Gradual Reduction in MF Effectiveness

[JustAGuy]

You know, every run I have every completed has been on a map spawned by a character that HAS already killed Mephisto. It appears that my drops have been needlessly poor! The thing is, though, that they do get "worse". Over 100+ runs, it definitely gets "worse", in that perhaps more items fail to generate. Since I have not checked the durability of the yellows and blues, I can't say for sure.

Some more subjective MF run results; in 20 I did yesterday with a newly equipped level 87 hammerdin, doing runs in this order:
1. Sorceress or Hammerdin create game (both have killed Baal).
2. Both characters party up.
3. Sorceress finds Mephisto
4. Hammerdin jumps down and kills him (wearing 430% mf)
5. Hammerdin goes to act 5 and kills Pindleskin, Shenk and Eldritch, not in that order (varies each time to kill the boredom a bit)
6. Rinse and repeat

Just a quick note: the Hammerdin uses level 7 redemption (from items) to clear out the "dead" bodies around Pindleskin's entrance. Most times, if I run around the surrounding area with redemption on, I can clear about 85-90% of the bodies before they get up to distract me.

Now, with that order of running, each game lasts 5-10 minutes.

The same effect happens; "good" drops early, "bad" drops late. "Bad" drops include rares and blues. This is all subjective, since I haven't catalogued anything.

I agree that the burden of proof is on us "runners". So, I intend to do some testing. Just some raw numbers, for everyone's pleasure. Mmmm, numbers. I'm talking detail here -- every item along with durabilities dropped will be captured in a spreadsheet, and the results made available on this thread. I'll try to make the results available soon, but I'm definitely not going to be able to start this for a few days (my job has me driving back and fourth from Toronto all the time).

Here's the order I will follow:
1. Character that has not completed act 3 will create game.
2. Sorceress and Hammerdin will join game (the other character will vamoose).
3. Sorceress will find Mephisto
4. Hammerdin will kill him.
5. Write down all results (this is where two computers really helps, spreadsheet on one, diablo on the other)
6. Repeat

I'll do them in 25 run intervals, tracking item class (unique,rare,magic), item types, durabilities, time to complete run, and direction of the act 3 durance entrance. There was another thread that showed a picture of the likely direction of the durance level 3 entrance. For example, if the durance 2 way point spawns with the area leading up to it facing the north west, the area surrounding the durance 3 entrance will have a U-shaped pattern, and most likely be to the south west of your current position (although, sometimes the map creation logic puts the U-shape a bit to the north, but that's not a big deal).

Stats to follow in a few days. Maybe I can get that damned Herald of Zakarum finally...

Side note: My thread has hit the front page! *pats own back*... too bad I've been absent for the last few days.