398:

There is another parameter, that people forget to mention. Did your friends returned from a long offline period? Or do farm a lot more, than your friends? There is such thing in this game, which called diminished returns (DR). If u was farming yesterday for a whole day and, then, today, tested your chanced with a friends, who was away for a weak from the game….I would totally expect such results.

The “offline” mechanic is a rumor. Sure, diminishing returns is a thing, but it doesn’t work like that, it doesn’t take days to reset, I believe it is just 1 hour in a different area, so you can still be logged in.

U never know the truth, until they reveal the code of this DR.

As for myself, I believe they added DR for almost everything. It could be value of materials per week. Or per month. It can even account for mystic forge.

I play for almost every day, but when i stopped farming for around a month and then came back….u know what? My drop was really good for a few days.

*You. It’s not that much longer to type and changes the disposition of your message immensely.

The diminishing returns rule has been elaborated upon from devs in GW1 around Factions. It’s pretty widely known that if you stay too long in one area, it diminishes. You can resolve this by going to a new area and playing there for a while or coming back a day later. It’s been that way for the longest time.

It was believed to screw over bots but they said that they didn’t want people heavily farming in a single area either. It did nothing for bots as they had many accounts and would just power through.

A small history lesson for you.

Darkobra.6439:

Sergoros.4398:

Flissy.4093:

Sergoros.4398:

There is another parameter, that people forget to mention. Did your friends returned from a long offline period? Or do farm a lot more, than your friends? There is such thing in this game, which called diminished returns (DR). If u was farming yesterday for a whole day and, then, today, tested your chanced with a friends, who was away for a weak from the game….I would totally expect such results.

The “offline” mechanic is a rumor. Sure, diminishing returns is a thing, but it doesn’t work like that, it doesn’t take days to reset, I believe it is just 1 hour in a different area, so you can still be logged in.

U never know the truth, until they reveal the code of this DR.

As for myself, I believe they added DR for almost everything. It could be value of materials per week. Or per month. It can even account for mystic forge.

I play for almost every day, but when i stopped farming for around a month and then came back….u know what? My drop was really good for a few days.

*You. It’s not that much longer to type and changes the disposition of your message immensely.

The diminishing returns rule has been elaborated upon from devs in GW1 around Factions. It’s pretty widely known that if you stay too long in one area, it diminishes. You can resolve this by going to a new area and playing there for a while or coming back a day later. It’s been that way for the longest time.

It was believed to screw over bots but they said that they didn’t want people heavily farming in a single area either. It did nothing for bots as they had many accounts and would just power through.

A small history lesson for you.

Yeah. So a few words from a dev and u believe it? They also said, if they would reveal full mechanic of their DR, it would make it useless. So they wont. So yeah. U basically know nothing about DR. Same as me. Or anyone else, except devs. We could see only one side of the big box of DR.

Like I said, it’s been going on for nearly a decade and we have many cases to back up that evidence. It’s not just one dev. It’s far, far more experienced players than yourselves who have established names within GW1 that have tried and tested every theory under the sun.

You have your own theories in your short GW2 career but some of us have been around since the very beginning and have accumulated evidence, scenarios and many tests to know that what we’ve been told HAS been true.

It was good for a few days because your diminishing returns reset as you had not farmed that area in a while. That is because that’s how it works. If you want to argue a decade of evidence, you shouldn’t be stumbling into the exact same conclusions that proves me right.

You’re very welcome to try to prove us all wrong. It’d be interesting to see one man break down a decade of knowledge. The floor is yours.

Darkobra.6439:

Like I said, it’s been going on for nearly a decade and we have many cases to back up that evidence. It’s not just one dev. It’s far, far more experienced players than yourselves who have established names within GW1 that have tried and tested every theory under the sun.

You have your own theories in your short GW2 career but some of us have been around since the very beginning and have accumulated evidence, scenarios and many tests to know that what we’ve been told HAS been true.

It was good for a few days because your diminishing returns reset as you had not farmed that area in a while. That is because that’s how it works. If you want to argue a decade of evidence, you shouldn’t be stumbling into the exact same conclusions that proves me right.

You’re very welcome to try to prove us all wrong. It’d be interesting to see one man break down a decade of knowledge. The floor is yours.

U do realize, that, to call up evidence, as your point > u should 1-st present such evidence? All I see is your words about some myth busters of gw2, whom no one ever seen? Yeah. Maybe I shall make up some people, who prove you wrong too?

Also. I never farm. I have around 300+ % mf and just doing dungeons/fractals/www and dailys. Sometimes im playing tp or mystic forge. So yeah. In theory, I shouldnt get any DR at all and always have my normal drop chances….. Though, i do know, that im alone is to small a sample size to prove anything, but, what I noticed at this point…shows me, that DR in gw2 is much more, than a little zone farm limiter.

Sergoros.4398:

U do realize, that, to call up evidence, as your point > u should 1-st present such evidence? All I see is your words about some myth busters of gw2, whom no one ever seen? Yeah. Maybe I shall make up some people, who prove you wrong too?

If such people existed, you already would have.

Also, I think you should install a spell checker. It is very difficult to read anything you’re trying to say. It’s an English only forum. Thank you.

Tom Gore.4035:

feydriva.8047:

You maybe have a class who’s not actually good at tagging mob instead of doing big damage.
Magic Find sound good only for farming mat tbh, don’t even try to think that you will have more exotics, it’s pure luck.

I hope they weren’t stupid enough to be unpartied. In a party you get credit for kills even if you don’t tag them.

wrong. The damage threshold is lower if other party members did some damage, you still need to apply some to the target.

Darkobra.6439:

Sergoros.4398:

U do realize, that, to call up evidence, as your point > u should 1-st present such evidence? All I see is your words about some myth busters of gw2, whom no one ever seen? Yeah. Maybe I shall make up some people, who prove you wrong too?

If such people existed, you already would have.

Also, I think you should install a spell checker. It is very difficult to read anything you’re trying to say. It’s an English only forum. Thank you.

So thats your evidence? Wasnt very pleasant to talk with you, but whatever. Good day.

Sergoros.4398:

Darkobra.6439:

Sergoros.4398:

U do realize, that, to call up evidence, as your point > u should 1-st present such evidence? All I see is your words about some myth busters of gw2, whom no one ever seen? Yeah. Maybe I shall make up some people, who prove you wrong too?

If such people existed, you already would have.

Also, I think you should install a spell checker. It is very difficult to read anything you’re trying to say. It’s an English only forum. Thank you.

So thats your evidence? Wasnt very pleasant to talk with you, but whatever. Good day.

Like I said, there was a decade of evidence out there from veterans such as myself. You just refused to put the research in and used your own anecdotal evidence from GW2 which consisted of “I quit this game.”

There wasn’t much to debunk. You provided nothing to prove anyone wrong. After all, you started with GW2 and you quit GW2.

Ok I Did It.2854:

I don’t know, I have over 100% more raw MF than 2 of my friends, yet they are rolling exotics daily to my 1 a month maybe from enemy kills, something be broken, why invest in MF if those who don’t invest in it are still rolling better drops????

It can be noticeable, but you need a massive amount of drops to see it.
Basically, killing 10 mobs with 0 MF and 300 MF results in no difference at all. Make that 10 000 mobs, and the difference will start to overcome RNG variance.

(notice here: “no difference” doesn’t mean “similar drops”. It means that checking it on 0 MF and 300 MF will be no different than checking on 0 MF twice. It may mean one person getting two exotics, while the other won’t even see a rare)

Sergoros.4398:

Darkobra.6439:

Sergoros.4398:

Flissy.4093:

Sergoros.4398:

There is another parameter, that people forget to mention. Did your friends returned from a long offline period? Or do farm a lot more, than your friends? There is such thing in this game, which called diminished returns (DR). If u was farming yesterday for a whole day and, then, today, tested your chanced with a friends, who was away for a weak from the game….I would totally expect such results.

The “offline” mechanic is a rumor. Sure, diminishing returns is a thing, but it doesn’t work like that, it doesn’t take days to reset, I believe it is just 1 hour in a different area, so you can still be logged in.

U never know the truth, until they reveal the code of this DR.

As for myself, I believe they added DR for almost everything. It could be value of materials per week. Or per month. It can even account for mystic forge.

I play for almost every day, but when i stopped farming for around a month and then came back….u know what? My drop was really good for a few days.

*You. It’s not that much longer to type and changes the disposition of your message immensely.

The diminishing returns rule has been elaborated upon from devs in GW1 around Factions. It’s pretty widely known that if you stay too long in one area, it diminishes. You can resolve this by going to a new area and playing there for a while or coming back a day later. It’s been that way for the longest time.

It was believed to screw over bots but they said that they didn’t want people heavily farming in a single area either. It did nothing for bots as they had many accounts and would just power through.

A small history lesson for you.

Yeah. So a few words from a dev and u believe it? They also said, if they would reveal full mechanic of their DR, it would make it useless. So they wont. So yeah. U basically know nothing about DR. Same as me. Or anyone else, except devs. We could see only one side of the big box of DR.

true, but Darkobra does not draw unfounded conclusions like you do. You can either accept that you were just unlucky in the past (unless you have a large sample size of your own drops and of a greater amount of other players doing exactly the same thing over exactly the same period of time with exactly the same MF which I believe you will very probably not have) or enter some Descartian dilemma of conspiracy theories about how Anet is screwing with all the players. Darkobra´s approach seems more reasonable to me…

Darkobra.6439:

Sergoros.4398:

Darkobra.6439:

Sergoros.4398:

U do realize, that, to call up evidence, as your point > u should 1-st present such evidence? All I see is your words about some myth busters of gw2, whom no one ever seen? Yeah. Maybe I shall make up some people, who prove you wrong too?

If such people existed, you already would have.

Also, I think you should install a spell checker. It is very difficult to read anything you’re trying to say. It’s an English only forum. Thank you.

So thats your evidence? Wasnt very pleasant to talk with you, but whatever. Good day.

Like I said, there was a decade of evidence out there from veterans such as myself. You just refused to put the research in and used your own anecdotal evidence from GW2 which consisted of “I quit this game.”

There wasn’t much to debunk. You provided nothing to prove anyone wrong. After all, you started with GW2 and you quit GW2.

My words: We seen no code. We know nothing. It might be anything. This statement needs nothing to provide. Thats how this game is right now. We dont know what devs might have programmed in their code. And even your decade of research (which i didnt see yet btw….im starting to believe, that u made it up) might as well mean nothing, because we have a fresh new game with a fresh new code. So yeah.

Your words: We researched over a decade and know everything! How dare you dirty this forum with your ugly presence! and etc… Telling me, that there was some kind of research is nothing. U should show me this research for your words to hold any weigh at all.

Algreg.3629:

Sergoros.4398:

Darkobra.6439:

Sergoros.4398:

Flissy.4093:

Sergoros.4398:

There is another parameter, that people forget to mention. Did your friends returned from a long offline period? Or do farm a lot more, than your friends? There is such thing in this game, which called diminished returns (DR). If u was farming yesterday for a whole day and, then, today, tested your chanced with a friends, who was away for a weak from the game….I would totally expect such results.

The “offline” mechanic is a rumor. Sure, diminishing returns is a thing, but it doesn’t work like that, it doesn’t take days to reset, I believe it is just 1 hour in a different area, so you can still be logged in.

U never know the truth, until they reveal the code of this DR.

As for myself, I believe they added DR for almost everything. It could be value of materials per week. Or per month. It can even account for mystic forge.

I play for almost every day, but when i stopped farming for around a month and then came back….u know what? My drop was really good for a few days.

*You. It’s not that much longer to type and changes the disposition of your message immensely.

The diminishing returns rule has been elaborated upon from devs in GW1 around Factions. It’s pretty widely known that if you stay too long in one area, it diminishes. You can resolve this by going to a new area and playing there for a while or coming back a day later. It’s been that way for the longest time.

It was believed to screw over bots but they said that they didn’t want people heavily farming in a single area either. It did nothing for bots as they had many accounts and would just power through.

A small history lesson for you.

Yeah. So a few words from a dev and u believe it? They also said, if they would reveal full mechanic of their DR, it would make it useless. So they wont. So yeah. U basically know nothing about DR. Same as me. Or anyone else, except devs. We could see only one side of the big box of DR.

true, but Darkobra does not draw unfounded conclusions like you do. You can either accept that you were just unlucky in the past (unless you have a large sample size of your own drops and of a greater amount of other players doing exactly the same thing over exactly the same period of time with exactly the same MF which I believe you will very probably not have) or enter some Descartian dilemma of conspiracy theories about how Anet is screwing with all the players. Darkobra´s approach seems more reasonable to me…

Id say we both wrong. Yes. You right. I have nothing to prove my point really. So yeah. I should have added, “I believe” or “there is a possibility” and other forms of showing, that i might have been wrong, when was giving my advice. Yeah. My bad.

But he also is wrong by limiting the way DR might work without any evidence. Yes. Its possible, that what he tells us is true. But. There is also a possibility, that he can see only 1 little grain of sand on a sunny beach of DR. And, without any big research to back it up, he can’t make any statements. Same as me.

Beats me. All I have been getting from chests are Vile Essences. Its like a sick joke. You get a rare chest and when you open it its just a pile of poo.

Sergoros.4398:

Algreg.3629:

Sergoros.4398:

Darkobra.6439:

Sergoros.4398:

Flissy.4093:

Sergoros.4398:

There is another parameter, that people forget to mention. Did your friends returned from a long offline period? Or do farm a lot more, than your friends? There is such thing in this game, which called diminished returns (DR). If u was farming yesterday for a whole day and, then, today, tested your chanced with a friends, who was away for a weak from the game….I would totally expect such results.

The “offline” mechanic is a rumor. Sure, diminishing returns is a thing, but it doesn’t work like that, it doesn’t take days to reset, I believe it is just 1 hour in a different area, so you can still be logged in.

U never know the truth, until they reveal the code of this DR.

As for myself, I believe they added DR for almost everything. It could be value of materials per week. Or per month. It can even account for mystic forge.

I play for almost every day, but when i stopped farming for around a month and then came back….u know what? My drop was really good for a few days.

*You. It’s not that much longer to type and changes the disposition of your message immensely.

The diminishing returns rule has been elaborated upon from devs in GW1 around Factions. It’s pretty widely known that if you stay too long in one area, it diminishes. You can resolve this by going to a new area and playing there for a while or coming back a day later. It’s been that way for the longest time.

It was believed to screw over bots but they said that they didn’t want people heavily farming in a single area either. It did nothing for bots as they had many accounts and would just power through.

A small history lesson for you.

Yeah. So a few words from a dev and u believe it? They also said, if they would reveal full mechanic of their DR, it would make it useless. So they wont. So yeah. U basically know nothing about DR. Same as me. Or anyone else, except devs. We could see only one side of the big box of DR.

true, but Darkobra does not draw unfounded conclusions like you do. You can either accept that you were just unlucky in the past (unless you have a large sample size of your own drops and of a greater amount of other players doing exactly the same thing over exactly the same period of time with exactly the same MF which I believe you will very probably not have) or enter some Descartian dilemma of conspiracy theories about how Anet is screwing with all the players. Darkobra´s approach seems more reasonable to me…

Id say we both wrong. Yes. You right. I have nothing to prove my point really. So yeah. I should have added, “I believe” or “there is a possibility” and other forms of showing, that i might have been wrong, when was giving my advice. Yeah. My bad.

But he also is wrong by limiting the way DR might work without any evidence. Yes. Its possible, that what he tells us is true. But. There is also a possibility, that he can see only 1 little grain of sand on a sunny beach of DR. And, without any big research to back it up, he can’t make any statements. Same as me.

also true. But I believe it makes more sense to believe Anet does not screw over their players than to believe they do.

Problem is my friends seems to be lucky a lot more often then I am and that is wierd since my mf is a lot lot more….
p.s. I know that price of the item is unrelated i was just making a point

Algreg.3629:

also true. But I believe it makes more sense to believe Anet does not screw over their players than to believe they do.

Screw? You could call it balancing. This player gets to much profit from mystic forge? Well. Thats enough. Lets lower his chances a little to balance it. This player makes a 50g a day by farming? Well…he sure wont miss few rares/exotics as drop. This player playing a lot less, than before, maybe we should cheer him up with a little exotic here and there? For me, it makes much more sense, than just some farm limiter.

Sergoros.4398:

Algreg.3629:

also true. But I believe it makes more sense to believe Anet does not screw over their players than to believe they do.

Screw? You could call it balancing. This player gets to much profit from mystic forge? Well. Thats enough. Lets lower his chances a little to balance it. This player makes a 50g a day by farming? Well…he sure wont miss few rares/exotics as drop. This player playing a lot less, than before, maybe we should cheer him up with a little exotic here and there? For me, it makes much more sense, than just some farm limiter.

if this was the case and it would be ever confirmed (by some whistleblower or whatever) it would be the death of the game. Very unlikely to take such a risk. And it would be screwing with players, at least without communicating it.

It works by probability. In statistics and probability, the effects are only noticeable and close to what’s expected when the sampling is infinite (or large enough, to make it doable).

With such little samples, anything can happen and any conclusion can be drawn. If you’re not getting good loot you’re probably just a victim of chance, an outlier. Keep at it and in the long run and overall analysis the results will match your MF.

Algreg.3629:

Sergoros.4398:

Algreg.3629:

also true. But I believe it makes more sense to believe Anet does not screw over their players than to believe they do.

Screw? You could call it balancing. This player gets to much profit from mystic forge? Well. Thats enough. Lets lower his chances a little to balance it. This player makes a 50g a day by farming? Well…he sure wont miss few rares/exotics as drop. This player playing a lot less, than before, maybe we should cheer him up with a little exotic here and there? For me, it makes much more sense, than just some farm limiter.

if this was the case and it would be ever confirmed (by some whistleblower or whatever) it would be the death of the game. Very unlikely to take such a risk. And it would be screwing with players, at least without communicating it.

The very existence of farm limiter mechanic, without revealing how it works > is already enough screwing around with a players. I sure see no difference. They just dig a little deeper.

TheFallenAngel.1320:

Me: 350 mf – 1 rare, lvl 76.

Holy cow! That’s a lot of MF.