As I spent my 20 hours camping "Dyllan" in highpass
I had a lot of time to think. This was my first real camp for a 'rare drop'
item. In this case the item itself isn't rare, it's the spawn himself, he
in fact always has the item.As I spent my 20 hours camping "Dyllan" in highpass
I had a lot of time to think. This was my first real camp for a 'rare drop'
item. In this case the item itself isn't rare, it's the spawn himself, he
in fact always has the item.
I'm fighting in Lower Guk these days and once every about 40 minutes something has a chance of spawning that has a or b item. B, the rare, has a chance of not even spawning in a 4 hour period from what I've seen. As example I was camping in the lord and mage rooms, and in 6 hour periods of each neither spawned the super lucky items. In fact the lesser items were even very rare.
This brings us to the question: Do rare drop items work? If so why or why not.
Why they do
Well it limits the number of times the item spawns over a period of time.
Why they don't
Look 2 months down the road, or 4. Soon everyone will have them. No matter how you make the spawn rare.
Example, Shiny Metallic Robes are still "new" on my server. I will see maybe 1 in 100 wearing one on my server in my area. Flowing Black Robes are "way old" on my server. It seems anyone who starts a mage of the classes that can wear one has one.
This gets to the question of economy. Back when the server opened and FBRs were first being harvested they were worth over 1,000 plat. Now I think there down to 100. But there still just a powerful an item as they day they were first collected.
In more extreme cases you have something like the Shin armor. This spawns in Lower Guk, but spawns so frequently you have people under 10 th level are cloaking, sneaking down, and taking them from those who can kill them (30 ths+) because they spawn so frequently there 'trash'.
What does this mean?
This means FBR and Shin are both harvested and attained just as easily. High level x, kills and / or gives item to Low level y. Different history of the items, yet the same end result. Over harvesting.
Summary / Solution / Truth
Economy-shmonomy. There is no such real animal in EverQuest. Eventually everything is harvested to death and is so low in price it's easily attained or just simply given to low level characters. I have found this time to be about 2 months after item x is attainable.
I expect by the time the expansion comes out on E'ci there will be first level Lizardmen Warriors in Crafted with Executioners Axes. Why? By then they will be so commonplace it's not funny.
The problem will then move from "twinking" (that which someone killed and put in effort for, to give to another character, be it theirs or a friends) to "imbalance of the world" (that being there are so many of the item it's basically commonplace everywhere, yet at one time was difficult to attain).
I for one do not want to see first level Scorpions hitting at 75 hp a shot to compensate.
Verant needs to wise up here. They need to really think about what they are doing with a 'rare drop' and why, and work around that.
If they want an item to be attained by someone of approximately x level and higher, they need to work around that.
They can guard it with monsters appropriate of that level, with ways that can not be defeated. (Monsters don't have to see invisible, just see inviso past x levels lower than them.)
They can put a level limit, or statistical requirement on an item.
They can put a maintenance cost on an item.
All these things have been done in other games long before EQ.
As it stands Rare Drops just frustrate players. If you only want player x to get y, then make it a more frequent spawn. Give it a level limit, or make it no drop, limit the number available per world. Prevent it from being over harvested in some way other than Rare Drop. Rare drop is a temporary time based solution, it eventually will not work.
I for one do not want to spend the levels of 46 - 50 to get all my class only stuff in the plains. I'd like to know a hard earned 24 hours would do the trick. I mean there is a lock down on the door. You A- have to be 46 th or higher, and I hear you have a high chance of death just coming in, and are randomly dropped somewhere in the zone. That alone is a high prevention. Why make the items so impossible to attain after that? I have to be 46 th to come in. Isn't that my reward and prevention all in one?
Wize up Verant. Make more things no drop. Give things level requirements. Maybe add a degradation. Make more stuff class and or race specific.
The gods forbid you actually think about a reason other than the economy of today (as tomorrow it will be different) and think about the fun. You may in fact inspire and encourage the cooperation you so blindly claim to follow by making things no drop and spawn more often and add a level limit to only allow players of that level or higher to use the item.
Do some research. You will find players have more fun helping their friends attain x that is no drop than harvesting y because they can one shot it.