After giving more thoughts to the interim fix that can restore the spirit of fair play/competition to ANB, and incorporating Nhat suggestion of returning to the "New Beginning" root of the event, I have some adjustments to the original suggestions.
1) Change Random Set box rewards to Ephemeral Set box. ESB works like Lbox such that the player has the agency in choosing the stats and the set item (no weapon, cape, tome or non set item though). They will be legendary quality (4 stats) but will automatically roll at 85% of max stat for every stat (including Armor). So for a 90 stat, you will get 76.5, 60% CD becomes 51%, etc
Basically you will always get useful set item but with low stats that they can be improved upon by higher trial drops where RNG can't be gamed AFAIK. This preserves some RNG in the ANB and inject an element of luck which is always fun in a competition.
Where LBox (2) and CBox (2) are rewarded, instead Ephemeral LBox, ELBox, and Ephemeral CBox, ECBox are given out instead. ELBox, like ESB, makes items that automatically roll at 95% of max stat, and ECBox automatically roll at 99% of max stat + 90 Vit. They are just better version of ESB.
The reward schedule has 4 RSB, combined with 2 LBox and 2 CBox. Unless one is the red headed stepdaughter of RNGuses, that's enough to complete any set a player might desire. Using Ephemeral equivalent, you have certainty and still leave room for improvement through trial drops.
This also means that the small/medium/large treasury boxes should be shop ticket rewards. Basically here is what I envision, small chest gives you 6 tickets to purchase gold purchasable items from the equipment shop. Medium chest gives you 4 tickets for gold purchase and 2 tickets for gem purchase. Large chest gives you 6 tickets for gem purchasable items.
Yes, get rid of all chests in ANB events is the goal here.
2) Crafting: Remove the ability to craft legendary quality Set/unique for event character. Remove salvaging perk for event character. This removes the ability to craft endgame quality equipment. But leaves intact the ability to craft final missing set piece items and MS/XP items for early leveling.
3) When a player enters a trial, if there is no corresponding official exit (meaning either the player using the in game control to abandon the trial, or exit through the victory/home portal), a 3min time penalty is assessed to the event timer. This change will not penalize players for on-entry death (elite mob swarming the entry for example) nor conscientious map shopping (as long as one uses the abandon trial or home portal to exit the trial normally, thus accepting the actual event time cost to assess the map).
4) Gempack results should just be mailed to the player when opened. If the shop ticket idea is too much trouble, then chest content should also be mailed to the player when opened.
5) I said it on a previous post and I think Nhat brought this up as well, Medal effects should be disabled on event characters. We all should have the same starting point right for a competition.
I think the above 5 suggestions should address most of the concerns we have with the current ANB situation. I'm pretty sick and tired browsing through rows after rows of near perfect rolls at the top of the LB.
1) Change Random Set box rewards to Ephemeral Set box. ESB works like Lbox such that the player has the agency in choosing the stats and the set item (no weapon, cape, tome or non set item though). They will be legendary quality (4 stats) but will automatically roll at 85% of max stat for every stat (including Armor). So for a 90 stat, you will get 76.5, 60% CD becomes 51%, etc
Basically you will always get useful set item but with low stats that they can be improved upon by higher trial drops where RNG can't be gamed AFAIK. This preserves some RNG in the ANB and inject an element of luck which is always fun in a competition.
Where LBox (2) and CBox (2) are rewarded, instead Ephemeral LBox, ELBox, and Ephemeral CBox, ECBox are given out instead. ELBox, like ESB, makes items that automatically roll at 95% of max stat, and ECBox automatically roll at 99% of max stat + 90 Vit. They are just better version of ESB.
The reward schedule has 4 RSB, combined with 2 LBox and 2 CBox. Unless one is the red headed stepdaughter of RNGuses, that's enough to complete any set a player might desire. Using Ephemeral equivalent, you have certainty and still leave room for improvement through trial drops.
This also means that the small/medium/large treasury boxes should be shop ticket rewards. Basically here is what I envision, small chest gives you 6 tickets to purchase gold purchasable items from the equipment shop. Medium chest gives you 4 tickets for gold purchase and 2 tickets for gem purchase. Large chest gives you 6 tickets for gem purchasable items.
Yes, get rid of all chests in ANB events is the goal here.
2) Crafting: Remove the ability to craft legendary quality Set/unique for event character. Remove salvaging perk for event character. This removes the ability to craft endgame quality equipment. But leaves intact the ability to craft final missing set piece items and MS/XP items for early leveling.
3) When a player enters a trial, if there is no corresponding official exit (meaning either the player using the in game control to abandon the trial, or exit through the victory/home portal), a 3min time penalty is assessed to the event timer. This change will not penalize players for on-entry death (elite mob swarming the entry for example) nor conscientious map shopping (as long as one uses the abandon trial or home portal to exit the trial normally, thus accepting the actual event time cost to assess the map).
4) Gempack results should just be mailed to the player when opened. If the shop ticket idea is too much trouble, then chest content should also be mailed to the player when opened.
5) I said it on a previous post and I think Nhat brought this up as well, Medal effects should be disabled on event characters. We all should have the same starting point right for a competition.
I think the above 5 suggestions should address most of the concerns we have with the current ANB situation. I'm pretty sick and tired browsing through rows after rows of near perfect rolls at the top of the LB.
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