Some thoughts on RNG

General Discussion
1

So here, I am, thinking about this game…let’s consider this. Since I play a DH, and run s6 impale, I’ll use an item from that build, the HPS quiver.

  1. Getting a HPS quiver (ancient) with perfect stats for:

lightning (elemental dmg) - 20%
Dexterity - 1000 dex
IAS - 20%
CHC - 10%
impale dmg - 15%

  1. getting a primal with the above stats.

If we assume that getting a primal is roughly 1:450 or so (on average), then shouldn’t getting a non primal, with the right stats, and maximum rolls, be just as likely odds wise?

I’m not good with probability (it, along with statistics are the 2 areas of math that I just suck at), but I wager that the odds of getting a non primal, ancient item, with the right stats, and maximum rolls for all of the said rolls is probably millions to One if not higher…and yet, a primal, with perfect stats, is 1:450.

They should be the same odds imho.

it’s just One of those RNG based game designs in D3 that just makes it so annoying and frustrating.

2

My Impale DH’s current HPS is an ancient with…

16% Lightning damage
20% Attack Speed
10% Critical Hit Chance (this was the re-rolled affix)
14% Impale Damage
880ish Dex

I have been re-forging spare HPS’s now for over a year in an attempt to get a cold variant at least that good and have spent over 4000 bounty mats so far, i.e. over 800 reforges. I’ve had five primals in that time, some from reforging, some from drops some from Kadala, and endless amounts of ancients. Not one of them has been better than the lightning-based ancient I currently have equipped. Each of those five primal HPS had at least two “wrong” affixes and were therefore unfixable. Don’t fixate on getting a primal HPS, instead realise the odds of getting a good HPS are incredibly low.

1 Like
3

Oh yes, I’m well aware of getting a good, well rolled HPS quiver is very low, don’t get me wrong. I was more recognising that the odds are better on getting a primal with perfect stats than an ancient with near perfect stats, which suggest to me that the RNG odds on stats rolls on non-primals is way too high and should be lowered to balance the game (ancients vs primals).

I picked up a nice HPS quiver 2 nights ago, ancient:

18% lightning
19% IAS
10% CHC
11% impale
848 dex

has taken me from breakpoint 25 with my prior quiver (only 17% IAS) to breakpoint 24 (I have 7% IAS on both my dagger and gloves). Sadly, I need a quiver with 20% IAS to go to breakpoint 23 for that extra bit of DPS and a ring with 6% IAS instead of physical dmg. Of course, a nice ancient ring with physical dmg seems to trump IAS on the ring anyway (bp 24 + phys dmg).

edit:

I’ll just add that it’s far more difficult to get a well rolled HPS than pretty much any other offhand, for any other character/build in the game. Why should some characters/builds have it easier (or far easier) per RNG? It suggests an unbalanced game.

4

Wow! I’d be over the moon with that. At the paragon level my Impale is at, I’d be tempted to roll off the DEX to get Elite Damage or Area Damage.

5

I had to roll vit to CHC sadly…although I’m only p1160ish, so the extra dex helps me, albeit more with toughness/recovery than DPS. Cleared a 119 this morning with 40 seconds left on the clock. Compass rose and TP ammy are both non-ancient (although nicely rolled), so missing 2 ancients and 2 sets of augments.

edit:

so…got a slightly better HPS quiver…had to roll off a useless stat for impale dmg…OMG…I swear I had every other skill @ 15% 3-4 times and ended up having each roll @ 26 million before I got a 15% impale roll…probably 200+ forgotten souls…

OK, if I consistently got 15% for the other skills 3-4 times that is a clear indicator to me that the weighting has been deliberately altered to make impale skill much less likely to roll than the other skills…

The irony is that the HPS quiver is designed to buff the impale skill…One would think that the impale skill had a better chance than the other skills to play to the lore of the item…but nah…