WTB!: Commentary on RNG Loot Mechanics

I read a blue post this morning responding to someone complaining about the drop rate of the [Sinister Squashling] from the Headless Horseman. The Blizzard poster said that the drop rates were based on a person doing the event an average of five times per day (I'm assuming this is on a per character basis), and that even if the boss was killed those five times per day for the duration of the event, some people still would not see the pet drop. This is to be expected, since we're dealing with bell-curve fitting, but still discouraging.

It seems to me that just having an RNG determine whether something drops, and then another one to determine wheter you win that item is leaving too much to chance. However, if the chance is taken out of drops too much, then either everyone or noone will end up with the item. Well, that's not exactly true. The legendary weapons from classic WoW had only one part that was RNG based (from what I remember off the top of my head) and the rest of the parts were guaranteed drops from certain bosses. And these items are still very rare. I'd like to see more things like this instead of pure RNG drops. Oddly enough, the extreme difficulty of the achievement to get one of every mask is being dropped from the meta-achievement to get the title "The Hallowed" because of its reliance on RNG items.

Now, for an achievement that doesn't have a time limit (pretty much everything but the seasonal ones, from what I see), then having a large time component required doesn't hurt too much (think the Loremaster title for doing lots and lots of quests in every zone of the game). However, once a clock is put on the achievement, this is no longer workable. It makes the achievement too luck-based, or just flat out impossible. If RNGs are going to remain the prevalent method of item distribution, then some modifiers need to be placed on the drop AND the loot roll that follows.

The problem then becomes how to measure something to determine who should get a modifier. A quest line is probably too easy, but maybe simple is good in this case. The modifier doesn't even have to be large, but it would be nice to see preference given to people who are working towards the titles from achievements over those who are just there because they're bored and don't want to do anything outside the game.

To Raid or Not To Raid

One of my very few regrets with WoW is never having been in the "endgame." I went into Naxx yesterday for the first time and stealthed around as much as I could and it really hit me that I wanted the legendary [Atiesh, Greatstaff of the Guardian]. I probably could have worked through Burning Crusade and picked up my 40 splinters, but I was getting my T4 and leveling my warrior and shaman.

With the reduction in raid size in Burning Crusade from 40 to 25, I was able to get into raiding. But this only garnered me one tier of gear before I gave up on the "hardcore" raiding in favor of hanging out with my friends. I briefly took my shaman into T5/T6 and was able to at least see the instances, but I hated the huge amounts of downtime and incompetence of the other raiders.

As WotLK advents, I think Blizzard is showing that they understand these frustrations, but also those of the extremely hardcore raiders by having dual-size raids. The hard jump from 40 to 25 man raids caused an almost universal wipe of guilds, with a few exceptions. By offering the option to continue on the 25 man path, these established raiding guilds aren't hurt. By dropping better gear than the 10 man versions, these guilds aren't trivialized. But by implementing these 10 man versions, just about everyone can venture into "engame" and complete the story arc of the expansion.

The only thing that is still up in the air is ZOMG LEGENDARIES!! In classic WoW, there were huge quest chains leading up to obtaining obscene amounts of materials to craft your own legendary weapons. In Burning Crusade, these weapons were just drops from the "end" bosses of the game in their respective patches. If this trend continues, the legendaries in WotLK will be kill-quest rewards. I don't think this will happen, but I am concerned that they will be 25 man only drops. While this is very fair, it puts me back in the same position that I'm in now. We all know that Frostmourne will make an appearance, but most likely only from hard mode Arthas 25.

Also of concern to me is the class restriction on these items. The huge uproar caused by the [Star's Fury] being given to a rogue over two hunters is well known. While I know this won't be a problem in my guild, I don't want Blizzard to react by restricting Frostmourne to Death Knight only.

I'm sure BlizzCon will shed lots of light on the situation, but until then, I'm on the edge of my plush gaming chair.

ZOMG NEW SHINEYS!

So. . . .the new tabard and pet available to anyone (who participates in PvP) that Blizzard released today. On the one hand, I think that it's a good idea to make exclusive content for different aspects of the game. Like the achievements that are being instituted in WotLK. But on the other hand, I HATE RANDOMNESS.

Just in case that wasn't clear, the pet is only obtained on a *chance* every time you win a battleground. So far, it seems that it doesn't take any other factors into account; just if you won the battleground. I've heard of a lot of people who got it on their first win, and others who are going on 20+ wins in the struggle for the [Gold Medallion].

This is something that has bothered me about the game from my first days playing. I'd run an instance hoping for a particular drop and by the time I get it, I've picked up something better from a quest reward or a vendor. It never fails that on all of my 70s, I've gotten no more than 2 pieces of my Dungeon Set 3 before I start getting random bits of armor that are twice as good from rep grinds or whatnot.

I think there are two viable solutions to this problem.

1. Make the drops better.

If the dungeon drops (or random chance items like the dragon pet from PvP) are good enough, then it will be worth winning enough battlegrounds or completing enough instance runs to get it.

2. Increase the drop rate.

This can be done by making tokens similar to the tier piece tokens that drop 100% of the time for multiple classes, or simply by increasing the drop rate of the items themselves. This way, the items are of some use when they drop other than being turned into shards for the auction house.

How does this pertain to the PvP Chinese dragon pet? Well, it's hard to get. And by hard, I really just mean unpredictable. This means that someone with no PvP skill at all (myself included in that very large group) can simply walk into a winning battleground, beat on some things, heal some people, and walk away with a bright new pet. Admittedly, this is how I came away with my [Reins of the Raven Lord], but I like to think that I had to have at least some skill to survive the heroic, even if the skill wasn't that much.

I guess this is all just a frustrated outburst about how I can't get my pet, even though I've won a total of 12 AB matches since the release of the tabard and pet. I haven't done any PvP before this, and don't intend to after, but I'm doing it now for the pet. Similarly, I did Slave Pens for the [Deathfrost] enchant and [Frostscythe of Lord Ahune], but don't really plan on going back until another special occasion. 

So if you want to think about the Olympic pet as a rare drop in an instance then, compared to similar seasonal bosses, I've more than paid my dues.