I would just like to address the RNG system. An almost completely RNG system like the one in place in Guild Wars 2 is damaging not only to the player, but to the game and Arenanet’s income as well.
RNG is damaging to the player for two reasons:
- The player that devotes a large amount of time to the game does not get rewarded for his or her effort when comparing themselves to someone who acquired a random drop that caused them to immediately leapfrog the first player in wealth.
- A player that does get lucky with RNG and finds themselves instantly wealthy soon loses interest in the game. While this is not always the case and I have no studies to back up my claim, anecdotal evidence has supported this conclusion.
RNG is damaging to the game and community as a whole because of the effects on the player. In either scenario, the player is negatively affected by RNG. Over time as each incidence of RNG takes place, the player is less likely to continue playing, therefore the community loses its members.
RNG is detrimental to Arenanet’s business model due to the abundance of RNG items available in the Gem Store. As with the effects on a player, the success rate of acquisition of decent items from the Black Lion Chests, Miniature Collection Packs, and Dye Packs will either discourage those that do not receive a positive outcome or disillusion those that do. A player that does not get a reward after countless attempts will stop attempting and a player who gets a reward to early will stop attempting. Of course, this means that less money will be spent on gems.
Possible Solution – Instead of relying completely on RNG, I suggest a weighted system.
In this system, an unsuccessful interaction with an RNG system would increase the player’s chances on subsequent attempts. This system would be a modification of the magic find system. The MF system would be expanded to work on chest drops and Black Lion Trading Company RNG items, in addition to the creature drops.
An unsuccessful encounter with RNG would be the acquisition of any white, blue, or green item. On an unsuccessful attempt, the magic find percentage of the player would increment. The amount could be almost minuscule (0.05%), and it would be better than a completely new chance each time with the current system.
A successful encounter would be a yellow, orange, or pink item. The outcome would be different for each of these acquisitions. For a yellow item, there would be no modification of the artificial magic find that has been accrued – the player would have the same chance on subsequent attempts. For an orange or exotic item, the artificial magic find can be reduced by a percentage. For a pink or ascended item, the accrued magic find would be lost. There could be other modifications as well for precursors or other high value items that are not in proportion with their rarity tier.
Thank you for reading my wall of text.
TL;DR: RNG is unfair.
(edited by Baal.8643)