Have you ever encountered hidden CDs?

[Relapses]

Literally the OP.

Please stop.

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Hidden CDs or no, Ive always felt like some characters in blizzard games are luckier than others.

This luck is amplified by being shit at the game. Worse players will ALWAYS have the item you seek and most of the time they won't even know how to use it optimally...those knuckle-dragging troglodytes and their good luck! GRRRR!!!!

[apustus]

"There is no Wi Flag"


Hidden CDs or no, Ive always felt like some characters in blizzard games are luckier than others.

Yeah we have this meme in our guild about characters being in "low-prio" in terms of loot.

Also our healer officerman has gotten like 30 raid BoEs this expansion, compared to like 10 for the next highest guy. That guy is disgustingly "high-prio"

I'm 100% sure that the game has seeds for characters and certain things happen according to those seeds. Like our disc priest getting hit by Pain Spikes on N'zoth mythic progress 50% more often than other people.

[Very Tired]

Not really, but this game is majorly lacking in bad luck protection.

If a player farms a 1% drop mount for 100 weeks, just give it to them already.

[Ardourdan]

This will sound like a conspiracy theory, but I have too much anecdotal experience from this that I can't not believe it anymore. I've also confirmed similar experiences like this with a few friends.

I believe there's a hidden luck mechanic tied to being away from the game for a long time. Either a) luck accrues when you aren't participating in any casino like mechanics (old raid boss kills) and then it hits a certain threshhold eventually (legiondaries system) or b) if you have inactive game time for an extended period, when you come back the hidden luck attribute is boosted.

They openly had a system in place for legendaries, but in my view, they had this system fleshed out for years and used it for other things they didn't tell us about.

It seems so predictable that when I've been unsubbed from the game for months, first thing I do when I get back is go do an old raid that drops a mount. Generally I get a mount in 1-3 tries. Compare that to when you're active and subbed and doing multiple old raids a week for months and seeing nothing. IMO I suspect it's because if you're an active sub, they know they don't need to sprinkle in additional serotonin spikes, but if you're a less clingy player they want to hit you with something you keep your interest heightened temporarily.

It wouldn't be a stretch to imagine it extends past that and into gear. Without question there are at least hidden value ranks for items, think about how many bracers and cloaks you've received from warfront caches vs other pieces. All you need to do is look at WoWhead for drop percentages.

Activision is also the company that had a patent for a cosmetic incentive generation system where they would match players in random grouping tools with other players that didn't have overlapping cosmetics equipped to make people feel like they needed it, or give a FOMO feeling. I genuinely believe from that alone they are shady enough to pull other bullshit we aren't even aware of.

Also concerning warfronts, why even allow duplicates in the first place? The thing pops once every 2 weeks...

So the twink community at XPOFF did a lot of research into "Bad Luck Protection" with the new epic rewards from 8.2 from questing. A lot of twinks think they've figured out a way of increasing your chance from quest rewards; by simply sitting on the quest you want for a few weeks instead of handing it in.

Some twinks have amassed full epic rewards through this method.

[WowIsDead64]

Finally! I've just got one mob spawn! Within 3 days! But no drop...

[Doffen]

I hear ya. The one hidden CD I've found is that the 10 year old hidden CD that makes Mimiron's Head not being able to drop for me. I must hand it to the devs, they keep me playing.

[WowIsDead64]

I hear ya. The one hidden CD I've found is that the 10 year old hidden CD that makes Mimiron's Head not being able to drop for me. I must hand it to the devs, they keep me playing.

Have you leveled 50 alts to do it 50 times a week? I have around 30 alts, that can farm this mount. But I just don't want to, cuz I don't like it.

P.S. Another chest - no mount.

[Biomega]

So the twink community at XPOFF did a lot of research into "Bad Luck Protection" with the new epic rewards from 8.2 from questing. A lot of twinks think they've figured out a way of increasing your chance from quest rewards; by simply sitting on the quest you want for a few weeks instead of handing it in.

Some twinks have amassed full epic rewards through this method.

Design-wise, manually tweaking the distribution a little bit is probably a good move. You want people to have roughly the same experience, and minimize the times where someone gets 0 epics or 50 epics. And it's a one-time, ultimately irrelevant part of the game so there's very little potential for abuse - the twink thing is such a minor factor it probably just doesn't matter overall.

It's a little more problematic when it comes to repeatable, endgame-relevant content, though.

[ro9ue]

This luck is amplified by being shit at the game. Worse players will ALWAYS have the item you seek and most of the time they won't even know how to use it optimally...those knuckle-dragging troglodytes and their good luck! GRRRR!!!!

I've always heard this being touted in pugs, raid groups, etc. This fits into my theory I posted above, in that worse players often don't play as much, or the guy who never shows up/barely plays gets the item. I think this is by design. People who will play no matter what the outcome of their efforts are don't need to be rewarded as much as the person who has a flimsy relationship with the game.

[Garymorilix]

You do know that Island Expedition drops no longer function like they did in 8.0.

That means that for any given drop from aspecific group to drop all you have to do is have them as enemies during the week. There is no need to kill specific rares.

So for example if you need the Twilight Drake mount, all you need is have the twilight drake invasion thingy. No need to kill anything specific.

So the whole basis of your complaint is thrown right out the window from the get-go.

[WowIsDead64]

You do know that Island Expedition drops no longer function like they did in 8.0.

That means that for any given drop from aspecific group to drop all you have to do is have them as enemies during the week. There is no need to kill specific rares.

So for example if you need the Twilight Drake mount, all you need is have the twilight drake invasion thingy. No need to kill anything specific.

So the whole basis of your complaint is thrown right out the window from the get-go.

That's, what I talk about. In order to get loot from some mobs, they should spawn first. Problem is - they refuse to spawn. They were constantly spawning during beginning of this reset, but within two previous days it was literally ZERO spawns. But today they started to spawn again. So, I guess, hidden CD started to end. Just 3 spawns for today, but still better, than nothing.

P.S. Still no drop from chests.

I started to do my old Stone Drake test. I do it at preparation period of every expedition. WowHead says 8%? Ok. How many tries would it take to get 92 and more on /roll? You know. It's actually not that hard. Sometimes it happens on a first try. But something >10? Happens very rarely.

[Garymorilix]

That's, what I talk about. In order to get loot from some mobs, they should spawn first. Problem is - they refuse to spawn. They were constantly spawning during beginning of this reset, but within two previous days it was literally ZERO spawns. But today they started to spawn again. So, I guess, hidden CD started to end. Just 3 spawns for today, but still better, than nothing.

They dont have to spawn.

That's the whole fckin point man. If any given island has that type available to them on any given week then drops are enabled for that type.

They do not have to spawn.

For this week they are the following:
Un'gol Ruins with Hozen
Jorundall with Vargul
Whispering Reef with Murlocs

[Nathanyel]

Idk if BFA has any of them.

Oh there are definitely some. There's a hidden lockout after looting one Spirit of the Bested (required for the Leatherworking Tool of the Trade) that only resets every quarter hour, at :00, :15, :30 and :45
The Echoes of Mortality for the Preorder Transmog Set have something similar, albeit more complex, I think.

[WowIsDead64]

They dont have to spawn.

That's the whole fckin point man. If any given island has that type available to them on any given week then drops are enabled for that type.

They do not have to spawn.

For this week they are the following:
Un'gol Ruins with Hozen
Jorundall with Vargul
Whispering Reef with Murlocs

I can't find any info, that would tell me, that rewards are based on island theme only - not on invasions.

The chance for cosmetic rewards are now based on all the enemies and Azerite present on the island, and no longer tied to only the enemy camps your team defeats. Completing an Island Expedition at a higher difficulty increases the chance of receiving these bonus rewards.

[Craaazyyy]

your logic doesn't make sense.. if it's a hidden CD players wouldn't know about it(cuz it's ahidden cd duh), so they would still waste their time on it even if that cd was a thing.

Also rng is rng.. there's nothing more to say

[FelPlague]

"hidden cds" are usually just "i dont understand RNG"

[Twdft]

"hidden cds" are usually just "i dont understand RNG"

There definately are hidden cds for items drops in the game. As already mentioned echos for vestments of the eternal traveller, and also drops received via Legion shoulder enchants.

How many other drops have hidden cds is everyones guess.

[Alvito]

I've seen such hidden CDs in the past. Drops from Tanaan rares were on hidden CD for example. I've resubbed due to COVID and decided to farm expedition mounts. I had ~1300 coins to buy chests. First mount I wanted dropped after wasting half of this coins. But second didn't drop after wasting them all. So now I have to just endlessly grind this coins. But there is another way to get it! Random mob spawns on isles, that could give me small chance to get this mount. Problem is... There were some spawns of this mobs on isles just after reset. But since yesterday I see literally ZERO mob spawns, I need. So, my conclusion - I've hit some hidden CD, i.e. no longer can have a chance to obtain this mount till next reset. What do you think?

You need to check your math if you think 1% chance means if you do something 100 times you will get it. In an extremely large test pool it would eventually average out to that, but in just 100 tries it is much more likely you get nothing than anything. Rares in most cases are tied to spawn timers, so when you saw them all up you might have been the first person there in awhile looking to kill them. The next time somebody swept through just a little bit before you. You are really reaching for reasons to complain about the game if confusion over RNG and spawn rates and drop rates from 2 expansions ago is upsetting you.

[Ielenia]

Like something, that is claimed to be random, but it happens just several times after weekly reset and then never happens till next one?

Do you think, that such hidden CDs are extremely dirty move, cuz drops become time-gated instead of RNG-gated, i.e. such drops can't be obtained via making more tries, that can be more fair for casual players, but players, who are unaware of them, can continue to make 10s, 100s and 1000s of tries in order to get something, that they can't actually get, and this is certainly isn't fair for them?

Shouldn't Blizzard clearly admit, that some drops aren't actually just random - they're on hidden CDs, so players won't just waste their time and efforts?

Or you could... y'know... just have bad luck?

Also, some examples of these "hidden CDs" instead of just vague statements of what they could be would be nice.

[Azerate]

As far as I know, hidden CDs are only present in things that aren't really rare, but rather are farmable, just to prevent them from being too quickly farmable. (So not mounts, pets, toys, mogs - the rare ones already have decentyl low drop rates without additional tricks)

Can't remember what it was, but there were items dropping from Argus mobs for some achievement or whatever. They had a set drop rate, which made sense, but only as long as you were doing it solo. People were grouping up to farm them, and killing mobs in the area multiple times faster than one person would. Despite that, the drop count (per time spent, not per kills) remained pretty much the same. I think that was one of the more vivid cases of what the OP is describing here.

No. I do not believe hidden cds apply to any mounts, and for sure not to the IE expeditions mounts, the drop rate of which has been nerfed to the ground. They are literally no challenge at all to a seasoned farmer at the moment. Just keep grinding mythic islands and you can expect about 1 mount per 20 islands on average (not counting boxes).

PS. Haven't really tested this myself nor looked into it too much, but the echoes for SL pre-order quest seem to be another example of that. Even if you make a full party and massacre 100 mobs per minute, you still won't get all of them too fast.