Augmentation drop rate recommendation

[AnduinX]

Hey, I'm writing from the point of view of a warrior. I remember when I was leveling in the 30-55 zone, there would often be level 70s taking anything and everything. This was especially true of Guk and CoM. It kills the thrill of leveling in these zones when Sir Pwnzor suddenly goes around obliterating everything in a second and leaving the zone empty. As a level 30-55 you then you have to wait for the respawn and hope you can get a few kills before Pwnie McPwnPwn goes around for another sweep.

I didn't understand why these 70s did this at the time, but I do now that I'm 70. As a low-tier warrior the first thing I do when I get a new piece of equipment is outfit it with a stone of sturdiness - otherwise, my new equipment is usually inferior to my old equipment. The problem is getting a stone of sturdiness involves slaughtering hundreds of green con mobs.

It's really no fun to go to these lower level zones and farm for hours so I can use my equipment, it's joyless and feels like a job for a trained monkey - nor is it fun for the lower levels whose spawns are being massacred by 70s.

I think if you increased the drop rate of these augmentations to be more in line with some of the quest item drops (that noble's brooch is everywhere...), the game would be more enjoyable for everybody. You would spare higher levels hours of joyless grinding and lower levels could properly play the zones that were designed for them.

[BosCo]

Well with increasing the drop rate will just increase the number of McPwnPwn's coming into the zone to not only farm for bots that need a boost or for alts they are lvling. I for one would farm the hell out of COM for the aug for bots and lower alts even if it is boring or not joyful if the rate was increased, but instead it is better for me and other 70's to farm there tier mobs for the augs. Not only for the better aug but for exp and aa as well.
But i do agree that this needs to be addressed and fixed some how and with that said, instead of increasing drop rate (which a little bump wouldnt be bad) how about making the Aug tradeable. So the ones that have farmed it for there alts or themselves and upgrade could get them to other players or alts etc.
We have talked many many many hours and post on server economy and how to get it flowing, well this could be a start. By being able to sell augs to players wouldnt make that much impact on game or progression of players, but would start an economy and will help with 70's or UPPERS farming for augs that they already have, that they just destroy for upgrades.
My two bits

[AnduinX]

In my current tier augmentations are still worse than the 30-55 augmentations for my warrior. There are a few augmentations that are better but those are lore (such as the evade IV focus stone). So, after I get one evade stone I still have to socket the rest of my gear, and to do that I still need sturdiness stones.

Maybe the answer is to make something like sturdiness stones drop in higher tiers? It's odd that the normal trash mobs in 30-55 zones drop such a good augmentation while the trash mobs in the 55-70 zones just drop blue diamonds.

Alternatively, what if sturdiness stones were made trade-able and sold by vendors for one thousand platinum or something? The economy seems pretty stale on this server and that would actually give a point to earning money. That way I could keep trying my luck with challenging higher level content and not have to worry about going to Guk or CoM anytime soon.

[Banderas]

Maybe the answer is to make something like sturdiness stones drop in higher tiers? It's odd that the normal trash mobs in 30-55 zones drop such a good augmentation while the trash mobs in the 55-70 zones just drop blue diamonds.

Totally agree. I think a slightly better aug should drop of random mobs on higgher level tiers, or even ToV.

Alternatively, what if sturdiness stones were made trade-able and sold by vendors for one thousand platinum or something? The economy seems pretty stale on this server and that would actually give a point to earning money. That way I could keep trying my luck with challenging higher level content and not have to worry about going to Guk or CoM anytime soon.

I don't think a tradable AC35 aug is a solution. The way I see it, more people might try to farm those and those level zones will be impossible to level toons on.

As it is I have observed lots of jumping over, rushing, KSing, camp ignoring, etc simply for the HH quest. If the augs would be tradable I think it will get even worse.

[Zolzimar]

I agree that the tradeable idea isn't a great option. The idea of putting an upgrade to that ac aug in the next tiers is a good one though. I dont think it would hurt the current augment selection too bad. Currently I wont even consider putting a perty aug in a slot with say 10-15ac and some 100+hp/end, when i can get the raw 35ac. It would be a great help if even the next tier was only a few points higher.. ie like 37-38ac, leaving the sought after 40+ac augs to their superior spot on the list. Zolz 2cp

[Lumpa]

I also agree that something that good shouldn't drop in a lvl 30-55 zone.

There is a slight upgrade that rarely drops in Bastion of Thunder.

Agnarr's Icechip
AUGMENTATION MAGIC ITEM
Augmentation type: 128
Slot: CHARM HEAD FACE EARS NECK SHOULDERS ARMS BACK WRISTS RANGE HANDS PRIMARY SECONDARY FINGERS CHEST LEGS FEET WAIST AMMO
AC: 37
SV COLD: +20
Required level of 65.
WT: 2.6 Size: MEDIUM
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

Its a 3% drop from everything in the zone. Maybe make this more common so you can farm this instead of the 30-55 zones?

[Rule]

Pretty sure agnarrs icechip is lore, otherwise this zone would be perma-camped, maybe make it un-lore and all is well

[Felibar]

webtools/items.php?id=16310

It isn't lore. I usually farm it for filler spots instead of taking over the lowbie zones and ruining new people's experience on the server.

[Tyler]

Unpopular but true - GuK augs are too good for that Level range.

[Zolzimar]

I haven't had a chance yet to sample the new aug drop situation or adjustments to them yet. But, I'd definately like to take this opportunity to thank the dev team for acting quickly on this issue. The changes sound like they will make looking for these augs a bit more interesting. These raw ac augs are pretty important to those of us who cant farm air yet(and every other tank possibly), and things of that nature, so its really a good direction to go to make augmenting available to us. Im looking foreward to being able to tradeskill some too in the future. Thanks!