A question about chests, drops and Favor of the Gods

I think the general consensus is that favor has no effect on drops from chests (any of them). Our perceptions of being lucky/unlucky are often pretty skewed, and it'd be hard to quantify actual improvements.

For chest drops being "assigned" to people upon loading in, I'm pretty sure this is correct. The evidence for this is the fact that in HM, sometimes one person will get more than one normal or elite tome assigned to them from a single chest, and then someone else (or 2+ other people) will get nothing from that same chest. In theory, one could get up to 12 tomes from a single chest in the deep or urgoz's warren, with the rest of the party getting nothing, but I think the max I've ever seen is 3.

Thanks to the discovery of the Silver Edge, you could determine when exactly favor begins/ends with relation to zoning into a map. I haven't tested this yet, but I've been meaning to. Because one of the requirements for the Silver Vaettir is favor, you could zone into Drakkar Lake with favor up, wait for it to end, and then proceed with spawning the vaettir. If it still spawns, then favor persists on a given map if it was loaded into before favor ends. Conversely, you could zone in without favor, wait for it, and then proceed with the spawn. If it works, then you can assume favor begins/ends immediately as it's announced. If not, it requires a rezone to take effect on a given map.

Hope this helps. I'm sure Red Fireball and/or Agent Chevy could chime in with some info too.

Quote from Keit

I don't use TextMod. But I noticed when doing bounties with others, that some who do use it have all the chests unlocked with drops near them.

it is toolbox what they use to open chests from afar. officially not allowed to use but tolerated or the fact that most ppl these days do it is just ignored by anet just like the entire gw1...

Quote from Keit

I get that this is random as well and also depends on the instance. Sometimes the instance is pretty much "unlucky". This is where I would appreciate some clarification.

that is just RNGesus. some times maybe good sometimes maybe shit. it is like when you play cards - some rounds you are unlucky and always lose, other rounds you get all the good hands... an instance is far too low of a sample to yield any statistical evidence.

Quote from Keit

What I noticed is that favor often isn't at all "favorable". Sometimes it is VERY favorable, but sometimes I notice even a decrease in "quality" which restores after the "favor" is over. 😅 It is particularly noticeable with opening chests, because I play with heroes, and it's not possible to see if their rate of gold drops has increased.

same applies with the bigger sample of 1h of favor. on means over long time the difference is there, but there are (in the playing card analogon) entire evenings where you feel you always lose.

Quote from Keit

So my question is, does it mean that just like with unidentified items where the mods are already there, we just use the kit to reveal them, the same way with chests, with every instance the items are randomally assigned to each chest, and we just use the lucky/unlucky roll with the lockpicks to open the chest? Or is there a true random element when we open the chest, and it's not only decides if the locpick will break or not, but also randomally chooses the item with each opening of the chest?

there have been different approaches to investigate - the most underlined one was a guru thread where two players could test if they were in instances with the same seed - and from there all the drops were almost identical, also mob spawns and chest loot. but people from the forums couldn't reproduce it . in fact the stacking tomes on hm chests are strong indicator that in fact drops are predetermined: while when running with henchies they never occur suddenly when you run with another player they start to happen. and the predetermined drops aren't assigned - this happens when you open them. so yeah I'd vouch for the analogy to the identification of items - the game already knows what will happens.

Quote from Keit

What I would like to know is if the favor begins when you are already in any particular area, doing chest runs or vanquishing, would it be beneficial to exit the area and enter again, or it doesn't matter and drop rate of rare items should increase regardless? Thanks! 😊🌺

so IF we assume the predetermined drops thing then the consequence that map load is the determining factor (which is why I often open a farming instance for later just when favor is about to end - but I do not keep track so I couldn't prove or disprove - and I wouldn't go by feels either, since numbers are just way more reliable

Quote from Unholy

Thanks to the discovery of the Silver Edge, you could determine when exactly favor begins/ends with relation to zoning into a map. I haven't tested this yet, but I've been meaning to. Because one of the requirements for the Silver Vaettir is favor, you could zone into Drakkar Lake with favor up, wait for it to end, and then proceed with spawning the vaettir. If it still spawns, then favor persists on a given map if it was loaded into before favor ends. Conversely, you could zone in without favor, wait for it, and then proceed with the spawn. If it works, then you can assume favor begins/ends immediately as it's announced. If not, it requires a rezone to take effect on a given map.

I'd say that this might be an indication if your tests yielded true, but if they were false the check for the spawn could just be in time - meaning you have an instance where the drops are still "improved" by favor but you can't spawn the vaettir. I'd guess it is that way.

Quote from Unholy

I think the general consensus is that favor has no effect on drops from chests (any of them). Our perceptions of being lucky/unlucky are often pretty skewed, and it'd be hard to quantify actual improvements.

100%. data or it's just an unreliable gut feel. we are humans

Red summed everything up pretty well.

The generalized topic of what Favor impacts is somewhat of an ongoing and intriguing discussion as well as surprisingly some still believe that Favor doesn't impact anything.

My basic input is being both an avid chest runner and solo farmer, my long term understanding and what I belief is supported by a variety of data collection activities is that it can be determined that favor makes a difference to foe drops vs chest running is unproven. The best farms to see this difference is but limited to is A Chance Encounter or Vaettir farms simply because the quantity of rare drops will go up, quality is random. With chests, you get one at a time so this requires long term data tracking regarding the quality of the drops, however the general impact of the dreaded loot scaling theory, some will say that the more you run in the same place, the worse your drops will get, but this will never stop bots from running at the same spot. Although the quality of drops vary as Red mentioned, similar to other responses above, it could be caused by other things as well such just pure luck and timing. It has also not been proven how much of an impact the Luck title has to drops and whether or not the comparison of luck vs unluck titles make a difference.

Regarding drops from chests being predetermined upon entry, the other factor to consider is that skins are tied to the nearby foes, in some locations, foes can fight, such as afflicted and am fah as an example. In this case, if the afflicted are wiped out, then you open the chest, the drop can still be a plagueborn item.

Chevy

For my part i think that the favor has an influence, but that it is far from being the only one concerning the chance. Or even that it is "major".

From my own experience:

1. I farm: The Job of Halycon for over 13 years. When i saw the debate on the favor a while back, i tested it out there. I never had so many platinum wands (in short i never had any). But i was only doing it during the favor. When i took this farm outside the favor as well, the rate dropped. But at the same time, several years ago, the favor was present 24/7..

2. I think that the rate of drop of rarer items, is more present the first time you discover a zone or a coop (name on the map that is discovered). Then the more we go there, the less these rare items will fall. But this is not equal depending on the object, 2 examples:

- Zehtuka's Pack: I wanted to have this item that randomly drops to NF. After getting one at a place i remembered well, i farmed that place. Couldn't get one, even after many hours and hard work. Then i realized, after dropping it +12 times, that it is impossible to drop it a second time with the same character. It's explicit, it only takes 1/2 hour - 2 hours to get one the first time, never a 2nd after dozens of hours and that systematically with every PvE character.

- Ghostly staff inscr. on NF Dryder (no DoA): Nothing to do with the Chestrun, i was killing NF Dryders for the blue low req. (eternal shield-bow & storm bow). I see a few Ghostly Staff fall at first (3-4), then nothing, never again. I killed several thousands of them, never a Ghostly Staff fell again, while the other skins mentioned and associated with Dryders fell regularly.

Anyway, in all of this, as much favor, as going to a place for the first time or going to a place you haven't been in a long time, not dying, leaving the game afk in the area for quite a while, etc, etc, always makes me feel more fortunate. But i think above all, as said at the beginning of my message, that there are many luck factors that add up to each other. It remains luck and determining the importance of each one independently of the others and its influence is almost impossible.

For the test of favor with the boss Vaettir, wouldn't it be easier to resonate with the statues representing the gods?

Extract from the official wiki concerning Lyssa's:

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The appearance of this statue depends on whether or not the world is currently blessed with the favor of the gods.

• Without favor, the statue is gray and covered in thorny, leafless vines.
• When favor begins, vines burst forth from the base and twist up around the statue.
• During favor, it has a golden light around its base and it is lit with white light.

If the appearance of these statues changes in real time with the favor, it logically means that the favor (the bonus we think we have that would give us more luck) would disappear at the same time as the favor, whether or not we are in an already loaded area.

(Sorry for triple post, but that closes the subject of the favor ->)

I had never seen this on the wiki, too funny!

Favor of the Gods ->

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The September 26, 2013 update increased the drop rate of rare items when favor of the gods is active

Feedback:Game updates/20130926 ->

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Gameplay Changes

• Favor of the Gods is no longer required to access elite areas or receive blessings from god statues.
• When active, Favor of the Gods now increases the drop rate of rare items.
• Players are now restricted from changing the allocation of attribute points during PvP matches.

I understand better why before this maj. I was not dropping better when the favor was present 24/24h and 7/7 with farm of Halycon.

Quote from Neutral_CH

If the appearance of these statues changes in real time with the favor, it logically means that the favor (the bonus we think we have that would give us more luck) would disappear at the same time as the favor, whether or not we are in an already loaded area.

not necessarily. If the data for the mobs and drops are sent to your PC when the map loads then the check for favor takes place then and hence the items are "better" (ofc therecould also be a routine that regenerates drops once the favor status changes even then). The statue thing can just be another info the server sends when favor is activated, there is not necessarily a correlation - it comes down to how it is implemented. I´m not saying I am sure that the favor impact on drop takes place at time of map load, just that the look of the statue and that it changes with favor does not let us conclude whether or not drops are impacted the same way. There is other tests one could make when trying to distinguish which way drops work.