Artifact exp and catalyst drops

Discussion in 'Gotham City (General Gameplay)' started by lanternspartan, Nov 26, 2021.

  1. lanternspartan Level 30

    Artifact high exp drops need to be increased drastically. Leveling up an artifact shouldn't be marketplace focus. We need more 1000+ exp drops. It would be nice for catalysts to drop as well instead of just relying on buying them with source marks. Both seals should be added to John Constantine. It is ridiculous that leveling up artifacts requires purchases from the marketplace. A lot of people have said it would take forever to get a level 200 artifact the way the game currently is
    • Like x 2
  2. Empress_Orana Well-Known Player

    BRB going to make some popcorn for this thread.
    • Like x 4
  3. metal1ix Well-Known Player

    Green and Blue Nth Metal is pretty much commonplace if you go around and kill every enemy within an instance.
    Free to play wise, you're meant to tackle things one at a time instead of taking care of it all in one day.
    Source Marks can be spammed in fairness, along with finding and completing every single daily (also doubles with Exobyte salvaging.)
    Past 80, it takes 1 extra of each material, and breakthroughs are in intervals of 20.

    I'd say it's more realistic for free to plays to get to at least 80 on their artifacts, and once they have enough stockpiles, they can breakthrough to 100, and then the levels after that. And that's usually how everything goes within Free 2 Play MMOs. You either grind an intensive amount of time for the materials, or you can spend money to attain them faster. It's the same bread and butter formula known as paying 4 convenience.

    Is the grind ridiculous? Yes. However the way things are, even if you do whale for Nth Metals, you still have to farm the source marks to get the catalysts needed to break through.

    The same applies with Time Pieces and the Gear Gate of 325 CR and the only way to go beyond that is doing dailies. Things have to be time locked to give the player an incentive to keep playing the game and progress.
    • Like x 1
  4. Beat Active Player

    If artifact catalyst dropped there would literally be no reason for John Constantine, might as well drop artifacts themselves too.

    Also would officially KILL omnibus and older content (which is already on life support from my experience anyway) because no one would need source marks anymore unless it's an alt leveling gear.

    Edit: I also have leveled 2 alts up organically from level 3 to cr 250+. By the time they hit endgame they already had at least 2 160 ranked artifacts.

    The problem is some of you literally rush and skip to endgame then complain your artifacts or sp is low end. All you need is to take your time and do it the organic way, all you'll need to buy is nth metal detectors (Which are dirt cheap), and you could have a 130- 140 artifact in 2 weeks worst case scenario.
  5. Beat Active Player

    Also rank 200 artifacts were never necessary.

    Me with my rank 200 artifacts have been shadowed or mirrored by people with 160 artifacts before, main things that matter are Gear equipment, loadout rotation, decent skill points, and 140- 160 artifacts for endgame (some might even argue 160s aren't necessary), especially if you're a might dps.

    For tanks 200s aren't necessary either, my tank alt (who for the most part I ranked organically) has 2 160 artifacts and 1 140 artifact and has solo tanked with no support role before.

    Now, for healers it's a slippery slope because seeing a great healer with lower artifacts is rare in my experience, most of the best healers I have ever seen had max everything, so for healers i'd say it's a gamble. Unless you really really really know what you're doing.

    Don't know much of controllers and rarely see them honestly, so that again i'd say is possible but a gamble.


    My point is rank 200 artifacts are a PLUS, icing on the cake. There are plenty of good/great players without rank 200 artifacts. This myth of "If your artifacts aren't all max, you're a second class player at best" is pure Bullsh*t.
    • Like x 3
  6. Jafin 10000 Post Club

    You don't really need rank 200 artifacts. 160 is enough for most of them. If you're not at endgame then I'd even recommend just getting your three chosen artifacts to rank 80 to get the initial bonuses and then start working on getting them higher after that. It's super easy to get them to 80 because it requires very little exp.

    You can get free seals every month by using your Destiny tokens at the Doctor Fate vendor. Even if you don't have a subscription you get 1 Destiny token per month if you log in the required amount of days (either 20 or 21, I forget). With that you can buy a pack of 10 Seals of Preservation or one Seal of Completion. There is also a pack of 35k exp Nth Metal for 1 Destiny token, but I'd argue you're better off using the token for seals. Levelling up artifacts doesn't "require" the marketplace, but it does make it a hell of a lot faster.
    • Like x 3
  7. Bipolar Diva Well-Known Player

    This is why out of 6 dual role characters out of 8 are now DPS only. 3 tanks 3 trolls now only DPS because of the cost of artifacts leveling and breakthrough costs.
    • Like x 2
  8. lanternspartan Level 30

    I have been playing this game since launch when it was on disc and you had to pay a subscription. I know how this game works. I know the leveling process. I also know what I am talking about.

    When I say catalysts should drop in content is no different than gear dropping in content. Gear drops do not stop us from buying the vendor gear nor would it stop us from using John Constantine. The reason it wouldn't is because if you have source marks you could buy them. It is no different than buying the catalysts straight from the marketplace. That is why your thought process is flawed.

    Also, catalysts use to drop from content until they changed that. That was before Omnibus and stat clamping.

    Catalysts dropping in content doesn't mean you would always get the ones you need. That os why John Constantine would still be used. The same applies to seals. Seals that help you breakthrough without losing catalysts. Which your can burn through really fast when you only have a 20% breakthrough chance.

    Now let's look at Dr. Fate. Destiny tokens are not something you get a lot of. Which is why they made seals and the high exp for catalysts purchasable with them. Yet, we get a lot of Fate Tokens. There is nothing even worth buying with Fate Tokens. That is done for the same reason as why catalysts don't drop anymore and 1000+ exp drops are extremely rare. It is to keep artifact leveling marketplace focused. Leveling an artifact organically is only easy until level 80. Past this it gets difficult. Past 120 is even more difficult because the amount of exp required. Past 160 is way difficult because the exp required and not getting 1000+ exp drops. The only real place you got 1000+ exp drops was from the vault. We don't have that anymore. I run content everyday. I even do sp groups so, I know how for very little high exp drop for artifacts. You get 10s and 50s. Which is a slow level to artifacts past 80.

    Everything the devs do is set for people to focus on buying from the marketplace. Seasonal content requires marketplace to get everything before that seasonal play is done. I know because I use to do seasonal everyday. That was even before you were stat clamped. Just simply doing the mission and open world won't allow you to get everything. You would need to spam replays for that. Now they added buying currency from the marketplace and more things to acquire from the seasonal with feat points attached. I understand they do it to make money because they are their game free to play but, that doesn't mean it is right. The game shouldn't be so marketplace focused. This is coming from someone who has been legendary since day one.

    In short catalysts, seals, and 1000+ exp drops would not make John Constantine useless but, it would make things not so marketplace focus. I can guarantee that leveling up an artifact to 160 is not that easy and to 200 is even harder. And those that have them that high paid money some point in the leveling process to get them that high. Paid money to either purchase from the marketplace or those people that do dc cash to pay from the broker.

    As far as Omnibus. That is dying because the devs in typical fashion didn't listen. People don't like running content stat clamped for no real reward from it. The only instances ran are the quickest and easiest for source marks any other are just for pets. Which a lot of us saw that coming. Not stat clamping wouldn't have changed that from happening but, more high end would do old content for feats not acquired the first time around with no stat clamping. That would because though feats would be easier to get at higher CRs
    • Like x 1
  9. metal1ix Well-Known Player

    For an artifact to go from 0-200, according to the handy dandy calculator, 1,382 source marks are needed in the form of 56 Dionesium, 44 Quantum Energy, 36 Paradox energy. I'd say take Beat's advice and leave it at 100 or 120, cause min-max costs are too staggering for minuscule bonuses. Plus these artifacts have a chance of failure, so there's no telling how devastating the consequences would be if you do it without having a protection seal on hand.

    Nth Metal is also easy to farm, with somewhat-consistent results coming from killing the first enemy in every instance and "map", followed by a chance of getting more from killing every 9th enemy in that same instance (hence the metal's name.)

    For people that don't have marketplace as an option (myself included) due to such staggering prices, we can only farm the Nth Metal manually, to which becomes a massive time sink.

    Essentially, Pay 2 Win bypasses the failure in its entirety, and so long as the person in question can afford it, by all means. I can't force people to say no when they want to support the game. These folks gotta make their money somehow.

    This is the typical F2P vs. P2W war that divides player bases, where F2P loses every time considering they can't fork up the money and thus have to go through the time grind (and luck) to get the same result. (Heck back then, F2P Couldn't even participate in the latest DLC, and people wonder why there was a mass quit to boot.)
  10. CCPONCHO Well-Known Player

    I don't know brother but I was able to get to 160 arts by the daily logins and exp drops without having to go to the market place on one of my alts for exp. Now I did pay some for the catalyst because I stay away from that omnibus and stat clamp crap, if it wasn't for the stat clamp I would've easily farmed source marks and probably wouldn't have to pay a dime.
  11. Pale Rage Dedicated Player


    I agree, at rank 140-160, most artifacts perform very well, 200's just being icing.

    For tanking, every rank is just a bonus to increase survivability (which is mostly maintained already by a proper rotation). For damage, yes, you can see a difference between lvl 80 to 160, but then it really starts to be minimal increases.

    For healing, I have checked myself the artifacts "necessity." I've run alerts taking my artifacts off. It's manageable, but you have got to be on your toes. Like white knuckle driving, sweaty palm healing. In elite content, I'll not remove artifacts. Putting them back on, you realize just hope much smoother it is to heal with high artifacts.
    • Like x 1
  12. DeitySupreme Steadfast Player

    People have been running dps only toons since before artifacts were introduced lol. So not sure what you’re talking about.

    Having played from launch doesn’t mean you know everything. Artifacts have become so easy to level up. If you are as experienced as you claim than you would know how to take advantage of everything available to you. Let me explain.

    You get nth by kill enemy npcs (with a timer). So nth is something you get passively. By having membership your get 50% more nth drops. If you ha membership than you also get extra nth from the monthly reward. You also have your 500 monthly membership currency. Every 2 months you can use that to buy a perfected nth metal that is worth 75,000 experience. You also get 4 destiny tokens a month. So now you don’t even have to use your monthly currency to buy seals and instead use your destiny for seals. You can even use destiny to get more nth. So A LOT of ways to get nth and seals without spending outside of membership.

    You than have events to take advantage off. Double nth experience means all the nth you save up is doubled when used during the event. There are even ways to bypass the nth cap (not glitches) to use up all saved nth during the event even if you don’t have the catalyst to breakthrough.

    You also have the free seal thats comes a few times during the year. That same event has catalyst drop from the game. That free seal is a seal of completion which you can use on higher level artifacts waiting to breakthrough.

    You can now farm source marks to buy catalyst. And you have double source mark week which you can use to stockpile a bunch of source marks. (Hint, this event is currently up)

    The game is giving you all the tools needed to level up artifacts efficiently. If you are using nth as it drops instead of taking advantage of the events than that’s completely on you. “But nth takes up a lot of room” Nth now stacks up to 999 and you can create alts to store your nth. So again, the game gives you all the tools needed to level artifacts efficiently.
    • Like x 4
  13. Jafin 10000 Post Club


    Just singling out this one part because it's incorrect. Nth Metal drops are on a timer, it's not based on how many enemies you kill. Nobody outside the dev team knows the exact drop timer, but that is how it's done. That's why if you go, for example, an hour without killing any enemies you'd get more Nth Metal from killing one enemy than you normally would get from a single enemy if you were killing one every 10-15 minutes.
    • Like x 1
  14. DeitySupreme Steadfast Player

    The timer is actually pretty easy to figure out. Last time I checked (over an year ago) it was about 6 or 8 (can’t remember exactly) when performing actions that drop nth. This includes killing enemies and collecting nodes that drop nth like exo nodes. However when not performing those actions the timer drops to about 2 or 3 minutes (against I can’t remember exactly). But the exact timer is pretty easy to test out.

    You go out somewhere with weak adds. Using a stop watch keep killing adds and you’ll get the reduced timer. Then go out and repeat but this time kill 1 add then wait 5 minutes and kill something. You should get an nth. Wait 4 minutes and kill and add. If you get one wait 3 minutes and kill yet another. Repeat for 2 minutes. If you don’t get one for 2 minutes than the lower cooldown will be between 2-3 minutes. Repeat at 2 minutes 30 seconds. If you get one the timer is between 2:30 and 3. If one does drop than the timer is between 2 and 2:30. Sounds complicated but pretty easy to test. It’s how I tested before.
    • Like x 1
  15. Beat Active Player



    But I have never had a problem with artifact XP and leveling (Just my anecdotal experience), I also know what I'm talking about.

    Your gear example is a terrible example.
    A better example is that if high end (Gold/platinum) gear dropped in content then yes, the gear vendor would be useless. Purple gear drops yes, but that's not the end all be all. No one says "YAY, I got all my purple gear even though that's the second lowest ranked gear, I'm done." We try to work our way up to the good stuff (Gold/ platinum) gear.

    Essentially your idea is like taking OP item catalyst and making them a content drop, and I mean ALL catalyst as drops.

    Then what would be the purpose of saving up 200+ marks for that last OP item catalyst piece? There'd be none. See my point?

    I could understand if you say Dionesium and Quantum Field Energy should drop and keep the Paradox Energy on the vendor (Like OP items), but no, you're saying ALL artifact catalyst should drop.
    Which like I said is not even necessary especially since we can easily get 50-100 source marks per day.

    Imo
    • Like x 1
  16. metal1ix Well-Known Player

    From my experience, I get an Nth metal drop about every 3 to 6 minutes with the usual green and blue drops while running solo content due to testing the timer method. Some solo instances are on average 7 to 8 minutes long due to running into crescendo events that force you to sweep enemies within a room before progressing.

    Is it possible to get purple tier Nth Metal drops, or are those completely locked to stabilizers? Only asking out of pure curiosity.
  17. Aduzar Light Dedicated Player

    The artifacts have become like a demoralizing prison, you feel like you can never get to the end and the worst thing is when you think you want to try another artifact, after a new build, but you lose a lot of motivation to upgrade, because it takes forever, just for one artifact ...

    If it would be more honest about the progression of the artifacts, once you pass level 160 !
    • Like x 1
  18. Illumin411 Loyal Player

    I have thirteen 200's, a 180 and a 160. I mostly only paid for seals (pre-new membership benefits). There were a few times where I had some extra marketplace cash (less than $5) left over after a big sale or something and put that in to artifacts. And I did treat myself to the $100 red obsidian bundle for my birthday this year and used that mostly for artifacts. Other than that, it's been all grind.
    • Like x 2
  19. DeitySupreme Steadfast Player

    I don’t remember ever getting a purple drop. Those are from stabilizers, daily login reward, and for purchase from the vendor for destiny token. I’m no on atm but I believe I had 50+ of those still saved up even after the nth event. So they do pile up pretty quickly. As for the drop timer, I’ll have to retest if I remember to do so lol. But I do know the timer is shorter if you aren’t doing the actions I listed before which increase the timer (never understood why. It’s like it punishes you for playing lol)

    Again, there have been plenty of help offered to you with advice. Ranging from power loadouts, art advice, etc. if you refuse to listen then of course it will feel like a prison.
    • Like x 1
  20. Aduzar Light Dedicated Player

    the NTH metal pack without defect and see cache of preservation seals sold by Doctor Fate, should be available for free players and subscribers, because in all honesty, the fate tokens are currently, not very interesting for anyone.

    Otherwise, I greatly support the idea of adding completion seals through this vendor for subscribers, however, it should stay that way, on this point, I still feel that there could be 2 extra tokens for the last 10 days, as these last 10 days of daily rewards, are really not interesting for subscribers.

    I am of the opinion, that all players of any status should be able to reach the max artefact!
    • Like x 1