Special on Heroic mode boss impact the drop rate of shard?

[P4R4NO1D]

Ok so I been wondering does using a special attack on the Heroic mode boss impact the drop rate of shards? Because in Relic ruins I use a special it seems to increase my odds on getting the shards. Then in the water stage(Dont know the name) when I use the special on the Crab it decrease the chance of getting a shard and a chitinious crafting material drops instead. So does the chitinious crafting material take the place of the shard? Heck I dont even have to finish the crab with special just using it on him seem to have decrease my chance of getting a shard. I know this because I use 7 friends and with all of them I use my special on the crab,nothing but crafting material. But when I decided not to use the special on him,boom 3 shards in a row with the friends I had left. Then another from when I lvl up.
In burning forest or whatever its called,not using a special went well for me. But in the cold mountains or Appalachian blah blah dont know it either(sorry I dont care about the names really) using a special is inconclusive. So maybe you guys say it doesn't make it difference and its all luck but I like to believe there is a way to increase your chances. What do you guys think?

[roookey1]

It makes no frickin' difference whatsoever, both give ridiculously low odds!

[Phill - Immortal GM]

In general it is just chance.
The special attack guarantees only the crafting material for the 4* (or in some cases 2*) armor.
If you do not kill it with a special, you may still get the crafting material but it isn't 100% then.

No, it doesn't take the spot of the shard. The shard may appear at random.
I usually Special Attack for the crafting material and the drop rate seems OK.

[Kangaroeland]

It feels that way for me but i didnt keep track, maybe its just because i remember when it does but forget when it doesnt

[Rookeye]

I have noticed different shard drop rates influenced--in different areas!--by:

* whether i power hit the boss
* whether i power hit ONLY the mini-bosses
* whether my armor directly counters the boss, AND i power hit
* whether i shift areas when a shard doesnt drop

Typically, i power hit only the mini-bosses, and usually get a shard. When no shard drops, i mix up the last level and powerhit the boss. If that doesnt work, i shift armor. Areas 1 and 2 were ludicrously easy when hitting mini-bosses. Area 3 is a beast no matter what i do. Area 4 required me to powerhit the boss during last part. You get the idea...

[greenwing]

So basically you say it is just random

[roookey1]

@greenwing : exactly! lol ... magical thinking.

My own theory is that once you start working on the top 3 areas (which the game may interprete as being close to get all shards together) they have built in a kill switch that reduces drop ratio to 1:8-1:10.

Maybe I did the mistake of having done exactly that - starting with DP stage, Zephyr etc., so quickly it looked like I wouldn't even be able to make the regular version in time, with streaks of up to 25 tries without any shard. Pure frustation and starts to make you HATE this 'game'!!! All these bad results despite me having great armor, great friends and a GM bonus, so I was starting to ask myself why I should even try to get/buy the best armor if it doesn't help me with Heroic mode?

Now, 1 day before it's over it looks as if I could be able to actually get 8 starcrystals together (how pathetic though!) - but since I had already given up serious grinding on Heroic mode days ago, I didn't spend a single gem and will not craft it as the plus version (the only one that would make at least some sense for me to have) is completly out of reach. All in all, an event totally ruined for me, and unlike with the previous Heroic events, I didn't spend anything because of my frustration. However, congratulations to everyone who was on the lucky side of the worsened odds.

[Viesczy]

@greenwing : exactly! lol ... magical thinking.

My own theory is that once you start working on the top 3 areas (which the game may interprete as being close to get all shards together) they have built in a kill switch that reduces drop ratio to 1:8-1:10.

Maybe I did the mistake of having done exactly that - starting with DP stage, Zephyr etc., so quickly it looked like I wouldn't even be able to make the regular version in time, with streaks of up to 25 tries without any shard. Pure frustation and starts to make you HATE this 'game'!!! All these bad results despite me having great armor, great friends and a GM bonus, so I was starting to ask myself why I should even try to get/buy the best armor if it doesn't help me with Heroic mode?

Now, 1 day before it's over it looks as if I could be able to actually get 8 starcrystals together (how pathetic though!) - but since I had already given up serious grinding on Heroic mode days ago, I didn't spend a single gem and will not craft it as the plus version (the only one that would make at least some sense for me to have) is completly out of reach. All in all, an event totally ruined for me, and unlike with the previous Heroic events, I didn't spend anything because of my frustration. However, congratulations to everyone who was on the lucky side of the worsened odds.

My drop rate for KoD was really bad, but Haunted Citadel and Zephyr Plateau were actually much kinder to me than most of the other areas.

[roookey1]

Yeah, I had a great run 2 days ago getting 15 or 16 shards out*, but all in all, despite having better armor than last time (actually it can't get much better than that for a chest-only player), I stand at about 40% of the shards I had at the last event at the same time...but this time, with only 1 day left! Today, I got 4 shards within about 12 hours so far. If they are keeping it with that timeframe now, I won't even start next time, I don't need the materials anyway, not even the epics to be honest. I just like to play and achieve goals. But it's only fun trying to reach realistic goals.


* reading that again, even if I'd have had such a 'great run' every day, I wouldn't have made it in time...rotfl.