Guild Wars 2

Ok, so during my average hour of play-time that consists either of WvW or random Event farming in PvE I might come across:

- Dozens of greens and blues, each.
-2 yellows, especially if I am doing Boss events.

That means throughout an evening’s play-session I might end up with:

-50 blue and green items.
-5 yellow items.

Looking at these numbers you’d think Exotics might follow a similar pattern. I might find one every few days you might think, possibly one a week.

But no, the number of random exotics I’ve founf throughout my entire GW2 life-time is probably around the number of fingers on my hand.

So maybe 1 a month.

But why? Why are Exotic drops so rare, comparatively speaking?

I mean they are not that expensive or difficult to craft and getting them though badge or Karma farming isn’t that much work either. So it’s not like exotics are actually rare or hard to come by.

But their drop rate is just incredibly low…..so low that it doesn’t make sense given their context. I mean currently Exotics aren’t even the best gear there is.

So why this artificial scarcity?

So you get really excited when they drop. Exotics were supposed to be significantly harder to get, but it turned out that crafting them was pretty cheap. That wasn’t ArenaNet’s original intent.

See sig

4 blue > mystic forge = a chance of a green
4 green > mystic forge = a chance of yellow
4 yellow > mystic forge = a chance of exotic.

Want exotics?
1. grab every daily guaranteed rare chest.
2. place all the yellows you get into the mystic forge.
3. pray to the rng gods.
4. ???
5. profit

Want more exotics?
grab every blue/green piece to have a chance at making even more yellows.

While doing the yellow process, you even have a chance at a precursor.

If luck does not smile on you for an exotic drop, then have a chance at luck to get an exotic from the mystic forge.

tl;dr
RNG

Asking this question is like wondering out loud “why is the sun hot?”

They’re rare because of rarity. Sure they aren’t the best gear in game, but at the same time, Exotics don’t drop more often than Ascended.

I remember when I got an exotic every day, before the drop rate was adjusted. This was back in December too. I had like 100 of them before the rate was adjusted…which sadly also seemed to inflate the economy market so everything is more expensive. I remember back when 1G = 100 Gems.

RyuDragnier.9476:

I remember when I got an exotic every day, before the drop rate was adjusted. This was back in December too. I had like 100 of them before the rate was adjusted…which sadly also seemed to inflate the economy market so everything is more expensive. I remember back when 1G = 100 Gems.

Heh, before Halloween last year it was 1g = ~240 gems (I really miss those days). But to stay on topic.

Sadly, the game doesn’t have equal rewards across the board. I run world bosses mostly with some mid level fractals when I have time (I haven’t had time in a long while) and I do see an exotic or two every 3-4 days. I think since the big MF/ascended weapons patch I’ve salvaged ~20 extoics and I’ll estimate about 1/3 to 1/2 of those were from drops, usually world boss chests (the others from crafting). I think I’ve even got an exotic or two from the champ boxes that the world bosses drop now. Heck I have almost a full exotic light and medium armor sets from fractals, they’re account bound, but it just means my alts have starter armor whenever I get around to lvl’ing them to 80.

To my knowledge WvW has always had the worst luck for drops. Which really sucks for the people who like to WvW but don’t like being poor.

Because they are exotic?

Dee Jay.2460:

So why this artificial scarcity?

errrm, any drop chance of those is “artificial”, this is a fabricated world with arbitrary rules. Why not that rare? Why do they drop that often and not more rarely? and so on.

RyuDragnier.9476:

I remember when I got an exotic every day, before the drop rate was adjusted. This was back in December too. I had like 100 of them before the rate was adjusted…which sadly also seemed to inflate the economy market so everything is more expensive. I remember back when 1G = 100 Gems.

I remember the first day of the scarlet event (zerg).
I got 3 exotics on that day, now I’m lucky to get a rare; lately I feel more like a ginnie pig than a customer?

Vol.5241:

See sig

Mind sharing? You TP? or just play the game? if play the game, how?

Because ANet don’t know how to statistics.

Here’s a lengthier explanation.

What Vol is trying to say is that Magic Find works.

Grind for blue and green items; salvage them all and raise your Magic Find. Once you’ve grinded all your Magic Find then the REAL grind for exotics begins.

You have to grind before you can grind…not sure if that makes sense.

Dee Jay.2460:

So maybe 1 a month.

Really? Most I’ve gotten is 3 in one day, about 4hrs of gaming. But that was back when I ran with around 200 MF. Usually a few every week, from a few hours a day. It’s starting to pick up again as I moved past 100 MF. But I do temples a lot (full events), and some world bosses, so it could depend on the content you focus on. Any temples or world bosses with lots of minions are really good using MF. 1 a month? about as many as I seem to get form casual JP running while waiting for temples and world bosses. MF has nothing to do with chests, but some chests, even certain JP’s, seem to give more Exo’s than others. One guildy was complaining about exotic drops (never saw one etc) a few days ago, so I took him with me for a session, he wound up with two exo’s, and with only 25% MF. I got one that day, from gates of arah, though countless rares

Requiem.8769:

Because they are exotic?

Well that’s my point, they aren’t really.

Crafting one is a matter of minutes and a little gold.

Grinding Exotics via WvW or Dungeons takes more time, sure, but it’s still a safe way to get there.

Karma is also a way to get exotic gear.

I’d wager 95% of level 80 players are wearing “exotic” gear and it’s not that much effort.

It’s just the drop-rates don’t seem to correlate with how common exotics are from other sources.

Dee Jay.2460:

Requiem.8769:

Because they are exotic?

Well that’s my point, they aren’t really.

Crafting one is a matter of minutes and a little gold.

Grinding Exotics via WvW or Dungeons takes more time, sure, but it’s still a safe way to get there.

Karma is also a way to get exotic gear.

I’d wager 95% of level 80 players are wearing “exotic” gear and it’s not that much effort.

It’s just the drop-rates don’t seem to correlate with how common exotics are from other sources.

Sure, but a lot of the loot drop exotics are more expensive and on avg look better than the crafted exotics. Such if you craft, then you need to account for a skin or transmute stone into that as well, and often times from another costly item. I think karma gear is mostly nullified now, apart from maybe hard to get back pcs.

Oh and yeah dungeon exo’s, probably will pick up more now that there is an lfg tool.

Dee Jay.2460:

Requiem.8769:

Because they are exotic?

Well that’s my point, they aren’t really.

Crafting one is a matter of minutes and a little gold.

Grinding Exotics via WvW or Dungeons takes more time, sure, but it’s still a safe way to get there.

Karma is also a way to get exotic gear.

I’d wager 95% of level 80 players are wearing “exotic” gear and it’s not that much effort.

It’s just the drop-rates don’t seem to correlate with how common exotics are from other sources.

You’re talking about different things here. Crafted Exotics and Loot Exotics are different because the latter provides unique skins and a wide range of Superior Sigils/Runes. And certain Loot Exotics are required for the crafting of a Legendary weapon. This also explains why certain Exotics are more valuable.

Hope that helps.

Turtle Dragon.9241:

4 blue > mystic forge = a chance of a green
4 green > mystic forge = a chance of yellow
4 yellow > mystic forge = a chance of exotic.

Want exotics?
1. grab every daily guaranteed rare chest.
2. place all the yellows you get into the mystic forge.
3. pray to the rng gods.
4. ???
5. profit

Want more exotics?
grab every blue/green piece to have a chance at making even more yellows.

While doing the yellow process, you even have a chance at a precursor.

If luck does not smile on you for an exotic drop, then have a chance at luck to get an exotic from the mystic forge.

tl;dr
RNG

Better off salvaging the rare drops and using the ecto to craft exotics, and then salving those to get dark matter for ascended. Plus you can usually sell the salvaged sigils and runes on the TP for reasonable amounts.