Tomes vs random drops

WoW's latest expansion pretty much convinced me that the random drop system can work if executed right.

I don't like either, but tomes are definitely the lesser of the two evils.

Take for example, my ninja I am currently leveling. I'm leveling it the old-school way of actually doing the leveling HW dungeons and not PotD (what is this?!). I still have a level 50 necklace, and a level 52 body piece and belt. I ran the Vault three times so far, and I have only gotten one piece of gear (earrings) from there. I had a Dex ring from back when I was doing story on my BRD.

This doesn't really change that tomes are more of a chore for me (I honestly haven't capped scripture in four weeks since I already have all the pieces I want for BRD and DRK), but RNG is cruel. (Because now that I actually need scouting gear, it's nowhere to be seen!!!)

I guess for me it'd be a balance of the two, but I think tokens work better for a more casual game like this that throws rewards at players for little effort, and trains players to want things quickly (and possibly for little effort). Instant gratification tokens.

Both tokens and random drops have their ups and downs, but I think in this day and age you're more likely to keep people playing with a token system.

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Originally Posted by Kaurie

I understand your concern for sure. My concern is that I stopped caring about all instanced content in this game completely a long time ago. I no longer play for the content, I play for my friends.

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See, I think RNG drops would have that same effect, just on more people. Right now, I only have to run Xelphatol/GGH a few times a week if I don't cap Scriptures another way. With RNG, I could be running one or both several times a week, which would only make them that much less appealing. I suppose queue times would improve though, depending on the drop rates. Frankly, I don't see how this makes dungeons feel less of a chore. If anything, they'd now become more of one.

Tomes are a slow monotonous guarantee. You get there as an eventuality of all your work, but the road is a tedious and boring one.

Random drops are a spontaneous and exciting uncertainty. RNG can favor you, or hinder you. You could get the best drops, or never see them.

I prefer the chaos of the latter, honestly. It's a better carrot on a stick than grinding a currency for me.

Though there's nothing that says both cannot exist at once.

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Originally Posted by Averax

Tomes are a slow monotonous guarantee. You get there as an eventuality of all your work, but the road is a tedious and boring one.

Random drops are a spontaneous and exciting uncertainty. RNG can favor you, or hinder you. You could get the best drops, or never see them.

I prefer the chaos of the latter, honestly. It's a better carrot on a stick than grinding a currency for me.

Though there's nothing that says both cannot exist at once.

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I think where this may work is in Eureka. Keep weekly lockouts to prevent grinding and you'll essentially be able to gear two jobs equally. Granted, it does allow people to gear one just exceptionally fast. So that could be a problem.

I've had a discussion with my friend about this few days ago.

So far we have:
- iL 225 dungeon drops (Expert).
- iL 250 from alexander normal.
- iL 250 crafted gear.
- iL 260 by exchanging tomestones.
- iL 270 from Alexander Savage.

Would be nice to have other way to get iL 260. For example finish expert dungeons in under 10 min.
This could drop 2 chests at the end with iL 260 accessories only! If you finish it within 15 min then you get 1 chest instead of 2.
Meaning you save your tomestones for your left side rather than accessories.

Even with this system it will take a player around 10-13 weeks to get complete iL260 on left side (Including weapon, not including belt).
This just makes dungeons more rewarding rather than just a way to farm your tomestones.

Another way to get I260 armor is coming up in 3.5. It'll even have that random drop flavor that everyone says they crave.

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Originally Posted by Bourne_Endeavor

See, I think RNG drops would have that same effect, just on more people. Right now, I only have to run Xelphatol/GGH a few times a week if I don't cap Scriptures another way. With RNG, I could be running one or both several times a week, which would only make them that much less appealing. I suppose queue times would improve though, depending on the drop rates. Frankly, I don't see how this makes dungeons feel less of a chore. If anything, they'd now become more of one.

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It could, but I would say that WOW is evidence that more players prefer a game with random drops than FFXIV. It's hard to draw an exact conclusion as there are a great many factors that weigh on people's opinions, though.

Sure worked out really well for Diadem.

In my opinion, it's less about what the system is and more about how well it is implemented.

As it stands, I will take the boring daily tome grind over boring dungeon run any days.