Ancient items roll like crap. Now, I can’t be the only player that notices this. I have been saying for years that on the rolls that count, Ancient items fall far short of expectations. The Strongarm Bracers below are a perfect example.
Here, while the Dexterity and Vitality rolled right in the middle of the range (550-650), the Elemental damage and CHC were both at the minimum possible value, while the Legendary Power was just two points above its bottom value.
My theory, watching the behavior of Ancient items since their inception, is that because the Dexterity and Vitality, and several other properties will roll in higher ranges, that the developers purposely weighted the other properties, to either not roll at all, for example getting LPS instead of CHC, or to roll at the lower end of their possible values, exemplified by this particular item, which, like most Ancients, is completely useless.
This is the way the flawed itemization system works. Raining items until you get a decent one, or reforge with bounty mats.
It has always been messed up from Day 1 release.
They put in a pity timer at one point then progressed to item rain.
The roll affixes, ranges, and special powers all contribute to many, many useless items.
It is what they have given us to use, their football, choose wisely…
Right because the developers are all out to get us…
My experience with ancient items is the same as non ancient items. The rolls are usually crap. Ancient items are just less common so you’re less likely to get a well rolled one than a well rolled non-ancient
^^ Per instance, I would be inclined to agree with you. But taken in totality, it appears to me that the sum of Legendary items in general roll better against their constrained values than the sum of Ancient items.
And look above. The Compass Rose is a prime example, because it is not only an Ancient, but part of a set. I have a trifecta Legendary Compass Rose, and no Ancient or Primal has ever beaten it, to my utter frustration and disappointment.
This is the result of randomness, there’s nothing erroneously about that.
However there is a weightning system behinds affixes that makes some more common than others. That’s how you create rarity in a grinding game.
Given that Ancients are a 1 out of 10, you should find 10 Trifecta non-ancients in the time you find 1 ancient trifecta. Seems to me it works completely as intended.
Now, you will probably call me out on me Primal Convention of Elements, but look at all of the other main supporting items. Plain legendary Traveler’s Pledge and Compass Rose rolled nearly as good as a perfect Primal, but no Ancient or Primal has ever neared the quality of these two items. So there they stay. Same with the Strongarm bracers. And look at that quiver! Just one step down from a perfect Primal. And as above, no Ancient or Primal has ever neared this quality.
So I’m talking about since I started playing this game, and since these items and mechanisms have been introduced, I have developed the theory that I assert above.
Nah I got 2 primal CoE last season, they roll well as they always roll with socket and CHC. So if the last roll is good, it’s a golden. I got Average Damage and CDR on my two, so main stat got rolled to CHD.
But yes, that is the thing. An ancient Compass Rose is 10 times as rare as a non ancient Compass Rose. So a trifecta ancient is 10 times more rare than a trifecta non-ancient, so when you’ve found 10 of those, you can start grudging a little.
What do you expect? Out of all the affixes available for gear, only a small handful are the only ones that matter and the rest are completely useless in comparison?
RNG is RNG and all that, but having bad affix balancing sure doesn’t help much.
I have found at least a dozen of each, and every one of them was trash; Main stat, Move speed, RCR, CDR, a socket, and Monster kill XP. That’s the one I decided to keep, but I rerolled the move speed to CHC, but I still don’t use it. And remember, I play on 6 accounts, so I have found, best guess, 3 Primals on each of those that were instant salvage. And not just because they rolled badly, but worse than any of the last dozen Legendary ones that dropped. But the Compass Rose might be a biased example. since they are notoriously bad.
Believe me, I have picked up multiple Ancients for every slot on that character, but the ones it’s equipped with are the best I’ve picked up, Ancient or not. As far as perfect non-Ancient items go, among my several accounts, I have a large number, and a couple good Primals, and many decent Legendaries.
What I am saying is that in the normal course of gameplay, the Ancient items that drop aren’t just bad, but exceptionally bad.
If you are a Demon Hunter, first of all good luck on getting an Ancient Yang’s Recurve, but if you do, chances are it’s going to have 151% MS bonus and if you’re lucky, maybe 175. But I regularly pick up Legendary Yang’s bows that have 189% and up. The same holds true for the quiver. 90% of the time I trash Ancient Yang’s bows and DML quivers because of the laughably low Multishot percentage.
In addition to the CoE, I have a perfectly rolled Elusive ring (after I changed Vit to CHD), otherwise, it would’ve been crap too.
Here’s an example; I have two good Witching Hour belts with 7/48 and 7/50, but the Ancient one rolled with 44% CHD and no main stat. The Primal one I have fortunately rolled IAS and CHD, but also, no main stat. The Secondaries are useless, Thorns and PuR.
So even though an Ancient is 10 times less likely to drop than a regular Legendary, and a Primal is what, 40 times less likely to drop than an Ancient, I am 90% more likely to salvage either one of those because of their horrible rolls.
I find it difficult to believe that no other player has seen this tendency among Ancient items.
Now to me, that would have just been an auto-salvage. Not any point in even trying to fix something that dropped like that.
Its also quite possible that some of us just ignore it.
I will admit, once I get my full set built up, and have found most of my decent ancients (not necessarily the BiS ones) I usually might clear 3 or 4 rifts and keep or swap 1 item in that time. I pretty much insta salvage anything that isn’t ancient, and unless it is an item that is better than something I already have or can be rolled better, its salvaged.
I spent my entire season last season looking for an ancient Yangs. Never got one. Or I should say, never got one that was better than my non-ancient. (I had two really bad ones fall and tried re-rolling one till I was out of mats and salvaged the other) Hell I tried re-rolling a few that dropped. Bought from Kadala, upgraded bows, you name it.
Soon as the damn season ended and I was running rifts in normal with the same character, got two ancient yangs within an hour. *facepalm
The one I have on, I have had for a few seasons now though. I have YET to have a single Primal drop for ANY toon I was maining. Ever. I get lame ones, or ones for a class I’m currently NOT playing.
Thank you loot gods.
Anyway. Its RnG. It sucks. Its a ball buster. I deal with it. So should everyone else.
Well, as if by cue, here is a crappy Ancient DML that just dropped in a GR95: https://diablo3-stone.000webhostapp.com/_diablo/_img/crappy_DML.png
And this is what I’m using: https://diablo3-stone.000webhostapp.com/_diablo/_img/good_DML.png
And it’s a apparent upgrade, by virtue only of higher Dex and Vit, because even though IAS is 1% higher, CHC is 1% lower, but the real deal breaker is the legendary power, 166%. Note that the one I’m using has 200% to MS.
And finally, there is this one, which I keep when I want a good laugh. Can you even believe it? 154%: https://diablo3-stone.000webhostapp.com/_diablo/_img/to_die_for_DML.png
I rest my case. Gotta go check my paint…bbl.
My pet peeve is when playing a DH I get so many half decent or even good pieces of armor that has Thorns on it. Why is that affix even on the table, when DH’s haven’t got a skill or a build to use it?
Hard to beat hahaha