Observations on solo Drop Rate

King's Spectre

King's Spectre

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jul 2005

Syracuse, NY, USA

The Amazon Basin (AB)

W/

Sorry if this is posted somewhere, the forums are pretty busy atm. I don't have enough data yet to be sure, but I noticed something odd in HM (probably normal too).

I took a warrior out and did a little riposte farming of critters in the early parts of Tyria. Taking packs of 2-4 at a time, I was getting a drop about half the time.

Playing around, I took a rit out with into the area (different critters) and the build was wildly successful. I could easily take out packs of 12 or more at a pop. The interesting thing is that right off the bat I was only seeing 1/8 drop rates.

Do you suppose that drops are tied to kill rate? Similar to the SR nerf, is it possible that you are only eligible for 1 drop every X seconds?

NME

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Oct 2006

N/

That does make alot of sence, some one could try this in UW solo as an SS necro (drop'em at same time) and Spoil Victor (1 at a time) and see if the drop rate changes. I shall try that when we get favor. Good theory.

Wildi

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Mar 2006

PvE is the Metagame

Quote:
Originally Posted by King's Spectre
..Do you suppose that drops are tied to kill rate? Similar to the SR nerf, is it possible that you are only eligible for 1 drop every X seconds? I noticed the same thing, when mobs die at the same time I get less drops

ockwell

ockwell

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Dec 2006

[ITIL]

i kinda noticed the same thing when i farm with my dervish vs. ele.
can't confirm it yet, need more trial runs and data from ppl.
keep it coming ppl

kinda make sense, i think the game dev was struck by the inspiration of using the same logic for drop rate as energy gain from SR post nerf.

zling

zling

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Apr 2006

it also makes sense is Anet is trying to make farming harder/less profitable as dropping mobs 1 by 1 is much slower and harder than dropping groups of mobs simultaniously...

l Batman l

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jun 2006

I think it's just random.

Ravengar Silvertree

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Nov 2006

Washington USA

Demon Dawg Knights [DAWG]

I have also noticed this. When I take out huge mobs of like 15+ at a time, I get as many drops as a group of 6 or so.

jbwarrior

jbwarrior

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jul 2006

The Netherlands

W/

This is so true, I did a UW run with my ele. first I took a group of 4 smites, i got, 4 piles, 1 ecto, 108gold, phantom residue.
Then I took a group of 8, i got... 8 piles, 1 gold eternal shield, 103gold and that's it.
Then I took a big group of 15, I had purple storm bow, again a gold eternal shield and a white smiting rod... so yes take only small groups to get the most drops.... but I think how bigger the group is the better the drops are (less drops but better drops), because 1st eternal shield was req 12 and the 2nd eternal shield was req 9

So try it out guys/girls.

BTW It was in normal mode

Elnai

Elnai

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jul 2006

Top Rating Loss Guild 5/25

Maybe.. I don't really know.

R/

Not true at all. Its random. Killed a mob of about 15 and got ~13 drops. Killed a mob of 6 and got no drops.

buzzerman

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Apr 2006

I think the OP was onto something.. I ran quite a few tests on the Zelnehlun's group (HM) and I CONSISTENTLY got fewer drops by killing those 16-17 spiders all quickly (with SS, EoE, etc.) than by killing them slowly 1-2 at a time with single-dmg skills like Spoil Victor and Price of Failure..

Now that was intriguing.. It's like they took extra provisions to discourage fast solo farming..

Dfx Gladiator

Dfx Gladiator

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Aug 2006

Portugal - Porto

W/

Yeh now farming is of no use, imo.

I was doing a quest yesterday in Kourna and i got a Black Dye, and I later did another quest in ISTAN and i got a superior vigor, all with henchmen and heroes so... Loot is the same for every situation now it seems.

Correct Jeans

Correct Jeans

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Apr 2007

^MY CAT DID THAT ONCE!

Free Willzyx [MASA]

E/Me

I really dont think it matters. lol. its all in ur heads.

gw_poster

gw_poster

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jan 2007

so cal

R/

I believe it's all random, too. But along those lines, I heard there is something to being within the aggro bubble to get your drops/loot - is there any truth to this. When solo trapping, I try to run away as fast as possible which might sometimes put me outside the 'bubble' and drops are more infrequent than others and sometimes not at all. I have yet to test this, just something I noticed. I figure though, that if you take out 10+ level 28's at one time, I would think at least something would drop, no? BTW (referencing previous post): 2 gold eternal shields in one u/w run? Wish I had that luck!

FoxBat

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Apr 2006

Amazon Basin [AB]

Mo/Me

Quote:
Originally Posted by Correct Jeans
I really dont think it matters. lol. its all in ur heads. Thanks for the in-depth testing an analysis.

I'd like to see more replication (or refutation) of these results... notice the one build with much better drops kills minos one at a time with just -10 degen, which is extremely slow. The relatively speedy sliver armor by contrast didn't yield that much better returns than sandstorming everything. You really have to cut back the killing speed to notice a difference.

DvM

DvM

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Aug 2005

Vlaardingen, The Netherlands

Survivor Squad[SS]

Loot sclaing is party AND time based, kill a monster every ~30osh seconds, and you'll get full drops.

red13xx

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Oct 2006

that is bs. I tried it slow and fast same thing. If that was true the first monster you kill in an area would drop. It is just random.

Anyway you know what also sucks it says that you can get elite tome from hard mode bosses. So the chance for them to drop must be rarer than its green. I started to think of a good way to make a profit by selling the tombs so I began to solo the bosses. I did 5 different bosses at least 10 times each. All different and have yet to get a tome from them. I have gotten 4 greens though in hard mode but still no sign of the tome. Jeez this sucks. My inventory almost filled with mods and green and I cant sell a damn one of them! Why did anet do this? I have only got tome from hard mode chest so far and even during my sunspear farming I have killed a boss 50 times in a row and havent gotten a tomb with henches so it is the same with solo bosses and henches. 1 tome out of 100+ boss kills is rediculous.

Cassandra

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2006

the observation of drops inflenced by the killing speed is fully and totally coherent with my experience too.

Anko-

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Apr 2007

Ascending Phoenix

Mo/

this is strange, i was farming corsairs in HM yesterday and i experienced the Opposite i usually can take the whole group of 15+ at once and i barely get any good drops at all but yesterday i decided to put symbol of wrath into my build to kill faster and i got 3 gold drops in a single run this was while taking all the corsairs at once like i usually do and not killing group by group , its very strange.

DvM

DvM

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Aug 2005

Vlaardingen, The Netherlands

Survivor Squad[SS]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anko-
this is strange, i was farming corsairs in HM yesterday and i experienced the Opposite i usually can take the whole group of 15+ at once and i barely get any good drops at all but yesterday i decided to put symbol of wrath into my build to kill faster and i got 3 gold drops in a single run this was while taking all the corsairs at once like i usually do and not killing group by group , its very strange. Golds are not affected by theloot scaling.

Wickie

Wickie

Academy Page

Join Date: May 2006

The Netherlands

W/

Pictures say more than words

This is in hardmode!!!!!!

Evenstar

Evenstar

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Aug 2006

Mystic Falls

Guildless....

E/Me

what the hell how? or you just killed them one by one?

AOD_EaSyKiLL

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Nov 2006

Angels of Death

Mo/

I think that Ungrateful Slave farm does say quite a bit towards the kill rate affecting the drop rate. I farm it with SoJ on my monk and when you get a group with a bunch of warriors, I get way more drops than if it is a group of mostly casters. The only logical reason is because of the difference in time between deaths on the warriors due to the running away to heal. I'll get at least a 75% drop from melee there and probably 25% on the casters.

Depending on how the first group spawns, it is an ideal testing ground. If it spanws 3 or less melee and rest caster, I notice real low drops, since they all die about the same time. When it spawns reversed with 3 or so casters and the rest melee, I get alot more drops.

Sk8tborderx

Sk8tborderx

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Nov 2005

PA

Us Are Not [leet]

W/

This is what I got after only 5 runs, each run only takes 6 minutes, and it kills a group at the same time. (Dead sword farm, only picked up money, purple, and golds.)

FoxBat

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Apr 2006

Amazon Basin [AB]

Mo/Me

Let me add that I believe kill rate only affects junk drops, purple and below, the stuff we are told is affected by loot scaling. I did get a gold on one of my mass kill runs, so a screenshot full of golds from a fast kill doesn't really disagree with this; the question is where your junk drops are.

It also seems like hard mode just generally drops gold more often whether solo or in full groups, so that factor needs to be taken into account as well.

Levi Garett

Levi Garett

Old School Nub

Join Date: Jun 2005

ABQ, NM

Guildless

Mo/Me

In my testing using EoE I definately see a decrease of drops when everything dies at the same time. When I take out EoE I start getting more loot and more rares.

Darksun

Darksun

Jungle Guide

Join Date: May 2005

USA

Karr's Castle

W/E

Quote:
Originally Posted by Correct Jeans
I really dont think it matters. lol. its all in ur heads. This is likely the case. I am hesitant to say one way or another because I cannot trust my own thoughts on it. I would tend to say kill rate effects drops, but It could very well be that I'm pissed about not getting what I want.

ThaAlchemy

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Feb 2006

Your Dirty Secret [lies]

W/Mo

well, from what i can tell, normal mode ecto drop rate is the lowest ive ever seen. 6 runs, 1 ecto, im not sure i want to bother with it anymore tbh... *waits for someone to tell me i was just had a bad day*

Nemo the Capitalist

Nemo the Capitalist

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Aug 2006

Trust me you dont want to know my Chasms of Despair

Zaishen Brotherhood

N/Me

Start solo VwK in Gyala hatchery u can get jade swords there..j/k

mwpeck

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Feb 2006

Gameamp Guides [AMP]

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by ThaAlchemy
well, from what i can tell, normal mode ecto drop rate is the lowest ive ever seen. 6 runs, 1 ecto, im not sure i want to bother with it anymore tbh... *waits for someone to tell me i was just had a bad day* I disagree with that...as in being worse then ever.....before hard mode came out, I (within 2 months before hard mode) did about 15 solo UW runs, I never got a single ecto.....and maybe 2 golds for all the runs. Again, that is within 2 months before hard mode came out.

Aksharack

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: May 2006

W/Me

I'm curious if any other farmers have noticed any anti-farm measures since hard mode was introduced.

Initially I noted nothing.. did run after run in Maddock getting golds nearly everytime. The the first couple of hour stints I did at this went fine ,no farm code, Yay!

Today, however, I've noticed my drops getting progressively worse. Farming Maddock, I now seem to get no golds at all.. what finally cut it for me was the white tattooed scimitar after 13 runs of not a single gold or purple in HM. I logged out.

Got back on, gold first run.. alright, just a streak of really bad luck. But after that my drops were the same. Bad.

Just did some runs in Zhelons, different char a few hours after that. Great drops at first.. then purples... then progressively less. Just wondered if any one else whose been farming pretty hardcore the past few days has noticed this. It didn't happen right away, this took several hours to build up. I could just be paranoid, but...

Thom Bangalter

Thom Bangalter

Grindin'

Join Date: Dec 2005

MO

E/Mo

I've experienced the same thing on my necro around arkjok ward. Kill 6 monkies at once? 1 drop. Kill two corsairs in consecutive order? 2 drops.

Firebaall

Firebaall

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Sep 2006

Yup, I really think Anet is feeding us a line of Bull***t. I can also confirm that they have some sort of anti farm code still operating. In Hard Mode, at first I was getting stunning drops. After several runs tonight back to back, it's very much been killed off.

ArKaiN

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Jan 2007

Lotus Branca[Lbr]

Mo/Me

Would it really surprise anyone if they reintroduced the farming code with the patch they set up on the 20th? (the "oops we screwed up" patch)

Cassandra

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2006

My opinion is that they just eliminated the "repeated area anti-farming code" with a more general "drop quality decrease over time spent".

Or if you prefer..... for a line in the Game Updates telling they removed an anti-farming code, there's at least two more invisible lines describing the new anti-farm code they've inserted xDDDD

Hengis

Hengis

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Apr 2006

London

Better Than Life (BTL)

R/

I have to say that my experience matches that of the O/P as well.

I was messing about with the corsairs at Moddock, and changing the build every couple of runs. Without doubt, the faster you kill them, the less they drop. If they die one at a time with a gap between each death you get consistently more (although not necessarily better) drops.

This feels like something similar to the soul reaping nerf code is being used to reduce drops.

Of course, it could just be random, but to me it feels otherwise.

Ishana

Ishana

Banned

Join Date: Apr 2007

Please Leave A Memo [PLAM]

Me/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hengis Stone
I have to say that my experience matches that of the O/P as well.

I was messing about with the corsairs at Moddock, and changing the build every couple of runs. Without doubt, the faster you kill them, the less they drop. If they die one at a time with a gap between each death you get consistently more (although not necessarily better) drops.

This feels like something similar to the soul reaping nerf code is being used to reduce drops.

Of course, it could just be random, but to me it feels otherwise. Same situation as you though...tested a few rounds

die all at once....1 white.....die one by one.....at least something more

Zolderick

Zolderick

Academy Page

Join Date: Nov 2006

Australia

N/

I used to do Tusked Howler farming in Nightfall and I would get roughly 1.5k per run. Now I only get 500g per run.

tamirxd

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Apr 2006

this is my ecto rate[solo necro],this is the normal mode stats,killing aataxe and smites.
First run 4 ectos.
Second run 3 ectos.
Third run 3 ectos.
In Hard Mode:
First run 3 ectos[After i killed something like 4-6 aataxe].
If the drop sucks for you guys make a mission or 2 it will improve your drop rate[I did 2 hour run with no ecto, then did 2 mission and as you can see above its MUCH better].

ThaAlchemy

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Feb 2006

Your Dirty Secret [lies]

W/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by tamirxd
this is my ecto rate[solo necro],this is the normal mode stats,killing aataxe and smites.
First run 4 ectos.
Second run 3 ectos.
Third run 3 ectos.
In Hard Mode:
First run 3 ectos[After i killed something like 4-6 aataxe].
If the drop sucks for you guys make a mission or 2 it will improve your drop rate[I did 2 hour run with no ecto, then did 2 mission and as you can see above its MUCH better]. I thought you didnt have to "clear" any "code" anymore.