maps drop rate

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SL4Y3R wrote:

Personally,Guys,

Just increase your IIQ stats. Roll for maps with increase in rares, mazes, unique bosses, etc. Try to aim for a +quantity mod on the map of 18%+

That is all.

And it is this flaw that I constantly try to point out. You shouldn't have to be forced into a handful of mods when there are so many out there.

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Islidox wrote:

We've worked our characters and molded them into survivable killing avatars of doom by the end of Merciless difficulty. Our gear has been crafted or traded to bring out the best of our builds' abilities. Sure, maybe our equipment had a bit of IIQ or IIR. Enough to get some orb drops and rare item drops.

And then we have to work for the endgame content, i.e. maps, where the average user's IIQ/IIR just doesn't cut it.

The current incarnation of the map system is leaving a lot of players frustrated. The concept behind it is brilliant, but the matter of sustainability and sacrifice to achieve the endgame is something that boggles me to no end.

This so closely matches my own opinion that I'm starting to think I may be posting while asleep under alias accounts.

13 pages in it would be great to get a developer comment as to their intent behind the 'challenging' map drop rate, and as to whether this is something they're still reviewing and open to tweaking based on...based on what I'm not sure.

Didn't they nerf Improved Item Quantity just as the maps came out by removing the prefix? Why do they torture us so?

I wonder if they have considered allowing the final boss of every Map to drop another Map... so players are never forced to do anything but Maps if they want.

If you don't get to the boss or can't kill the boss, you will have to rely on alternative drops.

Additionally, I bet that trading maps will be huge... I've seen some streams where people have dozens of maps sitting in their stash, and they get 1-2 maps per map run.

They should bring back Mealstrom of Chaos as an alternative to pyramide grinding. Let have MoC lvl 60 monsters (61-62 magic/rare) so we can farm maps there.

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siis wrote:

They should bring back Mealstrom of Chaos as an alternative to pyramide grinding. Let have MoC lvl 60 monsters (61-62 magic/rare) so we can farm maps there.

whats the point of lv60 maps then?

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Shriekingwillow wrote:

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Islidox wrote:

We've worked our characters and molded them into survivable killing avatars of doom by the end of Merciless difficulty. Our gear has been crafted or traded to bring out the best of our builds' abilities. Sure, maybe our equipment had a bit of IIQ or IIR. Enough to get some orb drops and rare item drops.

And then we have to work for the endgame content, i.e. maps, where the average user's IIQ/IIR just doesn't cut it.

The current incarnation of the map system is leaving a lot of players frustrated. The concept behind it is brilliant, but the matter of sustainability and sacrifice to achieve the endgame is something that boggles me to no end.

This so closely matches my own opinion that I'm starting to think I may be posting while asleep under alias accounts.

13 pages in it would be great to get a developer comment as to their intent behind the 'challenging' map drop rate, and as to whether this is something they're still reviewing and open to tweaking based on...based on what I'm not sure.

Didn't they nerf Improved Item Quantity just as the maps came out by removing the prefix? Why do they torture us so?

:D

But yea, finally committed to doing the map I had in my stash with the Hordes mod and a decent item find.

Did not find a single map.

And now... I'm trying to swap out equipment for higher IIQ/IIR because I can't find any maps while trying to retain near the same stats from the old equipment. All because I want to play the endgame. It's depressing to say the least.

I see a few of you that have done more natural progression type testing, but many of you here haven't. I understand some of your complaints, but here's my experience in the 2 week HC race.

1. I completed act 2 merciless at level 62 on my pure melee DW duelist. At the time, I had 5 white level 60 maps in my stash that I had acquired in act 2. My IIQ during act 2 was in the 30-40 range, a number that is hardly unobtainable for the normal player, even in hardcore. It was also something I admittedly acquired more by accident than great foresight.

2. At the conclusion of the race, I was level 73 with 6 maps in my inventory. I had obtained 1 map via trade during the race, meaning that I leveled from 62-73 almost (the almost being a few jaunts in to pyramid when I didn't have the time/desire to start a new map. I don't recall finding a single new map there) entirely via maps with a net gain of 0 maps. I did most of that with the same 30-40ish IIQ range, only going up to ~70ish IIQ for the last day or two. By that point, I was in no danger in level 60 maps and could afford to sacrifice some DPS for an IIQ support gem in an effort to find higher level maps.

3. I suicided my way back to default once the HC race ended, upped my IIQ to about 90, and am now at 13 maps having only done about half a dozen more maps.


My conclusions:

1. A reasonably obtainable number of IIQ (in the 30-40 range) will keep you reasonably stocked in maps.

2. It's a small sample size, but high IIQ (80+) might flood the market with more maps than GGG intends.

3. A reduction on the effect of IIQ on map drop rate may be in the game's best interest. I don't think it needs anything remotely drastic. Just maybe tweaking IIQ's benefit on map drop rate downward while increasing the innate drop rate for maps.

Other thoughts:

1. I would be in favor of a quest that rewarded a map for a character's first merciless oversoul kill.

2. Massive/labyrinthine of hordes/champions/commanders is either too good or the quantity bonus from actual "debuffs" is not good enough. Still. Take your pick.

3. I'm somewhat concerned with how the map levels are playing out and will play out at later levels. Bluntly, my map "progress" looks like this: lvl 60 map > 60 map > 60 map > 61 map > 60 map > 60 map > 61 map > 62 map (!) > 60 map (false alarm) etc. I've been in 1 level 64 map from 62-73, which I blew 3 chisels and about 40 alts on to make it massive of...I forget, and was rewarded with 1 level 60 map for my trouble. I've never gotten a level 63 map and have been in maybe half a dozen 62s. I can largely sleepwalk though rare 60-61 maps at this point but am having very little luck in sustaining runs of higher level maps, and I don't know if that's GGG's intention or bad luck on my part. Either way, it's pretty boring.

(Edit: 3 comes after 2..._

this^x2

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Zweihainder wrote:

2. Massive/labyrinthine of hordes/champions/commanders is either too good or the quantity bonus from actual "debuffs" is not good enough. Still. Take your pick.

Don't foget that massive/labyrinthine maps are just simply bigger. They don't "actually" drop more maps, they're just bigger with more monsters. Perhaps a more accurate measure would be maps per minute (or hour, or days for the pessimists ;)). That dude in another thread spent 2.5 hours in one map. If he wouldn't be able to find 2.5 times the maps one could find in a 1 hour map then something would be off there as well. Nerfing them based on the wrong metric would not be very constructive.

In that regard the bigger map mods have one crucial advantage though: They keep you out of the Pyramid and in the maps system for longer, making them appear more fun. From what I've read, most people prefer running any kind of map to grinding the Pyramid over and over.

Maps per minute is not relevant. It is how many maps you find in one map is relevant to your ability to sustain constant inflow of maps to your stash and economy and your ability to get into higher tier maps.