Why weekend/chest events are a scam

#1

Those weekend/chest events where a couple dungeons drop loot chests are a sham. The incredibly low drop rate makes them no more special than encountering them regularly, especially when getting something like a mystery potion is in itself very uncommon. Even soloing these dungeons, normally or from keys, do not guarantee a drop from the chest. Its a ploy to get people to buy their packaged keys to generate revenue for nothing extra in return and the over-saturation of people touring these dungeons for the loot chest completely destroys the economy as potions of said dungeons are extremely inflated. It does nothing for the player and Realm’s economy.

A better solution would be to follow up more on campaigns. Instead of loot chests, have players collect marks or something that turn into campaign points so that some sort of reward is at least being worked towards in this endless grinding. This won’t solve the economy but it’ll at least make players feel they’re getting their money’s worth and more importantly their times worth. I realize realm is an RNG based game and some players do get the instant gratification of receiving rare loot from the chest or boss, but then there are the rest of us. Grinding bosses are enough of an RNG as most white bags would be received from them anyways rather than the chests. I’ve seen time and time again players in the chat complaining about getting 0’s and running tens of dungeons with no loot. What do you guys think.

TL:DR - Chest events are bad, get rid of them and replace them with campaigns or something.

MotMG 2019 Discussion Megathread
#2

Or on certain weekends make a certain mark stackable so ~100 can turn into a white/st, then make them unstackable after

#3

Good idea. But that might clash with regular quests. I believe marks are not stackable to encourage daily activity rather than hording and waiting. I was thinking along the lines of being able to consume them and gain points for a campaign.

#4

I do agree with the last line that Chest events are bad but atleast it’s something. Deca has been putting more effort into the campaigns (like the alien Tech one). I mean look at last motmg There were no campaigns it was all chest events (i think?).

#5

something something this.

Though I did really like it when DECA did mark quests.

#6

Which is exactly why im suggesting these chest events be turned over to be a weekend campaign instead. But as long as people keep buying keys for these events it is unlikely that anything will change.

#7

except its completely counter-intuitive. So the devs made low drop rates because they knew the dungeons would be over saturated. But that doesn’t solve the problem because players will just over saturate the dungeons even more until they eventually get what they want which sometimes won’t even happen. The only thing this solution is doing is giving deca more money.

Instead i was suggesting to opt for a more concrete reward like that of campaigns. One time rewards for each weekend so devs don’t have to “compensate” for loot distribution. There will still be that grinding and keys that deca favors for generating revenue but there will actually be a goal that you’re working towards. Just like heroic dungeons because i feel like the campaign aspect of it worked well and both sides get what they want.

#8

So basically: same problems as the normal loot system, except now they’re even more obvious because limiting the time frame makes the grind even more brutal.

That’s exactly the kind of “pity system” that’s been talked about for years as a way to make the grind less atrocious.

I feel like that wouldn’t change the “throwaway alts” meta, but it would certainly make the game better for anyone who wishes to actually play it.

#9

I don’t have a problem with the loot system gained regularly via bosses; its part of the game. But these chests really take advantage of that instant gratification players have for a game such as this. And so it is advertised along with key deals to get players to spend money on dungeons with almost no extra value because chests have such absurdly low drop rates. Yes players are choosing to buy keys but would they otherwise if not for these events. It has some level of manipulation to it that i don’t find attractive.

Have people really referred it to a “pity system?” But i get it. Just play the game everyone has the same chance. But my point isn’t just about chance, its about deca packaging these events like it has more value when most of the time it won’t.

#10

I don’t think you’ve realized that my previous post was mostly me agreeing with you.

So you’re saying brutally low drop rates combined with permadeath don’t have any impact on the popularity of limited-time higher-drop rates events?

It seems like you didn’t read my post.

I just use the term “pity system” because that’s how I’ve seen it be called, I don’t mean any kind of negative connotation by it.

Having both direct item drops and materials that can be used to automatically get the item if you can’t get it to drop would be much better than the current situation and make the game more bearable for people who actually play their characters and risk their items, as opposed to people who just throw alts at hard content and stockpile good gear by not risking it.

#11

We always knew they were bad. DECA doesn’t change them, though.

#12

what do you mean by campaign, the alien quest one or the unity campaign

#13

I guess i’m bad at interpreting the tone. But thank you for clearing up i wasn’t entirely sure tbh. Though i would’ve responded either way.

It does to an extent. But the way they are handing these higher-drop rate events is milking the game’s mechanics. They know everyone wants higher drop rates so they exploit urgency by slapping a time limit and conveniently packages it with a key deal. Imagine you spend 10$ on keys for an event. Chests have such low drop rates, you get nothing. Now deca has 10$ and you are no closer to getting that white bag than before. Do you get what i’m saying? : (

I understand you did not mean any negative connotation. But it sounds so condescending (not by you). Just because they want to waste more time and money on this game than is reasonably sensible doesn’t mean i want to. And discussing about it is the first step. (though most likely not change a thing)

And yes i completely agree. Playing the game with an added goal will make the game more satisfying. If i don’t get this white bag at least i got this X from spending all that time vs. darn i didn’t get anything. And if i do get the white bag + X thats even better. Getting absolutely nothing after grinding and grinding is honestly discouraging and is working against the game. And i didn’t realize how bad alt accounts were. But that’s a different subject to be discussed.

I honestly enjoy these discussions even if there is miscommunication sometimes. Feeling as though i have chosen poor words (you feeling like i might be attacking you) makes me second think and articulate my words better instead of just not answering.

#14

The alien one lol. Collecting points via consuming tokens. That way the grinding will be compensated after getting nothing most of the time.

#15

Sadly not. But if the community speaks up just maybe.

#16

Depends on the campaign I still find campaigns just as grindy as chest events. Campaigns require an insane amount of hours to get to higher ranks and therefore higher loot. Also, the money spent on keys for a campaign is just as much for a chest event imo.

#17

True. I have very mixed feelings on this “community-driven” thing, because although many game concepts and implementations are by fans and players, I sometimes feel like DECA has a plan that they’re following through.

They barely follow up on emails (from personal experience), and they never check the RealmEye Forum (sad but true).

#18

So which do you think is better? guaranteed loot that takes a while or loot that can take anywhere from getting it quickly to probably never. I realize each has their own pros and cons. but from a business standpoint, the chests are more exploitative imo

#19

Yes I agree with you that chests are more exploitative and more of a lazy standpoint. I just feel like recently its either I don’t have the hours to be able to get loot without spending money or I just get 0 from a lost halls chest all day. Either way, I feel like I’m getting cheated out of my hard work. I know some people will disagree with me and that’s ok. I know sometimes I can be impatient but I still feel like there needs to be improvement on drop rate, and if not that, a more interesting way of passing time and acquiring loot.

#20

Just from what I’ve heard from other players and my own experiences, the drop rates of the chest events this MotMG are horrendous. It definitely feels like they lowered drop rates across the board, and that’s just… gross. Nothing guaranteed when soloing, for the love of god even cloths and dyes feel a lot rarer than they used to be, and those are supposed to be the compensation rewards so you at least get something instead of nothing.

Chest events, in my opinion, are not the way to go. Lowering the drop rates of chest events further is even more not the way to go. Even if they dropped the compensation rewards (and potentially other rewards, depending on your personal opinion on how often chest events should pay out) more often, chest events are still the closest thing to a honest-to-goodness gambling machine other than the mystery box itself, and most definitely rake in the cash just like one. Extremely unforgiving drop rates make it even worse.
They take away so much of the game, so much of the progression, and endgame is already pretty much just running halls 24/7. Droves of people sit in the nexus, join dungeons, camp at spawn waiting for someone to rush (and oftentimes, leave if no one happens to in smaller groups. playing the game? what’s that?), teleport to boss, shoot a boss that is in most cases a glorified pinata because nothing can really stand up to 90+ people blasting it to kingdom come, shoot chest, rinse and repeat. The player economy is all messed up, there are much less markers for character progression now that white bags simply indicate that you sat in USS during the weekend and you get god knows how many pots while doing so, and balancing drop rates around chest events means that it feels unsatisfying more and more often to do something actually challenging for once.

I really like the campaign thing OP mentioned. It’s grindy, but you at least know you’ll have some tangible reward at the end and when exactly you’ll get it. Though I don’t think it’ll fix the core issue of nexus-sitting because I don’t think Deca would want to get rid of all that income from mass key popping (despite how detrimental it is to the game long-term).