Malig. Box Lilith drop rates

Hello,

Although I respect the decision for lilith to drop malignance boxes, the root problem of this content lies with the extremely low drop rates and spike in difficulty from Easy to Normal for solo players.

Decisions like this have led to many players using illicit methods such as botting and multi-boxing to clear this content and farm gear.

In result it has created an anti-social culture that makes this game unplayable because the gap between new players and veterans is far too great and requires cheating to be on equal playing grounds. New players cannot farm gear to become strong enough to help others, and cheaters have a monopoly on being able to play the content.

I do not agree with the new lilith changes because it suffers from the main reason I reduced my playtime.... because I did not feel my time was being respected. I am a 35 year old who has to pay my mortgage, electricity bills, car. etc. I do not have time to solo lilith 700 times for gear that will only help me BEGIN with endgame gearing, and neither does any self-respecting adult.

If this game wants to recover from it's epidemic of cheaters monopolizing content, then stop making it unbalanced with poor drop rates and unforgiving difficulty.

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Originally Posted by Marquiss

Hello,

Although I respect the decision for lilith to drop malignance boxes, the root problem of this content lies with the extremely low drop rates and spike in difficulty from Easy to Normal for solo players.

Decisions like this have led to many players using illicit methods such as botting and multi-boxing to clear this content and farm gear.

In result it has created an anti-social culture that makes this game unplayable because the gap between new players and veterans is far too great and requires cheating to be on equal playing grounds. New players cannot farm gear to become strong enough to help others, and cheaters have a monopoly on being able to play the content.

I do not agree with the new lilith changes because it suffers from the main reason I reduced my playtime.... because I did not feel my time was being respected. I am a 35 year old who has to pay my mortgage, electricity bills, car. etc. I do not have time to solo lilith 700 times for gear that will only help me BEGIN with endgame gearing, and neither does any self-respecting adult.

If this game wants to recover from it's epidemic of cheaters monopolizing content, then stop making it unbalanced with poor drop rates and unforgiving difficulty.

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You must be new here. SE has not been respectful of our time since ...2003?

...but I do echo your sentiment. More content should have increased replay value, a reason to go back and help others.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Marquiss

Hello,

Although I respect the decision for lilith to drop malignance boxes, the root problem of this content lies with the extremely low drop rates and spike in difficulty from Easy to Normal for solo players.

Decisions like this have led to many players using illicit methods such as botting and multi-boxing to clear this content and farm gear.

In result it has created an anti-social culture that makes this game unplayable because the gap between new players and veterans is far too great and requires cheating to be on equal playing grounds. New players cannot farm gear to become strong enough to help others, and cheaters have a monopoly on being able to play the content.

I do not agree with the new lilith changes because it suffers from the main reason I reduced my playtime.... because I did not feel my time was being respected. I am a 35 year old who has to pay my mortgage, electricity bills, car. etc. I do not have time to solo lilith 700 times for gear that will only help me BEGIN with endgame gearing, and neither does any self-respecting adult.

If this game wants to recover from it's epidemic of cheaters monopolizing content, then stop making it unbalanced with poor drop rates and unforgiving difficulty.

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Low drop rates have always been a running theme for this game. You go into every fight expecting nothing... that's when you'll find something. :p

It is still more respectful of the players time than before since the game can't give you the finger by dropping something you already have, and thus making it look like nothing dropped because it won't show a drop if you already have it- making the drop rate appear even lower than it actually is.


FFXI was developed in an era when an MMO was seen as a whole virtual world to get lost in... it was always meant to waste your time, not respect it. Of course, times change in 20 years and more of us have lives now. but if you ask SE they'll probably tell you they don't want to be unfair to the people who found the items with those low droprates because it would undermine their sense of accomplishment from finally getting that rare drop.

Until the drop rate is addressed farming lilith is an impossible means of catching up or helping your friends catch up. It is a luxury gear set with a drop rate similar to Crepuscular gear and Kraken Club.

The update did nothing to help with accessibility, except maybe for a multiboxer capable of spamming VD alone all day.

If there's one thing that's been consistent in this games history, it's the out of touch behavior of the developers. This game came out when Japan was big on gaming, but their inability to adapt has led many others around the world to surpass them, simply because they can update their games more than once a decade.

Dealing with SE and FFXI is like dealing with an abusive partner.

I would hope they address this abusive pattern of low drop rates and mocking the limited time spent in our lives to play the game, but like FFXIV they will only makes things look pretty without fixing the real problems.

You are currently better off farming Sortie for +2 empyrean, FARMING MALIGNANCE IS IMPOSSIBLE UNLESS YOU DEVOTE TIME FOR 100'S OF RUNS MINIMUM. Time many of us can no longer afford to freely give to a videogame.

If this is just one battle, why would I invest time in this game doing anything? it's impossible to achieve anything with these low drop rates. The only thing it makes me want to do is resort to dishonest means to obtain the gear since I feel betrayed and lack confidence in how the rewards are currently earned using honest methods. Why even bother playing the game at all, just shut it down forever, i'm never gonna care or feel any sense of achievement over getting a videogame piece of loot, when I'll feel burnt out or resentful after obtaining it to even bother enjoying it. I just want to play the damn videogame and get results for the work I put in.

I farmed salvage and I made 3 mythic weapons, I farmed Lilith AND I HAVE NOTHING TO SHOW FOR IT.

OP, I understand that you're frustrated and venting on the forum, but I'd highly suggest that you try farming the Malignance gear now that the new boxes have been implemented rather than just convincing yourself that it's impossible. The fact that every server is full of players running around in Malignance gear is proof enough that it's not impossible, and you're just wrong if you believe that everyone but you *must* be cheating to have obtained it. I won't deny that some cheaters exist, but most players with this gear didn't have to cheat to get it, and every one of them also has a life outside of the game.

The problem with the Malignance gear was never the low drop rate. It was always a combination of two factors: 1) that all of the gear shares the same drop slot, making you less likely to get that 'next piece' as you keep accumulating gear (the new box system fixes this), and 2) the playerbase's insistence on solo farming VE/E instead of teaming up for higher difficulty levels. The actual drop rate is the same as any of the Selbina HTBFs (better even if you team up to defeat the Spitewardens). Saying that the drop rate is the same as the Crepuscular gear (assuming you mean the weapons/armor, not the accessories) or Kraken Club is just ridiculous- the Malignance gear has *easily* a ~100x better drop rate than that club.

Also, I want to point out that SE added the Malignance gear to AMAN Trove a while back. You can absolutely obtain a full 5/5 set without ever once fighting Lilith. I know I've personally given out a bunch of Malignance pieces to members of my LS, and I see regular shouts from people selling the Malignance gear they don't need from Trove.

Like I said, instead of convincing yourself that it's impossible, try giving it a real shot now that the boxes have been implemented. With this new system, even if you only farm solo on VE/E, you'll probably get your complete set in less than 100 runs (remember that TH helps a lot). If that's still too grindy, team up with other players on your server and tackle the higher difficulty levels, it'll take significantly fewer runs. Remember, this is a Massively *Multiplayer* Online RPG, teaming up with other players is kinda the whole point. If even *that* is too much work, then grab your silver vouchers and hit up Trove, or wait for other players on your server to sell their Trove drops.

I'm inclined to agree. Same age. Same life requirements. Same waste of time this game was in 2004. I did 50 runs today: nil.

Sadly, I think Square Enix unintentionally made this armor set into a necessity for competitive end-game content rather than a luxury. Preemptively, I'm not interested in the "well, acktschuallies" of how one can substitute X piece of gear in place of this set. There's no comparable DT/hybrid set in the game. It's a bummer. SE -- do yourself a favor and consider adding a comparable set.

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Originally Posted by Marquiss

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I do not at all agree with your mindset of "respect players time" or "cheating" or anything you said, except the drop rates after "Malig box" introduction is extremely low.

Square-Enix has gone on record to say they haven't adjusted drop rates, but as a Master level 25+ THF wearing Treasure Hunter +15 or more and having farmed this with my not mastered THF without as much TH I can say the drop very dramatically and noticeably is lower.



Pre Box:
Drop was seen every 10-20 clears (Very Easy) difficulty.
(Low treasure hunter rates)

After Box:
50+ clears 0 drops. (Very easy, Easy, and normal difficulties)
(Extremely high treasure hunter rates except on Normal difficulty.)


I am 100% convinced the drop rate has been changed to a much lower rate.


I have not seen a single box since the change and yes, over 50 clears. I got a full set of 5/5 malignance, as well as helping MANY other players get their drops (while I was on my last piece) after about 250-350 clears. Probably closer to 300.

After over 50 attempts I have seen 0 boxes with my much better geared THF using TH gear full time versus only pulling in it.

I disagree, I helped a friend farm 3 boxes. 1st day did 5 runs on E as sch and thf, zero boxes. The next day though 4 runs and 3 boxes in a row all with th 8+.

Imo comes down to luck/karma. IE whenever I go after stuff for myself it takes a long time, but if I'm there trying to help get an item for someone else, easy drop.