Loot drops

[BB_Endesmor]

Does BB know What is the stand deviation for the curve, from the real data or even any specific model you may have?
i.e. what is the "majority" in this case?
If target drop rate of nords2 is 2%, Does 75% players get a drop rate between 1.5% and 2.5%
OR Does 75% players get a drop rate between 0.1% and 3.9%

I don't know all these stats myself but I'm sure our designers check them on a regular basis.

BB_Endesmor

[Wimpy]

alice007 asks a very valid question.

[alice007]

I don't know all these stats myself but I'm sure our designers check them on a regular basis.

Pardon me.. but I find that hard to believe, only because historically the designers seem to make such big blunders which you makes you wonder if they really know whats going on... Examples -
1. The weapons drop in loot.. How off was that? That it was completely nuked, years later... Long time to realize a mistake like that one..
2. The nukes, which could be dropped multiple times on a camp - Did they understand their model then?
3. Drop rates on follow on adventures, before the rate was literally dropped to 0 - Did they understand their model before that?
4. Introduction of MMA, and its impact on many adventures... IOTP could be done in 3 attacks, and so was removed from shop, but bugged in GQs for a long time. Sleepy Volcano can be done with 7-12R losses.
5. Mystery boxes dishing out loads of FMs in 2013, before getting removed from subsequent events.
6. Blocks on adventures.. perhaps it bugs BB till date... totally not conceived by designers, and I bet, it still haunts them and their models till date.
7. Introduction of MoD.. Whats the logic?
8. Introduction of Lord Dracul.. Whatever gave them the idea for stats like 111,333,777,999.
the list goes on.. for big and small design goofs..

Please don't get me wrong.. I love this game.. Especially its battle mechanics (wrote my own sim around it, which was the most fun thing for me in this game)..
But as for the rest... I am sorry to say, I don't have too much confidence in the abilities of the TSO game designers.
Don't mean to be negative.. but without seeing it with my own eyes, I find what you said above, hard to believe.

If nothing else, players have asked for some insights / reasoning into the decisions made by designers, on several occasions.. We all want to appreciate them.. only if they'd be willing to share data.. But no.. Nothing.. No information or insight what so ever..
Beats me.. and it's no longer funny
(and to be clear it doesn't mean I am angry or anything like that.. Just voicing my opinion.. Thanks for listening )

PS - When percentages are low.. there is a big difference between a spread of 1-3% (latter seems 3x more lucky to the former) and 0.1-3.9% (latter seems 39x more lucky to the former). Again.. the standard deviation better be pretty small..

About the comments about drop percentages of granite etc... I personally don't care about them as much (even if, that may have been in the original topic).. Because there are many other ways to get those resources (Explorer treasure searches).... My concern (without anger) is mainly on drop rates for follow on adventures, or rare buildings, which simply can't be had any other way.. like you can't hope to play RTBN or MSE more than once a year (What a waste of the advs).. You have to be very lucky and spend several hours a week grinding on BN/SE to get a chance to play them once in a blue moon... some lucky ones will get a few in few days of course

[Leahea]

I love Alice007's letters. It looks to me like she paid attention in statistics classes. I am currently almost at level 57 and I play and do adventures often. I understand that I am going to get runs of bad luck and good luck. I don't expect perfect loot every time I do an adventure. My point was that the designers have changed the way certain things in the game are dropped and they have not shared this information with the players. Most of us that play daily are also paying customers and I feel when we ask questions about specifics we should get straight answers. I feel like the answer I received from the support department when they told me that the loot was based on luck and the space on my island was not a straight answer and when I wrote back they still dodged the question. My only concern is not just the granite, but also the rare buildings (see my post on mystery boxes). Players that haven't read the forums and specifically haven't read the posts on the mystery boxes bought these during the Christmas event hoping to get some of the nicer buildings and many just got junk for their gems. Some did get some of the items they wanted but at a very inflated rate of gems spent in ratio to the items they received. I am more frustrated with the design then I am mad because I expect something in return for the money spent other than game time playing which many players get for free because they don't buy gems.

[Troll-Phu]

runs of bad luck are one thing, but since the change I have not seen this MYSTICAL WT drop from RB, thus I don't believe it drops!!

[alice007]

runs of bad luck are one thing, but since the change I have not seen this MYSTICAL WT drop from RB, thus I don't believe it drops!!

More indication of the alleged problem (design), can be seen at following post -

http://forum.thesettlersonline.net/t...l=1#post268625

[SweaterPuppies]

runs of bad luck are one thing, but since the change I have not seen this MYSTICAL WT drop from RB, thus I don't believe it drops!!

I do not know what it is like on Zeus, but on Ares the days of running Roaring Bull 24/7 are gone. You still see them from time to time popping up in trade, but few and far between. Only makes sense that there are less rumors of Witch Towers around.

[Raubhautz]

I do not know what it is like on Zeus, but on Ares the days of running Roaring Bull 24/7 are gone. You still see them from time to time popping up in trade, but few and far between. Only makes sense that there are less rumors of Witch Towers around.

I know about statistic and chances or odds or whatever one wishes to call them; Once thing I can say is that the numbers found/provided by the euro-wiki, though relatively accurate on many (mostly meaningless) things; but alas when applied or read to rare/exotic things such as WT/BC/AG/FM, the odds/chances (or however you would wish to view them) are changeable by the masters in charge (I find that since The Great Nerfing of Fall 2014 that this is particularly true when it relates to ANY pop related building). As such, I was not surprised when the powers that be, nerfed not only the defensive structures of RB, but the loot. I do not find the stiffening of an adventure that offensive, especially when it is rated 'Epic', level 9 and all that... good players will adapt and deal with additional losses and or time taken to complete the adventure. What I do find despicable is the not-so-random drops. If the Euro-wiki docs are correct, and there is little reason to believe that BB is providing them with accurate info, then the drop rate should be dispersed (over the long-run) at the rate provided; in my experience and in discussions with other high level players who run many of the same adv, these items tend to drop in 'bunches'... Won't see one for months, then suddenly in 2-3 week period, bam 5 WT. I ran 138 SE and approximately 250 SE ls before I got an AG (total of about 388 ls works to be approximately .26 % or about 8x that of a normal drop rate. Bad luck? Perhaps, but since not enough folks run SE to contrast that with, tough to make a case.

Biggest gripe with drops is when Nords2 at a cost of 1495 gems was stripped of reasonable drops of good stuff to nearly normal Adventure loot (with the extremely rare shot of rainbows or FM). With the cost of the adv, I do not see such a large flux of players running them (or at least admitting it), so it is tough to know the results.

I am sure that most of the players in this thread are already seasoned players, but just throwing it out there that when pulling for special buildings as in RB, SE and the like, swap out your ls, giving 3x the chances for a drop. More than 50% of my WT have come from ls (suppose that is appropriate since 66% of the drops are ls). WW mandates 4 players so that is not an issue, though finding 4 players ready to run one at any given time since XXL started is real tough.

WT do show up in TO on occasion in Zeus, but I think that currently most players who are shooting for them now are looking to ug their pop.

One last thing: Regarding the consideration/response of BB to Zeus/Ares players. I have a sense that being that we are only 2 servers in the TSO pool, that, though our complaints are real to us, in the big picture, it appears that the rest of the world of TSO does not share our problems/concerns. The Germans have 14? servers, Polish have 7, other euro servers are at least 3, with the French and Russians having 2 each at last count along with at least 7 other various servers. My guess is other groups may have more say/input than us, and that is fine being democratic and all. I do, however, wish that time was taken to keep us more informed and not always keeping us in the dark or otherwise treating our servers like 'red-headed-stepchildren'.

Here we go, I can hear it now. Responses about how all these other folks have no such bad luck and/or how it is a free game, yada, yada. Yes, yes. I also like the game; I have no problem with tossing USD when there are 3x sales and Love the long-term play style. Just saying - communication is a beautiful thing.

[Perwyn]

...or otherwise treating our servers like 'red-headed-stepchildren'.

[NeoOne]

lol = cute kid, though I see there is a lot of mischief in that one