The grind is not rewarding anymore

[Travis | Support Mgr.]

This is anecdotal conjecture.

[Montresor]

Chosen one slight cynical wrinkle i would add - they specifically boosted the drop rates in 1.54 to get enough items out there to make people want them - more of them, and better ones. then reeled the rates back in in 1.5.5. like a drug dealer who's like 'hey kid, first one's on me'.

[Anjaeka]

For a minute, I didn’t know if I was on the forum or Imgur. +1 for you. Lol.

[Anjaeka]

To add to this discussion about how bad drops are, players on discord are reporting seeing exact duplicate gear drops across long farming sessions.

Not just one player getting a duplicate item, multiple players getting the exact SAME duplicate item.

This implies that drops come from a shared pre-determined pool instead of being actually random.

Cause a single player getting an exact duplicate is so statistically unlikely it's already absurd (if the gear drops are supposed to be randomised), but different players seeing the exact same item is ludicrous, downright impossible.

I’ve actually noticed this in locked chests as well.

[Hollow Knight]

To add to this discussion about how bad drops are, players on discord are reporting seeing exact duplicate gear drops across long farming sessions.

Not just one player getting a duplicate item, multiple players getting the exact SAME duplicate item.

This implies that drops come from a shared pre-determined pool instead of being actually random.

Cause a single player getting an exact duplicate is so statistically unlikely it's already absurd (if the gear drops are supposed to be randomised), but different players seeing the exact same item is ludicrous, downright impossible.

[Chosen]

Story time!

So once upon a time the game relied heavily on gambling (crafting), with the actual drops from grind/pushing being consistently lvl 70-71.
Players were funneled into doing endless gold runs in order to gamble for their gear with Ingrid, because the drops were so useless (check the original message on this topic).

But people did not like that, and they let the devs know. The kind and thoughtful devs understood the issue and corrected those drop rates, so that people were not bound to crafting for getting their good gear. People went back to actually playing the game and everyone was happy.

But then Glory happened and everything was pushed back to gambling (crafting) again. While the game's publishers decided to give us enough Glory through the War Supplies for 1 Belt and 1 shoe (not the whole pair, just 1 shoe), they gated a lot more of this magic dust behind a $$$ wall. And since so much $$$ was at stake, they couldn't afford to allow good level gear drops in TLs, Oh no sir.

So what they did was nerf the crap out of drops so that people will be A) forced to pay the $$$ for Glory and B) stop playing the game and get back to farming gold and materials for crafting, seeing how the chances of getting lvl75+ gear (new or old) has gone down the drain again.


tl;dr easier to digest verion:

Eternium: if you want to play the game, you have to farm gold and gamble for your gear.
Players: Ehm, it's an RPG game, how about "the higher TLs you farm, the better chance you got for good gear"?
Eternium: Ok, fair enough, I fixed the drop rate and quality for TL100-120+
Players: Thank you, let the grind begin, guys!
Eternium: Actually, here's Glory, you'll need it for the new goodies
Players: Ok, cool. But wait, what happened to the drop rates?
Eternium: Well, you see we needed people to buy Glory if they wanted to keep up with the whales, so we put your drop rate into an investment fund and...

[Wolf86PL]

Give them some time. I know everyone is "hungry" for improvements, but it simply takes time. Be patient and do your job or relax

[Chosen]

It would be fantastic if we could have any sort of response from the team Travis | Support Mgr. Adrian (Developer) in regards to their "going forward" vision for the main part of the game, the action.

As it stands, the road to gear up is nowhere near the traditional "push your toon to the limits to get the best loot" which is (or should be) the cornerstone of a loot find RPG, but speed farming low 2-minute TL runs for mats and Morgenheim for gold and craft CRAFT CRAFT! Is this the end game?

[Maje999]

I'm with the OP... i entered maintance mode till something changes

[Reymon]

Agreed! The game has shifted too far toward "craft to win." I long for the "good old days" when you could reasonably expect to craft a competitive set gear and weapons by grinding trials for random gear drops. The only way to stay competitive now is through crafting the illusive level 75 set gear. I feel like I am trapped in an infinity loop of running the same few high payout story locations over and over again to collect more gold and meaningless gear drops that can be salvaged, then using those materials to (wait for it...) craft more meaningless gear that can then be salvaged. All the while my once competitive heroes have fallen from contenders to pretenders. Really the only fun left in the game are ANB events where gear drops are still relevant (at least through the early levels). Sadly, even the ANB events have turned into "you have to craft to medal" events because the gear boxes are all level 70 epics, while most of the event leaders are all miraculously wearing level 75 gear.

Make Gear Drops Relevant Again!!!

Can't say this enough times! I was obsessed with this game since I started climbing trials, and then, (almost) all my interest with this game suddenly went away when this patch hit. Stopped farming gems like I used to, everyday, before the patch. The only reason I'm playing this game nowadays is because of ANBs, and that's the only time I feel like farming gems.

I'll wait to see if they increase the chances for a level 75 gear to be crafted, or up the drop rates on them, or have level 75 celestials as rewards from Bronze 4 ANB on. Or... If their intentions were to gradually boost the drop rates/crafting chance of lvl 71+ gears (boosting drop rates/chances of 71s first, then 72s, then later 75s), then all they have to do is just say it.. That'll keep me interested.

Quick rant: I thought I was spared from the disappointment that others felt, with the cheaters occupying the top of the LB, since I only cared about the progression of my toons. But, I guess, they found ways to disappoint other players too.

[RockDoc]

I stand corrected! . 1.5 minor reasons, only half because T100 is also always Kara as well.

[ScabbyNuisance]

Coda I can think of 1 minor reason to go above T100. T105 is always a snow field, you never get a cavern. That's it.

And, it's always Kara.

[RockDoc]

Coda I can think of 1 minor reason to go above T100. T105 is always a snow field, you never get a cavern. That's it.

[Coda]

It's still a not-very-rewarding grind, for sure, but...

...y'all do know that TL100 is the max for gear quality and XP, right?

There's no benefit to grinding >100.

Unless it's been modified recently?

[Ozymandius]

It doesn't feel like a proper RPG anymore, there is no loot, the excitement of seeing what you got after that 9.5 minute TL140 run, has turned into a gambling game with Ingrid.

Agreed! The game has shifted too far toward "craft to win." I long for the "good old days" when you could reasonably expect to craft a competitive set gear and weapons by grinding trials for random gear drops. The only way to stay competitive now is through crafting the illusive level 75 set gear. I feel like I am trapped in an infinity loop of running the same few high payout story locations over and over again to collect more gold and meaningless gear drops that can be salvaged, then using those materials to (wait for it...) craft more meaningless gear that can then be salvaged. All the while my once competitive heroes have fallen from contenders to pretenders. Really the only fun left in the game are ANB events where gear drops are still relevant (at least through the early levels). Sadly, even the ANB events have turned into "you have to craft to medal" events because the gear boxes are all level 70 epics, while most of the event leaders are all miraculously wearing level 75 gear.

Make Gear Drops Relevant Again!!!