Thoughts on Orb of Illusions

[Rsnemesis 142]

This post is just a rant of how I feel about 'Orb of Illusions' drop rate.

Mainly, I farm solo. As a solo player, I have issues with farming out this item for many reasons. I am in no way against farming with other players, but I rarely get the opportunity to slip my way into a 4 man party. I farm solo, because I do not like to depend on others to help me acquire the items I want. Example: MAX ATTACK (especially ep2) quests or any other quest that is too difficult for 1 player to do on their own. 

Don't you get bored playing solo? No, I still enjoy the game just as much as when in a party. I do not have to talk as much or at all, and I get to dive through maps as quickly as possible, as time is of the essence. I have met and played with about 6 generations of players, as people get burned out of a game that is very linear and quit. I have learned to become a solo player because once you become dependent on others for help, after time they disappear to never return and you are right back where you started.

With these things said, I do not spend a ton of time playing this game like I used to. This item gives me a headache to farm out, based on the monster's abilities to one shot, and not being able to get to a reasonable amount of Mericarol spawns without a party at hand. Even if I had a party, 3 of 4 party members can still get a  'ORB OF ILLUSIONS' and is worth around 27 DTS roughly at the time of this post and I'm not forking over that much for an item that is just to change an item's appearance. This item improves gameplay by 0% and is purely for aesthetics. This type of drop rate related for 'D-VIRUS LAUNCHER' (1/1927) is understandable because it brings an enhancement to gameplay as it is a strong weapon. I would understand the drop rate if ORB OF ILLUSIONS actually gave my gameplay an advantage.

My method to farming ORB OF ILLUSIONS is on WHITILL, running "Defend the Main Room" on Episode 2 with FO. The quest spawns 2 Mericarol on the 3rd wave, yielding 2/1575 chance to drop on 2x. I have used this method for any item I need from mainly ILL GIL, 2 Mericarol and 1 Epsilon for a random side bonus. At a certain point, the room is unclearable without dying multiple times as a solo player, so I usually /lobby at wave 4 and repeat until I get the drop I want to obtain. I enjoy this grind, as it slims down the mobs I do not care wasting time with, and running a full quest like Weather Effects is not in my interest. I have tried to switch it up on PURPLENUM, and run something easy like Weather Effects, but it is still not the best mathematically.

As per the post 'MONSTER COUNT', the quest 'MAX ATTACK S' only yields 15 Mericarol, and my personal solo method yields 40 an hour. As WHITILL, this is a complete waste of my time running MAX ATTACK S, so I could farm it on PURPLENUM with a party. As stated above, I am a solo player mainly. If the mob was something that I could farm decently, using my peak potential, without potentially getting one hit K.O, I would do it happily.

 

Here is some math I did to justify my statements for my method of farming.

WHITILL, Episode 2, Mericarol, ORB OF ILLUSIONS, 1/1,575.4 drop rate on 2x multiplier.

3 minutes per run, 2 Mericarol killed.

60 minutes per hour, 40 Mericarol killed.

 

2/1575=0.13% every 3 minutes

 

40/1575=2.54% every hour

 

As a solo player, this is barbaric. I get migraines from farming this. I need about 8 ORB OF ILLUSIONS or more, and this drop rate is unreal for a solo player. I have farmed out 4 PGF solo so I am not new to doing things the hard way. I enjoy this method of farming for other items, but not for this extensive amount of time spent, for a new look to my equipment. I have done well over 200 runs and still nothing. That's about 10 hours of gameplay so far, just hunting this one item to not drop. I have gotten 4 YAMIGARASU from ILL GIL, 1 PSYCHO WAND from DEL LILLY, and 2 photon drops from Mericarol alongside multiple materials/lv.30 techs. Like I said before, I am not against farming with a party, but I cannot obtain it as a solo player without burning every last brain cell and fuel for wanting to play PSOBB. I log in to figure out what item I want to hunt, and it always comes back to ORB OF ILLUSIONS. I try and try again, remembering that 10 hours have been spent on this farm alone only to remember my drop rate is considerably impossible. I think that the drop rate needs to be reconsidered based on the current daily average for the player base. I see good amounts of solo players, and I see a few groups here and there. For the 4 group cliques, this drop rate is fine, as they hold the advantage mathematically. I log in most days and only go solo if I do not know anyone online or know they want to hunt something else that will take up my time. I do not enjoy spending a majority of my time hunting ORB OF ILLUSIONS at this drop rate. Yes, I willingly do what I want in the game with my time. As I think about the other side of the fence, I understand a possible ideology  to have something with an absurd drop rate like this in the game to get people to play more on their server. That is a respectable outlook as an owner of a PSOBB server. Which is risky, for players of my kind. Why this item has such a low drop rate, I do not understand outside of the possible ideology I talk about. Maybe it is to boost the economy, there can be multiple outlooks on that. I will continue to hunt this item in groups and solo, but this is just something to consider. 

 

Possible things to actively combat this issue:

Make the ORB OF ILLUSIONS higher drop rate, as it gives 0% enhancement to gameplay

Make the ORB OF ILLUSIONS the same drop rate, and give the items formed with it enhanced gameplay.

Make the ORB OF ILLUSIONS drop from a boss, probably OLGA, at a calculated drop rate, giving solo players a chance at getting it easier.

Make the ORB OF ILLUSIONS drop from 1 or 2 other selected more commonly found monsters other than the Mericarol type, if kept at a 0% enhancement to gameplay, at a lower drop rate.

Make the ORB OF ILLUSIONS lower drop rate, and give the items formed with it enhance gameplay, drop from other select more commonly found monsters other than the Mericarol type.

If the ORB OF ILLUSIONS will make a return to an easier boss, like it was dropped previously from GAL GRYPHON (I think, I was not here for the event), then that is acceptable and I will wait for the event to return and mass farm it all event long.

 

As always, I wish to hear the communities feedback for off-season drop rates. I wish to have fun in the game again, and have equal opportunities across the board for the solo players, 4-man party cliques, and groups alike.

 

Cheers

-Rsnemesis

[gesseluis 132]

Hello my dear player, I understand this one, let's call it a better drop in the ORB OF ILLUSION, the PHANTASY STAR game on line, I would say it's a game beyond mathematics, I've done a lot of calculations too and came to a conclusion, useless . And I say that smiling, you know why? Because my friend got 2 orb in 2 days in a row, because I already got 3 primal nexus in 2 hours of game, because I got 2 D-virus Armor in an hour of game because I got 2 PGF in 2 Rt in a row.

So I say today that the drop calculations with or without hh give you a drop basis, but I don't believe that they are exact. i just played it was where i most drank items hahahah.

About your question '' why is the ORB OF ILLUSION so expensive and so rare? well what costs more in real life in similar items, let's go to a simple example CAR, any car takes you anywhere from any model, and manufacturer, but why does a FERRARI cost an absurd price, since it has the same functionality that a popular car? Simple STATUS, desire, greed, pure lust and pride, is that wrong? not after all that's what makes you play still in search of that desire to make a nefarius needle, evil aura, hellfire shield or a dark profoudness (I think that's the name lol).

Finally, when I see that red aura in another player I get '' wow he has an evil aura '' I already checked it reduces my resistance and various statuses, but my D-virus armor is not as beautiful as he is and I want one yes because Evil Aura is the face of wealth hahaha. And don't worry, in the event you will make it, and if you want we will play to get one for you and then one for me because I still haven't got my evil aura hahahah. and I LOVE DMR. we can have fun on the weekend if you want. Zion always likes challenges!

in the picture I got the v802 and the Dvirus armor in the same room in seconds hahaha and it wasn't HH

[Muckbeast 16]

I typing a response and it started to get off topic so I stopped and will make a new thread about that instead.

I think your analysis is sound and conclusions are apt. I'd never be able to tolerate this level of RNG.

The problem with brutal RNG like this is not just that it might take on average 15-20 hours to get an item. The added soul crushing problem is that in your example, after 10 hours of grinding, you are literally no closer to getting one than you were 10 hours prior. Part of what makes pure RNG grinding so painful is that failure is absolute. It is not even slow progress toward your goal.

I'm starting to venture back to my other idea so I'll stop....

TL;DR - I think any brutally rare grind is bad for the game, bad for community, and bad for overall enjoyment of the game.

Most of us have played this game for many, many years. Clearly the gameplay loop itself is good enough to keep us coming back for more. Brutal soul crushing grinds is more likely to alienate people and drive them away. That is far worse. If people are having fun, they'll keep making new characters and gearing them up. NOT being able to get things to drop is the real problem, not people "running out of content."
 

Edited March 26, 2021 by Muckbeast

[Wrath 148]

The things stated in your post about solo play were spot on to how I feel, when I used to play frequently I noticed that there were dedicated groups of players that would play together mostly, the Japanese players would play together and those of legion would typically play together, not that this is a bad thing, but it made it so solo players who couldn't get into games were unable to efficiently farm certain pieces of gear just like the "ORB OF ILLUSION". I've thought for a while now that it needed to be lowered or even moved to a few different mobs.

I don't have a problem with the RNG side of things, but certain items on this server are an absolute pain to farm without a couple other players and within the past year or so I have found myself playing more and more by myself and not being able to farm certain gear because of the difficulty of some of the quests for solo players.

[TifaLockhart 3]

I completely agree about Orb of illusion needing to be moved to more common enemies that isnt those annoying Meri's. All the Missions with many Meri's are orribly annoying to start with plus i dont consider any One shot enemy from which there's no way to resist It a good choice development wise for a game, figure being forced to grind It for an item that does not advantage your gameplay.