Guild Wars 2

Please explain magic find. I ceafted an engi to 80 and have him fully decked out in exotic mf just to farm orr. I can tell it works. I just want to know in details how it works. Like how much it effects the RNG, and when to stop farming due to DR, and what to do after I hit DR to cancel it out. Thank you.

From my brief testing:
-DR hits after a certain # of kills of a mob type (i.e. risen, inquest, bandit), has nothing to do with ‘event completion’
-DR becomes very noticeable when you do not pick up any greens,or if you are in cursed shore, moldy bags (moldy bags used to not be included in DR but they are now)
-DR cannot be rid of by logging out and not playing for hours or by switching maps
-DR can be reset by killing other mob types. Doing the dailies that say “Kill 0/40 in x zone” are enough to reset DR.

How much does 1% mf increase your chances on getting a better item, and if I have 200% mf am I twice as likley to loot a better item? What are the drop rates of rares and exotics acording to the RNG.

Wait. what!?! Moldy bags are now hit with DR? Darnit!

DR and MF are two different beasts. Neither of which the Devs will tell us the exact details.

100% MF will double your chance of getting a rare. However, if that initial chance was only 1% to begin with, you now have a 2% chance. If the chance was only .01%, you now have a .02% chance.

No one actually knows the drop rate percentages for rares or exotics. I’ve never personally even read anything that is widely accepted as the drop rate.

Most people who have used MF seem to agree on one thing. The amount of rares/exotics may not dramatically increase but you will see a bigger number of greens versus blues. More crafting materials also.

Mad Rasputin.7809:

100% MF will double your chance of getting a rare. However, if that initial chance was only 1% to begin with, you now have a 2% chance. If the chance was only .01%, you now have a .02% chance.

Not exactly. Per developer Isaiah Cartwright:

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

Mad Rasputin.7809:

Most people who have used MF seem to agree on one thing. The amount of rares/exotics may not dramatically increase but you will see a bigger number of greens versus blues. More crafting materials also.

The amount of mats, especially the higher-tiered ones (for the area) is also increased. You end up with roughly the same number of drops per kill, but the overall earnings are better. This is especially true now, since the trade value of higher-tier mats is up.

However, be careful: the number of drops also depends on the number of foes you get credit for killing. You can end up getting less loot with magic find, if you end up killing foes less quickly. For an imaginary example, if you can kill 100 foes/hour with berserker gear (no MF) and only 50 foes/hour with 200% MF gear, you will almost certainly end up with less valuable loot after that hour.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Mad Rasputin.7809:

100% MF will double your chance of getting a rare. However, if that initial chance was only 1% to begin with, you now have a 2% chance. If the chance was only .01%, you now have a .02% chance.

Not exactly. Per developer Isaiah Cartwright:

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

Mad Rasputin.7809:

Most people who have used MF seem to agree on one thing. The amount of rares/exotics may not dramatically increase but you will see a bigger number of greens versus blues. More crafting materials also.

The amount of mats, especially the higher-tiered ones (for the area) is also increased. You end up with roughly the same number of drops per kill, but the overall earnings are better. This is especially true now, since the trade value of higher-tier mats is up.

However, be careful: the number of drops also depends on the number of foes you get credit for killing. You can end up getting less loot with magic find, if you end up killing foes less quickly. For an imaginary example, if you can kill 100 foes/hour with berserker gear (no MF) and only 50 foes/hour with 200% MF gear, you will almost certainly end up with less valuable loot after that hour.

Ok, not exactly sure how his quote differs from what I was saying… but I agree with pretty much everything you said.

In my experience with MMOs and RPGs in general (including games like Diablo 2/3) loading up with MF gear is never worth the trade offs.

The actual increase is multiplicative, not linear, and with most games high end stuff already having a miniscule drop rate, a slightly less miniscule rate will be barely noticeable by a human player.

Usually, its far more effective to kill quicker and survive. I forget the statistical math proof on the subject, but killing more mobs faster generates more chances at drops, rather than a slightly higher chance on fewer mobs. Over time, the fact that you can farm twice or even thrice as fast as a dedicated MF’er means you’ll end up with more wealth. Not to mention that you don’t need to shell out the extra money building up MF gear and consumables.

Thats another thing too, if you have a character who’s a chef. You can make decent money selling almost any level of MF consumables, while keeping the stuff that grants health on hit, extra power, etc. for yourself.

I have noticed better T6mat drops also.

like being said, many people see magic find as a gold making machine, or atleast have those expectations, They are not!!. You are sacrifcing good stats for better drops, but it takes you longer to kill cause you have bad stats.

Is it worth it?? Perhaps. But don’t think it will get you much richer then without it. It makes a small difference, wich also depends on your class, playstyle and personal talent.

Magic Find does make a huge difference. People that say it doesn’t don’t know how to properly farm. True you do alot less damage but that’s why you never farm alone. I always farm with a group running over 300% magic find.

Patience is key, you can make alot more money than farming cof per hour. Then again you can make less. Gotta love RNG.