Drone drops event rework

[MaxBlue01]

Just some suggestions to attempt to make the drone event better:

1) More variable drone event time. I feel like getting a drone 3 days in a row at almost the same server time isn't great. Maybe add some forced time variation? (like minimum 4 hours difference between each event?)

2) Remove all monsters materials from the drone event. Let's be real, they are all worthless and useless.

3) By the same logic, maybe have a min equipment level (like min lvl 5) to prevent lot of "trash" items being dropped (included low level runed equipment). Exceptions to this are: propeller hat, only-droppable equipment (like HEO hood)

4) Assuming we do point 3), maybe select 25% - 30% of all the items in the vendors for every drone event (20% feels a bit too few, and i'm not even sure we actually have 20% considering the amount of items in vendors there is every time)

5) Some areas should definitely be banned from the drone event: The pit (area 67) (clearly horrible risk vs rewards fro event) (NOTE: others PvP areas are fine for the event), 2nd mushroom area with lot of switches (area 77) (too many switches away from drone path. 1-2 players must always play the sacrificial samaritan while others stay under the drone. Or worse: some players exploit magic shield + grenade to cross gates), 3rd swamp area (area 24) (very narrow, and some drops are at the top brown surface that require either exploit, glitch or very tight platforming).

5.5) I don't know all drones path, but i think few of them need to be changed so that it doesn't go above natural obstacles to reach a completely different area. One exemple i have in mind is at area 69, where drone go above bushes, which forces players to travel a long distance to reach the drone again (with the possibility of some players waitting instead of joining the start of the drone event).

6) Probably the biggest suggestion here: i suggest to change how the drone event is done.

- currently: the drone fly slowly on a set path (for each area) and drop 1 item at irregular times. Players try to stay under the drone, keep pushing eachother while spamming "E" key. Although i feel like it's often the same players who get every good loot (because too much lag: input delays like you HEAR picking an item but you get nothing, items dropped AWAY from the drone, ...).

- new suggestion: the drone will start at a specific point, and will wait for a few seconds, to give players time to go near the drone. The drone will have soome kind of big gift box under it (instead of the bell? under the bell?). After like 5 seconds, the drone will fly FAST (very slightly faster than running speed) at a certain path for 10-30 seconds. During that time, the drone will NOT drop items. Once the drone is done flying around the area, the gift box will explode and will drop ALL the drone's items all around the drone's current location (on a big enough area, similar to the wishing well event). This will allow more players to at least pick some items. Of course, runes and high levels equipments will attract more players, and it will be first come first served. However, since there will be very likely multiple good items, it will be up to everyone's own judgement to choose which item to go for. We just have to make sure good items don't drop next to eachother. Like have some top left, some top right, some bottom left and some bottom right.



IMPORTANT NOTE: all of these suggestions WILL still require Robby to at least fix the drone event. Currently, it still glitch sometimes: either by dropping no items at all (despite the guy at Allion telling us there is 100k+ worth of items just before the event), or all the items drop almost immediately at the very start of the event, and nothing else drop after.

[Pro_xGamer]

Support

[Joey!!]

nah, its fun the way it is pretty much
the crowding is a problem though...
but when only like 4 players its fine
also for the lvl 15+, what if someone put there max runed bandana/banana helmet/armor/eyepatch in the vendor? thats a problem

[Flashlight237]

1. Ehh... Drone times are already heavily variable as is; they're purely randomized. You could even be waiting 47 hours and 59 minutes for one if luck isn't by our side.
2. Support.
3. I'd rather it be anything goes myself. Besides, I like selling off garbage to make a quick buck.
4. 25% sounds more fair.
5. I'm pretty sure drones are already banned from The Pit. There are others too, but you'd have to really keep an eye on the drone schedule to know the ins and outs.
6. I don't think that's gonna fix the grubby-hands issue the community had. It's been that way even in HH drop parties when people could actually outrun item-grabbers.

[MaxBlue01]

What i meant with idea 1 is that it could be a "controlled" randomised time, instead of allowing the same time 3 times in a row. Everyone in the world want to participate to drop events. So why not give everyone a faire chance to participate, considering timezones? I'm not asking for fixed event times, but at least to guarantee a minimum time difference (that is very different from 24 hours).

For idea 3, i really don't think it's worth to take very low level loot. Making all the effort to grab those items just to earn at most 3k is irrevelant when you can quickly farm this ammount of money. After a certain point, players are more looking to make 10k+ coins quickly. Don't forget that all equipment is extremly expansive compared to where it is sold (several hundred of thousands of coins for lvl 40+). And unless you plan to sell junk for several years, i think players need much better ways to earn money.

Finally for idea 6: if the items are spread far enough at the end of the drone's path, there is no way 1-2 players collect everything at once. Yes, certain items might attract more players than other items, but everyone have a much higher chance of getting something (compared to the current situation). Few precisions though: all items fall at the same time, like they all touch the ground at the exact same time. Items can't be picked up mid-air, players have to wait until they touch the ground.



To Joey: i would still remove low level normal items, even if they are runed. In practice, extremly few people (if any) actually use low level items with tons of runes. In fact, they are often noob baits (like seeing a banana head h1 that only give 1 extra defence point by paying 50k more than normal... ). And i don't think "looking good" justify wearing it in a PvP fight when all pro players have max gear + max runes. In my opinion, those should only be traded drectly, not put in a vendor. By the way, i think i will hold the same argument about colorised items too. I want players to prioritise "usefulless" over "cosmetics" (yes, i consider max runed sunglasses as a cosmetic, even with no custom color).

[MaxBlue01]

Another thing i have noticed (not often, but in some cases): some drones barely have anything "good" to drop (and i mean only 1 to 3 items lvl 20+). I'm not talking about glitched drones (where nothing drops at all), but drones that can spit 20+ crafting materials, 5-10 very low level item, and only 1-2 lvl 20+ items.

So another thing to consider to improve the event is this: some kind of minimal total value of all the current drops.


Another point: on very rare cases, 2 drones events can happen close to eachother, like not even 6 hours between them. This result in the 2nd drone having very few items to drops (and even less good items). So maybe have a minimum time cooldown between 2 drone events (like min 12-16 hours?)

[MaxBlue01]

self bump, because surely, we aren't only 2-3 players who think the drone drop event have problems. If you want to make the event better, you have to speak up. Say what you think about my suggestions, or share your opinions about the event currently, and how you want to fix it.