The update notes have this cryptic line
• Some item drop rates have been adjusted.
There have been many rumors and speculation as to what that means in terms of nodestone, arcane symbol, and droplet farming.
Nexon Korea claims that the base drop rate for these things has been raised, but the effect of drop rate lines on equipment has been reduced. Some KMS players claim that even people without drop buffs have noticed a decrease in their collection rate.
The new drop rate buff formula has not been released, and people speculate that it's "like IED" in that it has heavily diminishing returns and an asymptote at 100%.
But as far as I know there is no proof, and even if there were, GMS is not required to do things exactly as KMS did.
So, I'm trying to find out some facts.
Before the patch, I had time to do some short tests. In all of them, I killed 10k Wolfruit (counted by Veteran Hunter medal challenge quest) and counted how many nodestones and arcane symbols I found. This area doesn't drop Droplets.
Test 1: No drop gear, no familiar, no coupon, no skills that give drop (such as HS) = 1 nodestone, no symbols.
Test 2: Big Spider familiar only = 2 nodestones, 2 symbols.
Test 3: 100% drop rate gear +20% equip only (Greed pendant) = 11 nodestones, 1 symbol.
Test 4: Same drop gear + 2x USE coupon = 10 nodestones, 1 symbol
All of this is in MYBCKN. (Reboot has different rates)
Sample size of 10k kills seems to not be enough, but that's all I had time for. The results of Test 3 seem disproportionately lucky.
Now that the patch has landed, I'd like to ask everyone to try doing controlled tests of how many Nodestones, Symbols, and Droplets they get
per kill ("Per hour" is meaningless because some people kill way way faster than some other people), in whatever configuration of drop buffs they use.
My post-patch data:
no drop gear, buffs, or familiar: 6 nodestones, no symbols.
Big spider familiar : 5 nodestones, no symbols
Please add your data to this thread. Let's see just how much the base rate was buffed (if at all) and what the effects of drop gear and other buffs is.
Comments
Server: Luna
Job: Kanna
Range doesn't matter but I 1 hit all mobs.
Test 1: Slurpy Forrest (Chu Chu Island)
Time: 6 1/2 minutes
Exp rate: Average of 10.3b exp/hr
Kills per minute: 420 (exp calculation), 335 (veteran hunter)
Drops: 2 Nodes
Drop multipliers: Drop gear 125%, Inner 13%, Decent HS 18%
Test 2: Chicken Farm 2 (Lacheln)
Time: 11 minutes
Exp rate: Average of 11.8b exp/hr
Kills per minute: 334 (exp calculation), 280 (veteran hunter)
Drops: 5 nodes
Drop multipliers: Drop gear 125%, Inner 13%, Decent HS 18%, Wolf underling (100%)
Exp is calculated as followed:
1. Exp (per sec) is converted to Exp (per hr)
2. Exp in combat tab is counted up (only numbers before the comma): exp per kill, buff bonus exp, burning exp, zero card exp/legion exp
3. Step 1 is divided by Step 2
4. Step 3 is divided by 60 (--> Exp/min)
Credits go to MasteringGaming. I am still in the process of testing more. Will post my own when I have finished.
At Cavern Lower Path:
Drop Buffs: 2x CS coupon, 2x Winter, 40% drop gear, Greed Pendant's 20% equip drop, DHS 15%. Not sure if/how all of this stacks.
Kills: 78,828
Nodestones: 90
Droplets: 7
Symbols: 5
Drop Buffs: 2x CS coupon, 2x Winter, DHS 15%.
Kills: 21, 889
Nodestones: 25
Droplets: 1
Symbols: 2
Drop Buffs: 2x CS coupon, 2x Winter
(I heard that DHS might bug nodestone stuffs, so I figured I'd do one without DHS to see if it'd fix what I was getting, but it didn't seem to be the case so I quit early on lol. just in case it's useful, here it is)
Kills: 3939
Nodestones: 2
Droplets: 1
Symbols: 1
I did 3 tests, all of them killing 10k Wolfruit in Kradia.
With no drop gear, buff, familiar, or skill, I got 6 nodestones.
With Big Spider, I got 5 nodestones.
With Wolf Underling, I got 4 nodestones.
Sample size is not enough to state unequivocally that familiars reduce the drop rate of nodestones, but I think I can tentatively conclude that they don't increase it as much as they should.