Voidwatch Drop Rates/Loot Distribution

[Atomic_Skull]

Developers, I beg you… please consider changing this. If this is the new endgame then make the rewards plentiful and the loot distribution smart instead of complete and utter garbage.

Ah but it *is* smart. A variable ratio reward schedule is the most addictive form of operant conditioning.

Basically, FFXI is a Skinner box, you are a rat, killing the mobs is pushing the lever and the drops are food pellets. Starting to get the picture yet?

I know, I know, common sense should tell you that a fixed ratio reward where X work = Y results should work better to keep you playing. Countless experiments show the actual situation to be the opposite. Random, unpredictable infrequent rewards will keep you playing longer. The gambling industry and the entire body of scientific research by B.F. Skinner prove this.

Crappy drops suck for us but for SE it's just good business sense, if somewhat evil.

[Septimus]

Ah but it *is* smart. A variable ratio reward schedule is the most addictive form of operant conditioning.

Basically, FFXI is a Skinner box, you are a rat, killing the mobs is pushing the lever and the drops are food pellets. Starting to get the picture yet?

I know, I know, common sense should tell you that a fixed ratio reward where X work = Y results should work better to keep you playing. Countless experiments show the actual situation to be the opposite. Random, unpredictable infrequent rewards will keep you playing longer. The gambling industry and the entire body of scientific research by B.F. Skinner prove this.

Crappy drops suck for us but for SE it's just good business sense, if somewhat evil.

This is true, until people get sick of it and quit. Look at what happened with CoP with the Jailer system, a large portion of the end-game populace up and left the game in disgust.

[Atomic_Skull]

This is true, until people get sick of it and quit. Look at what happened with CoP with the Jailer system, a large portion of the end-game populace up and left the game in disgust.

That's why Blizzard has a behavioral psychologist on the payroll to design their loot system to be as addictive as possible. You want to make it just cruel enough to addict them but not so cruel that they give up. CoP went way too far in making the rewards infrequent.