Gear from Artifact Lockboxes is not random!

[IoNonSoEVero]

yeah right - create a topic telling that gear from lockboxes that supposed to be random is not random at all, and you'll get free "wise" advices from kids how to gear right and why you don't need bis gear xD

 

This. I just love it when complete strangers tell me what I do or don't need to play my game.

Edited February 6, 2019 by IoNonSoEVero

[IoNonSoEVero]

If you're not interested in PVP or HM ops... what do you need 252+ gear for?

 

I know this is a question that keeps coming up every time solo players complain about slow gearing or inability to get BiS or whatever. But it's one that never gets adequately answered.

 

I'm not trying to talk down to you. I think you could save yourself some aggravation if you didn't fixate on obtaining something that you don't need under a system that doesn't make it easy for you to obtain it. If you don't do PVP or HM ops, literally nothing is going to change for you if you remain in 236 until they tone down the grind... except you'll be able to spend more time doing the things you enjoy doing in the game.

 

I'm not fixating on it. I've reconciled myself to the fact that I'm not getting 258 gear and that I'll be lucky if my toons end up with a few decent 252 pieces here and there.

 

The game's difficulty has slowly been ramping up - they retuned KOTFE and KOTET, and I've gone into solo mode Nathema (the repeatable one without cut scenes) with 248 gear and augments and still been bolstered up. So even if one doesn't need the 252 gear for the story right now, that may not always be the case.

 

There's really nothing else for solo/story players to do right now. The dailies on Ossus aren't fun, they're mind-numbingly boring, especially with ninjas and people acting like troglodytes. The only real incentive solo/story players have to do the dailies on Ossus are the decos (which can be earned quickly) and the prospect of 252 gear, and with the skewed lockboxes (I too have pulled nearly nothing but relics and implants regardless of what body part box I choose), even that becomes far more trouble than it's worth.

 

It's fine that there are easier paths to BiS gearing for players who actively require that gear, but when the game's devs decide to completely lose the door in the faces of players who don't do PvP and Ops and give them *no* truly viable path to it, it's not smart.

Edited February 6, 2019 by IoNonSoEVero

[Toraak]

That’s not the point of the OPs complaint or the thread.

 

That is his entire point. The RNG that is giving him (or her) the same pieces on the characters. It happens. I've had 1 character get 3 chestpieces in 3 consecutive weeks. I've had others that get 3 Accuracy implants in 3 straight weeks. It's RNG as simple as that. You have a 1-6 chance of getting the same item the 2nd week that you got the 1st week if you chose the same crate type. So my suggestion gave him a way to ignore the RNG that he so hates.

[Unperson]

yeah right - create a topic telling that gear from lockboxes that supposed to be random is not random at all, and you'll get free "wise" advices from kids how to gear right and why you don't need bis gear xD

 

What evidence do you have that it's in fact not random? You'd need literally thousands of rolls to have a sufficiently large sample to draw such a conclusion. I suspect you'll be fully geared in 258 long before that...

 

 

As usual... what else can we expect these days since most of the reasonable people have left the game already

 

Except for yourself, obviously?

 

 

There's really nothing else for solo/story players to do right now.

 

You may be right. Consider unsubscribing until more content that appeals to you is released.

 

You want the (in your case literally) pointless grind to be over faster. I can sympathize. I hate grinding for gear myself, and I hate that it's RNG-based. But I still can't understand what is the point of playing a game where the only thing left for you to do is repetitive chores that accomplish nothing. What will you do when you've completed the grind?

 

By the way, if you don't want "complete strangers" to give you opinions or advice on open internet forums, don't post. Otherwise you're going to have a bad time. Oops, I'm doing it again...

Edited February 6, 2019 by Unperson

[Lunafox]

Don't depend on the loot boxes to gear up...they're meant to supplement gearing, not be your only source of it. You'll need to spend some crystals to get the pieces your RNG boxes aren't dropping.

 

I'm not a fan of how it is, but it's not as terrible as you're making it sound. It's a grind. It takes time. It's random...but you can also remove the randomness by using the new crystal currency.

 

 

I can't get crystals as a soloer. This *is* my sole venue to improve my gear, and all I'd like is if they increased the chance of getting an upper. I've been toiling since 5.10 came out to get an upper and have gotten like 75% packages in the upper box. Why is a package even in the upper box? It should be in the tech box.

[Lunafox]

If you're not interested in PVP or HM ops... what do you need 252+ gear for?

 

 

Well, how about to have a purpose to play? I don't have interest in pvp or ops, or anything that requires me grouping with people. If I don't play to improve my gear, even if I don't need to, there's nothing for me to do, past experiencing the war against potatoes.

 

I know I don't need the gear. I left home a couple of times wearing no gear whatsoever, only implants, earpiece, and relics and still managed to do all the quests and heroics. I can literally play this game NAKED...but I like to have a purpose and it makes toiling on dailies easier.

[IoNonSoEVero]

You may be right. Consider unsubscribing until more content that appeals to you is released.

 

You want the (in your case literally) pointless grind to be over faster. I can sympathize. I hate grinding for gear myself, and I hate that it's RNG-based. But I still can't understand what is the point of playing a game where the only thing left for you to do is repetitive chores that accomplish nothing. What will you do when you've completed the grind?

 

By the way, if you don't want "complete strangers" to give you opinions or advice on open internet forums, don't post. Otherwise you're going to have a bad time. Oops, I'm doing it again...

 

Most people know that unsolicited advice from strangers is unwelcome and pointless to offer. You're free to offer it, but it will go in one ear and out the other, I'm afraid.

 

As to not wanting to play a game where everything left to do is a chore, well, that's something that everyone - not just solo players - has been complaining about. They've whittled down the grind to one Op, one boss and one set of dailies, and that's driving players away in droves.

 

People complain about it because they *care* about the game and don't want it to fail. They *want* to have things to do and content that is interesting. It's all falling on deaf ears, of course, but one can't blame people for at least trying to share their thoughts in last-ditch attempts to save the game.

Edited February 7, 2019 by IoNonSoEVero

[Rouslaan]

That is his entire point. The RNG that is giving him (or her) the same pieces on the characters. It happens. I've had 1 character get 3 chestpieces in 3 consecutive weeks. I've had others that get 3 Accuracy implants in 3 straight weeks. It's RNG as simple as that. You have a 1-6 chance of getting the same item the 2nd week that you got the 1st week if you chose the same crate type. So my suggestion gave him a way to ignore the RNG that he so hates.

 

oh lol I hate rng now; idk why you can't understand reading, but again - it's not rng;

8 toons: they all get same pieces from lockboxes - 1 gets only chests from Upper; 2nd gets only cuffs from Upper; 3d gets only Hands from Upper; and etc.

did you already studied math in school? what's the chances to get the same result in rng (let's say from 1-4) 8 times in a row?

try /roll 1-4 - and when you will have same number 8 times in a row then come back and we will talk about rng

Edited February 7, 2019 by Rouslaan

[Toraak]

oh lol I hate rng now; idk why you can't understand reading, but again - it's not rng;

8 toons: they all get same pieces from lockboxes - 1 gets only chests from Upper; 2nd gets only cuffs from Upper; 3d gets only Hands from Upper; and etc.

did you already studied math in school? what's the chances to get the same result in rng (let's say from 1-4) 8 times in a row?

try /roll 1-4 - and when you will have same number 8 times in a row then come back and we will talk about rng

 

lol it is RNG. Just because your luck is so bad to get 8 of the same pieces on 8 characters doesn't mean it isn't RNG. I never said it wasn't rare, but It COULD happen. And to your point I've run the weeklies on over 15 characters every week since 5.10, and have NEVER had 8 characters get the same thing that many times. I have seen more implants, earpieces, and relics then set pieces, but the truth is it is still RNG your just getting really unlucky.

 

Regardless you can use MWS to get whatever piece of gear you want, without doing the Weekly, so it will take out any chance of that happening.

Edited February 7, 2019 by Toraak

[MadDutchman]

oh lol I hate rng now; idk why you can't understand reading, but again - it's not rng;

8 toons: they all get same pieces from lockboxes - 1 gets only chests from Upper; 2nd gets only cuffs from Upper; 3d gets only Hands from Upper; and etc.

did you already studied math in school? what's the chances to get the same result in rng (let's say from 1-4) 8 times in a row?

try /roll 1-4 - and when you will have same number 8 times in a row then come back and we will talk about rng

 

You are falling for one of the most common fallacies of statistics.

 

The odds of getting something X times in a row is the exact same as getting any sequence X times. You just happen to have gotten the sequence that sucks for you. Other people on the other hand, get sequences that benefit them. Of course, they don't come here to complain on the forums.

 

 

Word of advise, I'd be very careful about making comments about people's education (especially with that grammar). Not only does it leave you open to looking foolish, it's just plain rude.

[IoNonSoEVero]

well clearly your not getting my main point. you can Buy whatever 252 piece you want (no randomness to it at all) for 2 MWS, and then upgrade it for an additional 3-4 MWS. Zero randomness, Zero need for any of the crates to be opened, and you get exactly what you want. You are complaining about the crates, so simply don't use them as part of your gearing. This really isn't a hard concept to get when your entire rant was about the Crates you open from doing the dailies on Ossus.

 

It costs 500 UCs per Masterworks Crystal. If you need 2 of them for one piece of gear that's two weeks and 1000 UCs. Plus another 1500 or 2000 UCs to pay for enough crystals for the 258 upgrade. 3000 UCs in total just for one piece of 258 gear on one toon.

 

Considering that the weeklies in the daily areas net 2-3 crates at Tier 4 even if you're using an experience boost (Yavin 4 with a command boost for instance gives about 18000 CXP which translates to three crates; with the mission CXP you'd probably get four), and each crate has 8-9 UCs if you dissolve the gear, you're looking at about 27 - 36 UCs per weekly. Attaining enough UCs for even one character to be geared via UCs exchanged for crystals would require months and months and sending numerous alts through the weeklies every week just for enough UCs for one piece of gear.

 

Thus using the crystals isn't really a reasonable option for someone who isn't doing PvP or MM stuff. Saying "simply don't use the crates" is the same as saying "don't try for the gear at all." That's clearly the devs' intention, but alienating groups of players from the game by making the grind nearly impossible this way probably won't be very helpful to their business in the long run.

Edited February 7, 2019 by IoNonSoEVero

[Unperson]

Well, how about to have a purpose to play?

 

Okay. Let's assume that they tone down the grind and you can get a character fully geared in a time period you consider reasonable. What will be your purpose to play then?

 

 

Most people know that unsolicited advice from strangers is unwelcome and pointless to offer. You're free to offer it, but it will go in one ear and out the other, I'm afraid.

 

It's interesting that you say that, because that's exactly what the situation is with "feedback" in these boards. Bioware does not in good faith ask what the players want, and if players come here to say it anyway, they ignore it and just do their thing. They have for years.

 

As for the rest of your post, I completely agree. I'm not trying to run you out of the game. As I said, I hate grinding for gear myself, and doubly so if there's randomness involved. But I simply cannot understand why anyone would play this game solely for the grind -- and then complain that the grind is too much.

 

For what it's worth, I hope you get what you're after.

Edited February 7, 2019 by Unperson

[IoNonSoEVero]

 

It's interesting that you say that, because that's exactly what the situation is with "feedback" in these boards. Bioware does not in good faith ask what the players want, and if players come here to say it anyway, they ignore it and just do their thing. They have for years.

 

As for the rest of your post, I completely agree. I'm not trying to run you out of the game. As I said, I hate grinding for gear myself, and doubly so if there's randomness involved. But I simply cannot understand why anyone would play this game solely for the grind -- and then complain that the grind is too much.

 

For what it's worth, I hope you get what you're after.

 

Thanks, I do appreciate that.

 

I don't disagree with you that Bioware is completely ignoring everything players have been saying about this gear grind since it appeared on the PTS. But I think the difference between players on this board ignoring each other's advice, and Bioware ignoring the players, is that Bioware is ostensibly trying to sell a product. They ostensibly want the game to continue being profitable and thus listening to feedback should be a part of their job. Not that they have to take every bit of feedback seriously - nor should they - but IMHO they shouldn't put this stuff on the PTS and solicit feedback if they plan to ignore all of it.

 

At any rate it seems like they're playing their own version of Opposites Day right now and we're all suffering, unfortunately.

[Lunafox]

Okay. Let's assume that they tone down the grind and you can get a character fully geared in a time period you consider reasonable. What will be your purpose to play then?

 

Then I imagine, I'll try to gear the rest as much as I can but would hope that by the time I have my mains geared fully, that there would be more story, or strongholds to play with. I'm always creating purpose for myself to be in the game. If nothing else, I rip apart my strongholds and redo them in a different way. Recently I redid my Rishi apartment to include a kitchen.

[Noerra]

Okay. Let's assume that they tone down the grind and you can get a character fully geared in a time period you consider reasonable. What will be your purpose to play then?

 

My gameplay consists of playing numerous differents alts in different ways (storywise), hunting transmogs and coming up with different looks, sometimes decorating strongholds and running heroics and similar activities i can do alone or with a friend.

 

I would spend my time well first of all gearing my main to 252's (which is lowest end of new tier mind you not highest bis gear) and then do same for my alts, in combination of doing class stories on lower level alts and random other things mentioned above.

 

Getting 252's makes difference for my characters too. It makes running Ossus area things easier (for decos and BoEs for newer alts for example), it also makes running other content easier and more fun. I feel advancement and joy when i kill some random groups or outdoors mobs faster than before, it makes me feel my character is now stronger. It makes me happy!

 

If we would go on principal that only OPS people need better gear then we could as well go for model that higher level gear is not usable for anyone outside of OPS. But this is not the case. Higher level gear makes everyone do better also in open world and benefit of being stronger brings joy for everyone, not just for harder group content folks.

 

I am fine with having 258's harder to get as reward for those who really put extra effort on things, but having system where everyone else should just run in old rags "cause they don't need better" or quit is not my idea of making good game or doing good busines.

[Maxitrac]

Reading through this it sounds like most of the people complaining aren’t the people that need to have the gear to do the content they’re at in the game.

This gearing system is designed to make the gear accessible to everyone but the better players have it easier since they actually need it.

Also to address the OPs post, you just seem to be getting bad luck.

But yeah if you want the gear faster git gud and do nim ops, then you have two things a) a reason to complain about if you still find t slow and b) you will have a extremely large amount of ucs.

Also just to put into perspective about the difference in time spent for nim raiders vs those of solo content and easier content to prove my earlier statement of how the system is designed. I currently have 4 BIS 258 sets on my account and have the ability to make 2 every 2 weeks if I wish to do so. While many of the casual players still don’t have one. I also have access to 258 main hands and off hands before the hive queen:)

Edited February 7, 2019 by Maxitrac

[kodrac]

Okay. Let's assume that they tone down the grind and you can get a character fully geared in a time period you consider reasonable. What will be your purpose to play then?

 

Presumably, by the time the gear grind is done they will have released something else to do. That's all this gear tier and grind is: Filler. I said it when they announced it in the last roadmap. They're just adding this to waste time until the next large content update Notice I didn't call 6.0. Everyone assumes it'll be 6.0 but I don't. And judging by the extent of this grind I expect that update to be a long ways off. That's all anyone does during content droughts: repeatable stuff to kill time.

 

TL;DR - We're all in the same boat regardless of playstyle.

[ElectroFidgit]

This.

 

I have not been able to gear any of my toons with Ossus system. I keep getting the same kitten item every week and usually even the type you can't pull mods out and use them on alt that it getting its "same item" for different slot. If they would make those weekly lockbox items bind on legacy i think i would have one or more character half geared by now.

 

 

???. You can move the mods to Legacy gear. You just can't move a boot into a glove. The parts have to go into the same type of item they came out of.

Edited February 7, 2019 by ElectroFidgit

[TUXs]

I can't get crystals as a soloer. This *is* my sole venue to improve my gear, and all I'd like is if they increased the chance of getting an upper. I've been toiling since 5.10 came out to get an upper and have gotten like 75% packages in the upper box. Why is a package even in the upper box? It should be in the tech box.

Yes you can - you can get 2 crystals per week from the vendor dude, just like everyone else, with UC's (500 and 1000 UCs). I've only ever bought the 500 crystal, but you can buy 2. In fact, you can buy the crystals weekly on any toon you have, not just those who have done the story-line.

[TUXs]

Reading through this it sounds like most of the people complaining aren’t the people that need to have the gear to do the content they’re at in the game.

This gearing system is designed to make the gear accessible to everyone but the better players have it easier since they actually need it.

This is laughable...

The players who "need" this gear, are not the NiM raiders...they're dying to mechanics and not getting out of stupid, not gearing. The players who "need" this gear are the ones who struggle to find a rotation that they can work with. The players who can't parse 5k DPS are the ones who "need" this gear, not the 10k+ parsers. The people who need it are basically any group of people except the people who you seem to think need it.

 

In fact, if you think you "need" this gear as a NiM raider, perhaps you need to consider that it might not be the gear that's holding you back...

Edited February 7, 2019 by TUXs

[Noerra]

???. You can move the mods to Legacy gear. You just can't move a boot into a glove. The parts have to go into the same type of item they came out of.

 

Maybe i wrote bit confusingly. I ment i keep getting ears and implants and such where you can't pull the mods out.

[Lhancelot]

???. You can move the mods to Legacy gear. You just can't move a boot into a glove. The parts have to go into the same type of item they came out of.

 

I thought Noerra was talking about how mods are now locked into gear pieces eliminating the ability we once had when you could rip out mods and interchange them with other pieces of gear.

[MorseGod]

I get that gearing is a tedious, awful grind. I also get that it sucks when your RNG lockboxes give you garbage 5-10 times in a row. That is not, however, a sufficient sample to say that it's not random at all.

 

The OP's claim is based on a tiny sample. Flipping a coin only 8 times could come up heads enough times that you think the chance of heads is greater than 50%, but flipping it 10,000 or 1,000,000 times will get you closer to the theoretical outcome. Small samples are the bane of good statistical analysis.

Edited February 7, 2019 by MorseGod

[Unperson]

snip

snip

 

That sounds like worthwhile goals, and is obviously something you'd have fun doing. Why is that only something you are willing to do after you've geared up for nothing in particular? I don't think you stand much of a chance of convincing anyone that running on the hamster wheel for a 5% increase (at best) in efficiency running Ossus dailies warrants the soul-crushing work it currently takes as a solo player.

 

As others have said, the new gear tiers are filler, plain and simple. Meant to keep you nice and subscribed until after Anthem is out and they can put more content together. It's on you if you want to buy into that.

 

Whatever floats your boat, of course. But asking that they dial back the grind on something that is designed to be first and foremost a time sink isn't very likely to work, I think.

 

 

This is laughable...

The players who "need" this gear, are not the NiM raiders...they're dying to mechanics and not getting out of stupid, not gearing. The players who "need" this gear are the ones who struggle to find a rotation that they can work with. The players who can't parse 5k DPS are the ones who "need" this gear, not the 10k+ parsers. The people who need it are basically any group of people except the people who you seem to think need it.

 

Guilty as charged. Repair costs for 236-242 are much steeper than for purple 252, though. And I do need to repair a lot...

 

I also haven't done the math, but where does regular 252 fall compared to augmented 242? Those mats don't farm themselves, man.

Edited February 7, 2019 by Unperson

[Toraak]

It costs 500 UCs per Masterworks Crystal. If you need 2 of them for one piece of gear that's two weeks and 1000 UCs. Plus another 1500 or 2000 UCs to pay for enough crystals for the 258 upgrade. 3000 UCs in total just for one piece of 258 gear on one toon.

 

Considering that the weeklies in the daily areas net 2-3 crates at Tier 4 even if you're using an experience boost (Yavin 4 with a command boost for instance gives about 18000 CXP which translates to three crates; with the mission CXP you'd probably get four), and each crate has 8-9 UCs if you dissolve the gear, you're looking at about 27 - 36 UCs per weekly. Attaining enough UCs for even one character to be geared via UCs exchanged for crystals would require months and months and sending numerous alts through the weeklies every week just for enough UCs for one piece of gear.

 

Thus using the crystals isn't really a reasonable option for someone who isn't doing PvP or MM stuff. Saying "simply don't use the crates" is the same as saying "don't try for the gear at all." That's clearly the devs' intention, but alienating groups of players from the game by making the grind nearly impossible this way probably won't be very helpful to their business in the long run.

 

Your forgetting you gain 1 crystal from doing the Ossus WB's each week, you gain a 2nd Crystal from doing the Timed weekly each week, and if you spend 500 UC's you would get a 3rd crystal each week. That is 3 MWS per week. Now if you don't have the UC's you could still purchase whatever piece you actually wanted from the vendor.

Edited February 7, 2019 by Toraak