Dear Developers, would you consider adjusting the loot drop pattern in Toto-Rak?

[Bluevann]

Hello all, this is not an angry thread nor an attempt to troll, so I'd appreciate polite critic and feedback on the subject.

First off I should probably explain what pushed me to make this thread. As far as I have observed in the dungeons I have done so far (I'm only up to Stone Vigil, so if I'm wrong, I apologize), the Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak is the only one dungeon where non-boss related treasure coffer drop no ethereal armor. No matter how many times I've ran the instance, all I'd find were allagan tin pieces, ethers, or potions.

Now for the bosses. I am perfectly fine with the Final Boss handling the 8 weapon drops. It's like that in most of dungeons where Green weapons do drop. However I am a bit disappointed at the other two bosses, the first and second Ochu-type monsters (called something like Nine-Tails Coeurl). The first one always holds a coffer that 100% drops an Ethereal armor piece. The second, holds two coffers. The left coffer, like the former, 100% drops an ethereal armor piece, whereas the latter will drop one out of ten Green armor drops.

Now, I don't have the exact statistics, but according to my achievements screen, I have ran 140 Dungeon Raids, and I am positive the only ones I've done more than once are the Lv15 ones, Halatali, and Toto-Rak. Yet, as a thaumaturge, conjurer, and arcanist, I've managed to collect only two out of the four DoM armor pieces the 2nd Coeurl drops. I'm not going to say certain pieces drop more than others, I am perfectly aware of how RNG works and I'm not going to say the %s are wrong, I'm just unlucky, but I wonder...

Wouldn't it be better to have all those scattered coffers around Toto-Rak have a % chance of dropping Aethereal armor, like in every other dungeon, and have both the 1st and 2nd Coeurl hold a chest possibly dropping one of the ten Green armor drops? I believe this would cause less fights I have noticed to occur in the many runs I've had, where:

1 - Some players get upset because the 'minor' coffer rooms are skipped, since they're not worth going after.

2 - Some players leave right after beating the 2nd coeurl, because they did/didn't get what they wanted and don't need the Final Boss.

It would probably help the issue #1 more than the #2, but at least personally, if I knew that after the 2nd boss there were other coffers with chances of Ethereal armor, I'd be driven to keep going even if I didn't need the boss.

I understand this may look like a trivial matter for most of players since it's not related to end-game armor, but please understand that there are other players out there who like to enjoy the game even without rushing for the top.

[Kule]

I just wanted to say, that's a nice well thought out post.

As for the issue with people dropping, that shouldn't be a problem when the DF roulette is out.

[Bluevann]

I just wanted to say, that's a nice well thought out post.

As for the issue with people dropping, that shouldn't be a problem when the DF roulette is out.

Thanks a lot for the compliment^^; I too hope that the roulette will help out. Would be nice if one day they implemented a points system to get those drops that seem to hate you. Like "Win X dungeon X times to buy X drop from NPC". If only I had one point for every Toto-rak run I joined, and each drop costed 20 points, I'd probably have all drops now XD

[Kal-El]

"Win X dungeon X times to buy X drop from NPC"

Just wait till you get to The Wanderers Palace and Amdapor Keep >_<

[Alhanelem]

*stares confused at doing lv15 dungeon specifically for the loot*

It is kind of a silly setup though. I say remove the pink items and move 5 of the items from one chest to the other.

[Bluevann]

*stares confused at doing lv15 dungeon specifically for the loot*

It is kind of a silly setup though. I say remove the pink items and move 5 of the items from one chest to the other.

Ah, regarding those, I've done them repeatedly for various reasons, including spiritbonding and helping LS friends. The armors do look cool though, more than most of other dungeon gear further ahead ^^; Like I said, I don't look for stats much.

As for your idea, I do agree that would work too!

[Zfz]

Let's see if my memory serves me well.

My main character (PLD) leveled up with only main quest and the rest was through dungeons. I got exactly zero piece of tanking gear from Toto-Rak. IIRC I entered it at level 26, stopped running it at level 28. No tanking drops at all. Note that this was my first character, during the launch week rush, so no rested, no bonuses except the 3% food bonus. I remember Toto-Rak was when I started to feel the "grind"---when you stare at the exp bar and wish it would move faster so you can leave this dungeon once and for all.

My secondary character (30PLD, 30WAR) got both the weapons but again no tanking gear at all for bringing 2 classes through Toto-Rak. This character was also leveling without FATEs, so quite enough runs of Toto-Rak.

My throwaway character (30WHM) that I have since deleted, got 2 pieces from Toto-Rak.

In general I felt that Toto-Rak was a gear gap for me. Every time I enter Haukke I'd be wearing mostly Halatari gear plus some level 15 green gear.

For the first class/job that one levels up, though, the main quest always provides at-level quest rewards for the 6 main slots (left-hand side) before sending us into a new dungeon, so it shouldn't be a problem.

But back on topic, Toto-Rak indeed is a very depressing dungeon to farm. To few drops with too much trash. I'd love it if all the coffers at least get a good chance of giving ethereal gear.

In general the dungeon coffers that don't offer ethereal gear are all very disappointing. For example the Stone Vigil coffers. Stone Vigil is another place where I've had little to no luck in getting tanking drops. I have a 50 and a 45 now, both of them were still wearing level 30/35 cavalry/ethereal gear when I replaced them with my AF pieces.

[Bluevann]

In general I felt that Toto-Rak was a gear gap for me.

Tanking gear is another 'mystery' I've noticed in Toto-rak. For some reason that I don't understand too clearly, the hand piece of the 'tanking' set (Warden's) is considered a Need-able piece only by Lancers, despite DPSs already having one hand piece dropping there (Brigand's gloves). Seemed like an odd ball to me, but in general yes, it is very hard to get all the pieces your class needs there without first out-leveling them just by spamming the dungeon over and over. I first entered it as THM, then as CNJ, and like I said I only got 2 of the DoM pieces. All what I have left needing them now is Arcanist... let's see how it goes.

[Alhanelem]

Like I said, I don't look for stats much.

Be aware a minimum gear level is being added to dungeons, you'll have to start looking for stats to be able to do higher level dungeons. I understand wanting gear that "looks cool" but until the vanity system is released later, using such gear during any sort of battle situation is probelmatic at best.

[saber_alter]

-snip-

its because its more dps oriented, determination rather than parry. it also has a lower physical/magical defense.