We’ve been closely reading your feedback about the recent changes to rare elite creatures in Zaralek Caverns and Forbidden Reach. A number of you have asked why we made this change, so we want to give some more explanation. We can also share a bit about what might happen next.
(We’ll use Zaralek Caverns as the example for this explanation, but all points also apply to Forbidden Reach.)
As shown above, the Zaralek Caverns map regularly displayed 12-15 rare elite enemies available to kill at any given time. This was not an occasional jackpot moment. It was the default state of the zone for most players who came along. Because of this, we regularly saw players who might want to take down those rare elites, but they and other players were scattered around the zone. Due to the sheer number of different spawn points, players simply wouldn’t come across other players who were looking to fight the same rare, even in Group Finder. Yesterday’s hotfix was a step that we’re taking to focus attention on fewer rares at a time and encourage the glorious murderballs that we all know and love.
We’ve absolutely heard your feedback that this feels like a quality-of-life reduction, particularly if you’re hunting specific rare elites for rare cosmetic drops. We’re considering a couple of additional changes to address this:
- We recently found an issue that was causing zones like Zaralek Caverns to be underpopulated. We’re working on a hotfix for that, and once we’ve deployed the fix, you should start seeing more players and have an easier time finding others to group with.
- We’re planning to adjust the droprates of some rare cosmetics that come from these creatures. More details on that should be coming soon.
Thanks as always for your feedback; keep it coming!
Update Coming to Gear from Rated PvP
We’ve heard quite a bit of feedback around the PvE upgrade tracks for gear from rated PvP sources: both the Great Vault and the Conquest vendor. Many of you are concerned that having the Conquest vendor sell gear on the Veteran track significantly reduces the potential PvE item level of most, but not all gear from rated PvP.
To address these concerns, next week we will take all Rated PvP gear on the Veteran track and move it to the Champion track. If the gear has been upgraded, it will keep its item level in this change (so Veteran 6 items will become Champion 2, Veteran 7 items will become Champion 3, and Veteran 8 items will become Champion 4). After the change is complete, current sources of Veteran Rated PvP gear will become sources of Champion Rated PvP gear.
After these changes, this means that all Conquest Gear will have a higher PvE item level potential than it did in Season 2. In Season 2, Conquest gear could be upgraded by Elite players to the equivalent of Champion 7. Once this change is complete, this gear will be upgradeable the same as any other Champion gear up to Champion 8.
This will continue to have no effect on PvP item levels.