Think I figured out how Retainer Ventures work(the Quick ones and possibly more).

[Huntington]

This is all a theory from anecdotal experience, but the RNG for what they bring back just seems too odd to me since what it brings back if actually being based on a Random Number Generator feels too off.

My idea is that their is a tier system for all of the possible items.
You have your low-rank pool of items that encompasses fish and Maple Syrup and all that crap, that takes up a significant amount of the pool for that section.
Then you have a middle rank for equipment and housing items that is smaller than the low-rank pool, but still bigger than the next pool of high-rank items.
The pool for high ranking items is much smaller, but still present.

I don't think the RNG chooses any item at random out of all possible items, there's too many possibilities for that and I'm noticing this when I repeatedly get back fish or Fish Glue. Now I know what you're going to say:
"But Huntington, that's the exact point to a RNG! It's a math formula that appears random and you can't simply deduce that it isn't random because of the few dozens chances when it appeared to not be random."
I don't plan to, I just have some suspicions about how it works is all.

Once the RNG chooses a tier, Low-Rank Medium-Rank or High-Rank, it then does another RNG of that tier and all of the items in it. There are then more broken down tiers in that section, and the RNG chooses a section in a section, then gives an item based on that. Section-ception.

The point to all this thinking? That the RNG doesn't actually choose a result from all the possible items it's allowed to choose from, it selects a rank of the item as grouped up together and decided on by SE and their lab monkeys, then further breaks it down and down until it picks one item from an area.

I bet people are thinking this is dumb and doesn't mean anything at all, but at the end of the day, the low-rank items will be picked more often than the medium-rank and so on and so forth, that much is clear.

But people have been wondering since this Retainer Venture system was available: "What determines what gets brought back? Does what class my Retainer is matter? Or what class I am? Or what their level is for the Quick Ventures?" and so on. I'm just throwing out some curiosity driven thoughts for the heck of it, so tell me what you have to say about them.

[JeniLinsky]

There used to be a pen-and-paper role playing game from a company called Iron Crown Enterprises; the game was called Role Master. It involved so many tables and sub-tables and sub-sub-tables that many players refered to it as Roll Master. Which really has nothing to do with anything, except that your post reminded me of it.

[Huntington]

There used to be a pen-and-paper role playing game from a company called Iron Crown Enterprises; the game was called Role Master. It involved so many tables and sub-tables and sub-sub-tables that many players refered to it as Roll Master. Which really has nothing to do with anything, except that your post reminded me of it.

If I had heard of it before I'd think of it too, there would be so many eventual sub-divisions in it that it would be dividing into the tenth decimal and beyond.

[Penguinmayhem]

I've been doing Highland Exploration steadily since patch and they've just come back with nothing but sparklers and dye.

[DoubleT]

I've been doing Highland Exploration steadily since patch and they've just come back with nothing but sparklers and dye.

they only bring back rare items from Quick Exploration Ventures.

an to the OP, i think everyone has already figured out that there is really crappy items, decent items, an good items that they can come back with lol the real question is how do we get more good items an less crappy/decent

[Erendis]

Must be a coincidence, but my retainers before level 15 used to bring back better stuff from Quick exploration than now...

[JeniLinsky]

I got a pair of iL55 HQ leatherworker's gloves from my GLD doing a quick exploration at about level 19. I was surprised, 'cause before that, she'd just brought back stuff I turned around and vendored... it wasn't even worth marketing.

[Kule]

What ever SE's RNG system is I think it somehow rotates based on time or day. When my FC were saving for a house we used to do massive map runs of 30 or more and on some days we would get chimera after chimera, etc. or other days it would be all of one mob pack.

We used to joke that we were culling off the chimera.

[TomTom1968]

Must be a coincidence, but my retainers before level 15 used to bring back better stuff from Quick exploration than now...

That's also my observation. When they only had a weapon in their hand, they got me from time to time nice stuff like green items and Materia IV. Since they are full equipped (partially HQ) and higher in level, they come back with a single NQ fish or Earth resistance I Materia lol.

[JeniLinsky]

I suspect that's coincidence. I have armorer leveled to 50, so I've been making my gladiator minion HQ gear from level 8 on. She brought back the only thing I've regarded as valuable while highly geared.