So I kinda understand the concept of RNG, and by no means I am even remotely good at math. But just as a “regular” player who has played a bunch of games in my 40 year gaming career, I have yet to wrap my head around how all the RNG processes work in this game.
Today was a clear example of this. I did a bunch of NMD so I have enough Obducite to MW my Shroud of False Death. Since I did not get what I wanted in the first roll, I reset it and tried again. I did this SIX times in a row with the exact same result, only the “Resource Generation” stat increased. So after spending 35 mil and all the obducite on re-rolls it made me wonder if there is something I am missing.
When I checked google to edgamacate myself on rng, I found this calculator that may be completely off but reinforced my concern. If I enter a range of 1-5 (one for each affix in the item plus the special effect), and I generate six times, I was never able to get the same option come up 6 times at any point. I tried this like 50 times.
So, what am I missing?
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True rng doesnt really exist in video games, and blizzard wont publish how their rng works.
That being said, it can happen that you hit the same affix 6 times. Its not likely, but its possible as your sample size of 6 + 50 tries isnt really a sample size that matters.
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huh! I thought RNG was a standard type formula that applied with same parameters for everything. See? goes to show you how good I am at math LOL. Thanks for the clarification Nyurei
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oh im the worst at math myself, actually i had to cheat big time when i studied in my exams haha. Some people here for sure are better at explaning this, or rather, did so in the past here ^^. As far as i know you cant really simulate “true” randomness ^^
This happens often when master working unfortunately and tempering. Many times have I gotten the same selection 4 to 5 or more times in a row. Which is sad when theres only a handful of options. They should remove bricking gear in my opinion. The wacky RNG will never change, but in a seasonal game they should do aways with bricking gear, it’s silly. Especially how rare multiple GA gear is to find.
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If they don’t use real RNG, then they control the randomness of the results and that sounds like they make it so these kinds of repetitions are expected. Not sure why though? I think that making MW and tempering so punishing is really a turn off. But that’s just me.
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I mean that’s small sample rng. If you flip a coin you can get heads 10 times in a row, doesnt mean tails doesnt exist. The law of averages only really comes into plays after hundreds, if not thousands of rolls.
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Numbers go up, that’s all Masterwork do.
Depends what you’re going for.
If you trying to get a perfect MW it’s going to be harder and require more materials.
My goal is usually yellow. I work every single piece until I get a yellow at MW8.
Usually on the most stubborn rolls it takes around 8k veiled crystals and 4 to 6k obducite.
For example if you farm Duriel for a AMU without a break you will usually get one between 25 to 30 runs.
From all the hours I spent MW I can tell you that if you’re going for a perfect MW on 1 item have around 35K veiled and 35K obducite.
I also got lucky on some items and got a perfect MW right off the bat.
Apparently it’s not weighted. And I always manage to triple crit what I want eventually.
But absolutely everything else is weighted or fixed in some way to artificially prolong gameplay, so why would they have taken a different approach with this one system?
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Masterworking, like Tempering and Enchanting is gambling, plain and simple.
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I think Blizzard’s RNG works like this:
MW four times and you don’t get the stat you want so you re-roll.
The game then remembers that reroll and heavily weighs that stat for your next roll. 
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Steps of MW:
- Goto blacksmith
- Temper your base to complete the item
- Select the item you want to MW
- Click some buttons and watch which stats you crit on
- Reset masterworking if not desired reults
- Repeat 4 & 5 until you are happy
Nothing really complex, just RNG. Sometimes you get what you want but youll never get exactly what you want everytime.
Somtimes youll get lucky. S7 I tripple crited on cooldown on the shako with doing any resets.
You can reset a piece of gear before reaching upgrade 12, if that helps. If on rank 4/8/12 your targetted upgrade doesnt go to the stat you want, reset before making it all the way to 12 because then you wont waste materials.
it’s gambling, plain and simple…
the chances of a tripple role are low (as to be expected)
everybody just rerolls the first roll untill it hits (the) one they want. then try to get the same on the second and if it fails, start over again.
can’t say i’m a fan of all these systems in D4 but it’s what we got. sucks that i’m pretty much forced to look up a meta build in order to finish the season quest (i hardly ever put in the effort to clear T4 in previous seasons and not realy seeing myself doing it this season either although i initially planned to finish the seasonal quest at least. i hate gambling and i have to keep gambling in order to progress further… this made the game just boring to play)
you just have to get lucky and get the thing you want (this could happen the first try or not at all for the next 6 seasons) isn’t that so much fun? 
The first round of Master Working is going to be the cheapest regarding materials so if you don’t get what you want the first time stop and re-roll until it does fall for you. If you really need to hit twice on your skill re-roll until you hit twice. This is the best way to not waste materials. The good news is, as people have complained about hitting on an undesirable skill three times in a row, you might hit three times in a row on what you want. If you have hit twice in a row don’t push it if you fail for three…
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i often tend to agree with you, but i cant take this sentiment serious.
What in this game is artificially prolonged? this is by far the shortest season of them all.
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Well if you want to farm bosses, you need mats. Those typically drop from specific content so you have to go farm that content first.
If you want to masterwork, you need obducite. The 2 best ways to farm obducite require you to first farm for compasses or tributes. So you have to farm whispers and/or helltide.
Then there’s the rng for masterworking, enchanting or tempering. All of which could require farming for mats first.
To upgrade your glyphs you have to run the pit, rng again on chances to upgrade. Also the pit doesn’t drop anything required for any other system. No obducite, no boss mats.
Now if you want to farm for transmogs then none of that content is any good. Now you have to go farm the dark citadel.
To do A, you need to first do B. But you also need to C, which only is possible if you do D. But A and C both are weighted, not in your favor… etc etc
And let’s not forget how affixes on drops are weighted to keep you chasing good gear.
Feels pretty artificial to me, and seems designed to prolong gameplay. Not that it can’t be fun, but let’s call it what it is.
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I believe it’s weighted. The unique effect can never be MW’d so there are 4 possibilities on a unique. If it were unweighted, each would have a 25% chance to roll each time - but being weighted, it might be more like: 40%, 30%, 15%, 15%
In the case of Shroud, the one you got 6 times in a row might be the 40% chance option.
I don’t think Blizzard has actually confirmed anything like this (I could be wrong), but it seems likely to be the case.
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