The Actual Problem With Map-Only Uniques

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Auxion wrote:

I don't play the game for anyone else, I don't care what they have equipped or do, and I don't have 16hrs a day to play.

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Kirielis wrote:

When I was mapping in SC, I was frequently the only person in the group who wasn't using a Kaom's and 6L Glare, or a Shav, or a 6L at all. That's because I tend to throw my currency earnings into crafting rather than buying gear upgrades after a certain point, not because I don't have the currency.

The group that'll be hit hardest by this change is the one that corresponds to me and my map buddies. We aren't a ladder group, though some of us have friends in ladder groups. (Ladder group is defined here by the purchase of 76+ maps in order to run as few maps in 75- as possible, since they're bad xp.)

This group is now no longer able to get the best uniques as lucky drops, because we mostly map 72-75. You know, the ones which don't absolutely require a maze, and which are reasonably cheap to acquire when the RNG is in a bad mood.

Suddenly, the bottom has fallen out of our supply of good uniques, since 76+ are a ridiculously small fraction of all maps run, whether ours or not. Effectively, the only remaining supply is from the ladder groups.

Do you know how ladder groups work? I'm sure you do.

The entire remaining supply will be traded between ladder group members FIRST, and friends of ladder group members SECOND, and everyone else LAST. Since there are people joining the first two groups continuously, it means these uniques effectively don't exist for the vast majority of the population. It means every high map unique dropped within the first couple months of a short-term league never makes it to the population at large, and only a small fraction of the ones dropped after that point do.

Goes double in hardcore leagues, since - quoting Qarl here - if you look at the statistics, if you want to die, wear a Shav. These guys will be back laddering with their buddies in a few days, check the Nemesis ladders if you don't believe me, and the next Shav that drops has already been reserved for them.

Everyone can get to merciless Piety/Dominus with a character capable of farming her/him. Everyone can farm currency at their own pace, whether in storyline zones or in maps. Some of these people, in the past, would have gotten lucky, and some would have gotten rich and then bought their shav from someone who got lucky. And some would have played the market, but you already knew that.

Not everyone can afford the time and currency investment that consistent mapping with the ladder groups requires. Not everyone wants to nor should be required to. That's fine. When that means they'll never see a BiS stat stick unique like Thunderfists, that's fine.

When it means they'll never see a build enabler, that's where it isn't fine. And the problem is not with map-only unique drops, it's with that particular build enabler, IMO. Which is a discussion for another day.

tl;dr I'm fine with it.

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DirkAustin wrote:

And casuals like me cant ever get map only uniques. :(

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DirkAustin wrote:

And casuals like me cant ever get map only uniques. :(

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return33 wrote:

It doesnt change my gameplay or my fun playing the game if everybody has a koams.....