Guild Wars 2

Okay, I am getting very tired of this debate that is, what I call and age-old bicker, in-game about whether MF works or doesn’t work.

I been in this game since it’s launch in 2012 and just today, while doing the Tarir event in HoT, I put up a MF banner and all of a sudden chat goes wild. Back and forth, back and forth, arguments about how MF doesn’t do anything for you when you loot the chests below Tarir.

Yet, in this age old banter, I have read other people say that MF DOES work on containers, yet NOT bags.

Basically, you all get the jist of this and why after 4 years, I am tired of being confused, tired of being in a royal tug of war between those who say it does help, and others who claim it doesn’t.

So, anyone reading this now, Devs most especially, set me straight, okay? Does it help or doesn’t it help, because if it doesn’t help and every little piece of loot in this game is 100% RNG-engineered, then I’m wasting my money in making banners and throwing away my gems and trashing my laurels when buying Item Boosters

Can anyone please help me understand this?

magic find affects
1. what drops from npcs when you kill them
2. what drops from reward track/map reward boxes
3. a specific set of containers

From the Wiki:

Magic Find is both an account bonus and a character attribute that increases the chance to receive higher-quality loot from slain foes. With a couple exceptions, it does not affect containers (including champion loot bags), chests, or any other source of loot.^{1 2} The exceptions are:

Containers received from structured PvP reward tracks.
Divine Lucky Envelopes during Lunar New Year
Heart of Thorns meta event participation containers.

The sources for this information (Dev posts on this very forum):

1. https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/dungeons/Magic-Find-Chests/first#post597487

2. https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/dungeons/Magic-Find-Chests/first#post598159

Good luck.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

From the Wiki:

The exceptions are:

Containers received from structured PvP reward tracks.
Divine Lucky Envelopes during Lunar New Year
Heart of Thorns meta event participation containers.

Good luck.

Am I reading this correctly, that HoT event loot IS affected by MF? Cause all I know is, during the Tarir event, especially, I deck myself out with any and all MF sources I have. Now from your reply here, it sounds like… my attempts here are not in vain?

Event participation containers are not (loot) Tarir Chests. So, no, your banners do not affect the chests in the city of Tarir.

Heart of Thorns Event Participation containers include in their description ‘Affected by Magic Find’.

Jaymee.1560:

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

From the Wiki:

The exceptions are:

Containers received from structured PvP reward tracks.
Divine Lucky Envelopes during Lunar New Year
Heart of Thorns meta event participation containers.

Good luck.

Am I reading this correctly, that HoT event loot IS affected by MF? Cause all I know is, during the Tarir event, especially, I deck myself out with any and all MF sources I have. Now from your reply here, it sounds like… my attempts here are not in vain?

Read the whole thing again, properly.
Basically the only things magic find works on are mob drops, specific PvP loot boxes (the ones which have beast/mob names), Lucky Envelopes and HoT meta event participation containers. (The wiggly chest after completing the meta events)

So no, Tarir chests, nor any other chest is affected by it.

Jaymee.1560:

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

From the Wiki:

The exceptions are:

Containers received from structured PvP reward tracks.
Divine Lucky Envelopes during Lunar New Year
Heart of Thorns meta event participation containers.

Good luck.

Am I reading this correctly, that HoT event loot IS affected by MF? Cause all I know is, during the Tarir event, especially, I deck myself out with any and all MF sources I have. Now from your reply here, it sounds like… my attempts here are not in vain?

ONLY the containers that specifically state they are, such as the Wyvern Cache iirc. The chests you need exalted keys to open? Those are NOT affected by magic find.

I am on 210% and I personally have seen a very gradual increase in the number of rares and exotics that have dropped from random mobs in open world in line with my increasing MF over the last 2-3 years.

It is all anecdotal though and experiences will vary

Not useful in the slightest.

RNG is RNG and no amount of MF will change players having no good RNG.

If the Heart of Maguuma (Heart of Thorns) container doesn’t state this in the In-game Description:

Double-click to open.
Contains loot from creatures.
Affected by magic-find bonuses

then Magic Find will have no effect whatsoever. Again, the Chests down below the city of Tarir have no such description.

Good luck.

Randulf.7614:

I am on 210% and I personally have seen a very gradual increase in the number of rares and exotics that have dropped from random mobs in open world in line with my increasing MF over the last 2-3 years.

It is all anecdotal though and experiences will vary

I’m on 185% without boosts and I’ve seen a lot more Exotics recently (might be the sheer number of drops though). The HoT style caches are far better than the current bags, IMO.

Werent the burried chests in sw affected by mf?

MF doesn’t work at all, so no worries~

TexZero.7910:

Not useful in the slightest.

RNG is RNG and no amount of MF will change players having no good RNG.

I don’t get why so many people always say this in every game its annoying, we know its RNG we don’t need your professional opinion saying RNG is RNG lol, anyways it differs from game to game if isnt as simple as RNG, anyways guild wars 2 RNG seems to be decent compared to other games anyhow.

Ryou.2398:

TexZero.7910:

Not useful in the slightest.

RNG is RNG and no amount of MF will change players having no good RNG.

I don’t get why so many people always say this in every game its annoying, we know its RNG we don’t need your professional opinion saying RNG is RNG lol, anyways it differs from game to game if isnt as simple as RNG, anyways guild wars 2 RNG seems to be decent compared to other games anyhow.

Because of the tinfoil hat wearers who insist on acting as though random chance is not random. I know that computer algorithms are not “technically” true random events but it is functionally random because there is no way to, for example, memorize the pattern and predict what series of actions in the game will guarantee a precursor drop. But players keep posting complaints that state or imply that they “deserve” this after X hours of play or Y Mystic Forge attempts or whatever.

Random events and rewards are random, and while there are activities that can improve your chances of a favorable result, sooner or later everyone is going to hit a bit of extreme luck, either good or bad. Complaining about it may be cathartic, but insisting that the game is rigged is foolish and pointless without solid data to back up your claims.

TexZero.7910:

Not useful in the slightest.

RNG is RNG and no amount of MF will change players having no good RNG.

As someone with 310% base MF and around 400 with food/boosters, I can sadly say this above statement is 100% true,

I have a friend whom I play the game with daily who has just over 100% MF, ( they call it Magic Beans, that Anet managed to sell ) and there drops tend to be better than mine, Magic Find seems to have little to no difference at all in game, when it comes to drops from mobs or drops from the apparently MF chests.

Furthermore its a topic that Anet avoid like the plague, ive never seen them answer any topic on here or reddit in regards to magic find or why its broken.

If you are farming a lot in a place where the majority of your drops are boxes, then no unless magic find affects that specific box. It affects some and not others. If you are farming an area where you get a lot of drops, then yes.

Ok I Did It.2854:

TexZero.7910:

Not useful in the slightest.

RNG is RNG and no amount of MF will change players having no good RNG.

As someone with 310% base MF and around 400 with food/boosters, I can sadly say this above statement is 100% true,

No you can’t. You see, a long time ago, someone proved you and all the other naysayers wrong with something called statistics. Do I have a link? No, but it wouldn’t matter anyways would it?

Great, so now I am gathering that the 200g-ish I spend to make banners in my Guild Hall, especially the Hero Banners (And yes, it can get THAT hideously expensive)… is all a waste on my part if I am using them for the Tarir event

sobs

Thank you everyone who took part in this for me. Now I know. Still a bit confused on how a container will “tell” you it’s affected, but… I guess that neither here nor there. Because anything I do that gets me loot never states it is affected by MF so…. I give up

Obtena.7952:

Ok I Did It.2854:

TexZero.7910:

Not useful in the slightest.

RNG is RNG and no amount of MF will change players having no good RNG.

As someone with 310% base MF and around 400 with food/boosters, I can sadly say this above statement is 100% true,

No you can’t. You see, a long time ago, someone proved you and all the other naysayers wrong with something called statistics. Do I have a link? No, but it wouldn’t matter anyways would it?

To be fair that works both ways besides didn’t someone already confirm doesn’t really work on most chests?

tolunart.2095:

Ryou.2398:

TexZero.7910:

Not useful in the slightest.

RNG is RNG and no amount of MF will change players having no good RNG.

I don’t get why so many people always say this in every game its annoying, we know its RNG we don’t need your professional opinion saying RNG is RNG lol, anyways it differs from game to game if isnt as simple as RNG, anyways guild wars 2 RNG seems to be decent compared to other games anyhow.

Because of the tinfoil hat wearers who insist on acting as though random chance is not random. I know that computer algorithms are not “technically” true random events but it is functionally random because there is no way to, for example, memorize the pattern and predict what series of actions in the game will guarantee a precursor drop. But players keep posting complaints that state or imply that they “deserve” this after X hours of play or Y Mystic Forge attempts or whatever.

Random events and rewards are random, and while there are activities that can improve your chances of a favorable result, sooner or later everyone is going to hit a bit of extreme luck, either good or bad. Complaining about it may be cathartic, but insisting that the game is rigged is foolish and pointless without solid data to back up your claims.

Clearly guild wars 2 is not rigged ppl find drops all the Tim, but I don’t you understood ky comment because some games are rigged from the start.

If it’s usefull then I’m affraid that I wouldn’t loot anything at all if I weren’t at my base Magic find of 300+%.

Magic find is merely an long term objective when you’ve swept across the whole game and you become a bit bored. It’s a kind of leveling with little to no visible effect.

Magic Find works amazingly well in old maps (especially Orr) when doing events with lots of mobs.

In the newer areas, most mobs have had their drop rates scuttled in order to justify all the chest loot, and many event mobs are set to drop no loot at all. This significantly limits the usefulness of Magic Find in HoT content.

Ryou.2398:

Obtena.7952:

Ok I Did It.2854:

TexZero.7910:

Not useful in the slightest.

RNG is RNG and no amount of MF will change players having no good RNG.

As someone with 310% base MF and around 400 with food/boosters, I can sadly say this above statement is 100% true,

No you can’t. You see, a long time ago, someone proved you and all the other naysayers wrong with something called statistics. Do I have a link? No, but it wouldn’t matter anyways would it?

To be fair that works both ways besides didn’t someone already confirm doesn’t really work on most chests?

I don’t get you … Statistical analysis works … anecdotal vitriol does not. I won’t comment on if MF works on specific things like this chest or that chest. I know it works for what it has been proven to work on; drops from mobs. For someone to say it doesn’t work is just silly.

Obtena.7952:

Ryou.2398:

Obtena.7952:

Ok I Did It.2854:

TexZero.7910:

Not useful in the slightest.

RNG is RNG and no amount of MF will change players having no good RNG.

As someone with 310% base MF and around 400 with food/boosters, I can sadly say this above statement is 100% true,

No you can’t. You see, a long time ago, someone proved you and all the other naysayers wrong with something called statistics. Do I have a link? No, but it wouldn’t matter anyways would it?

To be fair that works both ways besides didn’t someone already confirm doesn’t really work on most chests?

I don’t get you … Statistical analysis works … anecdotal vitriol does not. I won’t comment on if MF works on specific things like this chest or that chest. I know it works for what it has been proven to work on; drops from mobs. For someone to say it doesn’t work is just silly.

Someone on this very post saids the wiki states it works from mobs and certain pvp cheats not pve chests if I read that correctly.

Obtena.7952:

Ok I Did It.2854:

TexZero.7910:

Not useful in the slightest.

RNG is RNG and no amount of MF will change players having no good RNG.

As someone with 310% base MF and around 400 with food/boosters, I can sadly say this above statement is 100% true,

No you can’t. You see, a long time ago, someone proved you and all the other naysayers wrong with something called statistics. Do I have a link? No, but it wouldn’t matter anyways would it?

All someone proved was there RNG was better than someone elses,

I capped that MF out a few months after it was introduced, and if it made as much of a difference as your trying to make out, I would be worth a fortune in game, fact is it doesn’t make a difference, whether im farming SW, CS, FGS, fractals/dungeons, the game rewards drops based 100% on RNG if your account rolls a good RNG roll you win, if it doesn’t you get nothing, having 300%+ MF has NOT IMPROVED my drops at all, I get no more rares, exoctis ( fat chance ) or T6 mats than my friends with 100% MF.

mtpelion.4562:

Magic Find works amazingly well in old maps (especially Orr) when doing events with lots of mobs.

In the newer areas, most mobs have had their drop rates scuttled in order to justify all the chest loot, and many event mobs are set to drop no loot at all. This significantly limits the usefulness of Magic Find in HoT content.

Problem is that older maps are having the events that are farmed heavily changed so that mobs don’t drop loot, CS is a great example of this, many events have been changed so that mobs drop no loot (fish farm on beach), or mobs have been removed from the event ( Arah pre south beach, had all the Risen removed completely ) other mobs have been changed to spawn vets which drop no loot, or very little loot,

The new HoT maps really made MF useless, a lot of enemies drop no loot or the chest/bags instead which are not affect by magic ( I am aware that some are affected by MF, but even with 300%+ I haven’t seen any change in drops from them )

I would say going forward you will see more and more loot from chests/bags and MF will be phased out completely.

TexZero.7910:

RNG is RNG and no amount of MF will change players having no good RNG.

This comment is both factually incorrect and yet completely misleading.

• It’s true that random rolls yield random results.
• It’s also true that sufficiently bad luck cannot be overcome by increased Magic Find.
• It’s misleading, however, to suggest that this applies to anyone playing the game for long periods of times.

Over time, RNG approaches averages (except for exceptional loot, such as precursors) and thus Magic Find will always, over time, produce better results.

This has been confirmed by folks running controlled tests and it can be reconfirmed by anyone willing to repeat the same or similar tests.

(It’s harder now to compare 0% MF to 200% now, but it’s easier to compare x% to x+200% and it’s now possible to compare y% to y+300%.)

TexZero.7910:

Not useful in the slightest.

This statement is not true.

All else being equal, more magic find will mean better results even if you have bad luck — instead of the worst luck, a high-MF account/character will have only really bad luck.

Within the limitations of MF (it only works on loot dropped from foes you kill and containers that substitute for the same, plus a tiny number of oddball exceptions), accounts with high MF will, over time, end up with more valuable loot.

Like any RNG system, high MF won’t guarantee you get the unlikeliest of drops and it won’t guarantee that you’ll always have good drops. It just ensures that you’ll have better results than you would have without high MF.

depends if you PVE or not, its more worthwhile for pve farming. I get about 20 more rares a week since maxing base MF. I also had Spark (950g) and The Energizer (300g)drop after maxing MF. Zero pres dropped for me before maxing my MF on a 4 year account, two pres within 3 months of maxing it.

So yeah I would say the 300g I spent on the ecto salvage way was worth it.

Ok I Did It.2854:

Obtena.7952:

Ok I Did It.2854:

TexZero.7910:

Not useful in the slightest.

RNG is RNG and no amount of MF will change players having no good RNG.

As someone with 310% base MF and around 400 with food/boosters, I can sadly say this above statement is 100% true,

No you can’t. You see, a long time ago, someone proved you and all the other naysayers wrong with something called statistics. Do I have a link? No, but it wouldn’t matter anyways would it?

All someone proved was there RNG was better than someone elses,

I capped that MF out a few months after it was introduced, and if it made as much of a difference as your trying to make out, I would be worth a fortune in game, fact is it doesn’t make a difference, whether im farming SW, CS, FGS, fractals/dungeons, the game rewards drops based 100% on RNG if your account rolls a good RNG roll you win, if it doesn’t you get nothing, having 300%+ MF has NOT IMPROVED my drops at all, I get no more rares, exoctis ( fat chance ) or T6 mats than my friends with 100% MF.

mtpelion.4562:

Magic Find works amazingly well in old maps (especially Orr) when doing events with lots of mobs.

In the newer areas, most mobs have had their drop rates scuttled in order to justify all the chest loot, and many event mobs are set to drop no loot at all. This significantly limits the usefulness of Magic Find in HoT content.

Problem is that older maps are having the events that are farmed heavily changed so that mobs don’t drop loot, CS is a great example of this, many events have been changed so that mobs drop no loot (fish farm on beach), or mobs have been removed from the event ( Arah pre south beach, had all the Risen removed completely ) other mobs have been changed to spawn vets which drop no loot, or very little loot,

The new HoT maps really made MF useless, a lot of enemies drop no loot or the chest/bags instead which are not affect by magic ( I am aware that some are affected by MF, but even with 300%+ I haven’t seen any change in drops from them )

I would say going forward you will see more and more loot from chests/bags and MF will be phased out completely.

If something have a 0.00000001 chance of droping you wont see much dif with your 0.00000004 or 5

Ok I Did It.2854:

Obtena.7952:

Ok I Did It.2854:

TexZero.7910:

Not useful in the slightest.

RNG is RNG and no amount of MF will change players having no good RNG.

As someone with 310% base MF and around 400 with food/boosters, I can sadly say this above statement is 100% true,

No you can’t. You see, a long time ago, someone proved you and all the other naysayers wrong with something called statistics. Do I have a link? No, but it wouldn’t matter anyways would it?

All someone proved was there RNG was better than someone elses,

I capped that MF out a few months after it was introduced, and if it made as much of a difference as your trying to make out, I would be worth a fortune in game, fact is it doesn’t make a difference, whether im farming SW, CS, FGS, fractals/dungeons, the game rewards drops based 100% on RNG if your account rolls a good RNG roll you win, if it doesn’t you get nothing, having 300%+ MF has NOT IMPROVED my drops at all, I get no more rares, exoctis ( fat chance ) or T6 mats than my friends with 100% MF.

I’m simply saying it DOES make a difference and that someone proved it in the past using statistical analysis, unlike your ancedotal statement saying otherwise. I never qualified or attempted to qualify what that difference was because I’m not into making claims without statistical data to back it up, unlike some people here.

Here are a few things that aren’t debatable:

1. You get MF whether you think it works or not so it’s pretty irrelevant what people speculate
2. Understanding how something works is not a prerequisite for it working. Even if you didn’t perceive a difference, does not indicate MF doesn’t work. It just shows you associate what you perceive as truth without understanding it.

Jaymee.1560:

Thank you everyone who took part in this for me. Now I know. Still a bit confused on how a container will “tell” you it’s affected, but… I guess that neither here nor there. Because anything I do that gets me loot never states it is affected by MF so…. I give up

The hover text of the container will state that it is affected by magic find. It’s only specific containers in HoT.

Linken.6345:

Werent the burried chests in sw affected by mf?

It’s not clear whether they are affected by MF or only by the SW-specific participation buffs, but yeah, they should probably be on the list as well.

And as for MF having no visible effect on direct drops, it actually does have one. It’s just an effect most of the people overlook, as it’s at the level most people do not pay attention to. It’s about changing the potential blue drops into green ones.

now lets all take a guess as to why all containers aren’t effected by magic find. does anyone have a logical answer?

Ok I Did It.2854:

Obtena.7952:

Ok I Did It.2854:

TexZero.7910:

Not useful in the slightest.

RNG is RNG and no amount of MF will change players having no good RNG.

As someone with 310% base MF and around 400 with food/boosters, I can sadly say this above statement is 100% true,

No you can’t. You see, a long time ago, someone proved you and all the other naysayers wrong with something called statistics. Do I have a link? No, but it wouldn’t matter anyways would it?

All someone proved was there RNG was better than someone elses,

I capped that MF out a few months after it was introduced, and if it made as much of a difference as your trying to make out, I would be worth a fortune in game, fact is it doesn’t make a difference, whether im farming SW, CS, FGS, fractals/dungeons, the game rewards drops based 100% on RNG if your account rolls a good RNG roll you win, if it doesn’t you get nothing, having 300%+ MF has NOT IMPROVED my drops at all, I get no more rares, exoctis ( fat chance ) or T6 mats than my friends with 100% MF.

mtpelion.4562:

Magic Find works amazingly well in old maps (especially Orr) when doing events with lots of mobs.

In the newer areas, most mobs have had their drop rates scuttled in order to justify all the chest loot, and many event mobs are set to drop no loot at all. This significantly limits the usefulness of Magic Find in HoT content.

Problem is that older maps are having the events that are farmed heavily changed so that mobs don’t drop loot, CS is a great example of this, many events have been changed so that mobs drop no loot (fish farm on beach), or mobs have been removed from the event ( Arah pre south beach, had all the Risen removed completely ) other mobs have been changed to spawn vets which drop no loot, or very little loot,

The new HoT maps really made MF useless, a lot of enemies drop no loot or the chest/bags instead which are not affect by magic ( I am aware that some are affected by MF, but even with 300%+ I haven’t seen any change in drops from them )

I would say going forward you will see more and more loot from chests/bags and MF will be phased out completely.

Having maxed Magic Find at 300% long before the HoT containers affected by Magic Find were introduced, how can you ascertain there is no difference in the drops from said containers? You would have to have experienced the drops from the containers before having little to no Magic Find. Also, you would need a statistically large pool of drops from those containers to average out the results from both before, and after.

Jaymee.1560:

Still a bit confused on how a container will “tell” you it’s affected,

It literally tells you in it’s description.

Ryou.2398:

Clearly guild wars 2 is not rigged ppl find drops all the Tim, but I don’t you understood ky comment because some games are rigged from the start.

I can’t comment about these “other” games, but rigged online games would be fairly easy to spot because there actually are players who track their drops and can average their results over months or years. The people who made/control the game can go further and study anything from a specific player to every drop in the game to check whether drops are happening correctly.

Google “logical fallacy”

Most such arguments are made using such fallacies, such as the Gambler’s Fallacy:

https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/the-gamblers-fallacy

Though the overall odds of a ‘big run’ happening may be low, each spin of the wheel is itself entirely independent from the last. So whilst there may be a very small chance that heads will come up 20 times in a row if you flip a coin, the chances of heads coming up on each individual flip remain 50/50, and aren’t influenced by what happened before.

MF’s value is solely dependant on WHAT you do for loot.

If you get most of your loot from mob drops by farming big event chains, then it is going to pay out far better than if you get most of your loot from screen/dungeon/fractal chests.

Ok I Did It.2854:

All someone proved was there RNG was better than someone elses,

I capped that MF out a few months after it was introduced, and if it made as much of a difference as your trying to make out, I would be worth a fortune in game, fact is it doesn’t make a difference, whether im farming SW, CS, FGS, fractals/dungeons, the game rewards drops based 100% on RNG if your account rolls a good RNG roll you win, if it doesn’t you get nothing, having 300%+ MF has NOT IMPROVED my drops at all, I get no more rares, exoctis ( fat chance ) or T6 mats than my friends with 100% MF.

https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/anecdotal

It’s often much easier for people to believe someone’s testimony as opposed to understanding complex data and variation across a continuum. Quantitative scientific measures are almost always more accurate than personal perceptions and experiences, but our inclination is to believe that which is tangible to us, and/or the word of someone we trust over a more ‘abstract’ statistical reality.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Ok I Did It.2854:

Obtena.7952:

Ok I Did It.2854:

TexZero.7910:

Not useful in the slightest.

RNG is RNG and no amount of MF will change players having no good RNG.

As someone with 310% base MF and around 400 with food/boosters, I can sadly say this above statement is 100% true,

No you can’t. You see, a long time ago, someone proved you and all the other naysayers wrong with something called statistics. Do I have a link? No, but it wouldn’t matter anyways would it?

All someone proved was there RNG was better than someone elses,

I capped that MF out a few months after it was introduced, and if it made as much of a difference as your trying to make out, I would be worth a fortune in game, fact is it doesn’t make a difference, whether im farming SW, CS, FGS, fractals/dungeons, the game rewards drops based 100% on RNG if your account rolls a good RNG roll you win, if it doesn’t you get nothing, having 300%+ MF has NOT IMPROVED my drops at all, I get no more rares, exoctis ( fat chance ) or T6 mats than my friends with 100% MF.

mtpelion.4562:

Magic Find works amazingly well in old maps (especially Orr) when doing events with lots of mobs.

In the newer areas, most mobs have had their drop rates scuttled in order to justify all the chest loot, and many event mobs are set to drop no loot at all. This significantly limits the usefulness of Magic Find in HoT content.

Problem is that older maps are having the events that are farmed heavily changed so that mobs don’t drop loot, CS is a great example of this, many events have been changed so that mobs drop no loot (fish farm on beach), or mobs have been removed from the event ( Arah pre south beach, had all the Risen removed completely ) other mobs have been changed to spawn vets which drop no loot, or very little loot,

The new HoT maps really made MF useless, a lot of enemies drop no loot or the chest/bags instead which are not affect by magic ( I am aware that some are affected by MF, but even with 300%+ I haven’t seen any change in drops from them )

I would say going forward you will see more and more loot from chests/bags and MF will be phased out completely.

Having maxed Magic Find at 300% long before the HoT containers affected by Magic Find were introduced, how can you ascertain there is no difference in the drops from said containers? You would have to have experienced the drops from the containers before having little to no Magic Find. Also, you would need a statistically large pool of drops from those containers to average out the results from both before, and after.

Good questions. if it was me that did the test, I could answer them. And yes, it would require a statistically large pool of drops, which is why some random dude saying he didn’t notice more rares from a bunch of random activities doesn’t mean MF doesn’t work. If a rare drop from a mob is in the tenth of a percent range, you would need to kill 10’s of thousands of THOSE mobs to see the difference statistically; the more the better.

If I was to do this test, it wouldn’t have been on opening containers because Anet made it pretty clear from the beginning that container opening isn’t affected by MF; AFAIK, it’s only recently they introduced bags affected by MF.

While I did not collect my own data and quantify the impact of MF myself (I didn’t feel I needed to because I believe Anet has no reason to lie to me like other people do), I can definitely report that from killing 10’s of thousands of trash mobs in Orr on a buffed and non-buffed MF character, a difference in quality of loot that drops is noticeable.

It would be, in fact, easier to test it now because of bags affected by MF … Collect LOTS of those bags, open half on a full MF character, open the other half on a no-MF character. Collect results. The problem … it’s LOTS of work and people would rather spout off about how Anet is lying to them about MF then do that work. /shrug Science and math is a hell of a thing if you understand it.

Linken.6345:

If something have a 0.00000001 chance of droping you wont see much dif with your 0.00000004 or 5

Lightsbane.9012:

now lets all take a guess as to why all containers aren’t effected by magic find. does anyone have a logical answer?

MF is account bound, so over time the amount of MF being applied to drops naturally increases. On an individual basis, 100% (double the original chance) or 300% (quadruple) doesn’t mean much, but over the entire player base this can cause a significant increase in higher quality drops and a lower frequency of the whites/blues that they replace. More rares/exotics game-wide means more ectos salvaged and less lower-quality gear means less basic mats. It also means more precursors generated and a higher demand for mats to make ascended and legendary items.

So while the effect isn’t immediate, looking forward several years into the life of the game, the price of ectos could crash while the cost of basic mats could rise out of control. So MF doesn’t affect most loot bags/chests to even out the supply of lower quality items vs. better loot dropping from mobs.

Not entirely right, or true, tolunart. Ectos are a RARE salvage result of rares and exotics, not the only result. You’re going to still get basic salvage results no matter what.

Aidan Savage.2078:

Not entirely right, or true, tolunart. Ectos are a RARE salvage result of rares and exotics, not the only result. You’re going to still get basic salvage results no matter what.

There are MF-independent ways to influence the rate of ectos (such as which salvage kit you use), I’m talking about long-term results of hundreds of thousands of players salvaging over a period of years. An increase in the number of rares dropping will increase the supply of ectos which will lower the price. I don’t believe that the mithril etc. that also drops from those salvages will make up for the loss of other mats that would be in demand from a resulting increase in ascended crafting.

That’s just my opinion, however, speculating on what JS would say about such a scenario.

Sad to hear that it doesn’t affect most boxes/bags that you obtain from events and as drops from mobs. I was really hoping that MF would help me get all the skins from those champion boxes

tolunart.2095:

Ryou.2398:

Clearly guild wars 2 is not rigged ppl find drops all the Tim, but I don’t you understood ky comment because some games are rigged from the start.

I can’t comment about these “other” games, but rigged online games would be fairly easy to spot because there actually are players who track their drops and can average their results over months or years. The people who made/control the game can go further and study anything from a specific player to every drop in the game to check whether drops are happening correctly.

Google “logical fallacy”

Most such arguments are made using such fallacies, such as the Gambler’s Fallacy:

https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/the-gamblers-fallacy

Though the overall odds of a ‘big run’ happening may be low, each spin of the wheel is itself entirely independent from the last. So whilst there may be a very small chance that heads will come up 20 times in a row if you flip a coin, the chances of heads coming up on each individual flip remain 50/50, and aren’t influenced by what happened before.

Ok im not sure if your trying to say it has not existed in other mmorpgs because they are easy to spot, but some online games and mmorpgs ive played over the years have been very much exposed, I understand that most are 50/50. I dont need a describtion of 50/50 lol but thank you.

Anyways my point was there have been quite a few games where people fight over it all the time because there is something wrong with the gambling system, guild wars 2 is nothing like this as I already stated so there is nothing to worry about.

Lightsbane.9012:

now lets all take a guess as to why all containers aren’t effected by magic find. does anyone have a logical answer?

My guess would be because some containers are a guaranteed drop (champs for example) and thus more easily farmed. Where as a monster drop is NEVER guaranteed.

tolunart.2095:

Aidan Savage.2078:

Not entirely right, or true, tolunart. Ectos are a RARE salvage result of rares and exotics, not the only result. You’re going to still get basic salvage results no matter what.

There are MF-independent ways to influence the rate of ectos (such as which salvage kit you use), I’m talking about long-term results of hundreds of thousands of players salvaging over a period of years. An increase in the number of rares dropping will increase the supply of ectos which will lower the price. I don’t believe that the mithril etc. that also drops from those salvages will make up for the loss of other mats that would be in demand from a resulting increase in ascended crafting.

That’s just my opinion, however, speculating on what JS would say about such a scenario.

…seriously? Lower price of ecto will impact ascended crafting? More than the price of basic materials like t5/6 metal, cloth, leather and wood?

That’s an… interesting claim.

Simply put: if it’s a chest with a key (especially keys that can get farmed) assume MF will not work. In general it works for almost nothing except direct kills (yes, I know there is stuff affected by it and the wiki covers that. This is just a general guideline I go by).

As far as how useful MF is (even though this wasn’t part of TCs question and other have covered this already here):

- buying MF is not “worth it” from a gold perspective. At best maybe go up to 100% Account MF, then save your gold.

- on average higher MF will mean better (not more) loot thus higher gold gain from anything that benefits MF.

- No, this does not take into account people who are super lucky. Obviously if your account is flagged by arenanet to kitten out precursors left and right, you won’t need magic find (and we all know our accounts are not flagged since we are discussing value of magic find)

- Same goes for people who are super unlucky. If your account is flagged to never get rare or above drops, magic find won’t save you.

tl;dr: absolutely get your MF to 300% asap. Best buy ectos en mass off the TP and salvage them. Just make sure to tell other beforehand so they too can drive up the price. /sarcasm

I usually just say thanks for the banner….

Stacking as much MF as possible when farming feels like it makes a difference, but I’m not looking for an item with a drop rate .00002%…. Rares do me fine.

I would say it’s marginally useful. It is certainly not worth maxing via the ecto salvage method. With maxed luck I get more exotics than white items.

If you do Tarir runs with any regularity you will soon be swimming in luck essence. Max your luck that way if you want.

Magic Find is like religion – when you find something good you praise it but when you don’t, you cast it aside.

The real problem is not knowing exactly how it modifies the loot (other than adding a flat percent increase… to what, though?) roll because we just don’t know how loot is determined.