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Bad Luck or something more sinister?

jorifice1jorifice1 Posts: 588 Arc User
edited December 2012 in Champions Online Discussion
Just returning to the game after a few months off here and found something both a bit odd and more than a bit disturbing:

So I just took Krampus the Christmas Demon out of mothballs for the first time since last December. As such, he needs all new gear. I finished the last 6 missions in Andrithal on Monster Island and did the first half or so of the Vibora Bay Apocalypse. Outside of Mission Rewards almost NOTHING in the way of gear is dropping. All I am getting are those ^@$@#^%$ Lockboxes and a few Mods. Mostly the Lockboxes. Lots and lots of Lockboxes. My question to you folks is this: In your experience have those Lockboxes actually REPLACED other, more useful, drops or am I just experiencing one of my patented stretches of Bad Loot Luck?

'Wen considered the nature of time and understood that the universe is, instant by instant, recreated anew. Therefore, he understood, there is in truth no past, only a memory of the past. Blink your eyes, and the world you see next did not exist when you closed them. Therefore, he said, the only appropriate state of the mind is surprise. The only appropriate state of the heart is joy. The sky you see now, you have never seen before. The perfect moment is now. Be glad of it.' Terry Pratchet The Thief Of Time
Post edited by jorifice1 on

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    smoochansmoochan Posts: 2,564 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    You are correct sir!

    Champions Online: Be the hero you wish you could be in a better game.
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    lokikinlokikin Posts: 624 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    They will vehemently swear that the lockboxes are on a separate loot table and there is no impact on the odds of drops from the regular loot tables...

    I have serious doubts...
    _._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._

    M-O-O-N, that spells @Rhyatt

    Originally Posted by mijjestic: Ultimately, though, MMO players throwing stones at each other in this fashion is basically one nerd pointing and laughing at another nerd whose glasses are thicker.

    Laws yes!
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    spyralpegacyonspyralpegacyon Posts: 383 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    jorifice1 wrote: »
    Just returning to the game after a few months off here and found something both a bit odd and more than a bit disturbing:

    So I just took Krampus the Christmas Demon out of mothballs for the first time since last December. As such, he needs all new gear. I finished the last 6 missions in Andrithal on Monster Island and did the first half or so of the Vibora Bay Apocalypse. Outside of Mission Rewards almost NOTHING in the way of gear is dropping. All I am getting are those ^@$@#^%$ Lockboxes and a few Mods. Mostly the Lockboxes. Lots and lots of Lockboxes. My question to you folks is this: In your experience have those Lockboxes actually REPLACED other, more useful, drops or am I just experiencing one of my patented stretches of Bad Loot Luck?

    I'm voting 'perception', since the regular loot still drops at the same rate but the lockboxes look to have a drop rate of approxmiately 'yes'.
    tumblr_moni7tHVoq1rzu2xzo1_500.gif
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    nephtnepht Posts: 6,883 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    lokikin wrote: »
    They will vehemently swear that the lockboxes are on a separate loot table and there is no impact on the odds of drops from the regular loot tables...

    I have serious doubts...

    I fully agree, spent ages grinding for throw away gear to sell in V-Bay all I keep getting is crappy boxes -.-"
    nepht_siggy_v6_by_nepht-dbbz19n.jpg
    Nepht and Dr Deflecto on primus
    They all thought I was out of the game....But I'm holding all the lockboxes now..
    I'll......FOAM FINGER YOUR BACK!
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    roughbearmattachroughbearmattach Posts: 4,784 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    When I send a level 40 toon to Monster Island to farm resources, I still get a good amount of mods and the occasional purple secondary gear. I think it is perception, because lockboxes are THE most common loot drop now.
    ___________________________________________________________

    Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
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    jorifice1jorifice1 Posts: 588 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    I can say with some surety that it is not simply perception. I did the entire level 40-41 arc from Dr. Silverback and Cpt. Something or Other and aprox. 1/2 of the Vibora Bay Apocalypse. I received a total of 1 Purple Secondary, 2 Blue Primarys, and 3 Green Primarys, and 5 Green Secondarys. Or less than 1 item of any kind other than Lockboxes and Mods per mission completed. Nearly every one of these, including the Purple, was a Presence buffing item. I was actually able to use on this toon (who was in entirely pre-Alert gear) a total of 1 Blue and 1 Green.
    So it is either bad luck (a statistical fluke) or they have altered the loot tables to replace Items with Mods and Lockboxes. I got 67 Lockboxes in the same time period and I am not certain of the number of Mods. Forgot to keep count. But there were a lot.

    'Wen considered the nature of time and understood that the universe is, instant by instant, recreated anew. Therefore, he understood, there is in truth no past, only a memory of the past. Blink your eyes, and the world you see next did not exist when you closed them. Therefore, he said, the only appropriate state of the mind is surprise. The only appropriate state of the heart is joy. The sky you see now, you have never seen before. The perfect moment is now. Be glad of it.' Terry Pratchet The Thief Of Time
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    malvoumalvou Posts: 488 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    I have about 400+ Lockboxes from leveling a character to 40.

    Tell me something is wrong.
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    haleakalahaleakala Posts: 449 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    Last couple of times I went through VB were post On Alert, pre lockbox. I remember gear drops being scarce both times.
    _________________________________________________

    I been a long time leaving but I'm going to be a long time gone.

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    T.U.F.K.A.S. (the user formerly known as Scarlyng)
    Wrong on the CO forums since November, 2008
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    jonsillsjonsills Posts: 6,317 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    I'm voting 'perception', since the regular loot still drops at the same rate but the lockboxes look to have a drop rate of approxmiately 'yes'.
    That, I believe, is an accurate assessment. There aren't a lot of drops, probably because they figure that by the time you get to the Apocalypse, you're pretty well geared for your level, and it's not like there are a lot of vendors available before you complete it. However, the lockboxes have a drop rate approaching unity, it sometimes seems.
    "Science teaches us to expect -- demand -- more than just eerie mysteries. What use is a puzzle that can't be solved? Patience is fine, but I'm not going to stop asking the universe to make sense!"

    - David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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    nazacanazaca Posts: 183 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    jorifice1 wrote: »
    So it is either bad luck (a statistical fluke) or they have altered the loot tables to replace Items with Mods and Lockboxes.

    The lock boxes are on a separate drop table.

    Mods, to the best of my understanding, are on the same drop tables as the primary/secondary gear is.
    __________
    There is no such thing as a free lunch. If you aren't paying for it, you aren't the customer; you are the product being sold.

    Dollar, dollar, bill, yo. Cash rules everything around you and me.
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    serendipitynowserendipitynow Posts: 554 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    I have about 400+ Lockboxes from leveling a character to 40.

    Tell me something is wrong.

    My new main leveled to 40 purely on missions and managed to haul in over 800 lockboxes, didnt keep count of anything, so cant answer for gear, lockboxes are easy to see as they are all still sat there.
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    zedbrightlander1zedbrightlander1 Posts: 3,797 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    The problem with perception is that it can easily be a misperception. The only way to avoid the latter is... I think I'll let Bender/Farnsworth explain.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gENVB6tjq_M

    If everyone who is interested in squashing perception for reality spends just one hour fighting At Level units and then post his/her results below, we just might come up with an answer that's closer to reality than a doubt.

    As of today, after one hour of fighting Qularr at the Wayfarer on Monster Island Zed B. gathered...

    16 Green Items, 3 Blue Items. 2 Purple, 38 Lockboxes. I also picked up some special currencies but did not keep track.

    Do we need to keep track of the currencies for this experiment?

    After enough players have posted his/her results, we can get out a Calculator and find out the actual mathematical average. The more samples, the more accurate the average of the results will be.
    ZedBlock-200.jpg
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    visionstorm01visionstorm01 Posts: 564 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    lokikin wrote: »
    They will vehemently swear that the lockboxes are on a separate loot table and there is no impact on the odds of drops from the regular loot tables...

    I have serious doubts...

    This^

    Though, one thing that may contribute to this perception that loot hardly drops anymore is that (IIRC) they actually reduced (significantly) the droprates right along with the On Alert update. I remember GentlemanCrush mentioning while we were testing the On Alert stuff before the update that the droprates would be reduced. So its possible this might be part of the problem.

    I figured at the time that might be a good thing since our droprates (I believed) were exceedingly high, and lower droprate might add a bit of challenge, I thought. Little did I know what would follow just a few months after... :rolleyes:
    ____________________________
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    auldwolfauldwolf Posts: 103 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    I'm going to have to say 'perception' too. Aside from whites and yellows, loot has always been scarce in higher level areas. Vibora Bay especially. This is why adventure packs tend to come in handy for that.
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    auldwolfauldwolf Posts: 103 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    16 Green Items, 3 Blue Items. 2 Purple, 38 Lockboxes.
    See, that's even more generous than what I remember green droprates being. So... yeah, I'd just file this under perception.
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    ashensnowashensnow Posts: 2,048 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    The problem with perception is that it can easily be a misperception. The only way to avoid the latter is... I think I'll let Bender/Farnsworth explain.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gENVB6tjq_M

    If everyone who is interested in squashing perception for reality spends just one hour fighting At Level units and then post his/her results below, we just might come up with an answer that's closer to reality than a doubt.

    As of today, after one hour of fighting Qularr at the Wayfarer on Monster Island Zed B. gathered...

    16 Green Items, 3 Blue Items. 2 Purple, 38 Lockboxes. I also picked up some special currencies but did not keep track.

    Do we need to keep track of the currencies for this experiment?

    After enough players have posted his/her results, we can get out a Calculator and find out the actual mathematical average. The more samples, the more accurate the average of the results will be.

    Although your lockbox drop rate was much lower than what I saw in my own test (approximately 75 per hour of dedicated testing) over a period of 4 hours the rest falls in line with what I have seen. Non lockbox drop rates seem on par with what I saw before the addition of lockboxes.

    'Caine, miss you bud. Fly high.
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    twg042370twg042370 Posts: 592 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    I'm voting 'perception', since the regular loot still drops at the same rate but the lockboxes look to have a drop rate of approxmiately 'yes'.

    I remember the first time a mob that rarely drops dropped and I was surprised. Hopeful it was some sexy blue or purple item. Then it was a lockbox. And this situation has never changed.
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    wacky99wacky99 Posts: 115 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    I have found that the lock boxes are dropping and other items are not. Originally the lock boxes were supposed to be in addition to existing loot, but I have not seen a single lockbox + additional item (apart from a recognition currency) in the last couple of weeks.

    A benchmark would be the first Nemesis mission which you get at L25 - Lemurian Antiquities, in the Mil. City museum. When I recently completed this mission, I had a total of 8 drops. 4 were lock boxes, 4 were currency items, Primus IIRC. So if what Cryptic are claiming is true, I would have only received 4 currency items in that mission? I doubt that, having completed it many times before and always found it pretty decent for drops.

    So yes, I agree with the OP, I think that instead of being 'in addition' to existing drop tables, they are 'instead of'.

    Stuffy on the old CO forums. PWE ate my username.
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    nephtnepht Posts: 6,883 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    Ive reached the 999 lockbox cap. Were the hell is my perk for that >:C

    Thats the point of these boxes right? Gotta catch em all...right?
    nepht_siggy_v6_by_nepht-dbbz19n.jpg
    Nepht and Dr Deflecto on primus
    They all thought I was out of the game....But I'm holding all the lockboxes now..
    I'll......FOAM FINGER YOUR BACK!
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    zedbrightlander1zedbrightlander1 Posts: 3,797 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    nepht wrote: »
    Ive reached the 999 lockbox cap. Were the hell is my perk for that >:C

    That's the point of these boxes right? Gotta catch em all...right?

    You're right. :eek: I WANT MY 999 PERK, TOO! I live for CO Perks. :biggrin:

    Also, if they start putting Lockboxes in the Winter Event presents, then I'm gonna - I'm gonna - I'm gonna complain about. :mad:

    :wink:

    - - -
    ZedBlock-200.jpg
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    zedbrightlander1zedbrightlander1 Posts: 3,797 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    ashensnow wrote: »
    Although your lockbox drop rate was much lower than what I saw in my own test (approximately 75 per hour of dedicated testing) over a period of 4 hours the rest falls in line with what I have seen. Non lockbox drop rates seem on par with what I saw before the addition of lockboxes.

    See, this is why we need multiple hours of drop rates - to compare each against the other and then do the actual math.

    Based against my own earlier samples, that particular LckBx count was low and the Purple was high. Purples don't always make an appearance in a single hour. In fact, at one point very early in my CO heroing career, I though Purples were a myth. :biggrin:

    This is why we need many heroes to go get at least one hours worth of a sample of - Greens, Blues. Purple(s) and Lockboxes. And this sampling does not even cover items that can be modded. :redface:
    ZedBlock-200.jpg
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    jorifice1jorifice1 Posts: 588 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    O.K.
    It turns out that it was NEITHER.
    It was some sort of bug.
    My entire game went on an extended freak-out lasting several days. Basically I had every Graphics and Crashing issue everyone has ever reported and several new ones that appeared to be unique to my game. I suspect Computer Demons.
    Three fresh installs and an Exorcism later I got it up and running but had to delete absolutely everything and completely re-download and install from scratch. After the reinstall all of my drop-rates are back to normal with Lockboxes ON TOP of regular drops rather than INSTEAD of regular drops. As near as I can figure out, it may have been some sort of graphical error where the items were actually dropping but were not being displayed, or being dropped inside the scenery.
    Those of you seeing the same difficulties that I was (only 1 non Vehicle/Lockbox related item drop taking place every several missions) may want to consider a fresh install.
    Would have posted sooner but just got home from an extended business trip.

    'Wen considered the nature of time and understood that the universe is, instant by instant, recreated anew. Therefore, he understood, there is in truth no past, only a memory of the past. Blink your eyes, and the world you see next did not exist when you closed them. Therefore, he said, the only appropriate state of the mind is surprise. The only appropriate state of the heart is joy. The sky you see now, you have never seen before. The perfect moment is now. Be glad of it.' Terry Pratchet The Thief Of Time
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    darkstarcrashdarkstarcrash Posts: 883 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    Nice of you to check back in and admit it wasn't a PW conspiracy -- this time, she whispered meaningfully.

    If you added an edit to your first post/title, would be even better. :wink:
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