Episode 17: Gear Drops aka Cash Grab

The gear drops based on RNG and how far they are spread before you might get lucky or before the bad luck limiter drops the same piece of gear that you have already got is driving me nuts.


This was clearly experienced in Episode 16 and will continue in Episode 17. I tested the raid twice and got zero drops and while the sample size is small, it's indicative of the pattern repeated earlier.

The bad luck limiter is fair invention but is rendered useless when the same pieces drop again and again. How is this helping us when the object results in a zero sum game?

Also, the bad luck limited ought to be instance specific but that would be counter productive to publisher intent to milk them cows harder and faster.

Based on my replay experience, I would end up using about 10000 replays per year for 4 quarterly DLC. With the current structure and based on how thinly spread the loot drops are, I have nearly spend 5000 replays in two months so that I could get max gear. This is too much money the game expects players to spend and seems outrageous.

A whole lot of end game community which seeks the best gear drops has to spend a huge amount of replays than used before. Where is the fairness in such a system that feels like a cash grab and nothing more?

The developers turn a blind eye every time such a thread is posted because more money is always better than less money even if it comes at the cost of alienating a large player base that would eventually get tired with this practice.

Killing the hen that lays golden eggs will not help the publisher but apparently they only see the hard numbers and care little for the player sentiment of feedback which is not substantive evidence but an indication that something may not be right but till the time it actually plummets the game with disastrous effects, hardly anything is done about it.

I don't mind supporting the game but the game should not be an attempt to leech its population dry. Vendor gear will never be the best since it did not help replay sales and has been experimented upon in Halls of Power I when the Vendor gear was the same CR as the Drops but the drops delivered slightly better stats.

What solution can we find here?

In my humble opinion we don't really need drop gear. Full vendor sets will net you close enough stats not like the T5 days when Atlantean Monarch was a joke compared to Traces in Time. I feel people haven't really noticed that as of WotL Pt1 drop gear and vendor gear isn't all that far apart. So in closing the need for drop gear is not as dire as everyone makes it out to be...at least in my opinion.

This is why considerably better gear as reward to luck is FOOLS GOLD. Yes for 2 months they made nice coin off you as they often do but going forward? Id bet over the course of the next year if u stay your spendings well id bet ur replay days are about over. So many of us have been where u are and so many more who felt this way are former players now.

I am very upset and still have a bad taste in my mouth from t5 oc dlc. Consumers take this treatment very badly

Players just need to chill out with their "best gear" obsession. I know itll never happen, having seen the same endgame attitude in multiple MMOs over the course of about a decade. But i honestly think the playerbase would be happier if they would just let go of that rat race, and just play the game naturally

Didnt get a single piece of elite gear on any of my 3 chars... maybe I didnt play the pitty-timer as I should
I refuse to pay for a single replaybadge in a sub based game. I pay a sub- I want a realistic chance at obtaining the best gear as long as it is relevant! I wouldnt mind DCUOs blatant Replay cash crab if it was truly f2p but not like this. 2 of the most important armor-parts for CR-calculation (legs/breast) being 3/5 CR lower than elite gear was yet another great move to make people spam those replays. 2 CR difference between my 135 and OPs 137 alone already makes a freaking 20%? dmg difference on lets say a 139 target. Since it isnt realistic to get the gear without Replaying its just p2win. In an already sub based game. Seldomly saw a greedier company than DBG.
Reading people really spent 5k RBs in 2 month is mind-boggling. No offense here its your money you can do whatever you want. If thats the amount of replays you might have to spend to get full elite, well... Sadly its people like you who keep that bs going...if its ok for you to spend that amount on virtual thingys its fine ofc (again no offense your decision) but if you dislike it then you probably shouldnt do it.
The gear will be outdated soon and you ll have to go through this again. Also its likely that future content wont be balanced around max CR and seeing that latest elite content isnt challanging at 130+CR already makes that modell even more questionable.
Possible solution(s) were already pointed out in another 20+ pages thread on here but each and every one of them requires DBG to trade their !atm! guaranteed Replay-cash-cow in for sth revolving around "quality" attracting a wider audience. The bs with replays must and will stop anyways- people wont take it forever and its hurting reputation and retaining players. On the other hand if DBG only wants to cash out before letting the game die then they are definetely on the right track. Sadly voting with your wallet is probably all you can do.

It's not about stats. It's about CR. Cr affects how much damage you take and how much you recieve and in some cases that 3 overall cr difference from full vendor to full drop gear is huge.

Honestly I am expecting the drops to be skewed for the first week until it's available for premiums.

But honestly don't care because people spending money on the game is helping the game. Most people don't read the forums so the people that don't will be the ones spamming 87 RB to try their luck.

Much different than an alert. People will come here fuming if the drop rate is messed up. And possibly see a Dev response a week later saying we have reviewed the drop rate and have increased it by a small amount.

$65 a month for a lucky dip at loot that's not even absolutely necessary to comfortably complete content or progress? Wow haha.

The thing about the bad luck limiter is that it was a red herring solution to the problem the community was facing. I partly blame the developers for this, but mostly the community.

I blame the developers because they touted it and presented the concept as a solution to the problems people were facing. But to the developers credit, it's all there in white on blue that the limiter doesn't actually benefit many people. Only people who NEVER see any rare items because random chance always draws bad numbers.

It says quite clearly in the announcement thread that the system only benefits about 10% of the population, which means the vast majority of players will never see it kick in for them. I blame the community more for choosing to ignore the written word and blindly praise the system and the developers without establishing all the facts, first.

Ultimately, the whole new loot system was designed to do 2 things and 2 things only: Stop the few people affected from only drawing non-rare gear from boss fights for long periods of time and let players choose which booby prize you want when you don't get a rare drop, because we couldn't collectively decide whether we wanted gear to salvage or Marks.

The reason people still complain to this day is because the fundamental problem has not been addressed or resolved. It's like dealing with damp. You can paint over the damp as much as you like. You can use cheap paint, expensive paint, specialist paint, primer->undercoat->top coat, wallpaper over it... unless you actually stop what is causing the damp, the damp will seep through, every time. Same applies with the RNG based loot system.

I have heard that response many times. It's not about needing drop gear or vendor gear to beat content because when the content drops tomorrow, we will beat it at the current CR of 137.

Also, bear in mind that unlike before, stats are second only to CR. CR is the big boss of all factors that go to make a strong character. The difference was clearly felt in round 9 of Survival Mode, where due to the low CR, the damage out was minuscule.

Stats per say have no real value unless you have the corresponding CR, this is how the new system works, so what was not so relevant prior to CR differential adjustment makes it all the more important.

I will stop chasing the drop gear if if has the same CR as the vendor gear and if not then, CR differential makes the vendor gear somewhat useless because you will be 3 CR behind the drop gear.

"Best gear" obsession is further promulgated by the CR differential adjustment which means that your pure stats have less value unless you have the requisite CR.

CR is all that matters with GU47, so why would people not chase after it?

In other MMOs, getting best gear is about playtime invested in the game and not about resetting loot locks with real money and therefore to draw a parallel would not be a sound rational given how CR differential affects player performance.

There is nothing natural in the manner of loot design that is purposely designed to affect game play and player performance critically.

I am part of a competitive league and since CR is the only real factor of player performance due to GU 47, it would be unsound to not chase after it. It would be near impossible to complete round 20 of SM at CR 141 which is what the vendor gear offers provided you are CR 137 at the current moment and the complete drop gear lands you with the max CR of 145. The difference is huge.

If I stop replaying content to get the best gear, I might as well stop playing the game all together because my enjoyment revolves around competitive game play.

The system is a success because we are being forced to spend more and more replays with each episode and it has started to pinch the pocket because the amount of replays required to obtain drop gear have doubled. I would prefer a quarterly DLC if such is the manner in which loot is going to be organized.

It's not simply about the drops rates, the CR differential adjustment has caused a havoc and not having a high CR mars performance dramatically and fuels a replay driven game play.

If I don't replay, I can't get to max gear which is completely wrong as far as loot design goes. Replays were meant to aid faster progression but now, replays become a way of life without which players have a slim chance of getting geared.

As far as skewed drop rate is concerned, why is is that such things are not tested at the developer's end unless they want to unfairly benefit out of such design?

Why is there a need with every DLC or episode for players to constantly complain on the forums?

keeping up with the jones's is such a pitiful way to conduct business in my opinion but what do I know right . I feel bad for premiums when these episodes launch that isn't enough time to get anything from the raid what 4 x if you don't use replays and your not guaranteed a drop the odds are against us.

sooooo...you ran something twice and didn't get a drop and you came here to tell us about it?

Maybe the devs should just send you gear via mail. would that make things easier?

Actually, it's higher, I pay in Pound Sterling. So maybe you can laugh a little more if that makes your day.

As far as completing content goes, usually the content is completed at whatever CR one starts the new episode with so even if drop gear is unnecessary to complete content, that does not change player attitude.

In real life too, Bill Gates does not need a 70 bedroom house which may seem unnecessary for you but perhaps it doesn't to him. Similarly, people drive Rolls Royce, Bugatti, Maserati, etc when they could do with Tata Nano but it's not about bare necessities. Playing the game is also unnecessary because it adds no real value except the personal entertainment one drives out of it.

Each individual is different in their motivations to play this game. If this discussion does not affect you and if you aren't bothered by the loot design, why make a post that contributes nothing and for your self induced giggliness, you would be better served in Joker's Funhouse.

Here's a solution: bring back need/greed and guarantee drops. Take away unattuned and bring back the role locked gear. Allow rolling need only on the role you queued in as. Dps will obviously be the slowest class to gear but the support roles shouldn't take too long after a few runs.

Sorry if I'm alone on this but I never hated need/greed like majority of the community apparently did before. I also PuG majority of the time as well

I see your "best gear" and that you will not be wearing for more than a few months, even if you get it from loot drops or vendor, and raise you.... fun??
Its a vertical progression design, it's never gonna be best for long. What does one need best gear for when you beat the latest content to get it? (SM? meh)

It wouldn't be such a big deal if they didn't make CR factor into damage so much. It'd almost be like the gear didn't matter as much as skill and SP and learning your power.....

Unfortunately, I can't test the raid everyday and run it many times to have a larger sample size. No one in our group saw any drops, it is something and I did not come to tell you anything because you are not my audience considering your attitude.

I would very much like the Devs to send me gear via mail if you could make that happen for me and I'll probably thank you for it too.

I don't mind it at all but at the same time, it would be imperative that the best gear is available on the Vendor.