Nex Drop Table Changes & Monster Examine
Following the release of Nex, we've made early changes based on what we observed in its first week. Since then we've seen a lot of discussion surrounding one particular change: the Loot Table adjustments.
To clarify - we always make week-one changes to PvM encounters. This can range from fixing bugs, altering mechanics, or indeed, finetuning drop rates after reviewing how players interact with the content. Nex is no exception.
Our data showed that players were able to defeat Nex much faster than we anticipated, and the Loot Table changes were made to reflect the faster kill speeds.
We generally do adjust drop rates for new content, and the information we provide in newsposts is typically vague unless drop rates have been revealed. However, the big difference this time around was that community crowdsourced data is now readily available, and you're all able to get a rough idea of how things work behind the scenes - especially when it comes to drop rates.
In hindsight, we should have been clearer from the start about the changes we were making, and WHY we were making them. As some of you have rightly pointed out, the lack of detail appeared to some as being dishonest. While we believe that adjusting the drop rates was the right decision, we agree that we could have communicated the change much better.
So, in good faith (and to debunk any incorrect numbers out there!) here are the unique drop rates for Nex:
Pre-update
- 1/43 per kill, divided among players based on contribution
Post-update
- 1/53 per kill, divided among players based on contribution.
Once you successfully hit the Unique Table, you'll roll again for a specific unique, based on the ratios below:
- Torva Armour: 2/12 for each individual piece of the armour set
- Nihil Horn: 2/12
- Zaryte Vambraces: 3/12
- Ancient Hilt: 1/12
Nexling is based on 1/500, rolled independently from the Unique Table listed above.
Nex's loot is distributed as follows:
- If two players are in the room and both have contributed 50% to the fight, they'll each have a 1/53*2 chance to get a unique drop. The chance of receiving a unique from Nex is the same, but both players have half the chance.
- There's an additional bonus in place for the player who contributed most (the MVP). This player will get Big Bones in addition to any other drops.
- The MVP bonus provides a 10% boost to regular loot and the chance of getting a unique drop.
So how does this all play out in practice? Here's an example:
- As of yesterday's change, an MVP with 60% of the contribution towards the fight would have a 1/79 chance to receive one of the uniques. It would have been 1/65 before the change.
While you're here, we'd like to quickly talk about Monster Examine! We'll be re-enabling the Monster Examine spell for Nex next week. Disabling it on launch had a mixed reception, but ultimately it achieved exactly what we hoped it would - loads of day one theorycrafting and setup variety! It's been great watching you all figure out Nex's weaknesses through sheer brute force, and although we had intended to enable the spell with the release of Combat Achievements for Nex, we'll be enabling the spell next week so that you can confirm your suspicions and further optimise your builds.
We'll consider disabling Monster Examine for new content releases in the future, taking what we've learnt over the last week to help improve our overall approach.
In the coming weeks, we'll review Nex again to see how the fight holds up against your ultra-efficient strategies, and see if her stats and mechanics are still in a place we're happy with.
We really appreciate all the feedback you've left so far, and we'll continue to keep you updated as and when we make further changes!
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