The Drop challenge

[Snarky]

4 hours ago, Ukase said:

I thought this might be interesting for a couple of you. 
At level 7, this is what's slotted so far: 

I really wanted to upgrade those talisman damage enhancements, but the game wanted quite a bit to move those from level 1 to level 5, (when I was level 2) and I didn't have the inf. And, as you might imagine, the more enhancements you have slotted, the more it costs. 



I'll try to revisit with slotting updates every few levels without being too dull. 

This might make it even more brutal but have you considered stopping experience until you get drops/can afford upgrades?

[Ukase]

I have considered it - but level 10-12 is when the common IOs drop. I've got 51k so far, and if I have the salvage, that will be close to crafting the accuracies and recharges. But I am going to try and hold off for level 15s, rather than 10's since even without 2xp I outleveled them fairly quickly last attempt. 

Good thought though! 

 

[Ukase]

 

 

I'm at level 10, and for a science character, the drops (Flux is contact - what can I say, I'm a traditionalist) haven't been good as far as enhancements go - but happy with the IO recipes. 
Will soon see how the salvage drops so I can craft that heal IO. I've got no heal enhancements at all yet. 

[Yomo Kimyata]

1 hour ago, Ukase said:

I can't use the Heal/absorb - wrong origin, but I can use that recipe! My first one, at level 9.  Crazy that I'm more excited about this than a purple, lol. 

This is the best part of these challenges.  You get a recipe drop and it’s fist pump city!  Yes!!!

[Yomo Kimyata]

20 minutes ago, Snarky said:

This might make it even more brutal but have you considered stopping experience until you get drops/can afford upgrades?

Actually I’d think that would make it easier.  If you stop xp, then it’s status quo and you keep picking up drops that make you better.  But if you keep leveling then you’re facing stronger enemies and your (fixed) enhancements get weaker until you upgrade them.

[Bionic_Flea]

Psst . . . Vahz and Crey drop Science!

 

Also: ZemX and I are all SO and on Excelsior if you want gimp buddies.  😛

Edited July 14, 2021 by Bionic_Flea

[Ukase]

 

Hard to see, maybe. Level 11, just finished Frostfire. Got a Shield Wall End/Defense. I lack the salvage to craft it - and odds are, given the rare required, I'll be toting this thing around until level 50. I could sell it as is...but I've nothing to spend the proceeds on, as the challenge forbids the use of AH to buy anything. 

The common IO recipes, I lack the salvage for those, too. Should be interesting, the next few levels. 

[ZemX]

1 hour ago, Bionic_Flea said:

Also: ZemX and I are all SO and on Excelsior if you want gimp buddies.

 

Speaking of gimped.... I am not doing any better (a little poorer actually) than @Ukase with my own drop challenger, Annie Proton, a rad/rad Defender currently at level 7. 

 

But I like the VG I registered for her, "A Drop of Hell" 🤪

 

[Bionic_Flea]

Hey Ukase: are AE tickets and/or brainstorms that drop allowable?  You could use those for random salvage rolls.

[ZemX]

4 hours ago, Snarky said:

This might make it even more brutal but have you considered stopping experience until you get drops/can afford upgrades?

 

I know I am.  If things still look dire by 9, I will probably stop XP there and start street sweeping enemies that should drop tech DOs.

[Ukase]

11 hours ago, Bionic_Flea said:

Hey Ukase: are AE tickets and/or brainstorms that drop allowable?  You could use those for random salvage rolls.

Truth is, Flea, I've not allowed myself to do that. The reason would be that it's like going to the supermarket and getting what you want, instead of just going out and hunting for it. 

Granted, AE tickets are earned and not given. So, there's certainly room for gray area. But for me, I just want to see how the game treats me from an rng perspective. 

I do want to make one thing clear - if/once this character hits 50, all restrictions are lifted. 

As for your all SO challenge, when does that meet? 

[Ukase]

Oh yeah - I'd always thought Council dropped Science. Anecdotally, I got two tech SOs in a radio mission in Steel vs. Council. So, there's that. I'm wondering if the HC devs just opened the field on drops across NPCs. Anecdotally, it seems like that. 

[Snarky]

5 minutes ago, Ukase said:

Oh yeah - I'd always thought Council dropped Science. Anecdotally, I got two tech SOs in a radio mission in Steel vs. Council. So, there's that. I'm wondering if the HC devs just opened the field on drops across NPCs. Anecdotally, it seems like that. 

it may be that simple. It may be more complex. The council is one of the rarer enemy types in that they have factions. Could each faction drop different stuff?

[Ukase]

After re-visiting a post of mine in suggestions, I'm all but convinced that enhancement drops are just random. What's crazy is this perception bias. When I was magic origin, it seemed like most of the drops were science. Now it seems like they're all natural origin. And it's the same content I've been running. 

I notice in AE - when I farm, the drops align with the origin of the farmer. I wish the missions outside of AE would do this. 

[ZemX]

32 minutes ago, Ukase said:

Oh yeah - I'd always thought Council dropped Science. Anecdotally, I got two tech SOs in a radio mission in Steel vs. Council. So, there's that. I'm wondering if the HC devs just opened the field on drops across NPCs. Anecdotally, it seems like that. 

 

I wish I remembered how this worked way back in the day.  I don't remember if drops were 100% locked to a particular origin or just more likely to lean that way.

 

What I do remember is using TOs at this level.  They were nearly pointless to use even back then but we did anyway because who wants empty slots?  Now that they aren't available, we're trying to do something the game never originally intended: Slotting DOs in levels 1-10.  If I were to try to fill the remaining slots in my level 7 pic up there with purchased DOs it would cost me almost double what I currently have in inf.

 

Then again, leveling is fast down here.  As we go up, the number of enemies defeated per level goes up dramatically.  So there should be more drops to fill available slots... hopefully.

[Ukase]

Leveling without 2xp and without dfb doesn't seem that fast to me right now, lol. 

[ZemX]

6 minutes ago, Ukase said:

I notice in AE - when I farm, the drops align with the origin of the farmer. I wish the missions outside of AE would do this.

 

Either that or sticking to a particular origin per enemy type would be better than truly random.  With such a large pool of origins enhancements, making them random across the whole pool just effectively means reducing the rate of usable enhancements greatly.   At least if they were locked to the enemy type you could try to steer yourself towards those arcs or, worst case, spend some time street sweeping for enhancements.  Often blueside you are given a choice of contacts to be introduced to next that mentions the enemy type right there in the choice window, so it would help.

 

It's all irrelevant now, of course with abundant means of getting exactly what you need... when you're not doing crazy challenges anyway. 😘

[ZemX]

2 minutes ago, Ukase said:

Leveling without 2xp and without dfb doesn't seem that fast to me right now, lol. 

 

Fair point.  I should have said faster.. not fast.   Getting 1-7 in an hour or so probably already seems "fast" by comparison to where you're at now.

[Ukase]

I'm at level 12, and it's taken about 3 hours, I think. If I see an NPC walking around with a name beginning with M, I'll ask. 

Apparently, I've spent more time afk than I thought. Maribel in Steel Canyon just told me 9 hours. I know I went afk for a trip to Costco yesterday, so that was at least a couple of hours. So, I have no real clue. 

Edited July 15, 2021 by Ukase

[iBot]

Could be completely wrong here but I always thought that DO and SO drops are random but with a slight bias based on your origin.  It seemed to me as if when DOs would drop there is a chance it will be useless maybe 40% of the time.  That would slowly change to less than 20% as it starts to shift to SOs.  Once SOs start to drop, the bias continues to shift in that more and more SOs would drop that are my origin.  Then at some point the game is set so that the majority of the drops are your origin.  Could just be confirmation bias since I've never sat down and run the statistics from 1 - 50 controlling for origin and mob type.  But it does seem that once you hit 40ish you stop getting SOs of other origins or at the least maybe 1 out of every 10 or so is outside of origin.

 

I do think mobs drop all types but there are weighted biases for certain types either science/tech or nat/mutant/magic.  Natural may be with science/tech.  Not sure.  Funny part is I mostly make science/tech origin toons so I'm not certain on the effects there with different mobs.  No doubt there is someone out there with an extensive spreadsheet showing the complete breakdown but I don't have that kind of time.🤪

 

Still interested to see how your slotting goes for this as you level.  I too agree that the stopping of XP to build up some salvage/recipes/funds is a decent idea since as said you get to increase in power while the mobs around you don't.

[Ukase]

51 minutes ago, iBot said:

Still interested to see how your slotting goes for this as you level.  I too agree that the stopping of XP to build up some salvage/recipes/funds is a decent idea since as said you get to increase in power while the mobs around you don't.

Well, I won't shut the door on turning xp off, but first I want to start getting more common IO recipes. They'll last longer. My gut says that turning xp off would make the challenge a bit too easy - in a tradeoff for more time as a lowbie. 

[Ukase]

Well, level 13, just did the SSA 1/7, Who Will Die twice, for an accuracy SO each time. No rule against going red side and doing the villain version for another one to put in Gloom. 

I am anticipating more random salvage for the few common IO recipes I have. Some are level 15, some are 10, which I'll probably sell. Fortunately, endurance isn't an issue with AM running, not like it was with the dark/dark. But, I do miss Shadowfall, because I can't just buy a celerity. It's really ...well, not difficult, but a little frustrating, because even if I get the exact IO recipe I want from the rng, I've got to have double love just to get the proper salvage to craft it. 

Current inf sits at 134,591. Just enough to pay to craft some IO recipes if I only had the right salvage. Soon, I hope, lol. 

[iBot]

Don't forget to run the invention tutorial in the university too.  You get a free IO out of that.

[Ukase]

Hah, I remember. I wondered if it was possible to re-run it through ouro, lol. 

[DrZeus]

On 7/14/2021 at 5:52 AM, Ukase said:

 

 Comment deleted by user.

Edited July 16, 2021 by DrZeus