Gravitar and Drop Rates 2014

sciroccostorm

Hello all. I've seen this thread open once before, but based on its age, I wanted to try to get an update. I have run Gravitar 300 times. In that time, nothing has dropped. Absolutely nothing. I have seen things drop around me. Two of my sg teammates got drops: 1, on his third try ever; another, on his fourth try ever.

I have been on teams where we defeated her quick and cold; I have been on teams where i have had to die once and be rezzed in order to put her down; I have been on teams where we face planted entirely. None of it seemed to matter vs. drop rate.

I have been in as a tank build, and retconned to a melee build. Nothing.

I have had players tell me that drop rate is based on damage done, which is startling, in that how would a support character (healer, bubbler) ever stand a chance at a costume drop?

I have been told that it is totally, entirely random, and that it is possible to play that mission a thousand times, a million times, and never ever get anything, which makes for a fascinating business model in trying to keep players.

I cannot phrase the question right to CO to get a straight answer, because they do not disclose their game mechanics or % chance of this or that. They pointed me here.



While I enjoy the questionite, and have met some great people in that mission, I'd just like to know, once and for all...

1. Is it possible for every archetype to get a costume drop from Gravitar?

2. Does amount of damage done by character affect her drop rate, or is it truly random?

3. Is it theoretically possible that a player would NEVER get a drop, while a player beside them gets drops every other mission, based on 'random number generation'?

Just once before I die, I'd like to see that big glowing exclamation point, just to know it's possible.

Grateful for your insights.

quasimojo1

There are already some changes related to this on PTS. Well, maybe not Gravitar-specific costume drops; I'm not sure about that. But Rampage alerts are being reworked, including rewards, queueing, and rotation.

sciroccostorm

in my 301st run, a teammate Shadowman got a drop. i still have nothing. that is all for now.

highreality

Drop rate is linked by some cryptic math to the damage you do, or so I seem to have gathered.

jerax1011

The RNG gods are very finicky in whom they choose... I've ran Gravitar enough times to get her boots, and then settled for buying the rest from the AH instead :P

aiqa

Of the about 10 "Stylish Haute Couture" unlocks that dropped for me, all of them either dropped on a dps build, or when using a tank and ending up soloing most of the fight. But never got one after dying, also the boots an gloves were very rare drops for me on runs when I did die.

I think on average I got one every 500 or 1000 runs or so.

wimpazoid

DPS related. I usually get one when I run my DPS builds and hold aggro throughout the fight.

sterga

The only time I've ever gotten a costume drop from Grav was the fight I spent mostly dead or blocking. I thought it was funny since I know I couldn't have contributed that much.

jaazaniah1

Maybe been in 100 or so. I think I've had 3-4 costume drops. Sorry, can't remember which types of toons these were on.

A friend using a Solider AT with sniper rifle and hiding in the rubble to avoid death got a drop once and I'm sure he's only done it 20-25 times.

kaiserin

I believe it's random. Done the alert hundreds of times and never noticed any type of role getting more drops than another. Gloves and boots and extremely common, necklace is a bit rarer and the chestpiece is quite rare to drop.

avianos

DPS has nothing to do with the Drop Rate

I got Costumes and the so precious Haute Couture while playing with Support and Tank toons as well!

crypticbuxom

The costume drop rate being related to DPS or even healing is a complete farse.

The run where the stripper outfit dropped for me was one where players were exploiting interrupt spam. Not a single point of damage was dealt by her the whole run. I was on my healer and I pretty much didn't do anything. It still dropped for me.

agentnx5

If it makes you feel any better I did close to 1000 runs of Gravitar over the span of over a year (starting when On Alert was released) before I got my Haute Coutere drop. So yeah, the drop rate chance is just really low and if you're unlucky you could theoretically never get it as long as you play the game.

RNG is just really sucky sometimes :-S

sciroccostorm

I am really terribly grateful for your replies. Having some type of empirical data that makes it seem that it's truly, utterly random is very helpful. I have been so utterly discouraged, seeing other people get drops and having the gloves and boots referred to as 'common', while nothing happened for me. I didn't know whether to try to retcon, or if that mattered. You've all been very kind. I welcome any and all fact-based data. Thanks for being members of a supportive community for new players.

monaahiru

Drop rates seems random, I have only E-builder as my main character's attack (YES Healer) but I get something good sometime. DPS isn't so important.

I do 3-6 Gravitar each day in several builds and I get a drop of boots and gloves about once in a week.

sciroccostorm

and so, after THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY FIVE TRIES, an exclamation point appeared over Gravitar's head tonight. Stylish leather pumps? don't mind if i do! thank you all VERY much for your data and insights. it really helped. :biggrin:

sterga

Grats.


/10cahrs

sciroccostorm

and thank you, sterga. your response to my post was very valuable in helping me keep going vs. tying the drop rate to dps.

sciroccostorm

so, three runs later, i get another drop. nothing for 385 tries, then 2 in the next 4 passes. *smh*

then, the last guy on the sg goes in, and gets his first drop within his first half dozen runs. so, of my 4 man sg:

guy 1 - third run
guy 2 - fourth run
guy 3 - sixth run
me - three hundred and eighty sixth run.

truly a random universe.