Guild Wars 2

I currently have a level 80 warrior I recently got a magic find set for. With this, I have about 175% magic find, maybe a little less if I have no magic find nourishment.

I have tried to do research on magic find and what it does exactly, but I can’t find any definite answer. The Guild Wars 2 wiki says: "Magic find is an attribute that increases a player’s chance to receive uncommon loot from dead foes. Magic find is applied when a foe dies; it does not apply to loot from chests, items created in the Mystic Forge, or random drops from gathering. " However, I have seen many sites, videos, and tests that have said/shown this is incorrect. Only rares? For example:

In this video, he uses magic find to salvage rares and comes out with more ectos than when he salvaged without magic find. Is this a coincidence? It has also seemed that I get more masterwork and rare items from chests while doing dungeon runs…is this just a coincidence as well?

Even if it is correct, what does the word “uncommon” mean exactly? Fine+? Masterwork+? Does magic find double your percent chance of getting something? (example, 100% magic find changes a drop rate from 2% to 4%) or does it simply add 1% for every 100% magic find (example, drop rate of 2% increases to 3%)?

If anyone has any actual idea or have done their own tests on magic find, please let me know.

“20 slot fractal uncommon equipment box” will prioritize masterwork items. I think that’s not the first spot I’ve seen them use “uncommon” instead of masterwork. (similar to how I’ve seen them interchange “energy” and “endurance”)
I have also never seen any prove or disprove the benefit to wearing magic find. It could be the case that magic find only finds you more greens (being highly literally with the word “uncommon”, rather than uncommon+).

Uncommon “should” mean masterwork or above. Currently there are some bugs where the new loot boxes as well as mobs aren’t working as intended. From my research i notice a large improvement with MF, but this depends on how much you have. I don’t have my full info ready yet but I have a quick pic that might help show which is below.

MF helps you find rarer items as opposed to average items. The exact formula is unknown and I do have a few ideas on how it works but I’m still working on that. For now, in my mind I’ve found enough info aside from the small data collection below, to prove to me MF is useful in drops. How its applied to bags/chest etc, I am not 100% sure on. I believe it does not affect chests from what I’ve heard. The more rarer the salvage kit the better chance at a ecto drop. But this is still a chance, and RNG is RNG.

The thing is, with the droprates being as low as they are, you’d need an incredibly high amount of pulls to find any discernable difference.
Assuming a 1/1000 chance to pull an exotic on a random mob, and a 2/1000 with 100% magic find, you’d need roughly 65000 pulls to be 95% sure that there actually is a difference, if my math is right (of which I’m not totally sure, but it should be in that ballpark).

wintermute.4096:

The thing is, with the droprates being as low as they are, you’d need an incredibly high amount of pulls to find any discernable difference.
Assuming a 1/1000 chance to pull an exotic on a random mob, and a 2/1000 with 100% magic find, you’d need roughly 65000 pulls to be 95% sure that there actually is a difference, if my math is right (of which I’m not totally sure, but it should be in that ballpark).

For me droprates don’t seem bad. A big part of it is tagging properly and the current tagging mechanic which is being worked on. Its neither entirely gamers or the games fault, but it doesn’t help if there is both heh. After over 2 months, about 12+ hours a day, I noticed a large difference in drops when I switched to a complete MF set with buffs. The other drops were done with 30%, the new with 230MF. What isn’t recorded is the 8 rares I got soon after making that picture, which when averaged in is a pretty different outlook alltogether. I’ve yet to see a decrease when using the 230MF, but of course it also takes many buffs etc to reach that. Which I’m not about to use every day :P

Geotherma.2395:

wintermute.4096:

The thing is, with the droprates being as low as they are, you’d need an incredibly high amount of pulls to find any discernable difference.
Assuming a 1/1000 chance to pull an exotic on a random mob, and a 2/1000 with 100% magic find, you’d need roughly 65000 pulls to be 95% sure that there actually is a difference, if my math is right (of which I’m not totally sure, but it should be in that ballpark).

For me droprates don’t seem bad. A big part of it is tagging properly and the current tagging mechanic which is being worked on. Its neither entirely gamers or the games fault, but it doesn’t help if there is both heh. After over 2 months, about 12+ hours a day, I noticed a large difference in drops when I switched to a complete MF set with buffs. The other drops were done with 30%, the new with 230MF. What isn’t recorded is the 8 rares I got soon after making that picture, which when averaged in is a pretty different outlook alltogether. I’ve yet to see a decrease when using the 230MF, but of course it also takes many buffs etc to reach that. Which I’m not about to use every day :P

12+ hours a day O_O

Ricky Da Man.5064:

Geotherma.2395:

wintermute.4096:

The thing is, with the droprates being as low as they are, you’d need an incredibly high amount of pulls to find any discernable difference.
Assuming a 1/1000 chance to pull an exotic on a random mob, and a 2/1000 with 100% magic find, you’d need roughly 65000 pulls to be 95% sure that there actually is a difference, if my math is right (of which I’m not totally sure, but it should be in that ballpark).

For me droprates don’t seem bad. A big part of it is tagging properly and the current tagging mechanic which is being worked on. Its neither entirely gamers or the games fault, but it doesn’t help if there is both heh. After over 2 months, about 12+ hours a day, I noticed a large difference in drops when I switched to a complete MF set with buffs. The other drops were done with 30%, the new with 230MF. What isn’t recorded is the 8 rares I got soon after making that picture, which when averaged in is a pretty different outlook alltogether. I’ve yet to see a decrease when using the 230MF, but of course it also takes many buffs etc to reach that. Which I’m not about to use every day :P

12+ hours a day O_O

Yea its a long story lol… 739 hours 60 days.

wintermute.4096:

The thing is, with the droprates being as low as they are, you’d need an incredibly high amount of pulls to find any discernable difference.
Assuming a 1/1000 chance to pull an exotic on a random mob, and a 2/1000 with 100% magic find, you’d need roughly 65000 pulls to be 95% sure that there actually is a difference, if my math is right (of which I’m not totally sure, but it should be in that ballpark).

I’m not questioning the usefulness of magic find…I have actually noticed a difference after switching to my set. I’m just wondering what does it do exactly. So much speculation here and there about what it affects and what it doesn’t. I really wish ArenaNet would just say what it does…like they do for power, precision, etc. I don’t see the big deal.

The Eternal Grace.3157:

wintermute.4096:

The thing is, with the droprates being as low as they are, you’d need an incredibly high amount of pulls to find any discernable difference.
Assuming a 1/1000 chance to pull an exotic on a random mob, and a 2/1000 with 100% magic find, you’d need roughly 65000 pulls to be 95% sure that there actually is a difference, if my math is right (of which I’m not totally sure, but it should be in that ballpark).

I’m not questioning the usefulness of magic find…I have actually noticed a difference after switching to my set. I’m just wondering what does it do exactly. So much speculation here and there about what it affects and what it doesn’t. I really wish ArenaNet would just say what it does…like they do for power, precision, etc. I don’t see the big deal.

“Magic find

They only work on creature kills, chests however have a better table then normal kills. We wanted to avoid the game play of killing a boss and then having to equip your whole Magic Find set before opening the chest.
Also magic find is calculated from when the creature is killed so it’s also not viable to use your normal gear set kill a boss then switch to magic find."

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

“It does not work on the Mystic Forge, magic find only effects the loot generated from killing monsters. (this includes crafting materials, higher tiers of loot like rares & exotics… etc… )
Granted Zomoross is mighty and I’m sure he randomly gives more favor to those who are wearing a tin foil hat in real life and are spinning in their chair while clicking the forge button he is evil like that.”

It simply increases the hcance of getting a rarer item instead of a lesser item. This does not mean when you see a porous bone that it could have been an exotic though. Basically better quality loot.

The sample sized used in the video to determine ecto’s from rares is way too small. You need way more than 5 salvages(about 30) a trial to actually have actual statistics.

Shuguard.7125:

The sample sized used in the video to determine ecto’s from rares is way too small. You need way more than 5 salvages(about 30) a trial to actually have actual statistics.

Agreed.

Shuguard.7125:

The sample sized used in the video to determine ecto’s from rares is way too small. You need way more than 5 salvages(about 30) a trial to actually have actual statistics.

That’s exactly what I was thinking, but still…is this a coincidence?

The Eternal Grace.3157:

Shuguard.7125:

The sample sized used in the video to determine ecto’s from rares is way too small. You need way more than 5 salvages(about 30) a trial to actually have actual statistics.

That’s exactly what I was thinking, but still…is this a coincidence?

Coincidence indeed. If you randomly roll dice 30 times in a casino and win $1000 does that mean that the next 30 dice rolls will win you $1000? Small statistics are small.

Geotherma.2395:

The Eternal Grace.3157:

Shuguard.7125:

The sample sized used in the video to determine ecto’s from rares is way too small. You need way more than 5 salvages(about 30) a trial to actually have actual statistics.

That’s exactly what I was thinking, but still…is this a coincidence?

Coincidence indeed. If you randomly roll dice 30 times in a casino and win $1000 does that mean that the next 30 dice rolls will win you $1000? Small statistics are small.

Obviously coincidence is a huge factor, but magic find has absolutely nothing to do with salvaging?

The Eternal Grace.3157:

Geotherma.2395:

The Eternal Grace.3157:

Shuguard.7125:

The sample sized used in the video to determine ecto’s from rares is way too small. You need way more than 5 salvages(about 30) a trial to actually have actual statistics.

That’s exactly what I was thinking, but still…is this a coincidence?

Coincidence indeed. If you randomly roll dice 30 times in a casino and win $1000 does that mean that the next 30 dice rolls will win you $1000? Small statistics are small.

Obviously coincidence is a huge factor, but magic find has absolutely nothing to do with salvaging?

As far as what the devs said “They only work on creature kills”, unless there is another post correcting it that’s all I could find so far, sorry. If we are lucky and the moons align, and the moa sing in perfect pitch under starlight in november, maybe a dev will answer this ^^;

The Eternal Grace.3157:

Geotherma.2395:

The Eternal Grace.3157:

Shuguard.7125:

The sample sized used in the video to determine ecto’s from rares is way too small. You need way more than 5 salvages(about 30) a trial to actually have actual statistics.

That’s exactly what I was thinking, but still…is this a coincidence?

Coincidence indeed. If you randomly roll dice 30 times in a casino and win $1000 does that mean that the next 30 dice rolls will win you $1000? Small statistics are small.

Obviously coincidence is a huge factor, but magic find has absolutely nothing to do with salvaging?

Pretty sure magic find only works to increase the rarity of the loot you get not sure how people are drawing the conclusion it works with salvaging

RoRo.8270:

The Eternal Grace.3157:

Geotherma.2395:

The Eternal Grace.3157:

Shuguard.7125:

The sample sized used in the video to determine ecto’s from rares is way too small. You need way more than 5 salvages(about 30) a trial to actually have actual statistics.

That’s exactly what I was thinking, but still…is this a coincidence?

Coincidence indeed. If you randomly roll dice 30 times in a casino and win $1000 does that mean that the next 30 dice rolls will win you $1000? Small statistics are small.

Obviously coincidence is a huge factor, but magic find has absolutely nothing to do with salvaging?

Pretty sure magic find only works to increase the rarity of the loot you get not sure how people are drawing the conclusion it works with salvaging

That’s what I thought, but the video said differently (as well as other sources), so I was just wondering. It’s not like this is the ONLY test this guy has done, though..it was just what was done in his video.