Shiny Prizes

[FireIceTalon]

All in all, I don't like the AH - it is part of the reason the quality of drops are outrageously low - so the player feels compelled to use it. Working as intended, in most cases. Secondly, the search function is god awful - we can only search for items with 3 stats at a time, when there are usually 5+ particular stats we want? Pfff.....main stat/vit/all resists isnt enough - most people also want sockets (when applicable), critical hit damage/critical hit chance, attack speed, or life on hit as well. It leaves much to be desired.

[Chesspiece_face]

All in all, I don't like the AH - it is part of the reason the quality of drops are outrageously low - so the player feels compelled to use it.

The only reason that quality drops seem like they are so low is because people are jump-starting their progression curve by using the AH in the first place.

Play a character LotL style, no twinking, no AH, and I'll guarantee that drop rates won't seem low.

[Mavfin]

All in all, I don't like the AH - it is part of the reason the quality of drops are outrageously low - so the player feels compelled to use it.

The only reason that quality drops seem like they are so low is because people are jump-starting their progression curve by using the AH in the first place.

Play a character LotL style, no twinking, no AH, and I'll guarantee that drop rates won't seem low.

Exactly this. You'll find upgrades at a nice pace if you do this. And you'll find the blacksmith sometimes useful as you level up. Is he as efficient as the AH? Would Gheed have been more efficient than the AH? No. But it's a choice you can make.

If you *do* use the AH, get bargain stuff, 'just good enough' to get you over the hump if you get stuck. If you buy great stuff on the AH, don't whine that you don't get upgrades all over the place.

[Neon Elephant]

Haven't found Jack in Legendary's, unless you count the Staff of Herding Pattern and a couple of the mats for it.

On items, i've not even see a Yellow item drop from an elite for a long time, always blue's and i have 30% magic find?, Am i just having really bad luck or is there something wrong with the drop rate?

Mid 50's now, so perhaps it's something that happens then?

I'm not sure whether drops get actively worse in Hell, but by that point I'd had to give up most of my mfind for survivability. Once you hit 60, of course, you get Valor stacks to get your mfind up, and one wonders whether the base drop rate is depressed a little as compensation.

My perception, too, is that rares, etc. were more common in the earlier two difficulties. Having hit 60, I am once again receiving reasonable numbers of rares ... when Valor is stacked up. But I know I had almost 60% mfind when I finished Normal, and probably not more than 20% now, so I don't have a good idea whether there's any larger effect at work.

[FireIceTalon]

All in all, I don't like the AH - it is part of the reason the quality of drops are outrageously low - so the player feels compelled to use it.

The only reason that quality drops seem like they are so low is because people are jump-starting their progression curve by using the AH in the first place.

Play a character LotL style, no twinking, no AH, and I'll guarantee that drop rates won't seem low.

On normal, nm, and to some extent hell perhaps.

On Inferno, this is certainly not the case. The items needed to progress through it drop at astronomically low rates, generally forcing people into using the AH to at least some extent, if not a very great one.

---

All in all, I don't like the AH - it is part of the reason the quality of drops are outrageously low - so the player feels compelled to use it.

The only reason that quality drops seem like they are so low is because people are jump-starting their progression curve by using the AH in the first place.

Play a character LotL style, no twinking, no AH, and I'll guarantee that drop rates won't seem low.

Exactly this. You'll find upgrades at a nice pace if you do this. And you'll find the blacksmith sometimes useful as you level up. Is he as efficient as the AH? Would Gheed have been more efficient than the AH? No. But it's a choice you can make.

If you *do* use the AH, get bargain stuff, 'just good enough' to get you over the hump if you get stuck. If you buy great stuff on the AH, don't whine that you don't get upgrades all over the place.

You completely miss my point. The drop rates of higher quality items are systematically made lower to compel people into using the AH (primarily come Inferno time) - Blizz wants that 15% cut.

[MongoJerry]

You completely miss my point. The drop rates of higher quality items are systematically made lower to compel people into using the AH (primarily come Inferno time) - Blizz wants that 15% cut.

You say this with such confidence and assurance. Meanwhile, Blizzard employees themselves say that they playtested the game without the AH and have been surprised by how fast people have been gearing up using the AH. That is, players are far ahead of where they had originally projected them to be. Meanwhile, all Blizzard has done since the game's release is make top items easier and easier to find. You're right, though, that Blizzard does get that 15% cut from impatient people who don't want to farm items for themselves or rely on the gold auction house for their items. Of course, what really happened is that they've cut out the 3rd parties who would have been happy to have provided such services to these impatient people anyway -- and they've done it by providing much more reliability and much reduced chance of fraud and account scamming. That's a pretty good business move of theirs.

[Chesspiece_face]

On normal, nm, and to some extent hell perhaps.

On Inferno, this is certainly not the case. The items needed to progress through it drop at astronomically low rates, generally forcing people into using the AH to at least some extent, if not a very great one.

Top end items have always been astronomically low drop rates in these games. The only reason it wasn't like that in earlier games was because of rampant duping. Just like D2, if you want the top end gear you can farm for it, or you can trade for it. If farming for it takes too long in your opinion don't complain about being "forced" to trade for it. That's on you. You choose not to participate in the other viable option.

[FireIceTalon]

I say it confidently because I've done more than enough farming to make a good judgement. I'm pretty positive the exquisite drops are much rarer in D3 than prior games, though this may be also due to each class being much more item dependent and having a need for specific stat rolls. I played D1 completely legit, and was able to find really nice stuff much faster. At over 170 hrs played on my Wiz alone, and easily several hundred Imprisoned Angel/Butcher runs, I've found maybe 2 items worth keeping - everything else was vendored or sold on the GAH. The same amount of time and Laz runs on D1 were much more productive, and only when my gear was close to perfect did they become less so, understandably. 170 hours of farming on D1 would very likely have netted me multiple Obsidian/Dragon Zod jewels (I've found such items within days of eachother many times, and I once even found 2 Dragon Zods within a half hour). My gear on D3 is decent, but certainly nowhere near perfect and its already more trouble than its worth to find. I'd say I've been more than patient. I'm not even at the point where my char is already uber and I am looking for that perfect gear to faceroll Inferno, just good enough to get me through it at a reasonable rate - but that seems to be too much to ask for. It's at a point where id'ing any rare now is anti-climatic because I know its going to be trash. I never really had this feeling on D1.

[Archon_Wing]

Once again, my shiny prize comes from it being sold, rather than the item itself. I'm curious on why I sold the shield for 8.99 but then again I don't care.

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff247...hot086.jpg

:p

[MongoJerry]

Once again, my shiny prize comes from it being sold, rather than the item itself. I'm curious on why I sold the shield for 8.99 but then again I don't care.

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff247...hot086.jpg

You sold that for $8.99 real dollars? I just put up a better one on the hardcore AH for a 3 million gold buyout... maybe I should have charged a higher price.

Edit: Haha. My shield just sold for 3 million (hardcore) gold in less than 20 minutes. I guess I need to learn more about the high end item market.

[Archon_Wing]

Nah, I see a comparable shield for around 2 million on the hc gah, and also in the sc one. 3 Million is about right, though maybe you could have set a 4 mil buyout.

The stats look good on the shield and the socket is appealing, but it's not really a high end shield. In reality it's just a 200 INT shield with good block and some cold resist. (Or 160ish int/some vit) if you socket a amethyst. If you were looking to maximize your damage, you would wear this shield, but I'd imagine it's less appealing in hardcore. And even if you were, you'd be eyeing critical hit chance anyways. It lacks the traits of the godly items, (high vit and all resist, crit hit) so it falls short.

Fortunately, this shield still maintains a niche use and has a greater chance to sell higher than the "jack of all trades, master of nothing" items but are also more likely to go unsold.

[Occhidiangela]

You completely miss my point. The drop rates of higher quality items are systematically made lower to compel people into using the AH (primarily come Inferno time) - Blizz wants that 15% cut.

You say this with such confidence and assurance. Meanwhile, Blizzard employees themselves say that they playtested the game without the AH and have been surprised by how fast people have been gearing up using the AH. That is, players are far ahead of where they had originally projected them to be. Meanwhile, all Blizzard has done since the game's release is make top items easier and easier to find. You're right, though, that Blizzard does get that 15% cut from impatient people who don't want to farm items for themselves or rely on the gold auction house for their items. Of course, what really happened is that they've cut out the 3rd parties who would have been happy to have provided such services to these impatient people anyway -- and they've done it by providing much more reliability and much reduced chance of fraud and account scamming. That's a pretty good business move of theirs.

QFT

[Frag]

Once again, my shiny prize comes from it being sold, rather than the item itself. I'm curious on why I sold the shield for 8.99 but then again I don't care.

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff247...hot086.jpg

:p

I'm not really into insulting people on purpose, and I'm not really trying to do that here, but I can't believe there's stupid enough to pay $2.50 for that shield, let alone $8.99. You could have put it up on our side for 100k bid and I could almost say you wouldn't get a bid. It's a terrible, terrible item. The block chance is as bad as it comes, the +9% block only takes it up to 1% less than of what you can get with out any block chance. The 79 str is a bonus to the armor, but the armor level on it is just normal. The +167 intelligence is a decent, but somewhat low amount, given that +200 is the maximum from a single bonus, thus +300 is the highest normal amount from 50/50% + 100%. The Cold Chance is decent and high, but without it being on a Dex item, there's way it's worth too much. The socket is the best stat on the item, nothing much to say, except it's probably not worth much more than a buck or two on a shield. And melee reflect? Oy.

I do thank you for explaining that though. Now it's no wonder why one of my friends made over $700.00 from 7/1/12 to 7/4/12 to pay rent on the RMAH, if shit like this sells for $8.99. Whoever bought it explains sooo much about D2JSP and the effects of it affecting D3 now.

[Archon_Wing]

Once again, my shiny prize comes from it being sold, rather than the item itself. I'm curious on why I sold the shield for 8.99 but then again I don't care.

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff247...hot086.jpg

:p

I'm not really into insulting people on purpose, and I'm not really trying to do that here, but I can't believe there's stupid enough to pay $2.50 for that shield, let alone $8.99. You could have put it up on our side for 100k bid and I could almost say you wouldn't get a bid. It's a terrible, terrible item. The block chance is as bad as it comes, the +9% block only takes it up to 1% less than of what you can get with out any block chance. The 79 str is a bonus to the armor, but the armor level on it is just normal. The +167 intelligence is a decent, but somewhat low amount, given that +200 is the maximum from a single bonus, thus +300 is the highest normal amount from 50/50% + 100%. The Cold Chance is decent and high, but without it being on a Dex item, there's way it's worth too much. The socket is the best stat on the item, nothing much to say, except it's probably not worth much more than a buck or two on a shield. And melee reflect? Oy.

I do thank you for explaining that though. Now it's no wonder why one of my friends made over $700.00 from 7/1/12 to 7/4/12 to pay rent on the RMAH, if shit like this sells for $8.99. Whoever bought it explains sooo much about D2JSP and the effects of it affecting D3 now.

This is why I quipped a few times that I never get any real shiny prizes via drops and it only comes from the gold/cash people overpay on my stuff. :p

But yes, you're right. It's a sort of item I'd never consider using myself, but I'm aware people like big numbers...

My theory is just that people who use the RMAH aren't familiar with the mechanics and look at big numbers or unusual things like sockets. For this reason, the bigger the numbers, the more likely you should sell.

Then again, one can just take a glance inside a casino and realize the RMAH silliness is peanuts compared to that. People throw away tons of cash for instant gratification and the thrill. Sure, in a casino they can actually win, but that doesn't really happen much unless it's a game of skill such as poker.

On the hardcore side, I would say there's a lot of overpriced stuff too. Imagine my horror when I just filtered by stats slightly better than the level ~26 boots I have on my 51 Wizard and with no buyout feature only came up with a few boots in the millions. :S I refuse to ditch movement speed.

[Nystul]

Top end items have always been astronomically low drop rates in these games. The only reason it wasn't like that in earlier games was because of rampant duping.

Ehhh, not really. D2 and D3 appear to be birds of a feather to me, but he has a point regarding D1. For better or worse. Give me a week playing a new character in D1 without twinking or trading, and I'll probably be able to show you a Royal Circlet, a Dreamflange, an awesome FPM, a king's sword of haste or something very close to it, two obsidian whatevers, maxed stats and spells, level 40ish character. A character who is not quite as powerful as the best geared level 50s ever built, but close enough to hang with them in battle.

In D3 the items have a far greater impact on the power of the character and top end items are probably harder to find by 5-10 orders of magnitude. Which is a massive difference. Then you put in areas of the game were some fairly rare gear is needed to survive and it becomes a factor that cannot be glossed over.

Although I do agree with the psychology that anything worse than your current gear is trash, and therefor the more you play the more everything turns into trash, and using the AH turns everything into trash by default.

[Occhidiangela]

Nys, part of why you'd know where to find that stuff may be Jarulf's Guide.

Although I do agree with the psychology that anything worse than your current gear is trash, and therefor the more you play the more everything turns into trash, and using the AH turns everything into trash by default.

Maybe the moral of this story is "don't get too attached to items."

[Archon_Wing]

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff247...hot096.jpg

Oh look! A two handed weapon that does something. Well, I was gonna chuck it to the AH, but my enchantress liked it and I've been amusing myself watching her and my mystic ally try to solo elite packs.

[Occhidiangela]

What am I doing wrong?

I am in NM act I, and converting blue finds into Shimmering Essence.

No, wait, most of it is converting to Subtle Essence. .

Likewise with the cheese rares I take to the smith. I get the old fang, not the eye.

Is there a level threshold? I am 33 at the moment.

Occhi

[Mavfin]

What am I doing wrong?

I am in NM act I, and converting blue finds into Shimmering Essence.

No, wait, most of it is converting to Subtle Essence. .

Likewise with the cheese rares I take to the smith. I get the old fang, not the eye.

Is there a level threshold? I am 33 at the moment.

Occhi

Level of the item, not of you. Early NM still drops a lot of level 30 and under items.

[LochnarITB]

I just found this post a couple days ago. The beginning shows which mats come from which difficulty and, if you scroll down a screen, it lists the required level associated with each. I've found that there is some randomness on the low side of a range high end of a range, sometimes giving the next level mat. But, sticking to the ranges has been pretty reliable for me the last couple days. Also note, as mentioned, the level is the clvl required for using an item not the actual item level that is now also being shown on some items.