Yoshi P, is this what you wanted? (Terra Branford Blues)

[Zanarken]

So if they know what the mean will be for the overall experience, maybe just chop it off based on standard deviations.

Here is the problem:

From the programmer's perspective it is a consistent random formula because when you look at ALL PLAYERS drop rates, there is a clear pattern and enough drops are happening per hour (or whatever criteria they are using as the barometer) that the devs feel the system is balanced. Programmers however... tend to be the absolute worst people at designing any kind of content involving randomness because they look at it purely from a mathematical perspective, not from the individual user experience level. This is because of the unique way engineers think about problems; they tend to take a top-down approach rather than a bottom-up approach. They tend to start with "this is how our numbers will work" rather than "this is how the user experience should be".

As such, you have individuals like yourself who get completely screwed in the process. I'm in a similar predicament. Meanwhile, there are those who are blessed by the RNG gods, who have everything imaginable showered down upon them. It has become so commonplace they believe they are entitled to it & that everything is working as intended. The mere mention of a safety net, or any mechanism that might curb this disparity is quickly struck down by these individuals.