Availability of HMPs, Riftcinders, Riftdross

[bungiefanNA]

Yeah, HMP only come from one source, and you get so few of them compared to any other currency, for something very underwhelming compared to the other weapons made with similar currency. You can get dozens of Relic currency from each Dynamis visit, reliably, possibly even hundreds once you know what you are doing. Time is your only expense on it too, since you can enter as many times as you want with a one-time purchase of a key item. Alexandrite also drops frequently in the event for Mythics, and the entry item now restocks very quickly, so it's easy to keep doing it. Voidwatch has a very limited nuymber of times you can do it and be able to get loot, because of how slowly voidstones build up, and the limited ways you can buy voiddust (Conquest points, Imperial Standing, and Allied Notes all take a long time to get in such quantities), and you are lucky if you get one plate after several fights (I have yet to ever see one), much less a pouch. The rate of the item dropping was balanced against the assumption that voidwatch fights would have 18 people fighting the NMs with individual loot pools, so you'd have 18 sets of drops. Now we solo them with NPCs that don't increase the number of items in the loot pool, so it takes 18 voidwatch fights, and 18 voidstones, to get the same number of drops. You've effectively reduced the HMP drop rate to 1/18th of what the content was designed for. Maybe you should reduce the number the NPC asks for by a similar amount. Even dropping it to 100 HMP would be 1/15th, and would match the current way the NMs are fought. Make it 99 and you have a clean stack, and that can be valued properly on the AH for what a weapon costs.

Also, as pointed out, you also have reduced drops because your party won't be able to cover as many of the potential weakness triggers on the NMs, and thus won't be able to build light before the monster dies or the time limit for the battle is reached, reducing the quantity and quality of the drops, removing heavy metal plates from the potential loot pool most of the time. That would make the drop rate less than 1/18th of what it used to be. Trusts simply aren't smart enough to respond to trigger hints and target them, and you can't resummon Trusts during a battle unless you wipe and risk the monster despawning.

In short, the math doesn't work out anymore, because the variables in the equation have changed, making the drops rarer than they were originally balanced for.

So the claim that there are still sufficient ways to optain the items is false, because the changes in incentives for doing the battles, and thus the way we end up doing the battles has altered the equation heavily against us. The reward for bringing anyone else to do the battles is almost nonexistant. Most items from the event have become worthless.

[dasva]

There is also the fact that since not a lot of people are doing it you often aren't getting anywhere near cap lights unless you sit there durdling forever fuming over and over again using lvl 1 weapons until you finally get procs. The VW campaign made it decently farmable by the small groups/soloist that still do this as you could just kill and even then it was a bit of a pain. Really should just bring the campaign back

[BurnNotice]

**Bump**
Looking for an update from the development team on a reasonable resolution to this. I would hate to see the updates for RMEs to happen without the ability to obtain these weapons in a fashionable and realistic manner like relics and mythics. Please advise.

[YosemiteYogorockBlondelle]

Match the drop rate of Iron plates/Iron metal plates to that of heavy metal plates?

I'm also curios as to whether you think iron metal plates will ever be implemented to be included up on the AH for selling? (Guys/Gals Thoughts~??)

[bungiefanNA]

I find it funny there is no refute or response for the math in my post showing that the effective drop rate of HMP is now 1/18th or less that of when Voidwatch was in vogue.

[Pups323]

You needed 30k alex, on an event you averaged 100 per run. = 300 runs to complete a mythic

For HMP, you need 1.5k, but you average 1/3 of plate per run per person.

Someone can solo salvage and still get 100 alex and thus still need 300 runs to complete.

HMP went from an 18 person event (5 per run) to a solo event (0.3) per run. So yo effectively went from 300 kills (comparable to alex) up to 5000 kills.

IF the drop rate for Voidwatch items increased as you decrease players so that at a solo level you got 5 hmp per kill, it wouldnt be an issue, but unlike alex, you are penalized, not rewarded for soloing it. They need to either increase the drop rate from 33% up to 100% chance of 5 or reduce the number needed from 1500 down to 500.

[Alhanelem]

They need to either increase the drop rate from 33% up to 100% chance of 5 or reduce the number needed from 1500 down to 500.

To be fair, though, they would have to make it scale by players, otherwise an 18 man group would generate a weapon's worth of alex very quickly.

[Pups323]

Sorry i wasnt clear, i was saying they should increase the drop rate to the level of the old 18 man content, aka from 33% chance -> 100% chance of 5...when solo. So it would be the same drop rate as if a full alliance was there.

Obviouslly the easier mechanic is to just reduce the cost from 1500 -> 100~500

[Alhanelem]

Sorry i wasnt clear, i was saying they should increase the drop rate to the level of the old 18 man content, aka from 33% chance -> 100% chance of 5...when solo. So it would be the same drop rate as if a full alliance was there.

Obviouslly the easier mechanic is to just reduce the cost from 1500 -> 100~500

But then a full alliance would go and get 18x what a solo player would get, so essentially oyu're just saying drop 5x more of them. They will never do that, as they've basically established. We need to play a little give and take here if we want to get them to do anything. It just needs to be set up such that a solo player doesn't get drastically punished for being able to solo something that wasn't originally soloable.

Also, it sounds like you're talking about the NMs that drop singles, I would direct their attention to the NMs that drop bags. They're stronger NMs so they should drop more, but in actuality the drop rate on the bags is bad enough that it's not really worth it.

[BurnNotice]

For the NMs that drop singles, I suggest it drop at least up to three plates, with one being being a guaranteed drop, second being a possible up to 30% and the third up to 15% per kill. As for NMs that drop bags, riftcinders, and riftdross, those should drop in their own slot that is not shared with weapons and armor, and the drop rate increase to at least 45% chance.

Even if the drop rate is tied into using Phase Displacer, that fine. Use none, get a better drop rate.