Guild Wars 2

Can someone please point me to the update notes (and presumably rationale) for the mystic forge returning level 75-79 items when four level 80’s are put in. All I can find is the published official release note stating that the item returned will be the average of those put in. I have just put in 8 sets of level 80 exotic dungeon weapons and been returned 3 level 80’s, one level 79 and four level 78’s. To be short-changed at all seems incongruous with the published release note, but to be short-changed 5 out of 8 times seems to me a major impact. Or is this a bug?

This was something that started happening a few months back. There’s been no statement that it’s a bug or that it’s not a bug, from what I can recall.

I’ve experienced this happening even when using level 80 exotics. So, I stopped tossing stuff into the mysterious toilet and just save the money up to buy whatever it is Zomorros doesn’t want me to have.

My understanding is that the Forge looks at the rarity of the item not the level, thus (4) exotics return an exotic. I would assume that you (OP) are forging for a precursor, that being said, a level 78 exotic has the same chance of returning a precursor as a level 80 exotic. This is the same reason you can throw in (4) level 78 exotics and get a level 80 exotic back. So if your goal is to put the exotics you get back in the forge to try again, it doesn’t really matter if they are level 78 or 80.

Here is a quote from the offical wiki:

Four pieces of equipment of the same quality can be combined in the forge. The input can be weapons, armor, trinkets, or any combination of thereof. The output will be as specific as the input is. For example, if only weapons are used, the result is always a weapon. Similarly, starting with four medium helmets guarantees ending up with a medium helmet. In addition, the output equipment will be 3-12 levels higher than the average of the levels of the four piece of input equipment, except for exotic weapons averaging L75 or better, in which case there is a chance of ending up with L70-79 weapons. There is also a roughly 20% chance of receiving a higher quality item. This has a chance of producing soul-bound equipment sold by Karma Merchants.

This started happening with the April Feature Pack (April 15, 2014). The specific patch note that we all assumed was about this was:

Some Mystic Forge recipes have been updated to provide a wider range of results.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Game_updates/2014-04-15

At the time they told us that they wanted the Mystic Toilet to return “a greater range of items”, which is devspeak for “more junk that you didn’t actually want”.

Yep. Not a bug. It’s an “improvement”.

See, you should be happy!

Herr der Friedhoefe.2490:

At the time they told us that they wanted the Mystic Toilet to return “a greater range of items”, which is devspeak for “more junk that you didn’t actually want”.

[Sarcasm] Oh, good. I used to worry the Mystic Toilet was tossing out too many upgrades in exchange for worthless junk. Glad to see they fixed that! [/sarcasm]

In terms of forging precursors, it doesnt matter, which level the exotic weapon is, as long as it is lvl 75+.
That change in the APril feature patch didnt mean that the chance of getting a precursor was nerfed, nor the chance of getting a named exotic. The level 76-79 exotic weapons you sometimes get from the forge now, mostly replaced crafted exotic (pearl) weapons on the loot table.
Given the fact that those lvl 76-79 weapons usually have a sigil on them as well as a stat combo that lets you salvage an inscription (dire, magi, shaman etc.) off of them, i would rather get one of them than an exotic level 80 pearl weapon.

Wanze.8410:

In terms of forging precursors, it doesnt matter, which level the exotic weapon is, as long as it is lvl 75+.
That change in the APril feature patch didnt mean that the chance of getting a precursor was nerfed, nor the chance of getting a named exotic. The level 76-79 exotic weapons you sometimes get from the forge now, mostly replaced crafted exotic (pearl) weapons on the loot table.
Given the fact that those lvl 76-79 weapons usually have a sigil on them as well as a stat combo that lets you salvage an inscription (dire, magi, shaman etc.) off of them, i would rather get one of them than an exotic level 80 pearl weapon.

This is correct. Your ability to forge a precursor is not being negatively impacted, however your chance at different skins and weapons/armor with sigils/runes was improved.

mtpelion.4562:

This is correct. Your ability to forge a precursor is not being negatively impacted, however your chance at different skins and weapons/armor with sigils/runes was improved.

To be perfectly honest, I consider it a downgrade as well. Most named exotics are 80 as well as those with unique looking skins.
Adding in the ranges of 78 and 79 ish gear makes those harder to obtain too.

Not to mention some of us, when putting in level 80 gear, prefer to get back 80 gear, just in case it then becomes a stat combo I can use on another character. Anything below 80 I consider a waste of 4 exotics and salvage material at that point.

Throwing in about 30 lvl80 exotics, at one point I ended up with only <= lvl78 exotics, which if you think about it, is so sad, its hilarious.

At first that only happened when I used mystic forge stones (you know, a few months after release), since Ive been back after a long break, that happens with and without mystic forge stones.

Thanks Veron for posting the patch notes. It also explains the rather ridiculous prices on precursors then. If you dont even get a guaranteed lvl80 exotic back, thats like increasing lotto to 100 numbers and saying “but hey, you get to choose from a bigger pool of numbers”.

American euphemisms at work.

Talonblaze.3175:

mtpelion.4562:

This is correct. Your ability to forge a precursor is not being negatively impacted, however your chance at different skins and weapons/armor with sigils/runes was improved.

To be perfectly honest, I consider it a downgrade as well. Most named exotics are 80 as well as those with unique looking skins.
Adding in the ranges of 78 and 79 ish gear makes those harder to obtain too.

Not to mention some of us, when putting in level 80 gear, prefer to get back 80 gear, just in case it then becomes a stat combo I can use on another character. Anything below 80 I consider a waste of 4 exotics and salvage material at that point.

But the chance of getting a named exotic wasnt nerfed with that change. And if you salvage the sub 80 exotic, you can get an inscription plus ectos, which basically enables you to buy whatever stat combo you want for your weapon.

Yasi.9065:

Thanks Veron for posting the patch notes. It also explains the rather ridiculous prices on precursors then. If you dont even get a guaranteed lvl80 exotic back, thats like increasing lotto to 100 numbers and saying “but hey, you get to choose from a bigger pool of numbers”.

American euphemisms at work.

The most uninformed post i read today. How does getting lvl 76-79 exos form the forge negatively impact precursors?

I remember when the changes were made that we were told that we would love the changes. Unfortunately the only reference I can find to it now (about a year later) is on reddit.

I don’t really love it. I do wish the mystic forge would stop trolling me though. I drop in 4 rare daggers (recently about 360 of them I forged), and got out 2 Usoku’s Needle, which shares the skin with Spark.

Out of the 90 combines I did pull out 20 exotics though.

Wanze.8410:

Talonblaze.3175:

mtpelion.4562:

This is correct. Your ability to forge a precursor is not being negatively impacted, however your chance at different skins and weapons/armor with sigils/runes was improved.

To be perfectly honest, I consider it a downgrade as well. Most named exotics are 80 as well as those with unique looking skins.
Adding in the ranges of 78 and 79 ish gear makes those harder to obtain too.

Not to mention some of us, when putting in level 80 gear, prefer to get back 80 gear, just in case it then becomes a stat combo I can use on another character. Anything below 80 I consider a waste of 4 exotics and salvage material at that point.

But the chance of getting a named exotic wasnt nerfed with that change. And if you salvage the sub 80 exotic, you can get an inscription plus ectos, which basically enables you to buy whatever stat combo you want for your weapon.

True, but if you are using the Mystic Forge for trying to gear up a character you are doing it wrong.

I basically use it for skins. I get some fairly inexpensive exotics, either through drops, or dungeon stuff, and toss it in for a chance to get some cool skins. Dropped about 50g in maces the other day and got some really cool skins. Most of the returns from the forge weren’t really worth much, so I recycled them for the skins and a chance to get something better.

inb4 it’s a feature, working as intended

I believe this was stated almost a year ago to be working as intended. They increased the chance for what it can drop from it I think the April Feature patch. That I know is about when you got a chance at an item to be slightly lower level than what you throw in.

Yea, John Smith posted something about a year ago. As I understood it was part of giving more diversity to what came out of the Forge. Although it never was stated the levels of items would get lowered it started happening at that time.

Personally I don’t like it at all and I don’t find it fun att all putting 4 lvl 80 exotics into the Forge and getting lower level exotic back.

Nick.7259:

Personally I don’t like it at all and I don’t find it fun att all putting 4 lvl 80 exotics into the Forge and getting lower level exotic back.

Many share this view and this is why the price of precursors will ultimately be affected even though the drop rate has supposedly stayed the same. Just less people tossing things into the mystic toilet.

root.9415:

Nick.7259:

Personally I don’t like it at all and I don’t find it fun att all putting 4 lvl 80 exotics into the Forge and getting lower level exotic back.

Many share this view and this is why the price of precursors will ultimately be affected even though the drop rate has supposedly stayed the same. Just less people tossing things into the mystic toilet.

Those players who do forge precursors for profit dont care, if the exotic they toss in is level lvl80 or not, as long as its not under lvl75.

If people, like you say, stop throwing their rares/exos in the forge and rather sell them, those high volume forgers will buy them up and toss them in for you.