Weekly Discussion Thread #3: Grinding And Lootrunning

Web spitter can be gotten from the shop or from the rain, so I listed it

 

They're talking about Dungeon Drops not Dungeon Shop Items. Heat Sink is a shop item, those are drops.

 

lootrunning is OP, and now that I think about it, I really think it shouldn't be a thing. When I was low level and didn't know the map, loot chests were just nice reawards for keeping your eyes open, and exploring that pointless cave. I think that the best thing to do would be to make the spawn placement of chests random, and perhaps the level of the chest could be determined by the amount of blocks beside it. That would, however, require coding, and plenty of balancing.

 

I have some stuff to say.

About the Quantity of Chests
From observations, the amount of Loot 4 chests known across the map(about thirty Tier 4 chests unless more have been found)is a fair amount. Tier 3 chests are placed way too generously, however, which makes lootrunning incredibly strong(over forty Tier 3 chests in Corkus and 5-10 chests in Dernel Jungle and Ice Canyon), and I estimate there are likely 200 of these Tier 3 chests around the world, which in my opinion is WAY too much. Locations that are very dense in Tier 3 chests are hotspots for lootrunning, while other spots are overshadowed.

Loot-Exclusive Items
While there are some buyers looking for good loot-exclusives(all four Uth weapons, Aphotic, Ophiuchus, and these are just the legendaries), I find that loot-exclusive items have been dominating the chests. For example, how many of you have found Black(96-100 legendary dagger that is not loot-exclusive)in a Tier 3 or 4 chest compared to Sitis(96-100 legendary dagger that is loot-exclusive)? It's pretty rare for this to happen, and if this happened to any readers, congrats. This shows how overpowering loot-exclusive items are in Tier 3 and 4 chests, and while it is possible that non-loot-exclusive items are found in Tier 3 or 4 chests(found an excellent Pisces in one chest), the chances for it to show up seems to be way too low. In order to get items like Dark Channeler, Ignition, Soul Signal, and a few other rares, I either grind Tier 1 or 2 chests(which are the majority of Molten Heights, maybe the only place where the quantity of loot chests are balanced)or grind mobs.

My Defense for Grinding
Grinding does give XP, and items, yes, but then there's CSST, and if you decide to stay behind and loot other players' spoils, you'll find a few rares and legendaries that other players left behind. Grinding is likely the middle ground of CSST(mass XP gain)and lootrunning(mass item gain), but it feels weaker than both. The only reason I would grind instead of lootrun would be to try to find legendaries that drop normally, compared to loot-exclusive items, which, like I have stated, dominate Tier 3 and Tier 4 chests.

TLDR: Lootrunning gives a boatload of items, but the fact that Tier 3 and 4 chests are saturated with loot-exclusive items and run dry with non-loot-exclusive items is one of the few reasons why grinding is possibly a good idea.

Feel free to quote this for your thoughts.

-Alta

 

its both merchant and dropped at the end of the dungeon on emerald rain

I made it more clear on wynndata

 

My issue with farming and lootrunning is that I find it difficult to see and appreciate any progression, wheres because quests offer a stable income, I never lost motivation because I knew that everytime I played I was making progress.

I even tried tracking the number of chests looted on a notepad document, like x chests / 4500. Despite that, I lost motivation in a couple of days.

Acquiring even half a stack feels nearly impossible by lootrunning, but it feels easy with quests - even if I have to delete a lvl100 class and re-do it. Even if I'm not getting good le till the lvl70 quests, I can still maintain the motivation.

Summary:
I feel that quests (consistent) > mob farming / lootrunning (inconsistent)

 

Don’t you only get like 2 stacks from them?

 

Yes for each character. But I've never gotten close to 2 stacks without quests. Back when I used to lootrun regularly, I rarely rose above the 20le mark D:

I managed to save up easily for an Alkatraz by quests - without those quests I would be stuck right at the bottom with misery

 

Still it takes an ass load of time to get to lvl 70. I technically haven’t timed it, so maybe you could get Le faster through speedrunning quests. But given how some people have multiple stacks without finding a mythic, I would think there would be a better way.

 

You're kinda right - lootrunning / mob farming are like the thunder element and quests are like the fire element.

I hope the anology helps

 

I’d just find a good lootrun and a good loot set. At least then you have a good chance of finding a mythic.

 

I already did ages ago but I gave up and sold it. The chances are so rare that I could be farming for months upon end and getting nothing. In that time I could have gotten a good 2 - 4 stacks depending on how much time I invest into the game.

My point is more on the aspect of mental health rather than anything.