Opinions on Drop Tables and rates being hidden or public?
Kevohl
Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
Do you guys think Drop tables should be secret, requiring us players to log drops and compile rates, or would you rather this be public information provided by intrepid?
I personally like seeing detailed drop tables provided by the devs. I like when the game (or wiki) shows me the exact chance to get that item I'm after. I also like grinding a mob to 'complete' the drop table and see how far over or under rate I am.
I personally like seeing detailed drop tables provided by the devs. I like when the game (or wiki) shows me the exact chance to get that item I'm after. I also like grinding a mob to 'complete' the drop table and see how far over or under rate I am.
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Comments
If the droprate changes by weather, season, number of other mobs of the same type spawned, etc, then it has the potential to just cause confusion and complaining anyway.
I'm not against the information being public, but in situations where variance is actually high, it could end up being a lot of information, increasing the chance that it will:
1) Be updated and slightly balanced at some point, then becoming incorrect
2) Be confusing in ways that lead to other complaints or frustrations over certain time periods
3) Be server dependent, due to some aspect of the World Manager
What I fully hope is that Intrepid doesn't go to the lengths of specifically trying to hide things. If a player works out a rough droprate of something under X condition and then it changes after a patch, enough data should be enough for Intrepid to be able to at least say 'no we didn't change that, it should still be somewhere between 20 and 25% droprate' so that the community can check without squabbling over the value.
I agree but would be more interesting i think if everyone had to figure it out, would make the journey a little more mysterious and slow the amount of rare gear etc that would pop up in the beginning.
I don't personally consider decoding game systems to be a good source of mystery.
To me, that is what a games lore should provide.
Aren't we all sinners?
What about a system like this:
I feel that a system like this would achieve several goals. Frontier exploration is rewarded. Knowledge power still exists (cause frontier explorers might not want to give loot info to the npc). Completionists have a HUGE goal to work towards (i.e. filling out the fauna book), and have a direct reward for reaching it. The community as a whole get an in-game tool for knowing loot tables. If Intrepid somehow manage to prevent datamining - this would be an awesome way to let people know that mobs received new loot in the recent update (cause books would have new missing info).
So what do yall think about smth like this?
To deepen the experience, this system could be linked with specific adventurer paths, such as hunters, researchers, or gatherers, each gaining different insights depending on their specialization. Additionally, a crafting blueprint system could be integrated into this mechanic. As players uncover more information about specific materials or monster parts, they would unlock new crafting recipes, further encouraging exploration and experimentation. This approach would offer players a more immersive experience, combining the thrill of discovery with the practicality of progression.
I don't know how you went from everyone having to figure it out to everyone decoding/hacking game code? As players play the game they would learn and create their own database creating a game player guide that evolves as people adventure. I think @Pendragxn hit the mark exactly.
Love this idea!
What do you think about there being thresholds for unlocking certain amounts(?) of detail?
Example:
You have achieved 100 FRP from the Kaelar FR and wish to unlock cosmetics from Vek FR, you would only be able to unlock 75 FRP worth of detail from the Vek since everything you've unlocked thus far was from Kaelar.
You can datamine quite a bit of info … but if drop rate info is coded correctly it’s not included.
Personally, I’m OK either way whether it’s disclosed info or not.
But, Intrepid can keep it undisclosed if they wish … and let players be in charge of testing sample sizes.
The primary definition of the word "decode" is to convert a coded or unintelligible message in to an intelligible one. To take something not easily understood and make it more easily understood. One of the ways a message can be unintelligible is by individual people only having access to a small portion of it.
Taking information from many players in regards to drop rates and collating them in to a single, easy to understand drop tabe is decoding that drop table. It is taking the small view that many people have that is incomplete and thus unintelligible, and decoding it in to a larger, more complete picture.
When I hear "decode the game system" my first thought is decoding a computer game's code. Interesting perspective though but I would say it is documentation and analyzing but whatever.
Impossible to datamine info that's kept server side and is likely dynamically generated.
Yes, collecting sample data en masse and having a probability matrix is a good method... but might fail due to factors such as node level adjacenties, weather, season and other predicates. As a result it might vary from server to server, so it likely won't ever be truly known.
This is all possible, but unlikely.
If you are collating data from many players, their server is a key piece of information. So is the time.
WIth that, it won't be hard to break this data down in to node state, if that proves to be needed.
The big challenge would be accurately collecting data from that many players without addons (ie - they will probly have to fill out some kind of form)
I personally wouldn't have it be player submitted.
I'd rather use screen detection if there is no way to have a text log file.
You are suggesting a third party add-on, which likely won't be allowed in the ToS.
Its trivial information that can easily be provided from intrepid themselves as online database and whoever doesnt want to get informed just shouldnt slice and dice through that data base. Delegation to fans is not needed, but will be done sooner or later if it will not be provided from the developer itself. Thinking of wowhead, for instance (depening on allowance in terms of the API). Thats just incredible meaningful. Just dont make trivial things more complicated, there is really no need for that. The game already has more than enough to think about and care of. This is just a loot table. So only show us to which % the Emberblade from Firebrand drops. 1,2%? Perfect. Thanks. Cindersinger 0,8%. Ok, cool.
There is only one thing that I hope Intrepid will never do when it comes to drop tables which is this...
No, just OBS.
I don't see Intrpid making OBS against the ToS.