Oi vei, the lack of curated loot for events is getting increasingly unpleasant

Ingel_Riday · October 23

First off... I'll admit it: I get why ZOS doesn't curate the loot. Keeps people plugging away at the RNG slot machines longer. Encourages trading between players, either in person or via guild traders. I get it.

But MAN does it feel bad, especially in events like the Undaunted event or the Halloween event. Every year, ZOS adds new opal style pages to the loot tables in the Undaunted event... but they don't take the old ones out of the loot tables and dump them into a "catch-up bag" or what-have-you. No, the old ones stay in the loot table.

So let's do a scenario: It's Year 2 and two more opal pages are added to the eight hypothetical ones existing. 2/10 chance of getting one of the new pages that you want. 20% chance. Now it's Year 3 and two more pages are added. 2/12 chance. 16.67% chance of getting one of the new pages that you want. Now it's Year 4... 2/14. You get the idea. Gets worse every single year.

Frankly, it sucks. Every year has worse RNG odds than the last, and the cynic in me wonders if it's intentional to encourage buying event tickets at 200 crowns a pop.

The current Halloween event isn't any better. The Glenmoril Wyrd outfit is still in the loot tables, choking up the system. The Crowbourne armor is still in the loot tables and choking up the system. Good luck getting one of the new Wickerchain Soul style pages. Hope you enjoy running 30 to 40 minutes of dailies every day for the small RNG chance of clawing your way through increasingly awful odds for one piece of seven.

Or you can just buy the new pages with event tickets, except that 20 of the 28 event tickets are spoken for by the new house fragments. So you have 8 tickets left, which means you can buy one page. For the others... you just gotta claw your way through the slot machine, spend excessive sums at guild traders for them, or... pay up pay up pay up. 5 event tickets for a single page x 200 crowns per ticket = 1,000 crowns. Roughly $10.

I'm not sure where the fun resides in the above. The grind and the low probability-fueled tedium sap the joy out of an otherwise aesthetically pleasing, off-kilter event. I love the Detritus planes of torment and stuff like that, but how quickly the novelty gives way to "better pull the slot machine lever again. 1/25 or so chance of getting what I want from a golden plunder skull at this point. Oh boy. Over a sufficiently large enough sample size, this will eventually end."

Edit addition: the above two events are the worst offenders that I can think of. Most other events aggressively shovel the old drops into the "catch-up" bag so that the lack of curated loot is mitigated by decent RNG odds. You have no guarantee of getting a page you don't already have, but you got a 1/7 chance, the event goes on 12 days, and you can trade your duplicates readily. This current Halloween event... is just awful feeling.

Also, edited for typos. I'm so mentally drained from running three endeavours, doing four Writhing Wall dailies, and doing 7 golden plunder skull activities (delve boss that I had to wait five minutes for, WB that I had to wait five minutes for, a public dungeon boss that I had to wait five minutes for, a dolmen, a base game normal dungeon, the Crowbourne Hunter daily quest, and the Hollowjack daily fight) that it's hard to not mistype. I'm going to go read legalese on an egg donor website. It'll feel like a break from work.

shadyjane62 · October 23

I laughed so hard when the Glenmoril Wyrd popped up. Again couldn't even give it away.

I think they were cleaning out the basement for these rewards.

blktauna · October 24

I just destroy the glenmoril stuff now.

Ishtarknows · October 24

Isn't it always the case you can get 1 of the new styles per day and after that it's old stuff? Any duplicates of the new styles can be sold/traded with other players for what you still need.
All my guilds have older players offering up the old styles for newbies in guild chat, and in a couple of days they'll do the same for the new one.

Hapexamendios · October 24

I've been destroying the glenmoril stuff for a few years now. I couldn't give them away so it's just easier that way.

colossalvoids · October 24

Trying to prolong people's online status for as long as possible and make sure they would see a store more is understandable but it's getting to a point people just don't do it anymore and get event stuff after the event instead of going on a treadmill as usual. People care way more about their time now and if it's being respected.

heaven13 · October 24

Ishtarknows wrote: »

Isn't it always the case you can get 1 of the new styles per day and after that it's old stuff? Any duplicates of the new styles can be sold/traded with other players for what you still need.
All my guilds have older players offering up the old styles for newbies in guild chat, and in a couple of days they'll do the same for the new one.

Maybe that used to be the case but certainly doesn't seem so now.

tomfant · October 24

I'm getting littered with those old styles but haven't seen one of the new ones. I wish the new style pages were a priority drop, and the old styles start dropping after, just like it is for Midyear Whitestrake Mayhem.

twisttop138 · October 24

tomfant wrote: »

I'm getting littered with those old styles but haven't seen one of the new ones. I wish the new style pages were a priority drop, and the old styles start dropping after, just like it is for Midyear Whitestrake Mayhem.

I got both rune boxes right away which was very cool. I was on a 4 year break so this is my first witches back. I too would love to have curated loot or have the grab bag you buy with tickets be curated.

Also, speaking of rewards. Does anyone else think the wicker chain head piece looks like an upside down waste paper basket? I'm actually pretty disappointed by this outfit though I know they can't please everyone and if you like it, cool. But for Halloween, there's a million things they could do.

Edit spelling

GeneralGrundmann · October 24

Yep, totally a waste paper basket!

AngryPenguin · October 24

The first gold loot box of the day should always have one of the newest styles. That's not how ZOS set it up though. And there is a ton of old stuff that should be removed from the loot tables.

Ingel_Riday · October 24

Ishtarknows wrote: »

Isn't it always the case you can get 1 of the new styles per day and after that it's old stuff? Any duplicates of the new styles can be sold/traded with other players for what you still need.
All my guilds have older players offering up the old styles for newbies in guild chat, and in a couple of days they'll do the same for the new one.

If it is, then I guess that I'm an unlucky outlier?

Based on my personal experience, I think that the Crowborne Hunter style pages are still counting as "1 of the new styles per day." Which is... awful.

Yesterday, I got the Crowborne Hunter jerkin. My one new style page of the day. Today, I got the Crowborne Hunter hat. My one new style page of the day. I already have the full outfit from last year. I don't need it, it doesn't trade for anything, and... I'm losing hope that I'm going to get the Wickerchain Soul done without spending oodles on guild traders the day before the event ends (I'm not spending TEN BUCKS on one piece of seven. For ten bucks, I can get a costume/emote/spray tag bundle on Marvel Rivals. This is terrible value). Which... sucks. It sucks to log in, spend ten minutes doing your three endeavors, and then do the annual cycle of:

- Pick up Hollowjack Lord daily and get him done with a pug. Gold plunder skull. Pull the slot machine lever and hope.
- Pick up the crowborne cursed feather quest.
- Do a Dolmen. Gold plunder skull. Pull the slot machine lever and hope.
- Do a delve boss. Gold plunder skull. Pull the slot machine lever and hope.
- Do a world boss. Gold plunder skull. Pull the slot machine lever and hope.
- Go finish the cursed feather quest with the feathers you picked up. Gold plunder skull. Pull the slot machine lever and hope.
- Do a public dungeon boss. Gold plunder skull. Pull the slot machine lever and hope.
- Do a base game dungeon solo. On normal mode, it's very friendly and fast enough. Gold plunder skull. Pull the slot machine lever and hope.
- Stop here because I am BURNED OUT already. I am not doing a trial for a gold plunder skull or that tediously wretched Infinite Archive for a gold plunder skull. Enough is enough for the day.

As if this unrewarding slot machine wasn't bad enough in of itself, I still have the Writhing Wall waiting for me every day. Already have the Wormwrithe armor pieces and the Haj Mota pet done? Well... they're still in the tables alongside the Stirk Fellowship pages. Good luck. In two weeks, the seven Wormwrither weapon pieces and the parts for the skull caltrops will join the loot tables... and have no precedence over the older stuff you already have. Good luck with your increasingly awful RNG odds. Engagement! :-/

Ugh. Honestly, I look forward to events ending more than anything else at this point. The brief interludes between them feel like vacations. "Ah, no 30 minutes of tedium today to avoid FOMO. Now I can take my alt through Rivenspire in peace and enjoy myself... for two weeks until the next busy-body event kicks in."

redlink1979 · October 24

ZOS, isnt't about time to place the Glenmoril Wyrd stuff in the old stuff container? This style has been around for 6 years now.

zsquared8080 · October 24

Ingel_Riday wrote: »

Based on my personal experience, I think that the Crowborne Hunter style pages are still counting as "1 of the new styles per day." Which is... awful.

This... would explain so much. I've gotten Crowborne Hunter style pages each day, but Wickerchain is being stubbornly elusive. I'm about ready to just stop doing activity for the Witches Festival, because grinding for nonstop junk isn't a good use of my time. Grinding for the new style pages barely meets the bar.

Rkindaleft · October 25

redlink1979 wrote: »

ZOS, isnt't about time to place the Glenmoril Wyrd stuff in the old stuff container? This style has been around for 6 years now.

It should be standard for any previous years' rewards to go in the grab bags. I don't know why they haven't done this yet. It's just inflating the drop pool with stuff nobody cares about.

I don't need my 37th Dremora daggers or my 29th Glenmoril Wyrd gloves. New players can still get them from the grab bags, or since they're almost worthless from traders for extremely cheap.

Syldras · October 26

GeneralGrundmann wrote: »

Yep, totally a waste paper basket!

Maybe it's for all the trash writs and worthless stacks of old style pages.

fizl101 · October 28

I still don't have any wickerchain. Today I got the body markings which is my first new item for witches festival

reazea · October 28

AngryPenguin wrote: »

The first gold loot box of the day should always have one of the newest styles. That's not how ZOS set it up though. And there is a ton of old stuff that should be removed from the loot tables.

This is my problem with the halloween event this year too. Too much old stuff and too low drop rates for the stuff we are actually after.

AzuraFan · October 28

Yes, the rewards that only drop once a day should be curated. There's nothing more irritating than getting the same page over and over again, while you're still missing a bunch. Happens way too often.