Drop Rate and the Aggro Bubble

dts720666

dts720666

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Apr 2007

E/Me

I have two accounts, and with them have Vanquished the entire game, as well as NM and HM on all missions. While doing this, I noticed something strange between my two accounts.

One account consistently got way more drops than the other account. And by "consistently" I mean "always." Not once, in Vanquishing the entire game, did the second account get more drops. Not a single time. In fact, during many runs, I would have to trade some of the items from account 1 to account 2 just to hold it all.

Recently, I have been vanquishing Drazach Thicket over and over with these two accounts for my Kurz title. The same thing is happening. Account 1 ALWAYS gets about twice as many drops as Account 2.

Does anybody know why this is? I have two theories.

First, it has something to do with damage dealing. Account 1 does way more dammage than account 2. In fact, generally, I just hit the space bar on account 2 and let it do regular normal attacks rather than any special skills. it is at least doing some damage, but not much. Could amount of damage dealt be a factor in drops?

Second, I wonder if it has something to do with the aggro bubble. Account 2 is a ranger with a longbow. This ranger is able to attack things just outside the aggro bubble. The other account wades right into the thick of battle and wails away. The foes are almost always within the aggro bubble of Account 1 when they die. So maybe drop rate is affected by foes being inside the aggro bubble.

Anybody else notice any of this? Anybody have any ideas?

One reason I ask is that I want to Solo SoS farm the UW. But clearly, to survive, the foes will almost always have to be well outside my aggro bubbble. Will this negatively effect my drops?

dts720666

dts720666

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Apr 2007

E/Me

As a follow up...

Drop rate has nothing to do with team position on the Team roster (you know, the one with all the red bars). I have tried both accounts in the #1 position, but this didn't affect anything. Account #1 still got more drops.

Account #1 has WAY more titles and WAY more hours played. I'm at 26 titles so far. Account #2 has only two titles and way less number of hours played. Would this matter?

Also, I have been doing some 600/Smite DTSC for my Kurz title. I have noticed similar things there. The 600 (the one in the thick of it) consistently gets more drops than the Smite (who is staying well away from the foes). And again, the 600 is not only in the aggro bubble, but is also the one doing all the damage.

Invertation

Invertation

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jul 2006

Shiverpeaks Search And Rescue [Lost]

W/

Afraid I can't speak for your drop chances, but as far as farming UW SoS goes, you'll get the drops so long as you are in radar range of the kills. I can't say I've seen drops any less farming with that build in that location as compared to other builds in different locations.

dhawke20

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jan 2009

Nocturnal Order of Mithraeum [MooN]

R/

Does the account that gets more drops have a higher Lucky rank than the other?

William C Wallace

William C Wallace

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Feb 2010

Don't Fear The Creeper [BuD]

W/E

Try switching it up, Make or use a on account #2 character that runs a build that you normally run on account #1. Switch the roles and check the drop rate afterwards.

dr love

dr love

...is in denial

Join Date: Sep 2006

Hyperion

starcraft 2

P/Me

3 heroes on each account?

shanaya

shanaya

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Nov 2005

Scouts of Tyria

R/

I routinely farm UW using two accounts with a Rt spirit spammer on each account. The primary account does almost all the fighting. The Rit on the secondary account is just there to resurrect the primary Rit when I make a mistake (happens too frequently..). Much of the time the secondary Rit is out of range for drops, but during the early part of the run, when clearing the chamber, I've not noticed any difference at all in the quantity of drops received by each Rit.

Tenebrae

Tenebrae

Forge Runner

Join Date: Feb 2007

Spain

LHV

R/N

Wou, ppl didnt manage to know regular drop rates for 1 account so telling the diff between 2 at the same time is kinda hard. Have to do bloody lots of tests and even though it wont matter much because they would be nowhere near to "solid" average numbers.
About the main topic , compass range has to do something with drops so it wouldnt be so crazy to think that ranged attackers or ppl that stay out of aggro bubble has a little % chance to get some drop. Anyway , regular drop and rare drop are diff so check also numbers between those 2 categories.

PS: Now you got something else to do till GW2 comes out

Jk Arrow

Jk Arrow

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Nov 2008

WI

Dark Phoenix Risin [DPR]

R/

Odd that this is happening. I used to 600/smite Nahpui for feathers with 2 accounts. Drops for both accounts were pretty even over many runs. FYI the 600 has a much higher lucky rank than the smiter. If GW was assigning drops to the damage dealer, the smiter would then get them all but we know that isn't happening.

However, I have noticed every now and then when its seems as though my char has mostly individually put the hurt on an enemy, the drop will be assigned to my char. I notice this mostly in full party teams but I can't say that distance to the enemy makes any difference.

dhawke20

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jan 2009

Nocturnal Order of Mithraeum [MooN]

R/

One thing I read somewhere was that the drops rates are also determined by the number of enemies killed in the zone prior. For instance, if I were farming Vanahk's Staff in Yatendi Canyons, I would have a better chance of receiving this item as a drop if I've killed most of the mobs in the zone before going for Vanahk as opposed to leaving straight from Chantry of Secrets and killing him. I don't really know if this is true... but the only time I've ever had the staff drop was during a quest that required me to trek through the zone and kill a bunch of mobs before getting to Vanahk.

Faye Aeris

Academy Page

Join Date: May 2008

Teh Dark Empire

R/

I don't know about drop differences between 2 accounts, but what dhawke20 is describing is the anti-farm code that's currently implemented. The game gives you significantly fewer drops for the first few enemies killed in order to prevent people from farming bosses near outposts.