Decreased drop rates - unfair?

[Anubis]

Hi, first post here, love the game etc

I started energy farming items around 1.5weeks ago, the obvious well known farm is the M4 A1's. The only thing I didn't like about it was the exp gainas i'm level 83 and trying to keep exp gain to a minimum. When I started the drop rate seemed good, I saw a guy with nearly 200 of the gun. I wanted to get opinions (I read the thread lower down too) on whether this is true? At first I was getting ~5 every 2K energy spent, now i'm lucky to get 1-2 for the same amount of energy. The exp gain for the (now?) low drop rate just is not worth it.

I saw another guy with 232 D Taxi's, as I only have 297 Vehicles, I thought this could be a good farm, I didn't know what the drop rate is or was, but I only got 1 in 2600 energy. The exp gain per energy spent is only roughly 2/3's of the M4 A1's but the drop rate seems terrible.

If the drop rates have been lowerd, is that not unfair on the players who have not had the oppurtunity to farm these items and other NPC loot compared to the players who managed to build up a herfty supply of these items?

Farming NPc loot is also a fun part of the game, even if these farming locations are wide spread knowledge for the players who are willing to do a few google searches or check the forums, why lower the drop rates?

I read that farming in peak times might affect it, is this true?

[Piff]

This is my first post but ive been reading around the forums for the past week.

I am 100% sure Mark said someplace that it does not matter when you are farming an item. It is just a strict percentage drop rate.

[Anubis]

If the drop rate has been altered on some of these farming locations I think it would at least be respectful for the devs (Mark) to inform us of the change so we know beforehand when spending energy.

Instead of changing drop percentages for these things a fairer option would be altering the stats on these items (obviously players who managed to stack up a large supply of these items before the %'s get nurfed would disagree).

[Joeycool]

I notice that the people who have posted on this thread only have 2 posts each.

The people who have contributed to the forum have known about these locations for ages.

If you had contributed 3 or 4 weeks ago maybe you would have found out about the locations sooner.

[2Legit]

Exactly ^^ and thats partly the reason why the drop rate has decreased dramatically. People who knew the 2 locations b4 were all hittin it all at once. And now, the devs figured that ppl found out the locations they prob decided to lower the drops because at their end they can lose money if people focus on it rather than buying gold.

[Babytway]

I haven't known bout this for too long but the drop rate seems to be the same ever since i tried to start getting the m4a1, i also don't think its unfair that you or I didn't get a chance to get them while they were hot, Some ppl missed out and some didnt, the new players who start today goin to have same rate drop as everyone and i think thats fair.

[khung003]

if you don't think Mark is right, why don't you check my posts above his comment (the one with flat percentage) to see it's right or wrong ?

[Mb Tnk]

I have to agree with khung, player hit frequency definitly does have an impact on the drop rate, I've "tried" to test this one to death, have leveled up toooo fast doing it. Picking times when you think other players are not hitting the spot (based on your time zone), does work like a charm... to the point where drop rates go down to 1:3/1:2. During "high traffic times" I hit drop rates of 1:20-1:35.... now the question is, is it a programmed feature OR is the server overwhelmed during high traffic times.... who knows :)

[khung003]

I think it's purposely programmed by developers.

And the worse thing I find out is it's not based on the number of people hitting the spot but it based on the number of people visiting that area; but anyway, based on which numbers, it is no difference to everyone.

[Mb Tnk]

...it's not based on the number of people hitting the spot but it based on the number of people visiting that area....

Thanks for the info khung, very helpful.

[Anubis]

Im going with that right now too, when an area is lagged out (where nowhere else in the game is) I know theres no point.

[David Abraham]

I stated before that the drop rates for me have declined incredibly since I began the famous loot for a "special gun". Yet again, I will still say they changed the drop rates, nobody can convince me otherwise. I believe this will just create yet a larger gap from the players that have already looted hundreds of them.

However, the DEVS will do whatever they have to do, regardless if we approve or not. Just sucks though!