Max DeGroot on May 20, 2017 wrote:

One of the things that I find a lot of players complain about is grinding, that is, doing something over and over and over in order to gather things just to advance the story.

While there is some sense to it, to make higher levels more challenging, I think when it comes to drops, you should never be left in a situation where you wonder whether you are doing something wrong.

How many of us are given a quest like, "Recover 6 Widgets from Cutthroat Ships" or the like, only to find the drop rate so low that you spend 15 minutes battling 5 ships and get nothing? You're no further than you were at the beginning!

There are two ways to improve this:

1) Always have a ship or group of enemies drop at least 1 of the item being sought. If you want the player to battle more, then increase the number of items sought.

2) Alter the drop rate each time they don't get the item. For example, if the drop rate is 50%, the first time they don't get the item, make it 55%, the second time 60%. When the drop is obtained, it goes back to 50%. That way they are assured that they WILL get the item eventually.

Great ideas, Max! I'm in Aquila right now and my Quest is to fight the Ophidians to get Lotuses for the Oracle (A.K.A. getting her groceries ) but they're very hard. When I would finally defeat an Ophidian Ship and mutter, "hoorah", I would see this: "Did not collect Lotus from Ophidian Ships." What in the Spiral?

- The Dashing Swashbuckler, A.K.A. Helpful Aurora Parker, Level 61 Swashbuckler
- The Reckless Pirate, A.K.A. Brave Kiley, Level 26 Buccaneer
- The Leading Commodore, A.K.A. Nora, Level 14 Privateer
- The Lazy Sharpshooter, A.K.A. Destiny Galway, Level 11 Musketeer

(Ratbeard: *Is playing Pirate101* Arr, what does tha' say?
Bonnie Anne: It looks like it's sayin', "Did not collect Lotus from Ophidian Ships"! Wha' in the...
Ratbeard: This be why I think tha' sort o' Ship collectin' be just too hard fer an old Rat like me!
Destiny Galway: *In the background* Yes! Level 70!
Bonnie: Looks like someone's been Questin' right! *Clears throat.* )

Have you tried moving to different clusters of enemies in the areas? If one group isn't dropping the goods for me than I go to the next spot marked on the map and the items usually drop within 2 battles rather consistently.

I honestly think that, even though frustrating at times, those Nautical Quests were designed like that on purpose.

A lot of players (especially younger ones) have a hard time keeping their naut. level up to par with their pirate(s). Not all players take full advantage of crew tasks & picking up all of those small, lower yielding XP/higher yielding naut. XP, side quests.

If you think about it, before we had access to naut. XP via crew, there were many players posting about their nautical level being much lower than their pirate level. I'm inclined to think that KI originally designed the program to accommodate both -- those that keep their naut. levels up & those that may not. For those that do, when they encounter "random collect" quests, they have a shot at only taking 5 ship battles to collect 5 items. Doesn't always happen, & may take twice that...but on many occasions it only takes the bare minimum of ship battles. For nautical-up-to-snuff pirates, they can collect & be on their way. Conversely, for those in-need-of-nautical pirates (that don't use other Naut. XP gains), they may have to fight 2-3 times the ships needed...thus helping them bring their naut. level up.

I think it's a "balancing act scenario", designed to help both player types. If a collect 5 items quests took upwards of 15 battles to complete, on-par pirates may be frustrated if KI raised the number to collect 15 items (with a drop per fight guarantee) & they had to wade through all those ships just to complete the quest. Currently, while it may take 15 on occasion, it also may only take 5. Those with Naut = Pirate can move on & those that need extra help in the Naut. department may get extra, needed Nautical XP.

Increasing the odds seems like a reasonable option, but personally I've had few issues with those collect ship items quests. And when they did take more battles, it actually did help boost my Nautical levels, especially prior to crew tasks. Even as is, we will get them eventually.

anecorbie on May 24, 2017 wrote:

One thing I've observed over several accounts and many, many "defeat & collect" ship quests; is that, the closer you are to gaining a nautical level the less likely that object will drop.
I'm not saying that this is a "fact" of game play, it may just be coincidence, but maybe there's something in the codes that says "If this player is so close to a new level, let's give those extra levels by lowering the drop chance".
Like I said, it may be coincidence or superstition; but I've seen this many times - my pirate gets a collect ship quest & is near a new level, then those objects will not completely drop until I've gained that new level.

Heck, at least you recognize that it may be perception or coincidence.

I've seen other players who will swear up and down that changing the fleet you're battling a ship from or taking on an different hoard of enemies changes the drop rate, ignore how ridiculously more difficult that would make the coding.

From what I can see, and what would make the coding as simple as possible is this: At the end of the battle, the game simply checks which enemy you were facing in which sky (in other words, taking on Amber Hoard ships in one part of Subata Skyway is the same as a different part of Subata Skyway). It then applies the drop rate to it to see if you got the item. No more complicated than that.