Does anyone else feel like the meta game for D3 is now as follows: get Blood Shards as quickly as possible to target the loot you get from Kadala?
My experience so far:
Farmed 500 blood shards in T3 rifts. Got 0 useful loot while doing so (maybe 2 souls total).
Went to Kadala, rolled Pants.
Got 3x legendary pants -- Hammer Jammers, Blackthorne's, and Earth set pants (which had eluded my Barbarian for over 1000 legendary drops since RoS launch and maybe 500 hours of gameplay).
So I completed my 3pc Earth set in almost no time and begin Leapquaking with glee.
Since then, I have in the last 2 days received: Raekor's Pants (also was missing these), Earth Pants again, and two Earth shoulders back to back with nearly identical stat rolls and the exact same primary stats (nice "RNG").
And still, 0 meaningful loot has dropped from a Chest or Elite Pack or Rift Guardian.
Should the game be more about gambling for loot than killing monsters for loot? To me, the balance feels dreadfully off and has since launch. The legendary drop rate should be higher for killing elite packs and even normal mobs perhaps. Weapon/Armor racks should produce legendary drops (maybe even a special rack should spawn signifying one's luck). Treasure goblins should also drop more legendaries.
Kadala gambling feels far too little like gambling, and far too much like a sure way to target the loot you want right now.
Kadala gambling feels far too little like gambling, and far too much like a sure way to target the loot you want right now.
I understand your post, but this statement is far too exaggerated. I've sunk well over 12k blood shards into gloves now. I've yet to see a Tasker and Theo or Frosties.
Gambling is a decent way to get the more-common items (I'm up to like two dozen Magefists now) but that's because it's succeeded at allowing you to target which slot you want to upgrade. Insofar as the rare items, though, gambling is just one letdown after another.
EDIT
There are issues with the "item hunt" meta. Namely the fact that Blizzard has decided that rifts are the only way to really go. What this means is that the real "metagame" devolves into reducing your time spent outside of rifts... which forces people to split-farm bounties and then RiF in order to maximize their in-rift time. It's created a game where solo play is significantly less-rewarding than co-op play and a situation which, more or less, encourages leeching. I know far too many people who are barely able to solo T2 who are rejoicing about doing T5 in RiF games. Is this really the game we wanted? For me, no.
I still think that if you want Frostburn gloves, you have a FAR greater chance of getting them via Kadala vs. killing elites or opening chest though, right?
That's the problem I feel... I don' think that is exaggerated, we are talking about 0.8% change in your experience vs 4% change in mine (roughly) as the difference.
Kadala has been the best way to go for specific drops since she was put in. That is her purpose. What you experienced however is simple RNG. I spent 500 shards and got 0 legendaries at all.
yeah kadala was fine before and now it gotten buff after buff.
Haven't found any loot from playing the game the last 2-3 weeks while in the same time getting 15+ items from kadala and 15+ from crafting spread around my chars. Who cares about leg drop rate anymore. Its ALL about blood shards per hour.
I still think that if you want Frostburn gloves, you have a FAR greater chance of getting them via Kadala vs. killing elites or opening chest though, right?
Given that you are "targeting" all slots when killing elites, but only targeting gloves when gambling, that should be normal.
It feels to me like blizz is trying to counteract the total randomnes of items after the AH removal. Which is ironic cause RNG was supposed to be the way to go?
Idk, I've sunk about 7k into boots and no lut socks yet ( yes I was on a barb wasting shards) but I managed to find 2 mara pieces on my DH within a matter of 5 minutes. I seem to have it easier with drops than with kadala.
I thought this at first. So I did "Rift it Forward" to insanity and gambled like crazy. When running rifts, I rushed to the rift guardian and closed the rift ASAP. Result from about 15k shards that I farmed since the patch hit (yes, farmed a lot): Vyr pants. The only useful set item I got since the patch hit (of course I got some other interesting items, but they all were crap and salvaged). I also found Vyr gloves, but those where from blood shards I saved up previously to the patch, so I don't count them as "farmed since the patch". More specifically, I sunk about 8k in chests and 2k in helmets for Tal Rasha's - no luck.
However, since the community buff is online, running rifts is just *the* way to go. Since I ran hours of 4 wizard rifts yesterday, I was able to get my Tal's chest from a clan mate (thanks Ot4ku!) and found my Tal's helmet in a rift as well. Lots of other interesting legendaries, such as a Shard of Hate that I gave away, a nice Moonlight Ward upgrade, or Inna's pants and a perfect Natalya's Slayer (on my wizard, yep).
This was also mentioned in the stream yesterday; Wyatt said he tried RiF but especially as a leecher you miss out on too much loot, it's not worth it in the long run.
TL;DR: Blood shards seem like a short cut to get one specific legendary, but you need some luck and by focusing on blood shards only you miss out on all the legendaries from regular rift runs. If you're lucky gambling, why not simply assume you can be lucky with the "more random" rift drops as well?
Well if you're having a very smooth ride in RiF i guess 500 in 10 minutes is possible under perfect circumstances.
Yeah sure, 5 T6 rifts in 10 mins
More realistacally spoken its ~30min for 500 because you have to open new rifts in some of the games and dont get T5/6 openers most of the time.
But btt: I agree, Kadala is the way to go usually. But this week its rifting yourself! The 100% buff to LG is kicking in. I got a lot more LG yesterday as I used to find.
For the past few days, Kadala has made me rethink my entire lifestyle, down to the socks on my feet. After several trials with different sock combinations - two white, white and black, rainbow and striped, homemade Lut Socks infused with the tears of forgotten souls and my own - to name a few. I've ordered Kadala fan club shirts in hope that she'll notice me. I've offered her tea or coffee in the mornings, but she merely responds with a cruel quip regarding my misfortunes.
Earlier tonight I concluded a depressing 30 cache looting session, adding to the gross pool of caches without a RORG. I ran a few rifts with a friend before he headed off to bed and looted two more firewalkers and a pair of crude shoes. As I wallowed in misery, I decided to toss a few blood shards at the cynical love of my life. Something must have clicked. Perhaps it was the heels of the firewalkers that I rudely tossed at Haedrig.
Kadala winked and passed me her smelly, well-worn Vyr's Swaggering Stance. That's right, she actually gave up some of her swagger. Hopefully this tale goes down in history as one progress towards the growth of altruism in Kadala's bitter heart.
After such an eventful night, I'm really glad to be putting away my socks. I will not share details on the results with different combinations as it is a depressing obsession that I would not wish upon anyone. Okay, maybe I'll hint at it to Kadala, but good luck getting anything meaningful from her.
I can finally go back to enjoying this game. I've been able to resume farming for legendary crafting material to get my hands on some high-end Born's, Aughild's, and Captain Crimson's set pieces in order to finish up my Vyr's build.
However, after spending approximately 40 forgotten souls on crafting, I'm beginning to slip into a Horadric Coma in thought of the cache farming ahead. It should only take a few hundred more, right?
If this post brings you anything, at least let it bring hope that there's a light at the end of the rift, but it might just be Kadala with a flashlight. Wait for that devil to run out of batteries and pray to the gods, all 1001 (?) of them, that it isn't solar powered. I'm sure Kadala's been hoarding all of the Sunkeepers as well.
In other news, I was lucky enough to get another Barber an hour ago. While they don't receive the fame they deserve and aesthetically don't appear excedingly powerful, this 2260 dps dagger packs quite a punch having +X-X dmg, 720 int, 10% damage, 34% critical damage, and a socket! It nets a 15% increase over my 2120 Mad Monarch's which also has socket, 700 int, and 10% dmg!
There still is hope outside of rifts. Eventually, I hope that everyone who has been continually dedicated is able to finish their character(s) of choice to a desired level of completion (gear-wise) so that they can enjoy the world outside of rifts! I pray for the lives of the hardcore. Even having registered here 10 minutes ago, I seem to have forgotten that I never posted on this website before. Kadala may have left some lasting side effects on my memory. Perhaps it reprogrammed itself to loop every 10 minutes in synchrony with rift runs. Could we get a disclaimer printed for the Nephalem Obelisk?
My experience so far:
And still, 0 meaningful loot has dropped from a Chest or Elite Pack or Rift Guardian.
Should the game be more about gambling for loot than killing monsters for loot? To me, the balance feels dreadfully off and has since launch. The legendary drop rate should be higher for killing elite packs and even normal mobs perhaps. Weapon/Armor racks should produce legendary drops (maybe even a special rack should spawn signifying one's luck). Treasure goblins should also drop more legendaries.
Kadala gambling feels far too little like gambling, and far too much like a sure way to target the loot you want right now.
Gambling is a decent way to get the more-common items (I'm up to like two dozen Magefists now) but that's because it's succeeded at allowing you to target which slot you want to upgrade. Insofar as the rare items, though, gambling is just one letdown after another.
EDIT
There are issues with the "item hunt" meta. Namely the fact that Blizzard has decided that rifts are the only way to really go. What this means is that the real "metagame" devolves into reducing your time spent outside of rifts... which forces people to split-farm bounties and then RiF in order to maximize their in-rift time. It's created a game where solo play is significantly less-rewarding than co-op play and a situation which, more or less, encourages leeching. I know far too many people who are barely able to solo T2 who are rejoicing about doing T5 in RiF games. Is this really the game we wanted? For me, no.
That's the problem I feel... I don' think that is exaggerated, we are talking about 0.8% change in your experience vs 4% change in mine (roughly) as the difference.
Haven't found any loot from playing the game the last 2-3 weeks while in the same time getting 15+ items from kadala and 15+ from crafting spread around my chars. Who cares about leg drop rate anymore. Its ALL about blood shards per hour.
Given that you are "targeting" all slots when killing elites, but only targeting gloves when gambling, that should be normal.
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Twoflower-2131/hero/47336841
i've wasted about 2000 shards on pants and got 5(!)Hammer Jammers, rest - yellow/blue.
Once it was like: leg pants, 1 yellow, leg pants.
If rng does not like you - all your 'targeted' intentions worth nothing )
However, since the community buff is online, running rifts is just *the* way to go. Since I ran hours of 4 wizard rifts yesterday, I was able to get my Tal's chest from a clan mate (thanks Ot4ku!) and found my Tal's helmet in a rift as well. Lots of other interesting legendaries, such as a Shard of Hate that I gave away, a nice Moonlight Ward upgrade, or Inna's pants and a perfect Natalya's Slayer (on my wizard, yep).
This was also mentioned in the stream yesterday; Wyatt said he tried RiF but especially as a leecher you miss out on too much loot, it's not worth it in the long run.
TL;DR: Blood shards seem like a short cut to get one specific legendary, but you need some luck and by focusing on blood shards only you miss out on all the legendaries from regular rift runs. If you're lucky gambling, why not simply assume you can be lucky with the "more random" rift drops as well?
More realistacally spoken its ~30min for 500 because you have to open new rifts in some of the games and dont get T5/6 openers most of the time.
But btt: I agree, Kadala is the way to go usually. But this week its rifting yourself! The 100% buff to LG is kicking in. I got a lot more LG yesterday as I used to find.
Earlier tonight I concluded a depressing 30 cache looting session, adding to the gross pool of caches without a RORG. I ran a few rifts with a friend before he headed off to bed and looted two more firewalkers and a pair of crude shoes. As I wallowed in misery, I decided to toss a few blood shards at the cynical love of my life. Something must have clicked. Perhaps it was the heels of the firewalkers that I rudely tossed at Haedrig.
Kadala winked and passed me her smelly, well-worn Vyr's Swaggering Stance. That's right, she actually gave up some of her swagger. Hopefully this tale goes down in history as one progress towards the growth of altruism in Kadala's bitter heart.
After such an eventful night, I'm really glad to be putting away my socks. I will not share details on the results with different combinations as it is a depressing obsession that I would not wish upon anyone. Okay, maybe I'll hint at it to Kadala, but good luck getting anything meaningful from her.
I can finally go back to enjoying this game. I've been able to resume farming for legendary crafting material to get my hands on some high-end Born's, Aughild's, and Captain Crimson's set pieces in order to finish up my Vyr's build.
However, after spending approximately 40 forgotten souls on crafting, I'm beginning to slip into a Horadric Coma in thought of the cache farming ahead. It should only take a few hundred more, right?
If this post brings you anything, at least let it bring hope that there's a light at the end of the rift, but it might just be Kadala with a flashlight. Wait for that devil to run out of batteries and pray to the gods, all 1001 (?) of them, that it isn't solar powered. I'm sure Kadala's been hoarding all of the Sunkeepers as well.
In other news, I was lucky enough to get another Barber an hour ago. While they don't receive the fame they deserve and aesthetically don't appear excedingly powerful, this 2260 dps dagger packs quite a punch having +X-X dmg, 720 int, 10% damage, 34% critical damage, and a socket! It nets a 15% increase over my 2120 Mad Monarch's which also has socket, 700 int, and 10% dmg!
There still is hope outside of rifts. Eventually, I hope that everyone who has been continually dedicated is able to finish their character(s) of choice to a desired level of completion (gear-wise) so that they can enjoy the world outside of rifts! I pray for the lives of the hardcore. Even having registered here 10 minutes ago, I seem to have forgotten that I never posted on this website before. Kadala may have left some lasting side effects on my memory. Perhaps it reprogrammed itself to loop every 10 minutes in synchrony with rift runs. Could we get a disclaimer printed for the Nephalem Obelisk?
Slaying monsters feels rewarding now. When I made my original post pre-100% bonus, it did not.
Overall, I'm having a lot more fun with the bonus loot week than I did in the past. That's what counts most. Games feeling fun while playing is good.