Update 22.12 Changes To The Vaulted Relic Drop Tables

[mikejrobinson]

Hello all,

Recently we have had a fantastic update with new Eidolons, and a huge variety of weapon changes that we all should be grateful for. However, there was one change hidden in the patch notes that I believe needs 'un-correcting'.

As a bit of a pre-ramble/explanation, I was enjoying engaging in the PoE area, as the reward systems for completing objective, bounties, eidolon hunting etc. felt fair, and I felt I was achieving what I set out to do on that particular run. I understand that some people have difficulties running the cetus bounties (and as vaulted relics are exclusive to these bounties is an issue in and of itself and has an existing topic on the forums) however, as mentioned, I enjoy them. So when it was announced that vaulted relics were exclusively available via this route I saw it as a welcome way to make farming them more efficiently.

However, when the relics were originally released, it was disappointing to notice that relic drop chances had remained the same in each bounty. It is well know, that the last Cetus bounty is the only one that rewards a good number of relics per run, with the lower tier bounties having a more diverse drop table and therefore significantly reduced change of acquiring a relic. This meant that the only efficient way of farming relics in lower rounds was to drop out of the bounty in the early stages (as they had the highest chance of acquiring a relic). The new update has aggravated this issue.

In the update posted by @[DE]Megan there is a section that reads:

On 2/9/2018 at 11:37 PM, [DE]Megan said:

Prime Vault Bounty Relics in Stage 1 have been moved to be rewarded in Stage 2 and weighted accordingly amongst the other Stages. It’s worth noting that Bounty Stage 5 now yields the highest chance of getting a Vaulted Relic. Our intentions here are to alleviate players abandoning the Bounty after the first Stage.

Whilst this change suggests it is now easier to obtain a vaulted relics (and it does marginally increase the chance of obtaining 1 relic from completing a full bounty) it dramatically reduces the chance of obtaining more than one relic per bounty. As it often requires multiple relics to obtain a part that a player is after this change means that acquisition of desired parts is even more difficult. This change hurts the lower tier bounties even more than the high tier ones, making them very unrewarding to play. Reducing the drop chances on these relics however has soured me towards cetus bounties, which I believe was not the purpose of this change. 

I believe bringing attention to a potential issue 'for the sake of it' solves nothing, so I have a proposed change. I'm not a game developer, just someone looking to make the cetus experience more enjoyable and rewarding. Instead of punishing existing and new players by making obtaining relics more difficult, why not make the chance of getting a relic a static value (maybe 30+%) through all the bounty stages. If cetus bounties become the meta way of farming relics, engagement in the PoE area will soar even after the relics are re-vaulted. In addition, the constant chance per stage will mean that the drop out rate will also be significantly reduced, solving the issue this update was meant to solve, without punishing the player base.

For those of you who wish to see the reduced drop chance per bounty level, the official drop table is available via: https://n8k6e2y6.ssl.hwcdn.net/repos/hnfvc0o3jnfvc873njb03enrf56.html

This game is my guilty pleasure, and I have enjoyed it immensely for over 1000hrs. I only want to improve the experience that we as a community have. I only hope this topic reflects that.

[mikejrobinson]

So the newest update replaced the current relics with endo.

Whilst I have tried to give DE the benefit of the doubt, this seems pretty underhanded. Almost like they have changed the vaulted relics from a common reward to a rare one in two steps, with two rather weak excuses to justify those changes.

I don't see any reason to engage with the plains at the moment, and if these relic changes are permanent I doubt I will until the Arcanes are introduced to Eidolon drop tables.

I really hope DE reconsiders these changes, and if you feel the same way I encourage you to leave a message to that effect. Please keep it civil though guys :)