Let's have an honest discussion about exotics, and how they can be acquired. [quote]The Lost Sector Fallacy: Presence in the game means practicality[/quote] [u]TL;DR: You have a ~0.5% chance of getting the exotic you want with decent stats per LLS.[/u] (No, that is not a typo. Yes, half-of-a-percent chance.) I played back when you just had to get lucky in the wild. It was exciting to see any exotic. That was before we had 6 stats. Having LS at all is nice, but there is a deeper problem at root here. ___ Now that that is out of the way, lets talk about the lost sector drop rates, especially on master. The exotic is listed as common, same as in a GM, and yet 'common' has vastly different meanings across these two activities. If nothing else, some transparency on percentage chance would be appreciated by the community. Don't say "common" when it is actually 25%, 30%, etc. Give us the percentages on the launch screen in game. Master/GM Nightfalls have "common" exotic drop rates. They drop at virtually 100% rate [i]unless[/i] that reward 'slot' is upgraded to a rarer item like the ascendant shard. [b]Common should mean common, across the game.[/b] ___ The issue that plagues the community is the sheer number of exotics, paired with a poor drop rate, paired with 6 different stats. As you start to compound these percentages, the issue should start to become less hidden. If your class has 8 options for the particular day (currently only warlock boots, everything else is 9+), that is a 12.5% chance that [i]when[/i] an exotic drops, it is the one the player wants. Now you need to multiply that by the drop rate. Let us be generous and assume a 30% rate on MLS. So 3 out of every 10 completions yields an exotic drop. When we take a look at the two percentages, we have approximately a 3.75% chance of getting a rerolled stat total on the exotic armor we want every time a lost sector is completed. And that is the [i]best[/i] rate available. Titans have 13 different arms they can get.... Compound this further by the inability to reliably and reasonably control stat distributions. The ghost mod fails to guarantee that the chosen stat is "spikey". All too often you will force a minimum of 10 into the stat of your choice, only to get 9s-12s in every other stat, making the exotic armor useless for real buildcrafting. If we are dealing with <5% chance of getting the piece we are looking for, [i]it should at least be the piece we are looking for, stats and all![/i] The thrill of even getting the exotic we want from a LS is gone because of how likely it is to have terrible stat distribution. [quote][u]Let's work with some numbers to illustrate the problem (with a few [i]reasonable[/i] assumptions based on small data sample size post drop-rate-buff):[/u] - LLS have a 25% drop rate for exotics, and lets assume 10 potential exotics that can drop (most classes/slots are 9-13 different options). - Right away we aren't getting a 25% rate. We are getting a 2.5% (1/10th of 25%) chance of getting the [i]specific[/i] exotic armor we want. - If we are [i]extremely[/i] generous and say that about 20% of the time (1/5 chance) when we get a specific exotic, that armor [i]also[/i] has a good stat distribution. Now our odds get much worse... (1/5th of 2.5%) What was supposed to be a 25% percent chance has shrunk to a [i][b]0.5%[/b][/i] chance that we get an exotic, specifically the one we want, and it has a good stat distribution. Lost Sectors are supposed to be [i]the[/i] source for players to get exotics they want. With these odds, no wonder people are upset with the current state of them. 1/200 odds.... You have a better chance of getting the raid exotic on the first try than getting the exotic you want with decent stats. [/quote] ___ I was raised to never point out a problem without being prepared to be a part of the solution though; so here are 3 options to address this issue (which will never get better and will only become exacerbated as more exotics are released): [quote][b]1. Guaranteed Exotic on every Solo Platinum Flawless Master Lost Sector completions, provided that the chest is opened before darkness encroaches. Essentially if you run it perfectly, kill everything, and finish before you lose your revives, you [i]will[/i] get one of the exotics for the day. [/b][/quote] Here we run into the problem of not being very new-light, or non-grinder, friendly, and it basically entrenches farming EXP as a necessary mechanic. Bungie, we know you don't like us finding farming exploits, and this would result in people looking for those. [quote][b]2. Nightfalls Exotic drops follow the Lost Sector rotation. If it is legs day in the LS, you will only get exotic legs from nightfall completions when an exotic does drop for you. (This might be the easiest to implement, and would incentivize more people to make attempts at the more difficult end game content, as it has a higher drop rate than even MLS.)[/b][/quote] This incentivizes fireteam creation, but does the least to actually address the stat distribution issue. Furthermore, it would incentivize people just waiting until the easiest nightfall is up, and farming like hell that one week. High player numbers for a single week, and bad numbers during the rest of them. [quote][b]3. Ghost Mods get reworked. Make them guarantee a minimum of 15 (instead of 10), and split them into two separate sockets. One socket controls class abilities (Mobility, Resilience, & Recovery), and the other controls neutral abilities (Discipline, Intellect, & Strength). Make all of the ghost's stat mods cost 5 energy. If we want to double control for stats (ie, 1 class ability mod & 1 neutral ability mod) we have to be spending our entire ghost's energy for it. [/b][/quote] This would probably be the easiest to implement. We saw that it was clearly possible with the solstice 2022. The only drawback would be that this might bleed into and affect other facets of the game. That [i]might[/i] be an issue, but it would probably result in more player numbers across multiple activities if we had these ghost mods. [quote][b]4. Ada-1 Crafted/Custom Exotic Armor Quest | This would likely be the hardest to implement, but could yield incredible rewards for players looking for an ongoing challenge. 1/week per [i]account[/i], you can acquire a quest step from Ada-1 for 50k glimmer, and it has extremely difficult & costly steps to complete. Examples: [i]Step 1:[/i] Complete a Solo Platinum Flawless LLS & turn in an Ascendant Shard to Ada-1. [i]Step 2:[/i] Win 15 Gambit or 15 Crucible matches & turn in an Ascendant Alloy & to Ada-1. [i]Step 3:[/i] Complete a Solo Platinum Flawless MLS & turn in an Exotic Cipher to Ada-1 [i]Step 4:[/i] Speak to Ada-1 [/b] This could then be changed dynamically from week to week. Crucible Labs; make that the requirement that week. First week of the season; how about reset rank at a vendor? Gambit Labs; how about a 5 deathless wins? GMs just released; run 3 fireteam-flawless. The steps to this quest from week to week should be [i]hard[/i]. But this would allow fine-tuning as it goes rather than a blanket adjustment like the other ideas. This quest then has Ada-1, (who seems to be the armor gal now thanks to the synthweave) give you a screen to select one of the pieces of exotic armor you have already acquired (collections), and then give you a slider for all 6 stats, and allow a maximum of 68 total points spent [i]as desired[/i] following the existing rules on distribution. The guardian has complete control of the stat distribution for this custom piece of exotic armor, following the existing rules for how the armor can possibly roll. (34 total points to spend across the class ability 3 with a minimum of 2 each, and 34 total points to spend across the neutral ability 3, also a minimum of 2 each). The guardian gets [i]exactly[/i] the stat distribution they want, for the amount of effort they needed to put forth. Then, after the guardian has a perfectly crafter Swarmers boots, the quest cannot be used again on another pair of Swarmers unless you shard the first one. Make it a lockout system of only ever allowing 1 copy of each crafted-exotic to be owned at a time. You could even go so far as that if you own a crafted exotic, it is removed from the loot pool for all activities. Once you craft those Radiant Dance Machines, they will never drop again unless you shard the crafted ones. This would incentivize players to craft even the non-meta exotics on later weeks, so as to remove them from their loot pools in the future. The reward for this quest is surely sweet; but it would be 1/week [i]account wide[/i]. Think how many exotics exist on each character. You have multiple [i]years[/i] of running a quest like this to complete collections. During which time more exotics will be released. The quest should be hard. But for people who want to put in the work, it should be a worthy payoff in the end.[/quote] This would require a bit more legwork, but be the most available to ongoing tuning and customization. It would result in players getting their favorite pieces and no longer farming for those pieces in LS or Nightfalls. That said, if you make the quest tailored to those types of players in the first place, you won't lose them as player numbers. If it was a single piece total each week (account wide) this would keep player numbers high in any activity you want to focus on with the quest step, going late into the season. _______________________________ Personally, I would prefer #4, but would happily settle for #3. I think #4 gives bungie a lot of control in designing alternative end-game content that doesn't cost what a raid does in cash & dev time, and would be a strong incentive for players who have finished their pinnacle grind to still get on every week of a season and knock out this quest.