1% or less drop rates and how they hurt the game

[Kiara]

I just want to point out that, let's say you do need 50 wins to obtain a mirror, and all 8 players are a static. It doesn't seem... odd to you that all 8 players can expect an upgrade after an exact number of wins? I mean, it's essentially an optional upgrade in general (meaning it's along the lines of wanting aesthetic goods in that it is not mandatory to progress). It wouldn't feel weird to anyone if they were to implement this system in general? Or are you folks just being selective about this perspective and considering that goods such as primal mounts should not be part of this expectation system? Or perhaps gear in general, as a string of bad luck is possible for coil weapons, I'd say they would probably wish that you could expect such a thing after X kills. I'd say that kind of cheapens your efforts and the reward itself once you can plan it out. It really seems like the worst thing to happen to the MMORPG genre is expectations on a mathematical timeline.

Hi Welsper,

Good question. In regards to getting Tokens for Wins and making incremental progress, we already have that in the form of Tomestones, and knowing each Win of a [Primal / Dungeon, etc.] will move you one step closer to getting that upgraded Armor, Weapon, etc. They've had that in a variety of MMOs before XIV. If you want to make it more "random" without total guarantees, you could have, say, 2 - 4 Tokens drop 100% per Battle, so those still have to be lotted on (so not everyone gets 1, but it's guaranteed that *some* people will in general).

It existed in 1.0 already (and was generally well-liked by everyone I talked to (various LSs, on the forums)) (Garuda 1.0).

The opposite - traditional Low % Drop Rate, Random Number Generator method - is far more awful than a "mathematical timeline" you're opposed to, people who grew up with it are just used to it.

There's nothing worse feeling than killing a Boss 100+ times in a row (or clearing a Dungeon hundreds of times) to never see your desired item drop, but then through RNG, surprise! someone got the drop on their very First Win. How fair is that? Some people enjoy the "Lottery!" feel. Others do not.

In 1.0, when Ifrit first debuted (before Tokens, before guaranteed drops) one of my JP friends went on a 78 Win streak against Ifrit (when it was hard to beat), and NEVER got a weapon. I helped a LS member beat Ifrit and they got an Ifrit Weapon (and their desired one) on the very first win (no joke). I know someone in my FC that has farmed Atma for WEEKS (over 250 FATEs) (they checked their Achievement progress), and never got even one Atma. And I know I've gotten an Atma on my very first FATE in Western La Noscea. I feel awful for my FC mate.

That's RNG.

I think it has its place in MMOs (it's a "staple"), but it doesn't mean it's ideal. Incremental progress is encouraging and a good thing for many players and something I'd want to see.

[scarletfoxxy]

i have a solution to ALL these issues!!

Levi mount= 200 completed levi ex wins (similar to tank mounts)

garuda, titan, ifrit= 200 completed wins for each mount.

Mirror= 100 completed wins using same levi ex weapon (instead of getting a regular mirror, you get a mirror for that particular weapon you won 100 times with)

Now this may seem like something everyone and their mom can do but think of how difficult and the amount of time it would take to achieve all of it? you need 800 total wins for each mount and even more total wins for each mirror.
Factoring in how many times parties wipe and how unlikely it is people would gather that many wins in a small amount of time, i think it's a perfect solution added onto the already 1% drop rate. Noone would complain because NO VICTORY GOES UNCOUNTED!
that's really all they can do to keep things hot and interesting! I'd personally farm the crap outta ifrit. (has no mount)

[Roris]

If you are able to consistently beat content a nice number of times (50+) you should be able to purchase its rewards eventually with the use of tokens earned from said wins. Garuda was a great example of this, weapons weren't guaranteed but tokens were, you could then save them for yourself or pool them and give them to a friend to help them get their weapon faster, which were some pretty decent weapons back then, some only second to Relics. It was teamwork at its best, you know, something this game really needs. Tokens wouldn't cheapen anything at all, no people won't unsub in a blink, only silly people believe that would have any impact on subs.

[Xairos]

I just had this idea. What if we can get it to gain some traction.

What if we could collect experience points and trade them in for items. For example like 500k exp for 1 atma, or 1 mirror. That could move people into other zones to feel free to farm fates, or run dungeons, or do maps or what ever while also ensuring that everyone gets an equal shot at second tier gear and items.

Currently, at 50 we dont use exp for anything. And coming from FFXI (one system that sorta worked IMO), the merit system was a cool way to keep exp parties alive and players busy while they werent raiding or anything. And since we dont lose experience in this game this becomes a track-able objective for everyone to do, not just those who play for hours on end.

[Yukiko]

10% chance to get a weapon
20% chance to get a tomestone
70% chance to get a dark matter V (so you can at least repair your stuff)

Is that a suggestion for 2.x or was it to point at 1.x?
I am not sure, because Garuda given 100% 2 tomestone to each player. I do not know what you will say with your comment?
There is a reason why garuda and Skirmish was most liked in playerbase...

[Velereux]

lol rng is the best way to keep you subscribed for longer
Don't expect to see any changes soon

[Giantbane]

lol rng is the best way to keep you subscribed for longer
Don't expect to see any changes soon

Speaking personally, it detracts from my positive feelings about the game. So it's not really encouraging *me* to stay subscribed. I can imagine others feel similarly.

[SirTaint]

Levi should have had 2 mirrors. One always drops. Silver mirror 95% of the time and gold mirror 5%.

10 silvers = 1 gold.

People would grind him and have a progress indicator based on RNG lots for silver.

[Madruck]

Speaking personally, it detracts from my positive feelings about the game. So it's not really encouraging *me* to stay subscribed. I can imagine others feel similarly.

Giantbane hit it right on the head, this flawed game design is what causes alot of players to regard the game in a negative light and makes them chose to unsub and go to another game. It is funny that all these players who say that people who leave won't be missed if they leave......kinda funny to have a Multiplayer game where the name MMO comes from with a low player pop.....games do not last long with that type of model last time I checked!

[blowfin]

Slapping a low drop rate on something and calling it "done" is incredibly lazy game design in this day and age. SE have tried to not do it too often, for the reasons that have been mentioned in this thread. The backlash from Atma more than likely caused them to realise that people are sick and tired of being bent of over a RNG barrel for the sake of extending content/subs. Mirrors and Atma were some real Tanaka-channeling stuff straight out of the dark days of XI.

Totally agree with mirrors/mounts/atma being something you should be able to work towards over time. I might actually have some tangible reason to go back and do EX primals more often, seeing as they got outdated in a single patch cycle (seriously wtf is with that?). It might actually be compelling to work on the Animus bow if I didn't dread going through the RNG again with all of my being.