Runic Chest Loot Change (?)

[Pala]

Hi all.

I just wanted to create a discussion around what appears to be a change in loot drops from Runic Chests, as I feel it's what I've been experiencing, and I've seen the sentiment shared by other players on the Discord.

Over the past 2~ weeks, or very generally 'recently', it feels as though there's been a change in Runic Chest loot.

Of my last 20 chests (solo hunting), over this time span, only 2 chests have had loot. Prior to this time span, loot drops felt drastically higher. This is including not spamming dungeons, respecting chest timers, and checking chests at non-peak hours.

Going by the Discord, I think some believe the loot drops return to normal if you are partying, and not going solo. Though, I do not have experience with this to comment.

It may be a bug, or it may be awful luck spread across multiple individuals. However, the latter certainly feels unlikely considering the multiple accounts, about recently feeling a 'change' in these chests, coming out around the same time. It may also be an intended change, though it hasn't been mentioned in patch notes, and was also clarified as not the case by a DM on Discord.

It would be great to hear everyone's thoughts, and perhaps if it could be looked into, if needed.

All the best,


Pala.

[Archnon]

This would fit in line with recent changes across the board on basic monster loot and writ rewards. It seems the team though arelith was suffering from inflation.

[Pala]

This would fit in line with recent changes across the board on basic monster loot and writ rewards. It seems the team though arelith was suffering from inflation.

If this is the case, understood. But, it would just be good to have some official clarity over it.

[-XXX-]

Sometimes it really is just bad luck.

[Seven Sons of Sin]

This would fit in line with recent changes across the board on basic monster loot and writ rewards. It seems the team though arelith was suffering from inflation.

If this is the case, understood. But, it would just be good to have some official clarity over it.

The devs purposefully (and rightfully) do not PSA these changes otherwise all the epics would flood these areas/dungeons in a last ditch attempt.

Changes to the economy have to unfortunately be done secretly.

[Pala]

This would fit in line with recent changes across the board on basic monster loot and writ rewards. It seems the team though arelith was suffering from inflation.

If this is the case, understood. But, it would just be good to have some official clarity over it.

The devs purposefully (and rightfully) do not PSA these changes otherwise all the epics would flood these areas/dungeons in a last ditch attempt.

Changes to the economy have to unfortunately be done secretly.

Absolutely - but, if a change has already happened there's no risk of this

[-XXX-]

Absolutely - but, if a change has already happened there's no risk of this

Something much worse would have happened - people would remove all runic materials from shops and sit on them in anticipation of their market price increase, then their price would ironically skyrocket as a result of just that (all because of what is essentially OOC meta information).

But the team has expressed their wish for the runic materials to become more accessible and their market price to be reduced, so I really think that what you've been experiencing is simply just a streak of bad luck.

[Pala]

Absolutely - but, if a change has already happened there's no risk of this

Something much worse would have happened - people would remove all runic materials from shops and sit on them in anticipation of their market price increase, then their price would ironically skyrocket as a result of just that (all because of what is essentially OOC meta information).

This is... quite a leap!

Anyway, interested in people's opinions that have been experiencing this phenomena, or not experiencing it, with concrete examples, and of course official clarity from a DM/dev.

[Batrachophrenoboocosmomachia]

Sometimes it really is just bad luck.

This.

[NMan7496]

Also, I'm pretty sure there is a cooldown on runic chests that affects everyone in the party. I think it is one in game day (2hrs24mins).

[Bunnysmack]

This might be speculation, but someone told me that the search algorithm is extra important when it comes to runic chests. That there are decent odds that regardless of when the chest was last looted, nothing will appear if the person opening the lid has low search and the algorithm rolls low. This theory might have some weight, as I know for a fact that there have been times I've run a dungeon RIGHT after reset and found nothing in the runic chest at the end of the run.

[Pala]

Here is concrete example of the behaviour I'm experiencing.

0900 CET: check chest 1.

-No loot.

0930 CET: check chest 2.

-No loot.

1700 CET: check chest 1 again.

-No loot.

1730: check chest 2 again.

-No loot.

Just to fully clarify I'm aware of chest timers and not stumbling over them. And this has been a pattern for weeks, as echoed by other players in Discord also.

[-XXX-]

I've not had this problem.

Found two runic materials after looting 3 chests over the course of the last 24 hrs.

[CorsicanDoge]

Absolutely - but, if a change has already happened there's no risk of this

Something much worse would have happened - people would remove all runic materials from shops and sit on them in anticipation of their market price increase, then their price would ironically skyrocket as a result of just that (all because of what is essentially OOC meta information).

This is... quite a leap!

Anyway, interested in people's opinions that have been experiencing this phenomena, or not experiencing it, with concrete examples, and of course official clarity from a DM/dev.

The template fiasco was something like that. A couple of gentlemen decided to make a bunch of complex templates once they caught wind it was going to leave so some discretion's needed.

You're not alone though a couple of my runic grinder friends suspected that there's a secret nerf somewhere since the money was getting too good. Either that or it's just being poached beyond reason and that's why we're getting a lot of blanks.

[Party in the forest at midnight]

I noticed I've been getting a lot of really awful luck with regular chests after the gold nerf happened and was wondering if there was a change, or if it's just *really* bad luck. Sometimes it is just bad luck, and NWN's RNG is pretty awful so it becomes streaky. I'm not sure what impacts the RNG more, IRL time (such as if the RNG pulls from a date) or server resets.

Regarding runic chests and server resets, I heard that they save the value for when they were last looted, and server resets DO NOT impact them. Because otherwise people would rush all the chests every server reset.

[Xerah]

The template fiasco was something like that. A couple of gentlemen decided to make a bunch of complex templates once they caught wind it was going to leave so some discretion's needed.

Not quite. There were OOC plans to do it, but we got it removed as a crafting option before it was announced for this exact reason.

[-XXX-]

Either that or it's just being poached beyond reason and that's why we're getting a lot of blanks.

This is a very plausible explanation. Some dungeons with runic chests are a lot easier than some others. As a result, those are getting much bigger traffic. For example, I almost always find the Aurilite, Palladium and Styx chests empty and am not keeping my hopes up whenever I go there.

It's always worth considering some of the more difficult dungeons too, that's what I am trying to say.

[Diegovog]

I have noticed it too. Something to the script on runic chests. I have been doing about 3 runs a day on my alt, very spaced between one another and the chests have most of the times been empty. Should note that I go in different times of the day and in places that are very low traffic.

[AstralUniverse]

It's just a speculation.

I think there are no timers except on the containers themselves. I dont think there's any relation to the party's size either. I think people are more lucky with parties simply because they are likely going to a less travelled dungeon, because it's harder, and less people go to them solo. Going to places such as RDI, Baator, Temple of Auril or Maurs with hope to get loot is very optimistic.

[jomonog]

Have noticed the same thing recently. Most of the time the rune chests seem to be empty. I put it down to a run of bad luck originally but there is a noticeable difference in the last few weeks compared to the months before then and interesting that others are observing similar seems to suggest possibility that something has changed.

[Nitro]

There are two simple answers, Confirmation bias and consistently high player counts. More players mean more times that someone goes through a dungeon, perhaps just 20 minutes before you go in to check the chest again, perhaps an hour in advance. With the rune chests having longer respawn times it really isn't far-fetched to imagine that it's simply bad luck with other parties getting the dungeon loot before you.

[goblinhero]

I've had the exact opposite experience. I've found a -lot- more runic items lately than I used to. So, maybe I'm the one hoarding the stuff

I do usually play high-search characters and travel to places that don't see much traffic with a good group. I believe it is as the others have written, luck of the draw and us not having the complete picture of which places are highly trafficked and at which times.

[Pala]

There are two simple answers, Confirmation bias and consistently high player counts. More players mean more times that someone goes through a dungeon, perhaps just 20 minutes before you go in to check the chest again, perhaps an hour in advance. With the rune chests having longer respawn times it really isn't far-fetched to imagine that it's simply bad luck with other parties getting the dungeon loot before you.

Confirmation bias is definitely not an answer, but thanks for your input.

Re: higher player counts, to reiterate: I check chests at non-peak times. For example, yesterday, I checked two chests, across two different servers. On one, the player count was literally 3 people (actual number, and had been around that for the last two or so hours), including myself. The other had around 15~. Both chests were, once again, empty.

Just to be completely clear, again: I'm not saying there is a definite bug/issue/non-public change. However, there is clear, objective evidence (whether you agree with that evidence or not) from multiple accounts, that there could be, and that we have felt a tangible change with runic loot recently. Just because you may disagree, or have experienced differently, does not mean there isn't a case for our claims.

Out of curiosity, to any of you having answered contrary to the original points, could you please address this specific example. I know someone who hasn't seen loot from runic chests in a month, checking them everyday. Do you think that's normal, or could simply be considered bad luck?

If you do, then you have almost certainly never hunted runic chests consistently on a day-to-day basis.

[Pala]

I've had the exact opposite experience. I've found a -lot- more runic items lately than I used to. So, maybe I'm the one hoarding the stuff

I do usually play high-search characters and travel to places that don't see much traffic with a good group. I believe it is as the others have written, luck of the draw and us not having the complete picture of which places are highly trafficked and at which times.

Enjoy! Hope you see some Perfect Zard.

To get one other factor out of the way that's been brought up, too: I always check Runic chests with 30+ Search. So, whilst not a deep Search character, I'm gearing/buffing to a very healthy amount.

[-XXX-]

Out of curiosity, to any of you having answered contrary to the original points, could you please address this specific example. I know someone who hasn't seen loot from runic chests in a month, checking them everyday. Do you think that's normal, or could simply be considered bad luck?

If you do, then you have almost certainly never hunted runic chests consistently on a day-to-day basis.

I have hunted artifacts and runic materials to an excessive degree before, I have experienced what you are experiencing on multiple occassions too and had been wondering about the same thing back then as well.

And I am still telling you that it really is just bad luck.