With Destiny, the first results from the changes of the last patch are now appearing, regarding what they might have brought in terms of loot.
Last week, the loot distribution in Destiny changed with 1.02. But can you feel it in the actual gameplay of Destiny?
Diligently: 55 times Tiger Strike before the patch, 55 times after
A player on reddit has now completed a strike from the Tiger playlist 55 times and compared his results with the 55 last strikes from this list that he completed before the patch.
The result: Hrmpf, not much has changed. On one hand, there is indeed better loot from the legendary Engrams now – but they drop much less frequently. Before the patch, he found two, but after the patch not a single one.
However, the reward from the strikes has become better upon completion, as promised: With rare Engrams, the Guardian can now probably overwhelm the Cryptarch. He received 83 from the 55 strikes. In contrast to 27 from the 55 strikes before the patch. Additionally, there was one exotic item among the rewards and a single legendary Engram. Before the patch, he found neither one nor the other.
Loot remains the same, mood gets better?
As a result of the statistics, a heated discussion broke out among the Guardians. Players discussed their successes and compared loot. As it always is: one swears that he is the unluckiest man in the universe and that he never gets anything from the damn Cryptarch. Other Guardians seem to have gotten a sunshine account and just have to step outside, before the Purple Rain sets in.
In the discussion, a picture slowly emerged that little has effectively changed. Legendary items remain desirable in Destiny.
Logically, otherwise, people would finish the game too quickly. After all, before the patch there were legendary Engrams in abundance, they were just often duds. If the frequency of legendary Engrams had been maintained, everyone would have been quickly covered in purple and had no reason to go on a loot hunt.
But the perception of the players has at least changed. They no longer have as many legendary Engrams, that turn out to be “duds” like before. That was the main source of frustration. Now it is more common that a player opens a blue Engram, from which he expects nothing, only to be surprised by a legendary item. A legendary Engram, on the other hand, tends to offer upgrade materials surprisingly often.
Legendary Engrams in Destiny now more valuable, but also rarer
However, the numbers are still changing and too small at the moment to draw any definitive conclusions. Before the patch, players opened hundreds of Engrams and calculated specific probabilities on drops. That is currently missing. But it looks like Bungie did not just change the contents of the Engrams, but also adjusted their drop rate. The legendary Engrams now seem not only to be more valuable than before patch 1.02, but also rarer.
