Guild Wars 2

Anet its long enough give us hard numbers!

here my story found a precursor from a lv 49 mob at 90% MF

since than nothing

I have no numbers but from observation MF does nothing

happy day

BALSA

need ad I’m around 200 now

Ill just copypasta my post from the essence of luck eater thread.

Substance E.4852:

CandyHearts.6025:

I had 0% luck. I was on a level 14. I fought Shadow Behemoth. I got exotics.

I learn about magic find. I stack it to 101% and I return to Shadow Behemoth on a level 80 character. Haven’t gotten 1 exotic from him since.

A 100% increase in the drop rate of something that only has a 0.001% of dropping is still only 0.002%.

Even the max of 300% is only 4x the rate. Quadrupling insignificant = only slightly less insignificant.

200% increase only means 3x as likely to drop, not 200x more likely.

OP, I don’t think you understand magic find. It’s not more likely to give you a precusor, at least not directly. It’s just more likely to give you a rare or higher drop. The only way to test it would be to count the drops from kills over a long period of time on characters of vastly different mf levels.

And remember even a pile of vile or putrid essence is still counted as a rare. I believe the real thing with magic find is that, by not affecting bags and chests (except in PvP) it has a very small affect on our overall wealth.

If there is an item that has a 0.01% chance to drop upon killing an enemy, +300% magic find will only bring it up to a 0.04% chance.

Personally I noticed a significant increase in the number of greens dropping for me even at only +100% magic find. At lower MF the drops I got from a fractal run were mainly blues. Now it’s mainly greens. I think rares are dropping more for me, but they don’t drop often enough for me to be sure. Exotics drop even less, so I have no idea if my drop rate has increased.

Still, more greens means my income from selling the drops has gone up. So increasing my magic find is useful.

Vayne.8563:

OP, I don’t think you understand magic find. It’s not more likely to give you a precusor, at least not directly. It’s just more likely to give you a rare or higher drop. The only way to test it would be to count the drops from kills over a long period of time on characters of vastly different mf levels.

And remember even a pile of vile or putrid essence is still counted as a rare. I believe the real thing with magic find is that, by not affecting bags and chests (except in PvP) it has a very small affect on our overall wealth.

we all don’t understand MF

its a myth

anet don’t put out numbers

so the real math is X* X = Y

we don’t know

I want anet give us numbers

its to funny let people collect a X of amount and increase it %

Balsa.3951:

Vayne.8563:

OP, I don’t think you understand magic find. It’s not more likely to give you a precusor, at least not directly. It’s just more likely to give you a rare or higher drop. The only way to test it would be to count the drops from kills over a long period of time on characters of vastly different mf levels.

And remember even a pile of vile or putrid essence is still counted as a rare. I believe the real thing with magic find is that, by not affecting bags and chests (except in PvP) it has a very small affect on our overall wealth.

we all don’t understand MF

its a myth

anet don’t put out numbers

so the real math is X* X = Y

we don’t know

I want anet give us numbers

its to funny let people collect a X of amount and increase it %

lets just say a T6 mat to drop is 0.5%, with 300% MF thats only a 1.5% now

Not much when you look at it like that, so yeah it does seem like it is fake, also with many of the new events NOT giving us mob kill drops it may feel even worst.

*Note: the 0.5% is a made up number based off what I feel T6 drops are in open world from mob kills only, I pulled this number out my kitten .

Balsa.3951:

Vayne.8563:

OP, I don’t think you understand magic find. It’s not more likely to give you a precusor, at least not directly. It’s just more likely to give you a rare or higher drop. The only way to test it would be to count the drops from kills over a long period of time on characters of vastly different mf levels.

And remember even a pile of vile or putrid essence is still counted as a rare. I believe the real thing with magic find is that, by not affecting bags and chests (except in PvP) it has a very small affect on our overall wealth.

we all don’t understand MF

its a myth

anet don’t put out numbers

so the real math is X* X = Y

we don’t know

I want anet give us numbers

its to funny let people collect a X of amount and increase it %

Except that you have 0 evidence it’s a myth and repeating it has about as much value as me saying the world is flat over and over again.

Anecdotally I see a big difference between my alt account and my main account which has much more magic find.

Faux.1937:

Balsa.3951:

Vayne.8563:

OP, I don’t think you understand magic find. It’s not more likely to give you a precusor, at least not directly. It’s just more likely to give you a rare or higher drop. The only way to test it would be to count the drops from kills over a long period of time on characters of vastly different mf levels.

And remember even a pile of vile or putrid essence is still counted as a rare. I believe the real thing with magic find is that, by not affecting bags and chests (except in PvP) it has a very small affect on our overall wealth.

we all don’t understand MF

its a myth

anet don’t put out numbers

so the real math is X* X = Y

we don’t know

I want anet give us numbers

its to funny let people collect a X of amount and increase it %

lets just say a T6 mat to drop is 0.5%, with 300% MF thats only a 1.5% now

Not much when you look at it like that, so yeah it does seem like it is fake, also with many of the new events NOT giving us mob kill drops it may feel even worst.

*Note: the 0.5% is a made up number based off what I feel T6 drops are in open world from mob kills only, I pulled this number out my kitten .

exactly ! thank u we all pull numbers out of our kitten

so any Dev please clarify, we are stepping in the darkness

Balsa.3951:

Faux.1937:

Balsa.3951:

Vayne.8563:

OP, I don’t think you understand magic find. It’s not more likely to give you a precusor, at least not directly. It’s just more likely to give you a rare or higher drop. The only way to test it would be to count the drops from kills over a long period of time on characters of vastly different mf levels.

And remember even a pile of vile or putrid essence is still counted as a rare. I believe the real thing with magic find is that, by not affecting bags and chests (except in PvP) it has a very small affect on our overall wealth.

we all don’t understand MF

its a myth

anet don’t put out numbers

so the real math is X* X = Y

we don’t know

I want anet give us numbers

its to funny let people collect a X of amount and increase it %

lets just say a T6 mat to drop is 0.5%, with 300% MF thats only a 1.5% now

Not much when you look at it like that, so yeah it does seem like it is fake, also with many of the new events NOT giving us mob kill drops it may feel even worst.

*Note: the 0.5% is a made up number based off what I feel T6 drops are in open world from mob kills only, I pulled this number out my kitten .

exactly ! thank u we all pull numbers out of our kitten

so any Dev please clarify, we are stepping in the darkness

You don’t seem to understand the difference between not knowing something and it not existing, or being a myth. I can think of reasons why the devs might not reveal the exact formula. For one thing, it could be quite a complex formula that varies based on a number of factors.

For example, according to patch notes, an 80 level character has a better chance of getting at level drops in zones 55 levels or higher (I think it’s 55 if I remember correctly). That means that you have more chance of getting a rare in those zones, and that would affect the magic find formula.

That’s because in low zones, there are no rares at level.

Seems to me that the certainty you’re asking for you’re not going to get, and that still doesn’t suggest magic find is a myth.

ANet simply picked a wrong RNG for precursor. To me they apparently use a very common population based RNG across everything. However, because each population based random number generation is an independent trial, a vast majority of players will never see a precursor, while a few lucky individuals could see a few. Instead, they should select a random function for precursor drop used in reliability or survival analysis. Eventually a machine will breakdown and living being will dead within a finite time. Thus, the probability for getting a precursor should increase as play time increase. So that a few luck ones can a precursor very early, but eventually everyone get one within a reasonable time.

This is what Isaiah Cartwright, Lead Designer had to say about it:

“Everytime you kill a monster you roll on a number of tables, inside these tables are different rarity categories. Magic find increases the chances that 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. This improves not just the rarity of the items you get but can also improve your chances at getting trophies and rare crafting materials like lodestones.”

The chances for a rare, exotic, and ascended are so small that increasing your magic find has a negligible effect. So the OP is right, it’s pretty useless. That has been my experience, and I’ve boosted mine to over 300% on several occasions.

Substance E.4852:

Ill just copypasta my post from the essence of luck eater thread.

Substance E.4852:

CandyHearts.6025:

I had 0% luck. I was on a level 14. I fought Shadow Behemoth. I got exotics.

I learn about magic find. I stack it to 101% and I return to Shadow Behemoth on a level 80 character. Haven’t gotten 1 exotic from him since.

A 100% increase in the drop rate of something that only has a 0.001% of dropping is still only 0.002%.

Even the max of 300% is only 4x the rate. Quadrupling insignificant = only slightly less insignificant.

200% increase only means 3x as likely to drop, not 200x more likely.

Yeah, this is the problem, OP.

The truth is that you were extremely lucky and significantly beat the odds by getting a precursor so soon after starting playing.

Even though you are slightly more likely to get one now than you were then, because the chance is still so low, you’re still extremely unlikely to get another one.

Think of it like this: 0 × 200% is still 0.

…and OK, your chance of getting a pre is not 0, but it’s not that far off.

Whereas, say you have a 5% chance of getting a rare (no idea what the actual % is), a 200% increase of that 5% should mean you get significantly more rares than you did previously.

So, it’s still worth having.

But the title of the thread is Magic Find is a Myth which means we are talking about more than just precursers here. And I agree with OP it’s a very frustrating aspect to this game. I have to class it as “GRIND” along with all that “SALVAGE” we do. Grind grind grind.

Balsa.3951:

Vayne.8563:

OP, I don’t think you understand magic find. It’s not more likely to give you a precusor, at least not directly. It’s just more likely to give you a rare or higher drop. The only way to test it would be to count the drops from kills over a long period of time on characters of vastly different mf levels.

And remember even a pile of vile or putrid essence is still counted as a rare. I believe the real thing with magic find is that, by not affecting bags and chests (except in PvP) it has a very small affect on our overall wealth.

we all don’t understand MF

its a myth

anet don’t put out numbers

so the real math is X* X = Y

we don’t know

I want anet give us numbers

its to funny let people collect a X of amount and increase it %

It’s not a myth because you don’t understand it. It does increase loot drops. That’s what it does. There is no need for Anet to reveal numbers to us.

Drow.2081:

But the title of the thread is Magic Find is a Myth which means we are talking about more than just precursers here. And I agree with OP it’s a very frustrating aspect to this game. I have to class it as “GRIND” along with all that “SALVAGE” we do. Grind grind grind.

Well, if you’re talking about having to deal with constantly full bags and disenchanting endless drops, for only a marginal improvement in your finances, then I would have to agree with you.

But, I doubt magic find is “a myth” – as in, I think it exists and that it does increase your chance of finding better loot.

Otherwise, they would just be straight out lying to their playerbase.

Whether they give out exact percentage chances of the drops involved, or not.

I notice much better ecto rates whenever there’s a celebration bonus. You need lots of it to notice a difference. I remember having four stacks of the blue luck essences…and only seeing a marginal gain of 4% anyway -_-

On some characters I’m intentionally going straight to ascended from rare or masterwork because I like seeing big gains better than marginal gains over time.

1. Magic Find gives an increase in getting better loot (drop).
2. Most loot in Guild Wars 2 is crap.
3. The higher your Magic Find is the better crap you get.

I’ve had max Magic Find for over a year. I kill a lot of stuff. Using boosts and food I usually travel around with 503%. I have seen an increase in the level of the drops, ie Greens instead of Blues, high lvl materials and I get a few surprises (I had an exotic drop on a lvl 1-15 map). If a person thought getting high MF would greatly improve the livelihood of getting a Precursor they will be disappointed. I was.

Which pretty much summarizes how I feel about the game.

It’s not a “myth”. But neither is it worth actively salvaging stuff to get (as in buying to salvage to get luck). I have 178 luck and I guess I see an improvement but not enough that the gains to get that much luck would have covered the cost.

I had 799% MF in silverwaste a few times and noticed between one and five hyena’s were dropping t6 mats. Not that it was worth boosting my MF that much, but those are pretty good odds.

Also I had 500% mf-ish in CoE and got a Venom pre. Too bad it wasn’t an actual good pre.

It’s not a myth. It’s just that people see numbers like 100% or 300% and (understandably) think that because those numbers are big, the effect will be big.

But the effect is not proportionate to what your mind imagines when it sees the big numbers. The effect is subtle and mostly noticeable with a program only the devs would have access to that allows you to calculate a massive amount of loot over a simulated length of time.

In any given day, unless you are daily killing and looting thousands of mobs, it’s unlikely you’ll get anywhere near the number needed to see an accurate sample.

The one part I don’t understand is the thing about it supposedly not affecting bags and if so, why. Especially in SW, where just about everything comes in bags or chests, but it also gives a big MF boost? There must be an explanation on that that I missed somewhere along the line. Cause it seems like a big prank when you stop and think about it.

Labjax.2465:

It’s not a myth. It’s just that people see numbers like 100% or 300% and (understandably) think that because those numbers are big, the effect will be big.

But the effect is not proportionate to what your mind imagines when it sees the big numbers. The effect is subtle and mostly noticeable with a program only the devs would have access to that allows you to calculate a massive amount of loot over a simulated length of time.

In any given day, unless you are daily killing and looting thousands of mobs, it’s unlikely you’ll get anywhere near the number needed to see an accurate sample.

The one part I don’t understand is the thing about it supposedly not affecting bags and if so, why. Especially in SW, where just about everything comes in bags or chests, but it also gives a big MF boost? There must be an explanation on that that I missed somewhere along the line. Cause it seems like a big prank when you stop and think about it.

This, exactly this. I’d love it if Magic find worked on chests and or bags like it does in SW. To me it’s now just an annoyance salvaging material and having all this luck essence taking up space. Or it would be nice if you know, you completed an event and say if you didn’t get an exotic or precursor, you’re chances for getting one would go up…..would need refinement obviously, but seems like it’d reward people more. Could make it so repeating an event doesn’t increase your chances if you already did it for the day.

From the wiki :
A Q&A session with Isiah Cartwright revealed the way Magic Find works: “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. This improves not just the rarity of the items you get but can also improve your chances at getting trophies and rare crafting materials like lodestones.”

Labjax.2465:

But the effect is not proportionate to what your mind imagines when it sees the big numbers. The effect is subtle and mostly noticeable with a program only the devs would have access to that allows you to calculate a massive amount of loot over a simulated length of time.

The one part I don’t understand is the thing about it supposedly not affecting bags and if so, why. Especially in SW, where just about everything comes in bags or chests, but it also gives a big MF boost?

I assume one reason Anet chooses not to tell us the numbers is that if they change them we would scream holy kittens.

One of Anet’s main jobs is to control the economy. They do this for many reasons but the main is to continue to promote the use of the Gem Store. It’s the answer to most “why” questions. Why doesn’t Magic Find effect chests and bags, because they can predict the increase in market gold without having a wildcard MF factor.

magic find isn’t a myth, but it’s not enough of a boost to make it a legend either.

the best way to get good drops is to access the loot table more frequently. pure volume will net you better rewards, every time.

and don’t do content that specifically does not benefit from magic find. open world chests, end of dungeon floaties, or event floaties.

kill mobs. all the time. the only chest I know of that benefits from MF at all are the bandit chests, after a vinewraith kill, which is why silverwastes is so profitable. again: pure volume. who does a VW in the map and opens one bandit chest afterward. you get a train going and clear the map of chests 2 or 3 times. after going through 100+ keys, your drop rate is much improved because of volume.

roachsrealm.9284:

the best way to get good drops is to access the loot table more frequently. pure volume will net you better rewards, every time.

kill mobs. all the time. the only chest I know of that benefits from MF at all are the bandit chests, after a vinewraith kill, which is why silverwastes is so profitable. again: pure volume. who does a VW in the map and opens one bandit chest afterward. you get a train going and clear the map of chests 2 or 3 times. after going through 100+ keys, your drop rate is much improved because of volume.

I agree totally and I don’t do Silverwastes or any of the trains. I had a job and then I retired, I don’t need another job. I “play” this game for enjoyment. Nothing I like better than just wandering around killing stuff. /Really

After Anet nerfed key farming the human personal story they indicated the key drop would be increased. Since then I’ve made an effort not to run past foes but kill everything. I’ve proved to myself that the increase was one of those 0.00000001% to 0.00000002%. I’ve had no keys drop. Just another situation where they weren’t open about the true drop rate.

If Halloween is another rerun this year, load up on your magic find and go to the labyrinth.

Magic find makes a huge difference there. N Its a glimpse of how loot progression could have gone in this game

TheLastNobody.8319:

This, exactly this. I’d love it if Magic find worked on chests and or bags like it does in SW. To me it’s now just an annoyance salvaging material and having all this luck essence taking up space. Or it would be nice if you know, you completed an event and say if you didn’t get an exotic or precursor, you’re chances for getting one would go up…..would need refinement obviously, but seems like it’d reward people more. Could make it so repeating an event doesn’t increase your chances if you already did it for the day.

Yup. There are definitely things they could do to make it more enjoyable. One method would be tokens. You get enough of a particular kind of token and then you can get an item.

But I think it’s a game of psychology more than anything. They don’t want people to think about the long-term grind. They just want them to keep coming back for the next chance at a shiny from the roll of a die. Like gambling.

Zet.9130:

I assume one reason Anet chooses not to tell us the numbers is that if they change them we would scream holy kittens.

One of Anet’s main jobs is to control the economy. They do this for many reasons but the main is to continue to promote the use of the Gem Store. It’s the answer to most “why” questions. Why doesn’t Magic Find effect chests and bags, because they can predict the increase in market gold without having a wildcard MF factor.

Could be, could be.

I’ve had MF 300 for over year and a half now (313 now with achievements + 20 from infusion) and I can tell you my anecdotal evidence. It was pretty obvious that I was getting rares way more frequently, so it definitelly does something. The exotics are just too rare to notice the increased drop rate. Anyways I got also a minstrel precursor in DT this year, but then agian we were killing a lot of mobs there….so if you don’t believe in MF just kill more mobs.