I completely agree.
Managing leads can be incredibly frustrating when you keep getting duplicates or things you don't need.
Implementing curated lead drops would be an amazing quality-of-life improvement.
I sincerely ask ZOS to listen to the community on this one and consider this great proposal.
It would show that our feedback truly matters!

To add to this, the current RNG for rare and mythic leads is just too low.
Standing in one spot for hours farming a single boss or opening dozens of caches only to get duplicates—or absolutely nothing—feels incredibly unrewarding.
Curated drops wouldn't just improve our quality of life; they would respect the players' time.

Please, ZOS, listen to this heartfelt request and give this brilliant suggestion a chance!"

Haenk wrote: »

I just don't do the ones with 3 codex entries any more, so I'll make sure, I don't get this lead again anytime soon.

That might work for some, but many completionist players actually want to unlock all three codex entries for every single item. It’s a core part of how we enjoy the game.
We shouldn’t have to completely abandon a piece of content or stop engaging with it just to avoid bad RNG.
Making curated drops available would simply make it fair and possible for completionists to reach their goals without endless, frustrating grinds.

yes curated leads would be awes

edit:
it would be awesome!
if it is coupled with a huge increase in drop chance for leads, especially from Treasure Maps

If it's any consolation, I think update 52 is gonna massively increase the drop rate of old leads so that they're nearly guaranteed until you complete the codex entry. Something like that the devs said. You'd still need to do the content just not farm it for hours on end.

Curated lead drops would enormously improve a painful, painful grind to get antiquities, some of which are taking me years to get. Please consider this, ZOS.

James-Wayne wrote: »

As leads now last for a whole year and the fact you can't get a lead once it's dropped it technically is curated... For a year.

Having leads last for a year does help a bit, but then again, it's not as good as lead curation. Especially since we don't know how they drop. Do they calculate which lead to drop then nullify the drop if it's been collected (in which case you get nothing), or do they drop from a pool of uncollected leads? Some of us theorise that it might be the former, because I can go for weeks in IA without a single lead drop. One would think that leads would drop more often if lead drops were assigned from a ready pool of uncollected leads.

Also, that doesn't really help with antiquities where you've completed the codex but haven't yet picked up a new lead.

James-Wayne wrote: »

As leads now last for a whole year and the fact you can't get a lead once it's dropped it technically is curated... For a year.

From my own experience, I’d say that just because you have a Lead doesn’t mean you won’t get the same Lead as a drop—you just can’t visualy see that it dropped because you already have it...
Personally, I’m betting that you can get the exact same Lead you already have (unexcavated); the only thing that happens is that you don’t visually see the drop (since you already have it). That’s why it’s such a pain to farm Leads from Treasure Maps and in IA—the odds are low(especially Treasure Maps) at 2/3 and 3/3. And simply put, if you have 8 out of 10 possible Leads that can drop there still unexcavated (these numbers are just an example), it’ll take a lot of time to get the 2 Leads you’re missing because some of the 8 you already have might drop—you just can’t see the drop visually. Of course, nothing has been officially confirmed, and this is just a theory, but I have a complete codex (3/3) for all Antiquities, and I simply think that, as I described above, that’s how it works.

Rishikesa108 wrote: »

LunaFlora wrote: »

yes curated leads would be awes

edit:
it would be awesome!
if it is coupled with a huge increase in drop chance for leads, especially from Treasure Maps

I think one of the places where curated leads are most missed is Infinite Archive.
I've completed everything in there, done countless runs, and yet I've yet to finish the lead codexes that only drop there.

My experience differs, I also completed everything in the IA, collected all sets and got all leads three times while doing this.

Sordidfairytale wrote: »

Vestige difficulty should have 99% increased lead drop chance as a reward.

It could be applied like a buff, with a duration, so you could pre-buff before a non overland encounter. (IA/Dungeon)

One of the new mundus could also be a way to increase the chance for leads (and other rarities) to drop.

These are such cool ideas and I whole heartedly agree! We need something for leads because they get very grindy in the newer areas.

James-Wayne wrote: »

As leads now last for a whole year and the fact you can't get a lead once it's dropped it technically is curated... For a year.

You misunderstood how lead drops work.
If you hold onto un-dug leads for a year, it doesn't mean they stop dropping for you. Every time there is a chance for them to drop, you technically "get" them in a virtual way. You just don't notice it, making it look like nothing dropped at all.
This is exactly why it’s always extremely hard to get leads for items that require a set of 10 different pieces, for example.
If drops were curated, you would only get the specific leads you actually need, excluding the ones you don't want.

DarkDajin wrote: »

Curated lead drops are in the pipeline, although might be pushed back with the layoffs.

Source, a dev stream from shortly before the layoffs talking about player experience improvements.

I don't think so. I know the conversation you're referencing, and I think what they meant is that the drop rate for the First Drop in the codex will be expanded to the 2nd and 3rd drop, so those drop more often. After the 3rd, the drop rate will retreat down to the tiny number it is now. But that doesn't equal Curation.

If you have different info, I'd love to see/hear it. I easily could have zoned out and missed it.