Guild Wars 2

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

So, I spend the morning in Frostgorge, appropriate level for my 80 war, several events (which ofc I had to run solo), several Veterans taken down, spent 2 hours and got One blue.. a bow. Very few drops at all, off anything.

Got sick of it, decided to run back to Hoelbrek and avoid the waypoint cost. One shotted a level 6 Svanir and pulled a level 75 rare Norn Dagger.

Risk v Reward. Yah. Missing in Action in GW2.

This is hands down my biggest gripe with GW2, and I enjoy the hell out of this game.

Interesting that it took two weeks for me to find this thread… and found it on Reddit.

I’ll start tracking my numbers but I KNOW there is a big difference in loot because I’ve run and documented everything in every zone for my guild’s crafting data.

It’s taking me two to three times the game time to get a good loot sampling. What I do get is junk whites that sell for a handful of copper and some loot bags.

Don’t even start me on dragon/dungeon sub-level blues. But you want concrete evidence. My evidence, the game isn’t that much fun anymore. One glob in weeks out of the three rares I’ve found.

We as a guild do AC 1-3, CoF 1-3, TA1-3, or CoE 1-3 quite often, generally at least two of the dungeons completely through a night.

In dungeons where Cores/Lodestones drop, I and everyone I run with get at least a bare minimum of one core, usually two or three, and rarely a lodestone. We all pull at least one to three Rare’s from dungeon chests, and usually, again at a bare minimum, one Rare from enemies, if not two to three. In addition someone generally tends to get lucky and get at least one Exotic from the higher-end dungeons, after running one or two dungeons completely.

When we’re out in the open world, doing World Events that drop them big ol’ loot chest, however, we almost never get anything better than Blues, sometimes we get really lucky and get a Green or two, and sometimes someone praises the RNG Lords for giving them an actual Rare, but no one I know has ever pulled an Exotic from any chest at all.

When it comes to actually running around PvE zones, it’s a total crap-shoot. Sometimes I’ll get two Rares in a day, but usually I’ll get zero Rares for several days, and I’ve done map completion 100% on two toons, 98% on another, and working on a fourth toon right now.

We have a couple guild members that run full MF gear and Buffs, and they never seem to get a larger amount of any type of drops.

In addition on the PvE front, as a Guardian I quite enjoy soloing lots of Veterans and Champions, and I cannot recall a single time I’ve gotten more than 67 Copper and a Rag at best from “harder” enemies that are supposed to drop better loot.

In terms of Ecto Salvage rates, I know my sample size is tiny, but I’ve salvaged maybe 40-50ish Rares in the last couple weeks and gotten a return of 18 ectos, whereas October/November I would always come out with a good number of ectos.

Something is definitely not right at all, go back to the GW1 loot system or something, anything would be better than the current, and I get tremendously good drops by most peoples standards.

This is just my observations but after the last few days I’ve noticed a pattern regarding loot and possible diminished return. The 1st 3 waves of undead for the day (for me) seem to drop what one would consider normal, the remainder of the day junk is the most significant drop. Maybe diminished returns on drops is kicking in around 30-40 kills of the same type, in this case undead … which would mean any single event in cursed shore is likely to trigger diminished return, which then sticks with you no matter what you do.

DR triggering on kill counts I can see, I don’t agree, but I can see how it can be. However, it’s obscenely stupid that ALL risen are grouped in to a single type, making you hit the DR very quickly. I can run a couple events in Cursed Shore and get my daily kill count in a matter of 15 or 20 minutes, be it a risen chicken or a risen acolyte…and only get ONE for my kill variety. There isn’t a great variety in Orr to begin with, why make worse? Is this is just poor design or is it intentional incentive to get people out of Orr and in to the fractals since they seem to be placing a lot of eggs in these fractal while much of the open world seems to be flailing and dying. Or is it just plain ’ol greed to make farming in Orr so incredibly bad that it forces people to use the gem store?

Whatever the reason, it’s sucking a lot of the fun out of the game and making most, if not all, of the more difficult open world content irrelevant. Boss chests typically drop garbage while veterans and champs typically drop nothing, while at the same time a regular, nothing-special, mob seems to have a better chance of dropping better loot.

Of course they say they’re trying to prevent the market from getting glutted with rares and exotics. Well have you looked at blues and greens lately? I have not seen one I could sell on the TP for more than a vendor for quite some time. So low level items are glutted making it more difficult to make money while rare and exotics become even more rare and exotic and even more expensive and out of reach without using the gem store.

I’ve seen a lot of reports like that Wrath. It seems clear that ANet wants people to play dungeons mostly and especially the FotM from the reports. It would be nearly impossible for bots to automate the Fractals (they would have to path everything down to a “T” but first they need to know which fractal they zoned to). Hypothetically, it’s not impossible but by the time they finally get all nine mini-dungeons figured out and (if even possible) coded, ANet just changes existing fractals and swaps in new ones.

Just the very existence of bots ruining the game for all. This (among a lot of other reasons that are just as valid) is why you shouldn’t buy from gold sellers. Everyone stops buying from them and they will go away.

Sparkfly Fen (mob levels fought this session 58-63) Lv 80 Guard; 1-3-13; 11:38pm – 12:15am played with 0% magic find; 12:15am – 12:45am played with 54% armor magic find (no MF food used).

1. Mosquito – Full Venom Sac
2. Mosquito – Full venom
3. Nightmare Court Scout – Medium Thorned Bag
4. Grub – Potent Venom Sac
5. Cave Bat – 0 Drops
6. 3 Platinum Ores
7. Grub – 0
8. Grub – Glob of Gloppy Gloop
9. Grub – Gloppy gloop + 65c
10. Cave bat – 0
11. Cave bat – 0
12. Cave Spider – Prickly Spider Leg
13. Grub – 0 drops
14. Cave bat – Vial of Thick Blood
15. Grub – 0
16. 3 Platinum ores + Opal Shard
17. Cave bat – Dark Stained Claw
18. Grub – 0
19. Black Raptor – 0 drops
20. 3 Hard Wood Logs
21. Raptor – 0
22. Raptor – Carrion Glyphic Axe (blu Lv80)
23. 3 Plat ore
24. Siamoth – Slab of Red Meat + 46c
25. 3 Hardwood
26. Cave spider – Spider leg
27. Spider – 0 drops
28. Portobello Mushroom
29. Spider – Full venom sac
30. Raptor – Sharp Claw
31. Raptor – Slab of Poultry Meat + 42c
32. Firefly – Gloppy gloop
33. Firefly – Berserker’s Axe (blu Lv 79)
34. Firefly – 0 drops
35. Firefly – 0
36. Risen Thrall – 0
37. Thrall – 0 (other player participated and 2nd player non-participant looked like a bugging bot)
38. Risen Brute – Porous Bone
39. Thrall – Porous bone +Add 2 Brutes – 0 drops
40. Brute – 0 (other player non-participant in area)
41. Thrall – Medium Moldy Bag
42. Thrall – 0 drops
43. Krait Damoss – 0 drops
44. Thrall – 0 (approximately 24 minutes into the run)
45. Putrid Skelk – Dark stained claw
46. Skelk – 0 drops
47. Skelk – 0
48. Skelk – 0
49. Thrall – 0
50. Brute – Metal Scrap + 68c (other PC participating)
51. Some event I must have tagged: Bronze: 245 Karma + 1s 25c
52. Brute – Porous bone (other PC participating)
53. Brute – Metal Scrap +AddThrall – Metal Scrap
54. Brute – Medium moldy bag +AddThrall & Scale & several other PCs participating – 0 drops
55. Brute – 0 drops

12:11am – 12:15am – Add 54% Magic Find

1. Risen Thrall – Sharp Claw
2. Firefly – Glob of Gloppy Gloop
3. Firefly – Potent Venom Sac
4. 3 Fireflies – 0 Drops
5. 3 Platinum Ore + Ruby Shard
6. 2 Bog Scales – 0
7. 3 Plat ore
8. Skelk Lurker – Sharp Fang +AddLurker – White Axe
9. Scale – 0 drops
10. 2 Scales – Egg + Cleric’s Mace (blu Lv 80)
11. 1 Blackberry
12. 1 Leek
13. Scale – 0
14. 1 Carrot
15. Jungle Troll – Vial of Thick Blood + 55c
16. Troll – Porous bone
17. Troll – 0 drops
18. Firefly – 0
19. Jungle Wurm – Sharp Fang
20. Troll – Thick blood
21. Troll – Thick blood
22. 3 Plat ore
23. Portobello
24. Troll – 0 drop
25. Troll – Frayed Rag +AddTroll – Porous bone
26. Ridgeback Scale – 64c + Shaman’s Reinforced Scale Pauldron (blu Lv 80)
27. Scale – Frayed Hide
28. Scale – Egg
29. Scale – 62c + Carrion Glyphic Longbow (blu Lv 80)
30. Scale – 0 drops
31. Renown Heart – 2s 70c
32. 2 Blackberries + Dandelion
33. 3 Hard Wood Logs
34. Warg – 0
35. 3 Hardwood
36. Warg – Slab of Red Meat
37. Warg – Sharp fang
38. 1 Tarragon Leaves
39. 3 Hardwood + Hidden Hoard
40. Firefly – 0 drops
41. Green Moa – Egg
42. Warg – 0
43. Green Moa – 0 drop + AddFirefly – 0
44. 2 Carrots
45. 3 Plat ore
46. 4 Hardwood
47. Lurker – Dark stained claw + 49c
48. 3 Hardwood
49. Lurker – Thick blood
50. Thrall – Porous bone + 57c
51. Thrall – Carrion Short Bow (blu Lv 80)

Totals: Coins: 8s 99c; Items: 44s 23c; Karma: (can’t count b/c I missed where all the karma came from) 875 (only 245 recorded in notes. )

Grand Total: 53s 22c; 245 Karma (in notes)

Apparently 54% MF didn’t work out for me.

@wildcode: If 30-40 type ‘a’ mobs triggers DR, then we have to switch to different, type ‘b’ mobs (at least, if not change zones as well) and run from the type ‘a’ ones. Wow – do we really have to count mobs? And it looks like you are figuring the DR mob-counter cool-down at 24 hours per mob type; am I understanding correctly?

As Leamas says, mob types make sense because they already keep track of types for the dailies. Keeping count would be easily accomplished.

One hitch to the theory I can think of off the top of my head is that surely they wouldn’t put more same-type mobs in an event than DR allows. You couldn’t ever guarantee Gold participation if they did. <— No, even with DR it shouldn’t affect the participation metric.

Also @Leamas; please remember, I have just heard speculation that Risen mobs are all the same type – that’s not confirmed.

@Everyone: Can we corroborate these findings?

@Bartas – I know, but I am trying to hit your suspected “sweet-spot” of 70%-90% MF. I’ll try again tomorrow.

@Nay – We have heard from people that the dungeons seem to also be poor in loot – but I think they are better than open world and you are confirming that. I think that especially FotM is best from what we’ve been hearing.

@All – Thanks and keep the reports coming in!

Aproposs Of Fire.4056:

One hitch to the theory I can think of off the top of my head is that surely they wouldn’t put more same-type mobs in an event than DR allows. You couldn’t ever guarantee Gold participation if they did.

Without ArenaNet coming out and clearing up how diminished returns work specially since support and wiki conflict where loot is concerned, we can only speculate. But in my case I get post Nov15 drop mechanic before the 1st event of the day is over. When I fisrt start the event it looks like pre Nov15 drop mechanic initially but by the 4th undead wave it is definitely post Nov15 drop mechanic. If diminished return is the culprit then it is triggering around the 3rd or 4th wave.

I spent the last hour or so playing as I usually do: exploring the map, staying in an area long enough to complete the heart and any nearby DE’s going on, and then moving on to the next area/heart. The only difference was that I paused in between to write down mob/drops.

The map this time was Fireheart Rise. “X” means I got nothing.

Disturbed Grub X
Grub larva X
Grub larva X
Grub X
Cave Troll X
Cave Spider X
Cave Spider Full Venom Sac
Cave Spider X
Cave Spider X
Cave Spider X
Cave Troll X
Cave Spider Potent Venom Sac
Cave Spider X
Cave Spider 65 bronze, Prickly Spider Leg
Cave Spider X
Cave Spider X
Cave Spider X
Cave Spider X
Cave Spider Prickly Spider Leg
Cave Spider 56 bronze, Full Venom Sac
Cave Spider X
Cave Spider Prickly Spider Leg
Cave Spider X
Cave Spider 61 bronze, Prickly Spider Leg
Cave Spider Prickly Spider Leg
Cave Bat Lv. 80 BLUE coat
Cave Troll X
Cave Spider Prickly Spider Leg
Harpy Warrior Vial of Thick Blood
Harpy Hunter X
Harpy Hunter X
Harpy Warrior X
Harpy Hunter X
Young Harpy Sharp Talon
Young Harpy Vial of Thick Blood
Young Harpy X
Young Harpy X
Harpy Matriarch 41 bronze, Sharp Talon
Harpy Warrior X
Harpy Matriarch Sharp Talon
Vet. Shaman 40 bronze, Lv. 78 BLUE sword
Hawkeye Griffon 39 bronze, Sharp Talon
Warg X
Warg X
Warg X
Warg Chipped Fang
Warg Slab of Meat
Warg Sharp Claw
Warg X
Warg Chipped Fang
Warg X
Warg Large Claw
Warg Lv. 78 WHITE pants
Warg Frayed Hide
Hyena Freyed Hide
Hyena X
Hyena Chipped Fang
Hyena Lv. 76 WHITE shield
Hyena Lv. 80 BLUE s.bow
Hyena X
Wolf X
Hyena X
Minotaur Calf X
Minotaur Bull Hoof
Alpine Mino. Vial of Potent Blood
Apline Mino. Filthy Hide
Minotaur Calf X
Minotaur Calf X
Minotaur Calf X
Minotaur Bull X
Carrion Dev. X
Carrion Dev. 53 bronze, Dark Stained Claw
Carrion Dev. X
Carrion Dev. Dark Stained Claw
Carrion Dev. Dark Stained Claw
Vet. Fleshren. 42 bronze, Dark Stained Claw, lv. 79 BLUE sword
Carrion Dev. Potent Venom Sac
Carrion Dev. X
Carrion Dev. X
Wolf Pup X
Alpine Skelk X
Alpine Skelk Vial of Potent Blood
Alpine Skelk Lv. 80 WHITE mask
Ice Elemental Lv. 80 WHITE axe
Ice Elemental Black Lion Chest
Wolf X
Wolf + summoned wolf Slab of Meat
Wolf + summoned wolf X
Wolf + summoned wolf Lv. 80 WHITE mask
Wolf + summoned wolf X
Flame Leg. Bladestorm X
Wolf + summoned wolf Lv. 80 BLUE axe
Flame Leg. Blademaster X
Flame Leg. Blademaster Lv. 76 WHITE sceptor
Flame Leg. Stalker Dark Stained Claw
Fire Imp Fire Stone
Fire Imp X
Flame Leg. Blademaster Large Claw
Fire Imp Fire Stone

Sad to say, but I felt “lucky” this time that the 2 Veteran mobs I battled actually dropped something. Most of the time veterans and champions don’t drop anything at all for me.

Now, out of 99 monsters (sorry, thought I’d kept track of 100..):

• 51 (FIFTY-ONE) gave NOTHING. Absolutely Nothing.
• 11 gave armor/weapons ( 6 WHITE, 5 BLUES)
• 0 greens
• 0 rares (didn’t expect to get any anyways…)
• 0 exotics (what are those again??)

Is this really the “normal” drop-rate? At this point, whether it was changed or not in November is a moot point. The drop-rate, whether it was changed or not, is terrible right now. GW2 is turning out to be the most UNrewarding game I’ve played in a long time…

Edit: Forgot to mention, this is all with 0% MF. Don’t think it would get much better with it anyways, from what I’ve read in various forums.

wildcode.5403:

Aproposs Of Fire.4056:

One hitch to the theory I can think of off the top of my head is that surely they wouldn’t put more same-type mobs in an event than DR allows. You couldn’t ever guarantee Gold participation if they did.

Without ArenaNet coming out and clearing up how diminished returns work specially since support and wiki conflict where loot is concerned, we can only speculate. But in my case I get post Nov15 drop mechanic before the 1st event of the day is over. When I fisrt start the event it looks like pre Nov15 drop mechanic initially but by the 4th undead wave it is definitely post Nov15 drop mechanic. If diminished return is the culprit then it is triggering around the 3rd or 4th wave.

I didn’t mean to doubt what you said – I meant to say that this theory is interesting and is certainly plausible. You will see I changed my post… participation levels shouldn’t be affected even with DR; I had a brain-fart.

Elana.2584:

Is this really the “normal” drop-rate? At this point, whether it was changed or not in November is a moot point. The drop-rate, whether it was changed or not, is terrible right now. GW2 is turning out to be the most UNrewarding game I’ve played in a long time…

Edit: Forgot to mention, this is all with 0% MF. Don’t think it would get much better with it anyways, from what I’ve read in various forums.

Elana – Unfortunately, these kind of drops are what many are seeing “normally”.

Thanks a lot for all the work you put in – I know how much of a hassle recording the drops is. We are working on defining MF currently; if you have the armor/food you might try 70%-90% magic find next time and see if the drops are better. That’s what I’m going to do tomorrow. Also note, that there are a lot of reports that MF is more prone to give higher level mats rather than armor.

@Teofa & Mackdose:

Risk v Reward. Yah. Missing in Action in GW2.

Absolutely have seen this myself – more often than not.

Ok, again specifically to the statement they made that Champions should drop loot. Against my better judgement I helped 4 players take down the Champion Jotun Magekiller in Dredgehaunt today. Nobody got a drop. 5 players.

This guy wants to fight in a tiny stockade that allows very little dodge or kite (you get stuck on props) has CC and does tremendous spike damage.. and on top of that, will chase retreating players to his leash point, go invul, and fully regen. This is a fight that should have a payoff.. and never does.

I’ve NEVER seen a drop from this Champion, and given that the fight is a royal pita I will just trot past the next time I see players engaging him.

The silver from this event won’t pay a repair bill or a waypoint charge. Not worth it.

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

Ok, again specifically to the statement they made that Champions should drop loot. Against my better judgement I helped 4 players take down the Champion Jotun Magekiller in Dredgehaunt today. Nobody got a drop. 5 players.

I’ve NEVER seen a drop from this Champion, and given that the fight is a royal pita I will just trot past the next time I see players engaging him.

The silver from this event won’t pay a repair bill or a waypoint charge. Not worth it.

Yep and I’d recommend that we all be leery of any Champ… at this point in the thread it is clear they don’t drop every time and as someone here and at Reddit said, the reward to risk calculation is way off on champs.

Also – one more Edit: Teofa, if you can give a close guestimate of what time that Champ fight with the 5 players was and what timezone then ANet should definitely be able to look up that encounter and see the results. <shrug> Who knows, you might get an in-game mail with some loot.

I’m finished for the night —-- again, Thanks everyone!

Sorry, but I’ll have to let you and the others with MF gear try that out. I’d prefer not to spend gold on armor/food/etc. on a mechanic that appears to be bugged at the moment to test something that this company should be doing anyways. Also, it would be very disappointing if the only way to get decent loot (even just green armor/weapons) would be to invest in MF gear. It’s been months and we still don’t know what MF is actually supposed to do or if it’s working “correctly”…

I’ve invested in MF gear as well as my usual gear, and I’ve farmed anything around Malchor’s to Straits to Cursed Shore to Frostgorge, and all I have to say is the loot needs a MASSIVE buff for the areas that we’re exploring/Dynamic Events, etc. To put it into context, I’m seeing about the same amount of rares drop as what some people used to see in exotics (exotic drops, what are those again?), and I believe with each patch the game has taken a turn for the worst, and I’m sorry but that’s NOT perceived.

It is nigh on impossible to take away any tangible reward or something that looks like a profit from your time spent in a L80 area. After you’ve WP travelled somewhere, repaired armour, etc. where’s the profit? Doesn’t matter what you wear or eat, the ‘perceived’ differences in loot drops are not that stark to me. They’re still rubbish, regardless.

What I HAVE noticed is that with MF buffs maxed out on my character I’m getting a hell of a lot more green items (merch food) and junk. I know MF increases the rarity chance of drops, but I’m sorry if all I was destined to get was blues or nothing I don’t think it’s worth my time being in that area at all.

To me Anet has become the casino, and we’re the gullible people who think we can out-play the ‘house’; they can offer you all the specials you want, anything to draw you into the game more (according to the patch notes), but in the end you’re just gonna walk out bone-dry and completely unsatisfied with your efforts.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – MF is a wasted stat. Anet it’s time for you to prove me wrong on this.

I am sorry, but MF or not, the current loot drop rates in the game have diminished beyond what we got pre-mid-November.

I used to run full MF gear/weapons and jewelry, but two days ago changed out completely to better stats and no MF. Still get the worst loot drops no matter what I do.

My conclusion? MF not working as Anet indicated it should. Loot drop rates DECREASED instead of increased as Anet indicated and after the most recent patch (to remove Winter’s Day stuff), I still am getting crappy drops.

I did Claw of Jormag and the Shatterer today (Friday night) after the server reset. Got mostly greens and blues, but did get 1 yellow from each which of course my character cannot use (typical).

Am so discouraged at this point that I have decided to not run special events unless in a group of my guild mates just to have fun.

Refuse to engage Champions or Veterans any longer unless I cannot get away from them for some reason. None have been dropping any loot worth while. Mostly trophy items worth maybe 1-2 copper.

Anet has a major issue on their hands with the way this is going and I for one, don’t want to be around to see the game fail. So as soon as I can find another game I really am interested in, I shall depart these shores.

I am wondering if diminished return is the culprit in all this. I’ve been doing events once and solo in Wayfarer Foothills and only getting silver for the events and I have not been in this area or fighting these types of foes in days(maybe even a week) with any other character. This is many hours after doing events in Cursed shore for dailies. I also have almost done a whole maps worth of stuff without filling 40 or so slots of inventory through hearts and events.

I was testing DR yesterday and since I am leaving for a few days anyway I hope it will reset for me when I get back.

Someone stated already that DR mechanism counts mob types you kill. I don’t think it is true. IMO it is more like kill count in same area (not zone). For example I was roaming aroun Cursed Shore for almost 3 hours with “normal” drop rate. Nothing special but I made bit over 6g in that time and even dropped 3 rares (speargun, shoulders, mask). Then I started to hang only in the vicinity of Shelter’s WP, did 3 DEs there and killed any mob that popped there. After no more than 30 mins my drop started to look more like: porous bone, porous bone, copper, junk, blue, repeat… Tried that for like 1.5 hour with same result. My income for being in 1 area for 1.5h was no more than 60s vs 3g previously in the same time but jumping around whole Cursed Shore.

I do not think DR mechanism is that simple but, on the other hand, it cannot be THAT complicated. It’s not like we have some advanced AI in charge of it, right? Another thing is we can effectively reset it and what conditions are required for it. I believe that once you got hit/flagged some actions you make may only prolong that till server reset.

8:55 US central Ft Aspenwood. Free Ascalon Settlement.
Level 31 char, never done event prior. I lost count of Veterans at 5, no drops. Champion Warrior, no drop. Champion Beast, omg, a drop!! A level 1 Mighty Sceptre!!

my faith in the system is so restored!!

My drops seem to have been getting better in dungeons anyway over the past 2 days for no apparent reason. Either they are reading our results and tweaking the DR as we play, or we’re all just becoming more aware of it and modifying our play more I can’t say for certain. But 12 fractals last night and here are my results:

All chests dropped nothing better than a green seal or jewel, interestingly enough trash mobs had the highest drops as I’ll detail below. I was running approximately 50% MF.

4- tier 5 mats
4- rares
0-exotics
1-vial of mist essence
18- greens
12- blues
3- whites
lots of junk

Open world drops were still no higher than blues when I left fractals, but considering my info from earlier in the day when I ran AC, dungeon drops are definitely on a less-strict DR cap it seems. Still not a single exotic drop for me, but 1 person in my party did get one and funny enough they had 0 MF lol.

Some people asked me why I don’t run higher than 60-ish MF, well to me it’s a waste I have noticed 0 difference in anything over 60 in my personal loot anyway. I’ve tried up to close to 200% and I saw absolutely no difference at all in loot drops. It may be that everyone has a sweet spot that the game decides works for you, who knows. RNG is way too unpredictable to nail down a concrete system.

I noticed yellow critters (moas/bears/stags/etc) give me a yellow more often than any other creature. I killed an orchid spider (lv 2,3,5) today and got a rare and I was wearing 88% MF about. With 26% food I get 114%.

Thing the biggest difference can be noted during events near pentinent & shelter. There used to be lots of rares dropping there, thinking an avarage of 1 each event with my MF set & candy.

Lately it just seems off as stated in other posts multiple runs giving none at all at currently its not even measurable anymore because people have stopped going there most of the time so the numbers are less and as the event scales I guess there will be less mobs/drops in general by now?

Still might have been pure random but somehow doesnt feel like it, ppl do get rares from critters yet when I dropped the champion karka which is a PAIN in the kitten I can tell you with his armor first and then his normal health bar. And he drops 1 blue item and none of the other 4 who helped (yes lostshore is rather empty and I guess due to the mobs being harder yet LESS rewarding) had any different. 2 even got trash/scraps an no blue/green at all.

I mean random is fine and all, but kitten if people solo a bloody veteran they want a reward matching the time being put in that effort. If 10 people kill a so called CHAMPION mob, they dont just want to have the good feeling about it, but also a matching reward. Either some rare item, or just a couple blue/green or high level materials for that matter would be nice.

The tougher the mobs the more rewarding it should be but even thats random at this point. Veterans all 2 often drop nothing at all and I have had much better luck with mobs and champions on that before.

In short GW2 just starts feeling more like grinding and less rewarding than before and I seriously cannot believe nothing has changed. Even heared people mention that drop rates where lowered so more gems where being bought.

Promise was that GW2 would not feel like a grind though and I liked that promise =[

I went link-hunting looking for the quotes I referred to before:

But I found this from 2 days ago at: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/January-updates-Any-sources/1136245 — This poster obviously has the opinion that the part of the Johanson quote I highlighted promised to “fix/update current content before making new content”.

It might be reading a little too much in but I quote it here for your consideration:

azurrei.5691:

ColinJohanson.2394:

=
NOTE: This quote found at a different forum thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/January-updates-Any-sources/1136245
=

To set expectations accordingly, the January release will be a relatively small release that sets the table for the stories and features we plan to roll out with the Feb/March releases and beyond. Also, there will be no new race, profession, or new region with these larger Feb/March releases. One of our major goals with these releases is making our existing world as strong as possible, ensuring there are reasons to go to all the locations in the world we’ve already built, and strengthening the core game we’ve provided. In saying this will be an expansions worth of stuff in these releases, we’re talking about the number of new features that will be rolled out across PvE, WvW, and PvP in early 2013, which usually you’d only find in an expansion for a traditional MMORPG.

This sounds WONDERFUL…thank you for spending time on fixing/updating the current content before making new content!

Your response just made my day, ty Colin!

Now as to the quote from GuildCast, it was accurate but it was a bit weaker than I imagined; so I offer this instead.

This is a video interview with Colin Johanson (ArenaNet GW2 Game Director – think movie director, I think) made after the Halloween event but before the Karka event. It is located: http://www.twitch.tv/mmorpgcom/b/337726366 I might have missed some things earlier in the video but here are some pretty relevant quotes from later in the video:

Time: 20:35
“The most important thing.. We want people to play wherever they want.. do the things they are excited about and feel like they get rewarded for it and that they can play with their friends wherever they are playing and that they can be rewarded for it. "

“Those will always be our goals as we build anything in GuildWars2.”

Time: 20:48
“So certainly we are evaluating PvP, WvW and PvE right now so that it is rewarding enough in each part of the game, it feels like there is enough stuff to do in each part of the game. And where we see that there isn’t, we’re currently adding a whole lot of more stuff for each of those parts and phases right now. We’re really.. focused on expanding those in every part of the the game right now.”

Time: 21:32
“Right now we’re focused on those ideas of what is rewarding in our game.. what additional things you want to go do at level 80.. what additional game types do you want to do.. what are the things that you and your friends can do everyday when you log in.”

Time: 23:23
“.. evaluating every part of the game.. trying to add.. new places to play with friends.. new challenges.. new places for rewards.. fans want a lot more to do in the game. What is stuff that we can add.. allows more stuff in game.”

Time: 26:00
“.. actively working on.. dungeon rewards.. looking at making them more fun to play.. make them something people will want to do even more in the future.”

Time: 26:20 (Interviewer asking about dungeons being over-nerfed..more time spent for less reward.)
“.. still working on rewards a little bit.. want to make sure everyone is happy with them.. [make sure] they are a good challenge.. [make sure] you get rewarded for the time you spend in them.”

Disclaimer: Please see the video and correct any transcription mistakes I might have made.

So this interview seems to be about the time that people are beginning to see the problems with rewards – drops & loot – I wonder if this was ANet’s response to that and it was largely missed?

If azurrei’s interpretation of that quote above from a couple days ago is accurate then it seems that they are still focused on fixing the game.

Comments?

Edit – The most important quote for me is:

Johanson.2394:

ensuring there are reasons to go to all the locations in the world we’ve already built

Because it has been my understanding the past couple weeks that people are limiting a lot of their time to dungeons and fractals because of the loot issue. I thought that this was ANet’s goal. Well, if I can read that quote this way, I’d say it’s not ANet’s purpose and they are working on making it viable to go everywhere again.

Mackdose.6504:

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

So, I spend the morning in Frostgorge, appropriate level for my 80 war, several events (which ofc I had to run solo), several Veterans taken down, spent 2 hours and got One blue.. a bow. Very few drops at all, off anything.

Got sick of it, decided to run back to Hoelbrek and avoid the waypoint cost. One shotted a level 6 Svanir and pulled a level 75 rare Norn Dagger.

Risk v Reward. Yah. Missing in Action in GW2.

This is hands down my biggest gripe with GW2, and I enjoy the hell out of this game.

Happened to me too today. I ran around with my husband in Queensdale on his new mini warrior.

I was on my level 80 thief. Killed a mosquito and got a level 80 rare trident.

I get on my engineer who’s in frostgorge and try to farm a few of those potent venom sacs in the hopes i can get the last 10 i need to make my new armor set for my ranger. I get 6 drops….3 potent venom sacs, 1 green, 1 blue and then a grey claw, after this last drop it was nothing but grey claws. I went and reset my gear build to the cond damage one I was using originally because I wanted to see just how bad the grenades were again after the nerf. Sure enough 30-39 grenades per kill with a 1078 cond damage maxed gear all accept jewelry which is mithril coral btw. But i digress, the point is i spend all that time getting my sigils etc to enhance my toon back to the stage he was months ago, and try this again. I started in the same general spot but this time I was running with an escort to get some karma.

Nothing but greys if anything dropped at all. (at this point there was a whole bunch of mobs that didn’t have anything for me at all.)

before I went to respec and before my reported end result of my first try I had tried a minor amount of magic find to see if it would improve the drops. I killed multiple level 76 non-aggressive creatures. They weren’t dropping anything but furs to be salvaged. I tried some worms got 1 potent venom sac before it completely cut me off.

At this point I’m going to have to ask that we get a karma vendor in town that sells T6 materials so that we can actually obtain the things we need and get reward for time spent in game. A Karma vendor for T6 mats please.

(before anyone asks yes I’ve collected about 100 heavy bags of various types. to get 30 of one particular kind of T6 mats you prolly need to be extremely lucky like winning the lotto lucky or you need to have about 500-600 bags for all the junk you don’t need bleeding out of these things. And mf didn’t help me with mine at all, tried that on about 30 of them on a completely different toon with a minor amount of mf on because i’ve learned if it gets too high it starts giving you greys too)

Aproposs Of Fire.4056:

This is a video interview with Colin Johanson (ArenaNet GW2 Game Director – think movie director, I think) made after the Halloween event but before the Karka event. It is located: http://www.twitch.tv/mmorpgcom/b/337726366 I might have missed some things earlier in the video but here are some pretty relevant quotes from later in the video:

Time: 20:35
“The most important thing.. We want people to play wherever they want.. do the things they are excited about and feel like they get rewarded for it and that they can play with their friends wherever they are playing and that they can be rewarded for it. "

“Those will always be our goals as we build anything in GuildWars2.”

Time: 20:48
“So certainly we are evaluating PvP, WvW and PvE right now so that it is rewarding enough in each part of the game, it feels like there is enough stuff to do in each part of the game. And where we see that there isn’t, we’re currently adding a whole lot of more stuff for each of those parts and phases right now. We’re really.. focused on expanding those in every part of the the game right now.”

This certainly is not what is happening in the game at the moment. Poor loot drops all over the place or none at all. I don’t see any reason to go adventuring any longer.

I do run with my friends but usually it is only to help them out clearing zones. Definitely not worth the effort if I were trying to gain rewards for any of my actions.

I am extremely disappointed in how Anet is handling all this right now. I know they are trying to fix things in the game but with that said, adjusting the loot drops would go a long way to help mitigate a lot of sour feelings about how poorly we are rewarded for even our most modest efforts in the game.

Champions/veterans and huge mobs just do not appeal any longer. Neither do the dragon events. Use to be able to obtain a lot of nice loot just taking out the surrounding mobs on big events, but recently I’ve gotten only trophy drops (trophy bones, trophy metal scraps, etc.).

Just to add some of the my experiences on the drops. I usually get whites and blues, which to me imho, is normal. Greens, Yellow are suppose to be a bit harder to get. The gold exotic, well, that one is for the likes of Champions and major DE or dungeons and should be hardest to get.

But…..
during the course of getting the 100% world completion on my Ele. On several occasions, i get yellows from normal mobs – spider hatchlings, spiders, moas….etc. Veterans usually don’t drop anything most of the time. And group event champions I get whites and blues and the occasional greens. If I remember correctly, i only gotten 1 yellow from a champion event. I have gotten more yellows from normal mobs than I have gotten from Champions and Veterans.
Which is why the loot drop is not working as it should. At least stop yellow from dropping from normal mobs and give Veterans and Champions a higher percentage to drop greens and yellows.

It doesn’t matter how much data we give ANet – this will never be completely fixed.

Why?

There are too many variables involved in determining how and when DR hits. The only fix would be to remove this silly automated anti-bot system and go back to the traditional method.

If ANet is actually trying to fix this, then they are wasting their efforts and money – something that could have been used by having people ban bots and such from the begining.

I have been following this thread (and its merged grand father & closed father) from the start. I passed one comment early on to express slight disappointment in being “forced” to play a certain way and not the way I like – which is at my own pace, solo, PvE, acceptable rewards vs effort.

Considering my style, I do not yet have a lvl80 toon, but 5 toons in the lvl60-70 range.
The bots are annoying, yes. However, not directly effecting me. Indirectly, yes, I understand that.

Prices in BL store are ridiculous. I do not buy anything there, although I had bought gems with real money to buy bank slots ONLY.

I use only stuff I pick up or craft, but since I’m not really into heavy crafting, my stuff is mostly dropped or passed on to family.
Also, since I’m not really a “hard-core” MMO’er, I’m sort of OK with the drops and progress.

People on these threads have posted very interesting details, which sort-of gave a glimpse of “life after lvl80”. Reasonably happy with the status quo, I follow the thread, but carry on playing.

However, the result of what these very dedicated-and-knowledgeable OPs are talking about in this thread, has now started to hit my very conservative and casual way of playing. And that is:- because of the feeling that rewards have largely disappeared, actual players are also disappearing!!

I am slogging through areas (map exploration) with huge numbers of contested waypoints, enemy-occupied no-go areas, literally 100s of mobs roving the countryside with NO other players in sight.
I am totally alone to do events, 10-against-1 mobs and ninja-ing around mat nodes, POIs and hearts.
My little spreadsheet to keep track of toons and what they had done, reflects vast numbers of “Skill point impossible to do alone” entries.
I fully understand that my playing style is not helping me to beat vets, champs and higher bosses without effort, BUT it gives doubt to the advertised scalability of the game and dynamic events.

The bottom line is, I am not really able to play the game the way I want to. In my 5 years in GW1, I could do this, because I had my henchmen and heroes. In the GW2 early, ‘rewarding" days, including beta weekends, lots of other players were there to level the playing field.
Now, because of what THIS thread is about, players seem to have become inwardly focussed (can’t blame them), leaving lowly (and new) players to fight their way through a very difficult, unrewarding world where the only way to advance, is to power level a toon and then live off dungeon-running to acquire whatever items they desire.

I am not saying that I want the game to be easy and playable without effort and drop gazillion of exotics (haven’t even seen one, don’t even know someone who knows someone who’s seen one). I came to GW2 because ANet promised a world where there would be challenges, activities and rewards for each and every playing style. To play MY OWN way and still feel excited, rewarded and dedicated is what appealed to me.

Perhaps my expectation management sucks, but I feel disappointed in how its going now.

lynspottery.6529:

This certainly is not what is happening in the game at the moment. Poor loot drops all over the place or none at all. I don’t see any reason to go adventuring any longer.

I do run with my friends but usually it is only to help them out clearing zones. Definitely not worth the effort if I were trying to gain rewards for any of my actions.

I am extremely disappointed in how Anet is handling all this right now. I know they are trying to fix things in the game but with that said, adjusting the loot drops would go a long way to help mitigate a lot of sour feelings about how poorly we are rewarded for even our most modest efforts in the game.

Champions/veterans and huge mobs just do not appeal any longer. Neither do the dragon events. Use to be able to obtain a lot of nice loot just taking out the surrounding mobs on big events, but recently I’ve gotten only trophy drops (trophy bones, trophy metal scraps, etc.).

@ Lyn: Yes, unfortunately the promised fixes will not come at least until the January update per this quote:

azurrei.5691:

ColinJohanson.2394:
=
NOTE: This quote found at a different forum thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/January-updates-Any-sources/1136245
=

To set expectations accordingly, the January release will be a relatively small release that sets the table for the stories and features we plan to roll out with the Feb/March releases and beyond. Also, there will be no new race, profession, or new region with these larger Feb/March releases. One of our major goals with these releases is making our existing world as strong as possible, ensuring there are reasons to go to all the locations in the world we’ve already built, and strengthening the core game we’ve provided. In saying this will be an expansions worth of stuff in these releases, we’re talking about the number of new features that will be rolled out across PvE, WvW, and PvP in early 2013, which usually you’d only find in an expansion for a traditional MMORPG.

This sounds WONDERFUL…thank you for spending time on fixing/updating the current content before making new content!

Your response just made my day, ty Colin!

I think the part that you quoted, since it’s older, can be used to indicate at least what fixes and updates they were doing/planning at that time (which look to be heavy on the “rewards” side). I think it is frustrating for certain. It seems the situation is like something I posted earlier in this thread:

I can’t explain why they haven’t given us an update on what’s going on. Thinking back, I do remember more than once where ANet has gone quiet on an issue for a long period of time. Every time, though, they finally came out with information about the issue – even when we didn’t necessarily like the answers.

I am running on the assumption that this is one of those times where they don’t have anything to say yet. (And to be extremely fair, there is the holiday season to make the delay seem even longer.) I understand that we might not necessarily like the answer but I also know that some of those times in the past when they came out with the explanation the public was like “Oh. Well. That’s cool, never mind then.”

Well it appears that they did have some things to say, just not enough to really address the concerns in these threads as of yet. My guess? Perhaps since they are not closing this thread that they are waiting until they have something substantive to do in order to address the loot/drop issue. Then once it’s resolved to our satisfaction, “Moderator” will close the thread as resolved. That’s my current guess for what it’s worth.

tigirius.9014:

Happened to me too today. I ran around with my husband in Queensdale on his new mini warrior.

I was on my level 80 thief. Killed a mosquito and got a level 80 rare trident.

Unfortunately, you can’t count on even this. I went around on my 80 guard last night and hit every yellow mob I could find and while I did get some T5 mats and white and blue armors — no rares.

I am really hoping this update with fixes will come soon.

Joe.5018:

The bottom line is, I am not really able to play the game the way I want to. In my 5 years in GW1, I could do this, because I had my henchmen and heroes. In the GW2 early, ‘rewarding" days, including beta weekends, lots of other players were there to level the playing field.
Now, because of what THIS thread is about, players seem to have become inwardly focussed (can’t blame them), leaving lowly (and new) players to fight their way through a very difficult, unrewarding world where the only way to advance, is to power level a toon and then live off dungeon-running to acquire whatever items they desire.

@Joe: Please note that the video interview of Johanson from ANet not only was about the rewards I highlighted, but also about getting players to want to go back and do earlier content again and making it desirable to play with lower level friends.

It sounds like this is something that ANet has focused on as much as anything else: Making all of their content playable from level 1 – 80.

One other note; I hope you don’t blame the people in this thread who are reporting their poor drops and experiences. As in all customer service, the company must get feedback about what it’s customers are experiencing. Yes, some players are more strident and demanding and disappointed than many, but the company also wants to hear from them.

Not only is it our job as players to have fun with the game (chiefly), but to also let the developers know when we are not having fun (very important). ANet depends on this feedback.

Death Reincarnated.3570:

It doesn’t matter how much data we give ANet – this will never be completely fixed.

Why?

There are too many variables involved in determining how and when DR hits. The only fix would be to remove this silly automated anti-bot system and go back to the traditional method.

If ANet is actually trying to fix this, then they are wasting their efforts and money – something that could have been used by having people ban bots and such from the begining.

My understanding is that ANet actually has different teams to work on both of these things simultaneously.

• Coders / Diminishing returns / programming team
• Customer service / player (& also bot) management and Game Master team

They wouldn’t have the programmers dealing directly with the in-game players any more than they would have the GM’s and CS people writing code.

wildcode.5403:

Without ArenaNet coming out and clearing up how diminished returns work

Its becoming abundantly clear that arenanet needs to come out and do exactly this.

Joe.5018:

The bottom line is, I am not really able to play the game the way I want to. In my 5 years in GW1, I could do this, because I had my henchmen and heroes. In the GW2 early, ‘rewarding" days, including beta weekends, lots of other players were there to level the playing field.
Now, because of what THIS thread is about, players seem to have become inwardly focussed (can’t blame them), leaving lowly (and new) players to fight their way through a very difficult, unrewarding world where the only way to advance, is to power level a toon and then live off dungeon-running to acquire whatever items they desire.

This is a really perceptive comment about the effect that the lack of rewards has on players and how they play. Its been said before but this is a remarkably unrewarding game and it has a psychological effect on a large number of players (not all) in terms of turning them off simply just playing the game.

Aproposs Of Fire.4056:

Death Reincarnated.3570:

It doesn’t matter how much data we give ANet – this will never be completely fixed.

Why?

There are too many variables involved in determining how and when DR hits. The only fix would be to remove this silly automated anti-bot system and go back to the traditional method.

If ANet is actually trying to fix this, then they are wasting their efforts and money – something that could have been used by having people ban bots and such from the begining.

My understanding is that ANet actually has different teams to work on both of these things simultaneously.

• Coders / Diminishing returns / programming team
• Customer service / player (& also bot) management and Game Master team

They wouldn’t have the programmers dealing directly with the in-game players any more than they would have the GM’s and CS people writing code.

The DR code needs to be removed. It has only caused grief and issues to players.

From the looks of it there are just too many variables involved with it and they fluctuate too often. ANet might fix one aspect of it but it will bug out another. I also think TP/Economy is one of the variables – if it is, then lol at trying to fix DR!

The resources they have could be better spend at something else than DR. This is, IMO, going down the PvP matchmaking system from CoD series – and we all know how that went.

@ wildcode & Death Reincarnated & morrolan & developers:

Please don’t get me wrong – ANet needs to do something about DR without a doubt.

Bots are a huge problem, I agree, and DR directly affects bot effectiveness. Great! But the problem is that DR also directly affects player effectiveness. Terrible! Please find a different way. I’m not a coder, so unfortunately I’m not sure I can make any intelligent suggestions as to what that different way might look like.

Maybe random, personal events pop-up for PCs; (and perhaps especially those players that are exhibiting bot-like behavior) could be deployed that test whether there is a real human player there. There should be a decent reward for passing the test (to compensate for the short distraction/time it takes to complete the event) and of course if the test is failed there should be a flag placed for a real GM to evaluate the event. Auto-banning is probably not a good idea at all. I can imagine that this also can be story-based and doesn’t have to be immersion-breaking.

It has gotten to the point that I am beginning to think that ANet doesn’t want the player to prosper in-game (drops, loot, karma, tokens and etc). It really feels like ANet is doing this purposely to discourage players… to undermine player effectiveness as if they don’t like us making in-game prosperity our goal.

In-game Prosperity is the Goal of a Majority of MMO Players. Edit To Note: I am not talking about players who game the system and cheat… I’m talking about playing the game normally! We do not go out of the game to achieve that prosperity [nor do we exploit, cheat, buy from gold sellers or use 3rd party programs or add-ons] (at least those of us who are honorable do not). (If you are a player that goes outside the game and this statement offends you – Good.) We ask that you allow us to play the game normally pursuing the goals we choose.

(I understand that not all players have this in-game item/stuff/gold goal, but you don’t have to play for in-game items and currency if you don’t want to.)

I don’t mean to stir things back up in this thread – I understand that ANet is working hard to address the issues in this thread and I eagerly await the fruit of your labor.

That’s my say. And in case you have not seen some of the comments from more well known players (and proponents for GW2) I am linking these videos from Dontain: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH17UecbNtk] and Matt Visual: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_771934&src_vid=XID2ndwjkuA&v=6bv1AhnWKAo]. If you the devs have already viewed these, maybe since they are pretty short they will merit another viewing. Thanks!

The devs don’t care. Look at the post and view count of this thread, then looks for a dev response. And this isn’t the only thread about the issue. Add in the other threads that were locked or merged and you have a very large issue with absolutely no response other than the initial “perceived” posting.

How has this issue been going for well over a month, with no response. The holidays are over and this issue crept up well before Christmas

The silence speaks volumes. Anet wants gem purchases, crappy drops mean players get fed up and just buy the gold to buy the items they want.

@ WarMacheen – Did you happen to look at this post with these comments from the Director of GW2?

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Share-your-data-about-perceived-strange-drop-behavior-here/1152297

Aproposs Of Fire.4056:

@ WarMacheen – Did you happen to look at this post with these comments from the Director of GW2?

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Share-your-data-about-perceived-strange-drop-behavior-here/1152297

Actually I did, where does it state that there is a problem with the drop rate, DR, and has been since in it was implemented?

This is the single largest problem with the game currently, there should be an answer of some sort.

New content is useless while the current DR and drop rates are intact. I don’t want to play new or old content if the drops are garbage

Their actions have gone against their own manifesto, so words are useless

WarMacheen.7124:

Aproposs Of Fire.4056:

@ WarMacheen – Did you happen to look at this post with these comments from the Director of GW2?

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Share-your-data-about-perceived-strange-drop-behavior-here/1152297

Actually I did, where does it state that there is a problem with the drop rate, DR, and has been since in it was implemented?

This is the single largest problem with the game currently, there should be an answer of some sort.

I think that he alluded to these things, but no he did not address them with specific answers to the problems. But the ANet comments came out after the problems were brought to light – and so are relevant. If they don’t have the solution ready to deploy or already deployed what would you have him say? Anything he says that doesn’t include specifics will be panned as a distraction and drag him into a discussion with either indefinite information (if the info ends up being not what actually is released) or spoil the updates.

Both of those options will not be satisfactory to anyone so he is limited to what he has already said and his hands are tied beyond that.

I know this answer is probably disappointing / unacceptable to you. I apologize in advance.

Edit: Exactly, words are useless so again; what do you want him to say? I know you don’t want them to rush anything to live – that might be the reason we have this situation.

I believe that the point of his comments was to ensure that they are fixing existing content before laying on new content. It’s pretty much what he said.

One other thing: I missed an important point. Why didn’t he say there was a problem? Well, that wasn’t the topic of the interview he was taking nor was it (the other quote) the topic of the thread a couple days ago.

So you will say, then why doesn’t he address it in this or the closed thread? Again, I go back to what do you want him to say? Anything he says that doesn’t include specifics will be panned as a distraction and drag him into a discussion with either indefinite information (if the info ends up being not what actually is released) or spoil the updates.

Both of those options will not be satisfactory to anyone so he is limited to what he has already said and his hands are tied beyond that.

At this point all I, and many other players want, is to know is…

Is the current drop rate bugged, or is this the intended normal going forward

Doesn’t take very many words to answer, and could have been said weeks ago.

And in reference to this specific thread, I would like to know, as I’m sure many others would too, is Anet’s gw2 database so screwed up as to need players to tell Anet what is dropping instead of actually looking themselves?

WarMacheen.7124:

At this point all I, and many other players want, is to know is…

Is the current drop rate bugged, or is this the intended normal going forward

Doesn’t take very many words to answer, and could have been said weeks ago.

{Edited in by op} is Anet’s gw2 database so screwed up as to need players to tell Anet what is dropping instead of actually looking themselves

I understand. I sincerely read the following as ‘not working as intended’:

Time: 20:35
“The most important thing.. We want people to play wherever they want.. do the things they are excited about and feel like they get rewarded for it and that they can play with their friends wherever they are playing and that they can be rewarded for it. "

“Those will always be our goals as we build anything in GuildWars2.”

Time: 20:48
“So certainly we are evaluating PvP, WvW and PvE right now so that it is rewarding enough in each part of the game,

and

One of our major goals with these releases is making our existing world as strong as possible, ensuring there are reasons to go to all the locations in the world we’ve already built, and strengthening the core game we’ve provided.

I read these re-evaluations to the existing world as them responding to, and not being satisfied with, the way they are working currently.

Edit 2: As far as the database question – as I said earlier in this thread, I can only speculate about what’s going on with that. And my speculation was later weakened by someone else – but that’s understandable since it is speculation. So, my response is that no one can know for sure why they framed the post that way.

Edit3: WarMacheen – Can you accept that “Not until it’s ready™” is ANet’s way of doing things and wait for the Jan/Feb updates before indicting them of being ‘greedy’?

WarMacheen.7124:

At this point all I, and many other players want, is to know is…

Is the current drop rate bugged, or is this the intended normal going forward

Doesn’t take very many words to answer, and could have been said weeks ago.

And in reference to this specific thread, I would like to know, as I’m sure many others would too, is Anet’s gw2 database so screwed up as to need players to tell Anet what is dropping instead of actually looking themselves?

Unfortunatelly, I doubt we will know. ANet will not risk it because it would surely deter players from this game. However, like you said, having an “official” thread for this issue sure makes it sound like it is a bug now.

What I, personally, would like to know is: ‘What variables are involved with DR?’ I am certain that at least one of them is tied to the TP/economy.

Aproposs Of Fire.4056:

Joe.5018:

One other note; I hope you don’t blame the people in this thread who are reporting their poor drops and experiences.

Absolutely not guys!!
My wording did however make it sound like it, I’m sorry.

The existence of this thread and its predecessors have given lots of insight into “life after lvl80” that slow players like me still have to experience.
Information is valuable and assist in managing expectations and defining game-play strategy – that is why I read the threads. In this instance, the thread explained what I was seeing in-game.

I am sure/positive/hopeful that ANet will respond and set the record straight – whichever way. Hopefully they won’t give posters the hairy eyeball for using this thread….. because:

“The void created by the failure to communicate is soon filled with poison, drivel and misrepresentation.”
— C. Northcote Parkinson

In Orr I still drop rare items quite regularly. However, I did the vizier tower jumping puzzle, defeat the RB and I got some green items. Come on now, that is really little. At least some karma and a rare item for the effort. Master (green) items are so easily obtained and worth nothing, that is no reward equal to the achievement of making a jumping puzzle.

Also, more importantly perhaps, I seen that my level 24 elementalist doesn’t drop any WvW badges. My level 80 guardian, though very little, does drop a couple in a hour of play. The elementalist didn’t drop, not even 1, in 4h of WvW. It can’t be that I didn’t kill anyone. In fact I did kill, because I got XP but no drops and if I dropped it contained junk items.

After 16 days and 10 pages I think it is now appropriate to ask for some kind of response to this thread.
It is now over 1 month since the issue was first brought up (and many closed threads) and we are still waiting for a real conversation with someone about this, Communication is key to customer happiness.

Death Reincarnated.3570:

Unfortunatelly, I doubt we will know. ANet will not risk it because it would surely deter players from this game.

I had to stop myself from lauging at this comment.

They have already done this themselves. Anet’s refusal to communicate thoroughly with it’s players (who make up the game and keep them in a job) is making players leave… in droves… daily. The failure to communicate and fix what is quite obviously broken is further impetus for the exodus to continue.

But not to worry, I’m sure that WoW or some FPS game that they’ve abandonned will welcome them back with open arms.

Valandil Dragonhart.2371:

Death Reincarnated.3570:

Unfortunatelly, I doubt we will know. ANet will not risk it because it would surely deter players from this game.

I had to stop myself from lauging at this comment.

They have already done this themselves. Anet’s refusal to communicate thoroughly with it’s players (who make up the game and keep them in a job) is making players leave… in droves… daily. The failure to communicate and fix what is quite obviously broken is further impetus for the exodus to continue.

But not to worry, I’m sure that WoW or some FPS game that they’ve abandonned will welcome them back with open arms.

Well yes and no. Many players still have hope, however, any sub-par response by ANet at this stage would just fume the players more. I have seen it happen before.

Their credibility lies in the next response – if they don’t get it right then surely the player number will deteriorate drastically. Perhaps they are waiting for the right moment.

This is why i doubt we will see any response from them – well at this stage anyways.

I was wondering if your database speculation was about the total drop number from each item rarity tier. Amount of exotic that drops = X , amount of rares = Y, etc…
I was thinking about this and it seems plausible that these amounts are reached but the disparity is ‘where’ the items are going. Say the highest percentage goes to those in the FoTM dungeon, then other dungeons, dragons, and on down the line until open world players are left with a very small amount of the original X items to be distributed among a large population.
Combine that low loot pool with DR and the result is what seems to be a permanent DR situation.
Just a wild guess with no numbers to back it up. It was the one thing that stuck in my mind when trying to figure out why the devs see no issue while the players do.