Maybe. I don’t know if the Veiled Crystal drops rates are bumped up, or just the drop rates of items themselves.
I have noticed that Veiled Crystal drop rates in WT3 and WT4 fall off a cliff. So there’s something funky there going on straight away on PTR.
Here’s a Helltide I did tonight to showcase the VC drop rate (I salvaged about 3 inventory’s worth). Even with that salvage, the majority still came from dropped VC. I also know that I get about 120 in WT3 (with a lv 100 character), and about 60 in WT4.
500 is nothing for folks min maxing gear and experimenting with aspects. Two hours in helltides means not doing other endgame activities just to WORK to upgrade gear. A game shouldn’t feel like work. IMHO.
Edit: one more thing. I think the veil drops from mobs and elites also have an rng component so you aren’t guaranteed the same amount each time.
I was interpreting your statement that you got 500 veils in 2 hours meant that there’s nothing wrong with either the cost of crafting or the drop rate. My bad!
Yeah, that feels about right for the drop rate. The problem is, that drop rate doesn’t carry over to WT3 or WT4. On top of that, killing is far more efficient at higher levels.
The costs in WT3 and WT4 are also far higher. Modifying gear in WT2 is 5 Crystals. 75 on WT4! Lower drop rate and higher costs, makes zero sense.
I would expect getting 50-100 per NMD/Pit based on WT2 numbers. That isn’t happening at all!
I thought I would be able to ignore rares, but at this rate I pick up every rare to salvage. Seems like the opposite of what we should be doing in the end game.
Just went to WT2 to confirm this, but its actually incorrect. While the cost may be lower of a charatcter being leveled, for me the cost for an imprint on an IP925 item was still 75.
What this suggests is that the cost is assoicated with Item Power or Base/Sacred/Ancestral. Lower the item Power/Type, lower the cost. So cost is not so much defined by WT as by the gear itself.
In some respects this is a valid concept, to have higher grade items cost more, but regadrless the cost increase from live is rediculous given the Rarity of VC’s in higher WT’s.
Checked this as well on Live and the result was weird. Cost to imprint a 2 Handed Weapon with saved Ancestral Aspect at both WT2 and WT4 was 0 VC while for a Sacred Aspect it was 36 VC? I would have expected the reverse.
Yeah, but Live also drops thousands of VC, so nobody notices or cares.
The big sticking point for me is the lack of VC drops in higher WT. That makes zero sense. It would also be nice if Legendaries gave 5 VC. Small? Sure. But on PTR, it’s 0.
But I’m sure Blizzard will address it. I’m actually happy that materials might actually be meaningful - they just need tuning.
My starting at 1 character is level 72 and still has rares equipped.
I’m not finding legendary items with the stats I want and the 2 I have so far have been stunted by the need for veiled crystals. I think I have 3 ancestral items including my weapon and that’s a rare.
Given the legendary drop rate is increased for the PTR, I suspect when it goes live there will be a lot of people outfitted in either old legendary items or rares.
Mine had a good amount of legendaries, but only because of guaranteed drops from the Helltide Boss and Treasure Goblins. Those gobbos are like gold now! I imagine Butcher will be the same.
The drop rates may be messed up but the other part of the equation is that the cost of adding aspects or changing aspects when you find a better one is too high. In the core game it is something like 30. PTR has it at 75. You also need Veil Crystals for a lot of stuff. Some potions and incense requires them, adding aspects, Tempering, Masterwork , changing enchantment at the Occultist, etc.
I ran two helltides back to back and focuses on picking up every VC that dropped plus every piece of junk (I mean Rare) and ended up with almost 400 VC. I burned through it changing on enchantment, adding an aspect and Tempering once. That is two hours of effort on one weapon. (and it actually felt like the VC drop rate was higher than the last time I did it yesterday)
IMO. the Aspect cost should be no more than 50 at the max.
As others have said, this may be a delibereate change for the PTR to test out the lower bounds of accesptability for resourse drops, and will be adjust to a more normalised level for S4 release. Much the same as the Cinders drop levels. In the Helltide I did on WT2 this morning I got over 1000 cinders, but in 1/2 hour on WT4 just got enough for the Living steel Chest, vs over 700 per hour in Live.
We got 1 random AF dude overhere not even posting legitimate evidence about supposedly farming 500 VC in 2 hours, which is really low if you ask me. Why aren’t more people confirming these drop rates but instead reporting lower rates? You must be agod gamer, I guess…
It’s actually pathetic because the drop rates are increased on the PTR.
Again, though, get the heck out of here with your inflated madeup stats that are still unimpressive. You might be okay with horrid drop rates, but most people might not enjoy playing D4 Helltide for 80% of the season just to farm VCs to temper, MW, enchant, and imprint their gear.
I am not a fan at the moment of the veiled crystal drop rate to cost ratio. I do believe and see a necessity for some item to be farmed, however VCs have now become the most valuable asset in the game.
I would like to see the costs go down, with maybe increase in the drop rate. More specifically the cost to Temper, Master, Enchant, etc… should drop significant enough that we have the freedom to experiment and ‘craft’ more. Most importantly, I want to focus on just the game or other goals, and not have to spend the entire morning (as I did today) running specifically just helltides and helltides, over and over, trying to collect as many rares as I could.