No more loot scaling in pre and shing jea?

Ok - I started another thread on this topic but, because I mentioned Charr salvage kits, which apparently were in another thread - even though search did not show it, it was closed.

But this weekend I have been in pre and on Shing Jea, which I had not done much lately. I was soloing and noticed that everything was dropping loot again.

I have not been exclusively testing this so it should be looked at by others as well. But for two days it has been consistent. Once I kill the first 5 or so mobs in an area - every mob (except wolves) has dropped something. This is very different than it was after loot scaling was introduced (I was running about 3 drops every 5 kills)

Now, I haven't been able to test it enough to be 100% certain - for one thing it is very boring to run a level 20 character through a low level area, but so far it seems to hold true.

As far as I know this is low level areas in normal mode only. I seldom solo higher level areas or hard mode so I would not be able to test them.

But even if ANet undid loot scaling for low level areas/normal mode only, I would be very happy.

Anyway, if you would be willing to test it, please run through low level areas in normal mode - discount the first 5 to 8 kills because they seem not to give anything (probably to prevent bot farming). And it might be best not to use AoE skills since there is some question if multiple kills at the same time messes up drop count. And then post your results.

The five areas I have done so far and their results:
Sunqua Vale - 100% drop rate
Panjiang Peninsula (only 1 beast did not drop and that may have been a miscount on my part as I was fighting several things at once)
Saoshang Trail - twice - 100% drop rate
Lakeside Country - 100% drop rate (except for wolves and they never did drop much of anything)
4 boss runs north of the wall - 100% drop rate (however I was only killing things necessary to get to the bosses.

If indeed ANet has rolled back loot scaling, even if only for low level areas, they should get our thanks, especially after all the complaining we did.

If this is true A-Net made their best move ever. I might wanna get my cash from Shing-Jea Island, soon

Ya know, I was wondering this, too. During dye drop weekend, I was farming in pre and noticed that I was getting a 100% droprate. I don't recall getting less than that at earlier times (but still after loot scaling was introduced), so I didn't know if I was just mistaken and never mentioned it. But yeah, 100% as far as I can tell. Didn't know Shing Jea was doing that, too, but wouldn't that mean Istan should also be like that? *shrugs*

If it's true, it's a nice way for lowbies to make enough money to progress without a lot of work. Commendable. Might test this on my pre character.

Istan: Plains of Jarin - virtually 100% (There was one incident where I killed 4 beast all at once and only got 3 drops - my bad)

Really starting to look like loot scaling has indeed been rolled back for starter areas at least (and frankly, I think hard mode needs to stay scaled because getting 100% drops in addition to the high level of golds would be too much).

So, at this point - ANet - thank you - and if this trend continues to hold true for starter areas in normal mode I will certainly be buying a couple of copies of GWEN after all and will look forward to GW2 because it would mean you do respond to players' concerns after all.

Hmm, in Pre today my mesmer got drops from just about everything, but I wasn't keeping track, either I was very lucky with the 1/2 chances, or scaling is gone there...

Well in the past day i went back and forth to the wall and killed the 4 charr bosses each time, hoping for a charr salvage kit.(*cough* i havent gotten one yet*) any AAANYWAYS:P i have seen plenty of loot drop, along with 4 charr bags. Total 20 runs.

Hooray for whites covering the entire charr mainland! i wish i had the room to pick them all up:P

Edit: woot i got a charr salvage kit on my 23rd run just saying,

Yea When farming in fahranur the first city i seem to always get a drop. Its great ive made alot of money.

Is this just normal mode? or does it include hm as well? Either way, its a nice move, especially for the first timers in pre, who really need the money.

very very nice... i think loot scaling has been removed in starter areas


I was just farming lahtenda bog... got a black dye as well as virtually 100%drop rate. (there were a couple of instances where it was not 100%)

hardmode jahrin, 15 kills so far, 5 drops ,all white

(edit button isn't working)

Confirmed, hard mode still has loot scaling, normal mode has about 90% droprate
(oh sure now edit works)

unfortunely its all random and luck till anerf says they reverted it there.

6 drops in 30 kills in hardmode vs 28 drops in 30 kills in normal mode.... i think is a bit more than normal randomization O.O

On how many runs did you do?

like 10, and a good bit of time in pre with same 90+% drop rate, whereas last week was about 35%

Agreed, I saw a consistent ~100% droprate when I was farming dyes in pre, and I did probably 30-40 runs (killing skale). I'm either a magnet for loot, or there is no loot scaling in those areas.

I don't know about it being their BEST move ever but it suer as hell would be a good one from them.

Completely 110% disagree with you here. Theres no such thing as too much golds.

Ever since loot scaling was introduced I noticed many monsters in the beginning of areas not dropping anything atall. Most noticably I found were the gargoyles in the catas and the oaks in the northlands. Even with a 2 man party their drop rate was around 20% after loot scaling was introduced. Has this changed now? (I hope so lol!)

Cool, this is a great move. Does it include Old Ascalon areas as well? I'll have to test that out tonight.

On a different note, did someone just mention Charr Salvage Kits? Are those "EXPERT!" salvage kits in pre???? Wow, I really need to make a pre-character.

yes.... 5 charge expert salvage kits that drop as golds off of charr bosses.

Yes the Char Salvage kits are expert ones

And Plains of Jarin ~100% drop rate after first 10 or so

You have to remember. PARTY SIZES ARE MUCH SMALLER.

A party of 1 out of a maximum of 4 gets WAY more loot than 1 out of a maximum of 8.

Thats why it seems like theres less loot scaling.

No - I don't think party size can explain it.

I am over 1000 enemies killed trying this out and, except for the 1st 5- 8 killed in an area and the rare time when I kill large numbers at once, the rate is 100% drops. There is no way that the smaller party explanation can fit for this. Also, I have had a perma pre character for some time and this is absolutely different than it was when loot scaling came out. Even though the party size in pre is limited to 2, not every beast dropped something under loot scaling. Now they consistently do. There has definitely been a change.

By the way, the first 5-8 will not necessarily be the first group you encounter. If you run past them and kill the next group, the first 5-8 mobs in that group will not drop consistently. So it looks like it is counting the first 5-8 you kill no matter if they are right out the door or in the middle of the map I suspect that is to prevent bots from skipping the first group and just moving on to the next.

you have to remember, hard mode has the same party size limit as normal mode

OK Ill try to explain it as simple as possible. First it is random.

Now in a zone that has a party size of 8 you have a solo drop rate of around 24%-28% chance to get the drop.

Now in a zone that has a party size of 6 you have a solo drop rate of around 32%-40% chance to get the drop.

Now in a zone that has a party size of 4 you have a solo drop rate of around 48%-56% chance to get the drop.

Now for preseering you have a near 98% chance since its a maximum size group of 2.

That is just the effects of Loot Scalling alone on soloing, with HM involved the only difference is you have a higher chance on the exemptions dropping instead of whites. In NM Its similar without the higher chance of exemptions dropping, while still being exempt.

Ok - while math is a good thing, it is only as good as the assumptions that go into it.

You are making the assumption that ANet begins with 100% drop for any area and that the drop rate is then scaled according to party size with a drop rate for a solo party in an 8 man area being about 1/4 that of the drop rate for a party of 8 (based on ANet's statement that a solo player should get about twice times the drops he/she would have received in a part of 8).

The assumption you are making is that the same reduction in drop rate would apply in all areas - so that a party of 1 in pre-searing would have the same drop rate as a party of 7 in an 8 man area - but, since the single player gets all the drops and adding in exempt items, that would come out to about 98%

However, math is only as good as the assumption and the problem with your figures is that your assumption was incorrect. I have already noted that under loot scaling the experienced solo drop rate was about 3 in 5 for pre-searing. that is about 66%. That indicates that ANet was not using the same reduction per person in lower party areas they were using in 8 player areas.

Secondly, it is always a good idea to test your hypotheses. As I pointed out, drop rate has been 100% (after the first 5-8 kills) for Sunqua Vale, Saoshang trail, Panjiang Peninsula (all 4 man areas). According to your figures that should have been a 56% rate. To see if this held true for other areas I tried Haiju Lagoon. I died fighting a large group of Kappas but had killed 79 beasts (after excluding the first 5 kills) with a 100% drop rate. According to your figures I should only have received 32 drops instead of the 79 I actually received.

I also want to note that last night I tried the only area I can solo in hard mode -trapping vamps in Urgoz. I wanted to see how loot scaling was applying in later areas so I did it in normal. The drop rate in normal there was significantly higher (though of much lower quality) than hard mode.

However, it is a very limited area and, since I am using traps, I usually have several kills at once (which others have said throws off the drop rate). I would be interested to see what the drop rate is in normal for later areas now. If there is anyone who can solo later areas in normal mode without using skills that kill multiple targets at once, it would be helpful to see your date.

Edit - just tried soloing outside Bergen Hot Springs - I had a bad build for the area but managed to kill 25 mobs before I died and (excluding the first 5 kills) all of them dropped something.

Travelers Vale and Old Ascalon - 100% drop rate after first 5 kills in each

Just did most of Pongmei Valley with 3 heroes - 32 drops in 100 kills - about what I would have expected with 4 man H&H party before loot scaling and certainly more than I was getting since loot scaling.

Pretty sure loot scaling is gone in normal mode!

anyone tried smite runs in the uw yet

edit just tried and drops were a lot better than usuall didn't make an exact count but i reckon better than 50% drop rate

hmm, i just did the turai's procession margonite farm twice on normal mode and its still the same crappy loot scaling 6-9 whites for over 70 margnoties.
Its just effected specific areas or something

No you are wrong. I wasnt making a single assumption about loot scaling and all your little stuff is far more a baseless assumption on the wrong workings of loot scaling.

No the reason im not wrong is very very very simple. Anerf has givin us the only thing we need to know of loot scaling, ITS BASED ON PARTY SIZE and NOTHING ELSE. You can do the math yourself if you want, but in an 8 man area in a full group the chance for each and every player to get the drop is roughly 12.5%. Because no matter what you want to think 8 of 8 is 100% and 1 of 8 is 12.5. Now a solo person will get roughly twice as much.