Drops on weapons are way to low.

There's many problems with the loot system. But with weapons in particular, it's exceedingly bad.

Since loot is assigned when a cave spawns, not at death (confirmed by Gimli) this creates an issue since, at many times not everyone can clear an entire cave.

Now obviously the numbers are more complicated than this, but at it's face, the problem of loot gets exasperated by this issue:

If 100 mobs spawn in a cave, and there's a 1% chance for "x" loot to spawn on each mob. 1 of the mobs in that cave will have the loot. Now, if the person who spawned that cave, doesn't kill that 1 mob, they don't find the loot. There's a whole list of reasons someone wouldn't get to that mob. They could crash/DC (NETERR alert), their dog could jump on their lap and pull the power cord from the computer. They could get spouse/child aggro. Or maybe they just flat out get a bad spawn group and can't progress in the cave any further.

The list goes on. But now, a weapon, which hit it's (really low) chance to actually spawn, and should be added to the economy, is gone. This means you're essentially doubling down on the RNG metrics. The ideal solution would be to make loot pull at the time of mob death, not spawn. This way the chance to get it loot is static, certain mobs would obviously have higher chance. I don't know how practical this is with limitations in the code/client. But the point is, the way the system is right now is setup for failure.

Back to the weapons issue, all these issues with loot, are then amplified even further because, of those weapons that do drop, 50% of them are going to blow up. Because everyone is going to try and 4x a weapon. The problems with loot, when it comes to armor, are lessened, because people can just 2-3x their armor, so 30% less of those drops, turn to dust. Also everything is BoE, so of the drops that do survive this gauntlet, they're also now gone once someone equips them. So basically, this problem will never go away.

TLDNR: "Loot assigned at spawn" creates additional issues in the looting system. Also, since 50% of weapons blow up, weapon drop rates need to be substantially higher.

I have found 5 or 6 lvl 300 weapons but no lvl1 weapons

I have found 5 or 6 lvl 300 weapons but no lvl1 weapons

IF this is true. You're the exception, not the rule. This is the problem with RNG.

I have issues with how it's setup, too. Sometimes you just don't have the time to hunt for hours and hours for one thing in one cave. Most people really don't. If you don't find anything about the sixth trip in, you start to get really frustrated and bored and just want to give up. At odd times, I have been lucky and gotten a weapon on the first or second trip in, but then there will be nothing for twelve hours or even days. And I do have to skip longer fights if I don't have the time for it. I really want the loot spread out better and more randomly all over Realm and not just have certain things drop in only one cave. We should have better chances of finding the stuff from anywhere. I don't like having to do one cave a million times just for one thing I need. It's so boring. And it's more fun to get things randomly. It adds surprise. I'd rather not know what I'm getting, do a cave or overworld area, and suddenly get something good that I wasn't expecting, than to do a cave and keep getting the same old thing.

I think the drop rate needs to be increased due to the time involved factor. People are busy, people do not have endless time to play and endless time to grind one cave. It's a big issue. I'm not saying drop with every fight or every cave, but it needs to be upped to where if you go in there six to ten times, you should get something. Too much grinding becomes boring real fast. Something needs adjusting and randomizing.

Then there's the risk reward factor. What's the point in fighting something massive and risky to only get shopfood junk that you can get from anything. That just kills it for me. Why would I do a big long massive fight to just come out with some piece of junk. Even if they don't drop something good, I think big hard fights should at least drop a few coppers for the copper shop. It doesn't have to be alot, even five coppers, just give us a reason to bother fighting these mobs. They get really expensive in mana, too. So you're just sinking mana for no reason.

I have found 5 or 6 lvl 300 weapons but no lvl1 weapons

IF this is true. You're the exception, not the rule. This is the problem with RNG.

2 of them for sure were from Bountys tho.

IDK what you are on about. Weapon drop rates are about 100x greater than pants drops rates. Just walk through town, you will see more people without pants, than with.

it was much better before when you had a chance to find anything anywhere
its very boring now
what they have done to the loot has ruined the game

@Dsn181 That's exactly how I feel.

About the pants drop rate. They drop in Imp City and Enid's. I think it's more like no one feels like running the caves to get them. Enid's changes your alignment and can be a boring pain to do. Imp City definitely gets boring after awhile. I'm not sure the drops are all that low, it's just no one wants to do them. It's just the same basic issue, grinding one cave for one thing, it just bores you to tears.

it was much better before when you had a chance to find anything anywhere
its very boring now
what they have done to the loot has ruined the game

I tend to agree. I think they wanted to emphasize dungeon hunting. That's fine, there's some validity to that, but it went overboard. Overworld hunting has lost it's value, for the most part, and running the same dungeon, over and over again, cause you want one specific item, well, there's no other way to say this; it's boring as hell. Nothing about the way loot is done right now, works to make the game interesting, compelling, or rewarding, in any way shape or form. That's just my opinion.

IDK what you are on about. Weapon drop rates are about 100x greater than pants drops rates. Just walk through town, you will see more > people without pants, than with.

See Carrigon's response. Also my point on weapons was that it's exasperated by the fact that 50% of them blow up. Obviously my post wasn't just about weapons, the points I made are about loot, in general.

I agree that the enchanting system is frustrating combined with the very low drop rate of 600 weapons (1 and 300 seem to drop enough to enter the economy in a healthy way, and I've found plenty myself.) But for the 600 weapons, the fact you can flip a coin and lose it is just hard on the nerves, y'know? I've blown up a Fury Point and while I can laugh off most chant failures, that one still hurts.

While I always enjoy the idea of raising drop rates because I like finding loot, I have to disagree with the fact that finding loot anywhere instead of specific places was better. I like to be able to farm a specific spot for a chance at the loot I want, not just "Oh well, any random thing can drop, who knows?!"

I don't know the balance of every item dropping, but certainly in the time since the change, I have found more magical weapons than I have in the rest of my time playing The Realm combined. That is anecdotal, but it works for me.

On the flip-side, since the loot is designated in certain spots, I would like to see some official statements, or clear hints and clues in game as to what drops where, instead of it being a mystery that we can unreliably get from the wiki. I don't think the player base is big enough to depend on the wiki for this game. I don't think some transparency in those things will ruin any aspect of the game.

While there were things I absolutely loved about being able to get anything anywhere, I think having drops in specific places is good. That said, I think it's also been taken too far. To get full sets of gear we need to currently run some 5 different dungeons. I think putting each set in one dungeon with each piece having a chance to drop might be better. For example, Targoth's could have a chance at dropping a necro set. While say, FD would drop a warlord set. etc

While I like the idea of every monster in a cave having a chance to drop something good, those chances of rares should also be significantly higher on bosses or in chests.

As for the OP's point, another issue with weapons (unless this has been fixed) is certain NPC will also equip the weapons when they go to attack, which would be another issue fixed by having loot formed at death, rather than cave creation, if that's possible.

I'm not opposed to certain things dropping in certain places, but I also want a better chance of getting one randomly elsewhere. Like above world, I would like to see random drops of good things. I'd like to be able to just hunt above ground and find something. And what I'm thinking is, if a monster like the Devils drop FinBP's, I'd like to see them randomly drop one above world like in Asgard somewhere, not just in Tulor's. That kind of thing. Like certain monsters should drop certain things, and no matter where they are in the world, there should be a chance of getting it off one, or even just in a specific overworld area. And I'd like to see some randomization in the caves. At least in the multicaves like FHP, Lab, places where you have alot of different monsters together, they should be a bit more random on what drops in there. That's why I always liked FHP on other game servers. It was more random. You never knew if you were going to find a wrath, a claymore, a stinger. It was random enough to keep it interesting.

I'd also really like to see coppers dropped. Even small amounts, instead of an empty drop, even five coppers would be something.

While there were things I absolutely loved about being able to get anything anywhere, I think having drops in specific places is good. That said, I think it's also been taken too far. To get full sets of gear we need to currently run some 5 different dungeons. I think putting each set in one dungeon with each piece having a chance to drop might be better. For example, Targoth's could have a chance at dropping a necro set. While say, FD would drop a warlord set. etc

While I like the idea of every monster in a cave having a chance to drop something good, those chances of rares should also be significantly higher on bosses or in chests.

As for the OP's point, another issue with weapons (unless this has been fixed) is certain NPC will also equip the weapons when they go to attack, which would be another issue fixed by having loot formed at death, rather than cave creation, if that's possible.

I do like the idea of sets of a particular type dropping in one place rather than the current pants dropping one place, and chests dropping another place.

I'm not opposed to certain things dropping in certain places, but I also want a better chance of getting one randomly elsewhere. Like above world, I would like to see random drops of good things. I'd like to be able to just hunt above ground and find something. And what I'm thinking is, if a monster like the Devils drop FinBP's, I'd like to see them randomly drop one above world like in Asgard somewhere, not just in Tulor's. That kind of thing. Like certain monsters should drop certain things, and no matter where they are in the world, there should be a chance of getting it off one, or even just in a specific overworld area. And I'd like to see some randomization in the caves. At least in the multicaves like FHP, Lab, places where you have alot of different monsters together, they should be a bit more random on what drops in there. That's why I always liked FHP on other game servers. It was more random. You never knew if you were going to find a wrath, a claymore, a stinger. It was random enough to keep it interesting.

I'd also really like to see coppers dropped. Even small amounts, instead of an empty drop, even five coppers would be something.

I think this is just a point of disagreement, but the idea of random loot from anywhere just does not appeal to me. There is already a ton of RNG in the game, and I think that increasing that just makes the game less fun.

But as for the second point, you can get things from outside of dungeons from bounties. That is where I got my first Uruz and Proficient Hat. As for the drop rates on those, I don't know if I have an opinion right now.

But as for the second point, you can get things from outside of dungeons from bounties. That is where I got my first Uruz and Proficient Hat. As for the drop rates on those, I don't know if I have an opinion right now.

This is true. I got a Stinger this week from a bounty, and I did get an Uruz a few weeks back off a bounty. I haven't hunted enough overworld to see how much they drop. I got these in caves.

Random loot, to me, makes it more fun. It adds surprise.

I agree that the enchanting system is frustrating combined with the very low drop rate of 600 weapons (1 and 300 seem to drop enough to enter the economy in a healthy way, and I've found plenty myself.) But for the 600 weapons, the fact you can flip a coin and lose it is just hard on the nerves, y'know? I've blown up a Fury Point and while I can laugh off most chant failures, that one still hurts.

Not to mention they are just doing a staggered release and upping drop rates. I refuse to buy any weapons or armor because every 3-4 weeks they are going to release the 'NEXT' wave of armor/weapons that are likely already designed, and ready. This is just keeping people busy longer so instead of 300 and 600 weapons being more common people are grinding out the inferior content (WHILE LEVEL 1K) and then going oooooooooooooo the new 900 weapons are out (600 and 300 rates are upped) and they move on to the next grind wave. I have a hard time believing that most of the content (armor/weapons) hasn't been ready for quite some time considering a lot of it was tested prior to server launch weapons especially. This is creating a small MMORPG raid loot type artificial grind for players. Why spent 2 mill on a lvl 300 weapon when 3 weeks later level 600s come out?

Honestly I'm bored out of my mind, they took one of the only nostalgic chase items left (Glowie boots) put them into a gambling gold sink box with stupiddddddddddd drop rates. And then they are literally slowly dripping new content into the game every few weeks that doesn't really excite me, but that's just me.

And yeah, I think assigning loot when entering the cave is an awful system, maybe its always been like that, maybe it would be hard to fix, but it should be RNG per fight IMO.

How fun would it be, if azure pelts, god items (scales, mabon staff, etc.) old quest items (vases, boxes, eggs,) glowie helmets (mundanes) etc. were literally 1 in 25,000 drop rates from ANYTHING ANYWHERE ANY TIME. Who knows what you would find or when.

Not very fun at all? When you make things intensely rare you increase deviation a really obnoxious amount. Some “lucky” person wins the lottery a few times and another person kills a hundred thousand mobs but just doesn’t hit the statistical average drop rate? I don’t understand why people think really ludicrous levels of RNG are fun. Reward players for doing something challenging or unique, not for killing one million boars.

I think we all have different opinions about the new systems, and that really puts the devs in a position where ultimately someone's going to be unhappy no matter what they do. I know they have thick skins, but that isn't a very enviable position to be in.

For me it's not even really an issue of the drop rates being too low. My issue is more with how most weapons are dungeon specific.

I get this design strategy and it isn't unique to Realm. The logic isn't lost on me and I appreciate that it does make some previously irrelevant dungeons now relevant.

But I do miss being able to do the dungeon that I think is fun and no matter where I'm at maybe a Wrath drops.

Or if I don't have a ton of time I can at least squeeze in one Fuloran run before I have to log off, and could maybe have gotten an upgrade before. Now if I'm not a mace user there's no point.

At the very least I think it would have been nice to have the 300 and 600 weapons be staggered rather than in the normal/heroics of each other. For example, the 300 mace in Fuloran but maybe the 600 Maul in heroic Fuloran instead of the mace. This would make regular and heroic Fuloran relevant to different people rather than the same person. The current system seems to encourage either living there for hundreds of levels across both regular and heroic or never going there.

I have 2 characters at level 1000. I have found only 2 weapons at level 300, in the time it took me to get them there. I think items should drop overworld also. I have run dungeons repeatedly and not found level 600 weapons, while leveling 4 characters. I think they are too rare also.

The general consensus seems to agree with my original point. The RNG system, and boring, static nature of running the same caves, over and over again, is just not working for people.

On top of all of this, the proc effects and overall value of the 600 weapons, considering how rare they are, and that 50% of them blow up, seems dramatically underwhelming. But that's a bit of tangent.

Not very fun at all? When you make things intensely rare you increase deviation a really obnoxious amount. Some “lucky” person wins the lottery a few times and another person kills a hundred thousand mobs but just doesn’t hit the statistical average drop rate? I don’t understand why people think really ludicrous levels of RNG are fun. Reward players for doing something challenging or unique, not for killing one million boars.

That's exactly my point. Something needs to drop. If you're going to spend a long time in a cave doing hard fights, you shouldn't come out with nothing or five mana. Even if it's a cosmetic item or a few coppers that you can save up, there has to be something for all the time and effort you put in there, otherwise, it's like why bother. And grinding away a million times just to get one thing is getting old real fast. That's why I want it a bit more randomized. I'm already giving up after six or ten runs of nothing. It's boring.

The reason that the weapon is 1/1000 instead of 1/100 with a 100 NPC dungeon is that it would mean that every single dungeon would theoretically give up one or two of the item you're after. The market would be flooded and the items would all be worthless.

I get you want one, but the RNG works fine imho. I haven't gotten my L300 gear yet either and I'm closing in on 850 now. I honestly don't really need it, enchanted leathers would serve me just as well at this point, so it would just be a status item.

Not very fun at all? When you make things intensely rare you increase deviation a really obnoxious amount. Some “lucky” person wins the lottery a few times and another person kills a hundred thousand mobs but just doesn’t hit the statistical average drop rate? I don’t understand why people think really ludicrous levels of RNG are fun. Reward players for doing something challenging or unique, not for killing one million boars.

I'm not suggesting these items or lottery items stand in place of balanced and merit based drops and content. I'm simply pointing out there is a lot of non-balance changing cosmetic and old nostalgic items that already exist that would be cool as lottery items. I would love to continue to grind and have more balanced drop rates for armor, weapons and new content but also feel like the lottery / chase items in this game are sorely lacking. Almost everything in this game that meant anything to me were lottery items. Mabons Force Flee, GBoNs, Enids Blessing, old discontinued items, etc. They had more value to me personally. I agree the general way loot is being handled needs tweaked. I think of the events on legacy where god spells and XP baubles dropped with much higher frequency it caused so much excitement and a 'whats around the corner'. Right now solo players cant win the lottery at all, you cant find jack unless its in dungeons basically or a mediocre item out of a bounty now and then.

Right now solo players cant win the lottery at all, you cant find jack unless its in dungeons basically or a mediocre item out of a bounty now and then.

Exactly, except more than half the time the bounty boxes are either empty or give junk, and the lucky keys are the same. I got another empty chest in there last night.

Try to remember that even if you don’t win the lottery you already are getting tokens that you can trade for gear. They’re called gold coins.