Collectable Rotation Analysis

[TechnoTechie]

Okay. I've spent two evenings clawing through this stuff, this is evening #3. I've been bored, don't look at me like that!

I think we're both just as bored! 3.1 please get here faster

1. The only odd Methodical Appraisal results you can get are 113 and 115. All evens between 80 and 115 probably exist, although I've yet to touch 82 or 84.
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4. I have got the numbers together for every MA level except 82 and 84.

83, 85, and 87 are also possible results, as is 86, and if you want I will try to get data for 88/89; the only data point I have after 87 is for 90. As far as I know, it's impossible to get either 82 or 84 from testing various stats today.
Yes, I'm that bored. Bored enough (but also inspired by your work) that I even went and bought +perc food that grants +2, +3, +4, and +5 perception respectively, to test for absolute perception caps for levels 56, 58, 60, and 1-star folklore. I neglected level 59 items, but I'll go back and do that. I also found the absolute floor for level 56 items, and using this I will try to extrapolate floors and test them for the other items.
Knowing these caps, I feel like we can extrapolate other values for the other items, but I'll get around to trying this out later. The exact difference between ceiling and floor is 101 perception.

-level 56: 539 perception cap; 438 perception floor (80 on methodical appraisal; 439 perception was 83 on methodical)
-level 58: 563 perception cap
-level 60: 585 perception cap
-L60 1-star: 695 perception cap

2. There is no decimal when dealing with item rarity. How do I know this?
Cuprite - DE-MA-SM-MA-DE-MA - 459 result
Cuprite - SM-UC-MA-SM-UC-MA-MA-MA - 460 result, same stats.
Technically these two results should be exactly the same. They are not. What does this mean? Basically, you can't just calculate a DE-MA as 1.5 x a normal MA result. It's a DE-MA result, which gives a unique number for each tier of MA results. Is it always rounded down? No, sometimes it's rounded up, sometimes down, it's not consistent. So basically if you want to know the exact results, you have to have all the numbers known for each possible outcome. So that's what I did.
3. What we *do* know is that every MA number has an associated DE-MA, IA and DE-IA number that will not change. So if you hit Cuprite for 115 MA and Adamantite Ore for 115 MA, you're going to get 172 for DE-MA, 103 for IA, 155 for DE-IA. The item and item level don't matter. What matters is the MA level you get. Same goes for mid-MA levels. If you hit for 112 MA, you can immediately know what results you will get for DE-ME, IA and DE-IA if you have them noted from a previous attempt.

I think what is happening is that there is some hidden decimal number for the base amount of the methodical appraisal that rounds to produce each of those results, probably something like this:
(MA = x1.0 potency; DE + MA = x1.5 potency; Impulsive = x0.9 potency; Impulsive + DE = x1.35 potency)

If we assume proper rounding at the tenth's digit (round down at 4, round up at 5), then these numbers seem to line up

5. I can accurately tell you how much perception you need to carry out each of 7 different rotations for Cuprite, and each of 5 different rotations for Adamantite/Chysahl. Yay!

I'm working on a spreadsheet to display all this information, which can be found here. I'm also working on a guide which can be found here.

EDIT: Oh, and you can basically assume numbers for the most part based on the others. I think it's quite assured that cell G7 will end up being 660, G15 and G16 will be 690, G18 will be 655, G19 and G20 will be 650. This is based on the pattern where the numbers increase by 5 or 10 for each increase in MA quality.

nice work!

Okay...

Things I Still Don't Know

1. Can you one-shot reveal folklore items at 647 gathering? I'm told you can with 648.
2. What is the minimum perception requirement for 94 rarity increase when using Methodical Appraisal on a folklore item?

Assumption: 690 is the required perception to guarantee red scrip items using rotation #5 (SM-UC-IA-IA-IA-DE-UC-MA with SM in place of DE if any of the IA proc a DE)

Testing for these next!
EDIT: yes, you can one-shot clear with 648; testing 647 next. Also as far as 94 rarity from methodical, initial calculation suggests around 631-633 perception (I noticed 475-477 perception gave 94 on methodical with a cap of 539, a difference of 62-64. the one-star cap being 695: 695 - 62 = 633; 695 - 64 = 631) I will gear for this and try on the next set of nodes.

EDIT 2: for the legendary nodes: 647 is a 1-shot clear; 631 perception was 94 on methodical, 141 on methodical with discerning eye, 84 on impulsive (ran out of attempts to try impulsive + discerning eye). My data suggests that the lowest possible might be 630, so I can try again with 630 but that might require some remelding, and 629 would drop it down to 92 if my calculations are correct.

EDIT 3: Just tested methodical again with 630 and 634 perception on folklore node: both came out to 94

EDIT 4: Tried again with 629 and 635 perception. 629 was 92 on methodical; 635 was 96 on methodical.