The Skill and the Loot - some thoughts

[Jorael]

My first post on this forum, although i've been playing for a month now.

I've read a lot, hunted a lot, and lost a lot of Ped in the process.

It seems that while my skills were really low, i would NEVER loot items, and rarely i would get a loot of 1 ped. So i kept hunting and depositing, every day for hours in a row and my loots started to improve considerably.

I now loot 5 to 10 ped constantly, and the ocasional item comes along... except for wools and hides... which i am sure everyone is really fed up getting.

This last week i can say i broke the barrier and started to loot low level items... constantly. From Lesser Heal to Minor Nerve Blast, to Af Implant and GSI's (about 5).

I never globaled or Hof'ed hunting by myself, and im expecting for the moment to come.

I can say that sometimes i really considered giving up, given the current condition of PE:
-outrageous sweat prices... we all hope sweat farms come back
-Insanely bad loots for everybody... Constant Hof's by the same guys... and the last 2 days were just sickening, as team LV hoffed at least 15 times in 2 days for a total value of more then 5000 ped and god knows what items!
-and more.

My big question is: As my skills grow, do items that come in loot also grow in value? Like an uber never loots pixie, only angel/shadow when he does? It would only make sense, since the bigger the skill level, the bigger mobs i will hunt, the more PED involved in the process.

Or... can i get lucky and find an uber item? is that possible?

I've heard of noobs catching improved faps and shadow harnesses.. but i believe those were destined to a superior avatar in the surroundings.. they just accidently "stole" that mob carrying the piece.

And im almost sure this is the way a noob gets an uber item or Hof.
A while back, a soc member had a 3800 ped HOF with vigi harness on it... just because he helped out another avatar. It seems the one in peril had 3 atrox providers around him... and he asked for help. So, trying to help, my friend pulled one of thosed troxes to him... killed him... and got an uber Hof.

What's your theory? Is skill determinant when you hunt alone to get a low/med/good/uber item/Hof? Is it just luck? Or do you think when mobs spawn the item is carried with them and the first one to kill catches the prize?

Jorael

[Trakkur]

I've thought about, and posted on this topic before - but since then my thinking has been altered.

I used to believe that getting good loot was tied to your skills, but as I hunted more and more over the past 9 months and started really paying attention to things I realized this is probably not the case.

Here's an example based on my past history:

I started in December 2004 and really didn't do very well in the beginning, probably due to my lack of knowledge on what to hunt, where and with what weapons/armor. I eventually did hit a global on a snablesnot young male, I think it was 51ped. I was happy as hell, and quite surprised. This was after maybe 2 weeks of playing.

Sadly though other loot I got wasn't really as good, and my ped card bled out. Forcing me to make another deposit a few weeks later ($40USD - bringing my total up to $50usd). Immediately after that deposit I got my first and only Hunting HoF (717ped Cornundos Mature - Containing a FF8km, Z1001, Justifier MkI and some armor plus 500 peds) I was REALLY happy and thought - "Hmm, maybe loot is tied to deposits since I JUST made one."

But I didn't deposit to test this out, since I was trying to keep my deposits as low as possible. Sadly no other globals came except for a 55ped Mining global...this went on for MANY months. Sure I was skilling very well, but mobs like Cornundacauda Youngs that looted VERY well for other player simply didn't loot for me. I did ok with Bercycled, Molisk and Cornundos...but not great. Eventually my deposits jumped up to $100USD...and still no loots. I hunted everywhere I could without being killed quickly.

Still nothing. My skills were climbing though, and I had graduated my Discipleship period (Longblade) a while back and was working on 2k in Longblade so I headed back to Cornundacaudas again to try again...guess what? Still no real loot, but the skills were nice so I stayed after I noticed my losses weren't very high.

Once I crossed 2k in Longblade Skill suddenly my average loot jumped, and I started getting some items like GSIs and Globals - I stayed with Corns for nearly 2 months - racking up skills like crazy and getting GSIs and globals very frequently - plus when I wasn't getting globals I was getting loots in the 20-40ped range a lot. At this point I "graduated" to argonauts and started getting great loots there - again racking up GSIs and Globals.

I've never looted an uber item, unless you consider the FF8kM an uber (Which I think some folks might) but what I have done is played now for over 4 months without a single deposit. Sure I've gotten low in peds and had to sell to keep playing - but I only ever sell good looted like mining material, tailoring materials and such, or things I won't ever use - I consider myself a hunter before anything else so these things are better served to keep me hunting without requiring deposits to stay afloat.

I used to think skills played a part in loot as you can see, BUT I've noticed that it is - IMHO - far more dependant upon WHAT you are hunting, WHERE and WHEN.

Case in point, I have a spot where I hunt now VERY often - that has yielded 4 Globals in the past 2 weeks for me, as well as other nice sized minis. No HoFs or great items but still globals, GSIs and other stuff to keep me going. This area is also where I've had at least 7-10 other globals in recent months - as well as 3 Lesser Teleport Chips, LOTS of tailoring materials and a Viking Helmet. I've noticed that this area in general loots higher then others with the same mob, and is even MORE prone to loot nice at various times of the day.

I've also experienced this in other areas with different mobs, the area seems to get hot at certain times of the day...and not just a couple times, but consistantly. Loots in general will be higher, maybe globals on occasion, but certainly higher then average loot.

I've also been told before of another location with yet a different mob, that tends to loot better on average with LOTS of globals and HoFs at certain times of the day. However for me this has never really worked out.

Maybe skills open up the possibility to loot well, and Location/Type/Time actually lock in the loot? :shrugs: Who knows, in any case I'm going to continue to do what I'm already doing and hopefully 4 more months from now I'll be able to report I STILL haven't made a deposit.

Good luck!


PS - Your question about the TT value on looted items is easy, it has NO dependency on your skills at all. The value being low is simply, IMHO, a random thing...I've never seen any indication of skills playing a part.

[Azrael]

Fact:
From my understanding, the loot is not carried by the mob. It is generated at the time of loot "Action" (ie clicking on corpse). No one knows the actual formula for how the loots are generated, or if they do, they're not telling

Conjecture:
I honestly believe there must be some code to toggle (dongle) or set loot luck on your avi. There could possibly be several levels of probability for "Luck". As a programmer, I know it would be easy to do, yet not readily appearant to players. That way MA can control who is most likely to get cool stuff. I'm gonna take a lot of neg reps and out right verbal abuse on this, but until someone can show me positive proof, I'll continue to believe this. This is why you see the select favorites getting the consitant uber/uberish HoFs. The bull about it's because they hunt and spend more is utter crap. As a gainfully employed person, I've deposited quite a sum into this casino, but the highest loot I've ever recieved was 292 peds. And a couple 50ish peds. Then I see others consistantly getting globals.

Az

[Pretender]

Originally Posted by Azrael

Fact:
From my understanding, the loot is not carried by the mob. It is generated at the time of loot "Action" (ie clicking on corpse). No one knows the actual formula for how the loots are generated, or if they do, they're not telling

Conjecture:
I honestly believe there must be some code to toggle (dongle) or set loot luck on your avi. There could possibly be several levels of probability for "Luck". As a programmer, I know it would be easy to do, yet not readily appearant to players. That way MA can control who is most likely to get cool stuff. I'm gonna take a lot of neg reps and out right verbal abuse on this, but until someone can show me positive proof, I'll continue to believe this. This is why you see the select favorites getting the consitant uber/uberish HoFs. The bull about it's because they hunt and spend more is utter crap. As a gainfully employed person, I've deposited quite a sum into this casino, but the highest loot I've ever recieved was 292 peds. And a couple 50ish peds. Then I see others consistantly getting globals.

Az

hm, this might be the way how they ditribute extreme ubers (ath) and quest stuff.


tho more spending+hunting alot seems to work too.


maybe a combination?

[Jorael]

Originally Posted by Azrael

Fact:
From my understanding, the loot is not carried by the mob. It is generated at the time of loot "Action" (ie clicking on corpse). No one knows the actual formula for how the loots are generated, or if they do, they're not telling
Az

Well, could be.. but then how did my noob friend (at that time) HOF 3800 ped and a vigi harness?? It surely belonged to the avatar that was hunting trox providers.

I think there are two ways of Hoffing / Globaling.

1st one is the slot machine effect. Money spent in an area of hunt cummulates until someone hits the right combination of spins, and gets it. My example... the argos in Twin Peaks.

2nd is the hardest one. It involves skills, luck, time spent, money spent, equipment used. imagine a slot machine with 5 spins, with 10 icons on each spin. When they line up in full you get 10000 ped hof's up. 4 in full you get 5000 ped up to 10000 ped. 3 you get 1000 ped up to 5000. 2 you get up to 1000 ped.

I mean... its luck above all else. And Having an uber taking all the ped's and items means only one thing: Invasion. (lol)

Seriously, it means his spins sympathize with one another... and line up more often...

The funny thing about the current VU is:

Take a look at the: - how much ped you loose POLL... 42% says they loose so much they dont count anymore...

Well, it should be 42% breaks even. MA would still profit, and everyone would be happy.

I realllllllly hope this changes in this upcoming VU. This game is insanely addictive and beautiful, too much to be ruined by some bad code.

[Trakkur]

Originally Posted by Azrael

Fact:
From my understanding, the loot is not carried by the mob. It is generated at the time of loot "Action" (ie clicking on corpse). No one knows the actual formula for how the loots are generated, or if they do, they're not telling

Conjecture:
I honestly believe there must be some code to toggle (dongle) or set loot luck on your avi. There could possibly be several levels of probability for "Luck". As a programmer, I know it would be easy to do, yet not readily appearant to players. That way MA can control who is most likely to get cool stuff. I'm gonna take a lot of neg reps and out right verbal abuse on this, but until someone can show me positive proof, I'll continue to believe this. This is why you see the select favorites getting the consitant uber/uberish HoFs. The bull about it's because they hunt and spend more is utter crap. As a gainfully employed person, I've deposited quite a sum into this casino, but the highest loot I've ever recieved was 292 peds. And a couple 50ish peds. Then I see others consistantly getting globals.

Az

Well I get globals enough to think it's fairly consistant - 1 global every 1-1.25 weeks about (Which really is NOTHING), but can assure you I'm NOT in the "in" crowd, nor one of the favorite sons of MA. but I surely see your point...many of hte same names all the time on the Global and HoF list.

However I don't think they are getting any favored treatment, it would be FAR too risky for MA if they did that and it was discovered.

I think rather that they hunt alot, and KNOW places and times that are just better then others. I'll be damned if I can find any of those spots and times (Other then the ones I already work) taht deal out multiple globals in a day or uber hofs....but you can surely believe what you want.

Either way it's impossible to prove.

Enjoy!

[DarkFire]

Originally Posted by Azrael

This is why you see the select favorites getting the consitant uber/uberish HoFs. The bull about it's because they hunt and spend more is utter crap. As a gainfully employed person, I've deposited quite a sum into this casino, but the highest loot I've ever recieved was 292 peds. And a couple 50ish peds. Then I see others consistantly getting globals.

Az

so basically you're just... bitter. sorry to say it, but it really seems that way.
Believe me, i've seen others who thought their avatar was cursed, and stubbornly claimed it to be, even after they got that 800+ ped hof
but it *is* possible to hunt a lot and still be unlucky. there are no guarantees in PE. However, it has nothing to do with an avatar being cursed - with a chance of global on less than 1% for <500HP mobs (those i hunt the most) you still need to hunt a lot AND be very lucky.
in my experience (and i actually have played a long while too :P ) the bull about a select favourites getting the consistant uber/uberish HoFs is utter crap

btw, i got 2 globals and a GSI today. hunted all day (that's 12 hours of pure hunting)
and lost about 100 ped in total, globals and GSI included. so there :P

Oh! and another edit, to answer the threadstarters initial question; skills doesn't matter as far as i know. i get exactly the same as i would get if i had no skills at all. if you find that the contents of loots have changed, it is most likely a change in the lootsystem, and not caused by your skills
the chance to loot something good is always there if you hunt the right mobs, but it's sooo very very small.

[il]

couldnt have said it better...

and the bigger you hunt the higher the chance to global but the less to break even

[Pham]

No, loot doesnt depend on skills or other attributes of an avatar.
Only right space/time combination matters. Add a "mob" variable for uber HoFs .
Regarding space globals:
Yup, we have alot of globals on the space station, but in domes 01 and 02 i need about 150-200 ped in globals per 1k ped spend to break even using no armor, imp mk2, mod fap and having 8500 rifle skill. So i expect to have 2-3 globals per such trip in those domes. Otherwise i lose big time (3 of such trips per day and you lose 500-600 ped!).
The loots are pretty different from that in domes 03 and 04. Kreltins in dome 03 has enough HP to drop loot each time, but only 50%-60% as any mob which drop each time does. So i need 300-400 peds in globals hunting in dome 03 per 1k. Aurlis in dome 04 have even more HP and take 7 to 12 ped to kill one. They also dont drop each time. Its a big gamble, its exciting . Also due to that they dont drop each time the loot there is better than in dome 03 and globals are more frequent. But on the other hand once per 10 kills you need to get 50 ped to break even not including the armor decay which can be from 70% to 100% of ammunition costs....

[Azrael]

Originally Posted by DarkFire

so basically you're just... bitter. sorry to say it, but it really seems that way.
Believe me, i've seen others who thought their avatar was cursed, and stubbornly claimed it to be, even after they got that 800+ ped hof
but it *is* possible to hunt a lot and still be unlucky. there are no guarantees in PE. However, it has nothing to do with an avatar being cursed - with a chance of global on less than 1% for <500HP mobs (those i hunt the most) you still need to hunt a lot AND be very lucky.
in my experience (and i actually have played a long while too :P ) the bull about a select favourites getting the consistant uber/uberish HoFs is utter crap

btw, i got 2 globals and a GSI today. hunted all day (that's 12 hours of pure hunting)
and lost about 100 ped in total, globals and GSI included. so there :P

Oh! and another edit, to answer the threadstarters initial question; skills doesn't matter as far as i know. i get exactly the same as i would get if i had no skills at all. if you find that the contents of loots have changed, it is most likely a change in the lootsystem, and not caused by your skills
the chance to loot something good is always there if you hunt the right mobs, but it's sooo very very small.

No, I'm not bitter..He asked a question and I answered it. And I knew I'd take some major hits. It's not a popular opinon. I've heard more people beginning to question how the loot is "distributed" as well. But you are entitled to your beliefs too.

Az