About reaper stat helms and reaper/mythic bonuses on items

[Gilga1]

After 26million rxp yesterday I found my first reaper stat helm. I dropped the executioner helm on slavers pt2, r1 solo.
I always farmed pt 2 until ransack, thousands of times, just to drop this helm and busts (of which I dropped a stack in all my life).

I like the reaper/mythic bonus system on items, but its implementation is one of the most frustrating things in the game.
My toon is completed, and I just play for fun and better loot and I think many are in my situation.

Please devs give us a less frustrating way to improve our equip. Please.

Dropping busts is like winning a jackpot, and they can only be placed on some slots.
Few weapons only can use threads for mythic upgrades.
Reaper stat helms offer a huge boost to a maxed toon, and good luck to find one.

I spend 90% of my play time in r8-10, and in my experience skulls don’t improve loot at all.

That said, I’m happy that a casual player can get the best item drops in the game too, but please give to dedicated players something less frustrating that a totally random lottery.

[droid327]

My toon is completed, and I just play for fun and better loot and I think many are in my situation.

Well thats exactly what its for, so WAI I think...

Reaper/Mythic bonuses were added just to give a little extra "chase" goal for players who, like you, felt their character was "done" and had nothing else to target for improvement. They're never anything required, just a little incremental extra.

If they were easier to acquire, or guaranteed after so many completions etc. like with Threads, then you'd complete a whole set of Mythic Reaper gear and then have absolutely nothing else to chase (until they raise the cap and you have to gear from scratch again...)

[Capricorpus]

I've hated this system since the day it was implemented.

In theory, an item with a low drop rate can be farmed and therefore rewards perseverance. In practice, the odds of getting a helm with a reaper ability bonus are so astronomically low that it's more like winning the lottery - it's more about luck than how many chances you have, which is why there are players who have multiple reaper ability helms in spite of them rarely running high skulls and having put little to no effort into actually farming and people who constantly run high skulls, ransack quests with 6 accounts and rerolls every week, but never get a helm with an ability bonus.

It's an incredibly frustrating system, and if for whatever reason the developers are a fan of the (horrible) luck mechanic there should at the very least be some sort of upgrade process in addition to the extent system so that people can obtain the items they want via grinding when the luck method doesn't work for them.

I feel this way about all bonuses - it's incredibly poor design that you can step into a quest and pull the exact piece of gear that you want in one run, or spend weeks (months?) trying to farm an item with a bonus and never get it. Some element of luck is fine, but the current item bonus systems almost without exception reward luck over perseverance, which is unfortunate.

The schism upgrade system got things more or less right, and it's a shame that similar mechanics weren't used for more gear (although the Sharn raid weapon upgrade system is certainly better than what we had in Ravenloft).

[SpartanKiller13]

After 26million rxp yesterday I found my first reaper stat helm. I dropped the executioner helm on slavers pt2, r1 solo.
I always farmed pt 2 until ransack, thousands of times, just to drop this helm and busts (of which I dropped a stack in all my life).

I like the reaper/mythic bonus system on items, but its implementation is one of the most frustrating things in the game.
My toon is completed, and I just play for fun and better loot and I think many are in my situation.

Please devs give us a less frustrating way to improve our equip. Please.

Gratz dude!

I agree, it doesn't seem reasonable that a single random run of a quest on Reaper can get you a stat hat if you're super lucky, but 26m RXP isn't enough to have seen two lol.

Personally I've never even seen one linked in-game.

Maybe if you could spend a certain amount of RXP to give items a Reaper bonus? Like if you could burn 1m RXP to give a hat the stat bonus or something? For me just passing 1m it wouldn't be worth it, but down the line where y'all are it certainly could be.

[Gilga1]

Reaper/Mythic bonuses were added just to give a little extra "chase" goal...

Yeah, and I like that.
My point is that the actual drop system, based on pure luck, is so frustrating.
Like Cap wrote, some systems are better than others (ie sharn upgrades) but sharn items reaper/mythic bonuses are still totally based on luck.

I would like to have an alternative method to get my bonuses. Maybe a really expensive one... like a million rxp to put +1 reaper bonus on a single item, or 1000 threads to put +1 mythic.

[Carpone]

I hate the mythic/reaper pray-to-RNGesus system for raid gear. At a minimum there needs to be an upgrade path for all raid gear to apply mythic bonuses: Runes are used to purchase schisms, and schisms are used for the upgrade path. I would have suggested Threads of Fate for the upgrade path similar to Soulrazor upgrades, but upgrading to +4 mythic with 3000 threads is ridiculously costed. With an average of 25 threads per raid, that's 120 raids to upgrade one weapon to mythic +4 which is completely unreasonable.

Apply the same upgrade system to reaper bonuses, using a new crafting resource (similar to runes/threads) that only drops in reaper difficulty raids.

The same upgrade system using different resources can be applied to non-raid content too.

[Fivetigers33]

It's an incredibly frustrating system, and if for whatever reason the developers are a fan of the (horrible) luck mechanic there should at the very least be some sort of upgrade process in addition to the extent system so that people can obtain the items they want via grinding when the luck method doesn't work for them.

I feel this way about all bonuses - it's incredibly poor design that you can step into a quest and pull the exact piece of gear that you want in one run, or spend weeks (months?) trying to farm an item with a bonus and never get it. Some element of luck is fine, but the current item bonus systems almost without exception reward luck over perseverance, which is unfortunate.

+1


There's nothing more frustrating that actively farming some piece of gear with 0 light at the end of the tunnel. Designing a frustrating game isn't good for the game health. I'm not saying give everyone a reaper ability helm after completing a quest 2 times, but the threads of fate upgrade system is on the right track.

[LiveFast]

Great thread! Very good ideas! To make sure a lot of players get a chance at mythic bonuses upgrades, why not use something else than threads since not everyone are actively raiding? Like commendations of valors? 10k comms (100 comms per quest = 100 quests) for a +1 mythic and another 10k to upgrade to +3? Using RXP for reaper bonuses is a great idea. love it!

[myliftkk_v2]

I like the reaper/mythic bonus system on items, but its implementation is one of the most frustrating things in the game.
My toon is completed, and I just play for fun and better loot and I think many are in my situation.

...

That said, I’m happy that a casual player can get the best item drops in the game too, but please give to dedicated players something less frustrating that a totally random lottery.

This is so confused.

Play for fun =/= massively frustrated chasing jackpot

Casual play =/= reaper play

No, they don't need to change this at all. It's the one jackpot related set of conditions the game has at end game anymore and they should keep it that way. If your goal is to chase that jackpot on a specific helm until madness sets in (considering level cap is about to go up), that's not really something SSG needs to solve.

Playing for fun is akin to leading someone thru RL parts 1-3 because they just got access so they know the ropes. Looking in your bag after and seeing that one filigree I've been missing happened to drop during it, or finding that a piece of upgraded reaper bonus loot dropped now in your inventory, that's a bonus.

[Iaga]

While I can certainly empathize with you, I can't help but wonder if you'd still be playing if there was nothing for you to chase (no matter how frustrating that chase may have been).

For the handful of things that are crazy hard to get because they are based entirely on luck, I see no reason to change

[Fallout47]

While I can certainly empathize with you, I can't help but wonder if you'd still be playing if there was nothing for you to chase (no matter how frustrating that chase may have been).

For the handful of things that are crazy hard to get because they are based entirely on luck, I see no reason to change

Agreed. I have around 20 million RXP across 4 toons. I have 4-5 reaper stat helms and pulled another for our tank in House J. It’s heavily weighted to luck. I don’t farm for helms and never have.

[droid327]

Yeah, and I like that.
My point is that the actual drop system, based on pure luck, is so frustrating.
Like Cap wrote, some systems are better than others (ie sharn upgrades) but sharn items reaper/mythic bonuses are still totally based on luck.

I would like to have an alternative method to get my bonuses. Maybe a really expensive one... like a million rxp to put +1 reaper bonus on a single item, or 1000 threads to put +1 mythic.

But, again, luck is the point - its supposed to be something that you can look forward to finding whenever you run Reaper on a quest, something that you might get lucky and get anytime you run it. Its not something you're supposed to get automatically after you do the quest 20 times or whatever. You're not supposed to ever have a full set of Reaper/Mythic gear.

Its a jackpot - something some people might get lucky and get, but most people wont, and that's OK because no one really needs it, its just a little nice extra bonus.

The problem isnt that you cant get it easier - the problem is you're trying to get it Think of it like a lottery ticket...if you win big, then great, but if you buy a ticket every week and start expecting it to happen, you'll just get frustrated when it doesnt.

[Gilga1]

The problem isnt that you cant get it easier...

I don’t want an easy way, I just want a grindy way not entirely based on luck.
I spent 3000 threads on my blackrazor. Is 3000 not enough? No problem, ask players for 12000 threads. Or more.
5 million rxp to put +2 stats on a selected helm? More? That’s fine for me.

These ‘luck’ bonuses are not cosmetic, they offer a huge amount of power to any toon. I have reaper/mythic melee power bonuses on almost all my pally gear setup. Now I have reaper stat on helm... so I’m not complaining.

I’m asking a less frustrating system for endgame players like me.

[Capricorpus]

I don’t want an easy way, I just want a grindy way not entirely based on luck.
I spent 3000 threads on my blackrazor. Is 3000 not enough? No problem, ask players for 12000 threads. Or more.
5 million rxp to put +2 stats on a selected helm? More? That’s fine for me.

These ‘luck’ bonuses are not cosmetic, they offer a huge amount of power to any toon. I have reaper/mythic melee power bonuses on almost all my pally gear setup. Now I have reaper stat on helm... so I’m not complaining.

I’m asking a less frustrating system for endgame players like me.

This.

[droid327]

I don’t want an easy way, I just want a grindy way not entirely based on luck.
I spent 3000 threads on my blackrazor. Is 3000 not enough? No problem, ask players for 12000 threads. Or more.
5 million rxp to put +2 stats on a selected helm? More? That’s fine for me.

These ‘luck’ bonuses are not cosmetic, they offer a huge amount of power to any toon. I have reaper/mythic melee power bonuses on almost all my pally gear setup. Now I have reaper stat on helm... so I’m not complaining.

I’m asking a less frustrating system for endgame players like me.

I'm usually all for deterministic safety nets for gearing up - I've called for it often for, e.g. set items in Sharn.

But this is different...this is the very last thing most people will be going after once they're "done" with a character. Its supposed to be a bit quixotic. Having a fixed, deterministic grind for it defeats the very purpose of keeping it always within reach, giving you something to hope for each time you run a quest.

Its not about the cost, its about the psychology. You can always hope that this time you might get it, there's always a bit of excitement opening that end chest and seeing a blue box. A chase goal is just that - ultimately, its more about the chase than the reward itself.

[Fivetigers33]

Having a fixed, deterministic grind for it defeats the very purpose of keeping it always within reach, giving you something to hope for each time you run a quest.

Its not about the cost, its about the psychology. You can always hope that this time you might get it, there's always a bit of excitement opening that end chest and seeing a blue box. A chase goal is just that - ultimately, its more about the chase than the reward itself.

Lottery ticket drops can coexist with bonuses applied via upgrades. They don't have to be mutually exclusive. Something costing 3000 threads is still a chase goal for most players.

[Thrudh]

Reaper stat helms offer a huge TINY boost to a maxed toon, and good luck to find one.

Fixed that for you.

But congrats!

[Thrudh]

Yeah, and I like that.
My point is that the actual drop system, based on pure luck, is so frustrating.
Like Cap wrote, some systems are better than others (ie sharn upgrades) but sharn items reaper/mythic bonuses are still totally based on luck.

I would like to have an alternative method to get my bonuses. Maybe a really expensive one... like a million rxp to put +1 reaper bonus on a single item, or 1000 threads to put +1 mythic.

That's a pretty good idea.

[SpartanKiller13]

Reaper stat helms offer a TINY boost to a maxed toon, and good luck to find one.

Fixed that for you.

In terms of percentages yes, but look at the other end: if I'm exactly at no-fail DC's and get +2 Int, I can now allocate +2 less Int via other means; as a PM that could mean +40 Negative Amp (via Filigree), or 12-19 AP more freely available to spend, or 2 twist slots. Any of those represents a significant bonus to character power that I'm currently giving up for DC's; whereas a Reaper stat helm costs my build nothing (and ofc there's perks like HP and Str-drain-resistance).

[Carpone]

if I'm exactly at no-fail DC's

LOL, that doesn't exist in Sharn. And obtaining no-fail DCs in older content with Sharn gear isn't meaningful.