Does killing by degen lead to a lack of drops?

I was trying out a new build designed for solo queen farming last night and came upon an interesting game mechanic. My method of damage was almost exclusively degen caused by multiple conditions. I also used a running skill to escape the scarabs that would pursue after an attack. This typically left me well away from my original target when it died of condition degen. With this method I was able to clear out the Kephket mob except for Kephket and one other nest builder scarab (the build needs a little tweaking in order to finish the queen). While this was a good challenge and it's fun tweaking new builds, I was really let down with the lack of drops. Clearing out most of Kephket's mob netted a grand total of two drops of gold (~170g total) and two blue items! While I enjoyed the challenge, spending an hour or so for a reward of about ~300g was a real let down... Was the lack of drops because the deaths were a primary result of degen or because it died while I was half a radar screen away? I tried experimenting a little, but still recieved almost no drops. I was solo, so there were no other people or henchies to share the drops with... Does anyone have any ideas why there were so few drops? If you're interested the build was a R/N centered around poison arrow, rotting flesh, barbed and flame trap. Thanks in advance for any responses.

EDIT #3- After feedback it appears that as a general rule of thumb, without a party member being within a certain distance of a foe when it dies the foe will not give a drop. From player tests, this range seems to be something greater than longbow range resulting in no drop being assigned. Another good theory is that unless a foe is targetting a party member when it dies, it will not give a drop. An example of this can be seen when two groups of monsters are fighting eachother and dying but no drops are assigned (even if you are quite close). The lack of drops as a result of using degen seems to be less and less likely from feedback. Just to clear up any misinformation, I've been assured by numerous people in the know that just being a support player not dealing direct damage will *not* cause their drop rates to be negatively affected.

No, this has no bearing on drops. The only thing confirmed to have an effect on drop rates is the frequency you enter the zone without rezoning and doing some other killing, and the amount of henchmen/PCs you have in your party.

One other thing that has an effect is how close you are when the mob dies. If you've run 1/2 way across the map when your target dies, odds are it's not gonna leave you a gift.

Erm, how would it (the way you kill things) lead to a lack of drops?

If anything I think it has to do the frequency the drops are where you are going. If you frequently visit a place notorious for botters, such as Elona's Reach, to farm then you might suffer from the decreased drop rate.

More precisely, just to make sure nobody gets confused, it is whether you are in range or not. If you are in range, you will get drops, if you are out of range, you won't. The warrior doesn't get more drops than the ranger with a longbow.

CONFIRMED: Your Guildmate is righ that your method is lower drops.

Not because degen cuases it to not drop anything, but because how close you are to the enemy effects it.

You have to atleast longbow range or less (my own testings) away from them for them to drop anything, thats why you didn't reap too much of a reward, because alot of the time you admited to being some distance from the enemy.

This was important to me specifically to test, because I farmed Totem Axes that first day by the Ranger Longbow+Poisoning effect, and If I pulled back from the behemoth before it degened to death (like to avoid wind rider group that was around him) they didn't drop anything.

I think theres a range for how far you have to be to get your drops.

Hmmm...so distance to target foe (greater than longbow range) when it dies can cause you to lose drops...thanks everyone for your replies. Looks like I may have found a fairly effective build/strategy, but not a profitable one! lol

Just like how if an enemy gets killed by your degen AFTER you have died, it doesn't drop anything. So no one around = no drop

I have been in several pugs in missions that we split the group in 2 for attacking at 2 places simultaniouse and i was getting drops from the kills of other players...

however that isn't to say that you will only get drops if someone in your party is in range of the dead

it still could be completely true that if no one is in the area when someothing dies no one will get a drop and that if at least someone is than anyone in the group can get a drop whether or not they are themselves in range of the dead

I had been trying to solo farm Cantha green awhile ago using degen (e/me), it resulted easy killing but no drop. Hence, I stopped using the degen method. (It wasn't out of range, the mob was killed right by me, etc) I think it is possible that if you didn't degen the mob from full health (some other monster attacked it, etc), it would be counted as you didn't do any damage to the target, which means the monster drop do not belong to you.

I may try it again just to confirm it.

i was thinking when the ghost dies for degen caused by tained fresh you dont get morale boost , maybe the mobs suffer the same probrem?

Hmm thats why bonders get no drops =O

No, it's not longbow distance. I don't think it's even minimap distance. I've had a few times at thunderhead keep and while I've been manning one catapult, I've been getting drops from enemies just outside the *other* gates.

for the relevancy, ive been solo farming rajazan's fervor for abour 40 runs and only 1 drop. i use poison and bleeding. then again, i think it just has a low droprate.

not to be mistaken though, if you've ever been ice imp farming you still get lots of drops, its when its greater than longbow distance that you may have a problem.

if a monster dies while not fighting you it wont drop anything, so if you degen them and run away, then no, you wont get any drops.
but it has nothing to do with the degen, it could be any delayed damage, all that matters is fi they are getting killed while ifghting your or not

In my own experience, as a support or sometimes degen player, I get very few drops. Whenever I go out with my roommate, she always fills up her inventory with drops before I've even gotten 3-4. I think it is directly effected by how much direct damage you do. Thus, the player that is sitting there healing their bums off, or throwing degen spells into the mix, or anything not directly damaging the mob, has a less chance of getting a drop. (Just my own experience speaking).

drops to players have *nothing* to do with direct damage

I have 2 GW accounts that I sometimes play at the same time

Ive taken my level 20 to do missionOne in Prophecies alongside my other level 6 character

my level 6 character does NOTHING (beyond being in minimap range)

both characters get drops

I call BS.

Why? That would mean only Ele's and Warriors get most of the drops because they are the only ones that must "do direct damage".

assuming that someone in your party did the kill

you dont have to do any damage to get a drop
- but you do need to be in minimap range when the critter dies

(anyone whos able to play 2+ accounts at same time can see for themselves)

lol

I do love threads like this.

Drops are completely ramdom, you don't need to be the biggest damage dealer, or anything.

Long as you are within radar range of the mobs, you will get the drops.

Using degen will not reduce your drops, its nothing but a silly rumor.

Whoever told you otherwise is most likely the same people who think having the favour affects drop rates lol

a party member can do *nothing* and still get drops
- not a theory, its a FACT

Thanks for the feedback - I've updated my original post to reflect all of the good responses.

I would count wanding something to death doing direct damage. Indirect would be degen from hex, poison, etc. If I wand something while I'm monking or supporting, my drop rate seems to increase. However, if I just sit there throwing heals, enchants, etc...nothing that does damage to the enemies, drop rate seems to decrease. I'm not asking for a flame, I'm just stating my observation.

EDIT: Read the second page. Sure, I agree that not doing anything will still net a drop. However, I seriously doubt not doing anything would net you as many drops. Not just an observation there, but logic. If I were the game programmer, that's how I would do it.

"Radar" range is alittle large I think...

Like my post said, its more like over longbow range (dont have exact distance -maybe two aggro bubbles at most) - atleast for me. And I've had alot of experience, trying to pick off Root Behemoths with poison while running from Wind Riders.

Targeting/degen/if you dealt real dmg/etc I doubt have any effect, like you said.

Its so funny when you are in the first part of The Deep and a gold Zodiac Sword drops for some guy whose 3 rooms away from you

loot assignment is random - regardless of who did what damage or used what skills or used wands or did nothing at all

I've seen my level 6 slacker get more drops than my level 20 who was doing all the damage (both being played at same time)

Loot Range extends farther than the minimap radar

Example:
Prophecies, Thunderhead Keep mission

at the end of the mission you are defending a large fort against many enemies
(fort is bigger than the minimap radar)

you will get drops from enemies being killed outside the range your personal minimap radar

Do you have an official statement from the programmers that it is random? What is their definition of random? Random doesn't exist in programming. There is an algorithm, somewhere, that defines who gets every drop. Obviously, people in towns don't.

As the second part of my last post says, I agree that people that do nothing get drops. That's a fact. However, drop rate seems to be somewhat variable. Drop rates globally are variable. In some places, drops occur faster than others. What's to stop a minute algorithm for distance, etc., while still maintaining the "random" appearance?

Obviously, our observations differ, as do our opinions. Oh well, it happens.