I've always been frustrated with "nerfs" as they give advantage to players that utilized the benefit prior to the nerf. I camped seafuries a lot and never felt it was ridiculously overcamped before the nerf. At most, I saw 5-6 players camping various spawn locations on the island.
As for the argument that it wasn't in-line with "classic" drop rates. I haven't done any research but I find it hard to believe anyone would be able to prove that. I definitely remember tons of gem drops on live.
Also, proof of non-classic clearly doesn't matter in other instances. Take, for example, the Magician epic bottleneck (earth staff in hate). This is an economic heavy-weight as it sells for ~1M plat. This item has been changed to have a non-classic respawn rate without any reason that I've seen from the staff. In addition, from my experience, albeit anecdotal evidence, the drop rate for the staff was way higher on live. When I got my earth staff, it had actually dropped twice from Magi P'Tasi in the same hate raid. I farmed it a lot with my guild on live and continued to see it drop atleast 1-2 times a week. The rate here I hear is like 1-2 times a month at best.
Before reading this thread, I was certain the changes on Seafuries and the Mage staff drop were intended to slow the economy and reduce the # of rarer epics, but now I think you guys might be on to something with the reduction of guide work. I know the earth staff also created a burden for guides as it was highly contested
|