Loot selection in Legendary Quest mode seems poor?

[Jaesun]

This quite possibly could be User Observation Error, but I went through quest mode, with 6 characters all around 20+ in levels in Legendary mode, and I went through and completely avoided closing locations JUST to have a look at what kind of loot was available in each area. I obviously could not examine every single location, but from what I came across was that the loot as well as spells you can acquire just seemed very poor. As in, there really didn't seem to be any reason at all to play on this higher difficultly mode (other than the extra gold for closing location, or finishing etc...).

 

I would *assume* this higher difficultly mode would have a better chance of gear and spells. It perhaps is, but I also could be I just had some bad luck. I DID on a few occasions come across one nice bit of gear after a few games.

 

Like for example I have been trying to find a Haste spell, or a wand of minor healing. I have never seen these ever (in any mode). But if you ever need any Beast Skin cards, they will throw 4 or 5 of them at you. heh.

 

Just curious what other people thought about this.

[Ethics Gradient]

Your observations are correct.  Boon "quality" is not affected by the difficulty at which you play the game.  Cards have an equal chance of being found in all difficulty levels.

 

The only thing that "improves" loot quality is the culling system, which thins out Elite and Basic boons as you move up in AD/Tier.

 

Also, keep in mind that things got rearranged a little in Quest mode.  For instance:

2 Copies of Haste enter Quest Mode at Tier 3 (normally 2 in AD2)

1 Copy of Wand of Minor Healing at Tier 2 (normally 2 in AD1)

[Jaesun]

Ahh! Thank you very much. I was assuming incorrectly. Thank you for clearing that up for me!

[Darkren]

After your characters hit level 30, it gets better. I have two hastes, two lightning bolts, a force bolt, a fire bolt, two orbs of firestorm.

 

I also came across a impaler and a wand of enervetion from level up loot.

 

You could use stride as a poor man's hasten.. granted, no extra explore.

[Ethics Gradient]

Ahh! Thank you very much. I was assuming incorrectly. Thank you for clearing that up for me!

I know you were asking about quest mode, but it is a little easier to visualize how the cull works in Story mode.

 

Here's a rough visualization of what's going (assuming a uniform distribution, please excuse the potato-quality Excel chart, etc...).  The cull starts at AD3 and increasingly cuts more cards as you move on.

 

 

Not included are Henchmen/Villains/Loots or Treasure Cards.  These are just the normal RoTR cards that the game may add to locations in Story Mode.  The AD6 numbers are a projection and will probably end up being off, but you should get the overall idea of what's happening.  Both Basic and Elite cards should be very scarce when AD6 comes around, and about half the vault should be AD3+.

 

Quest mode follows a similar, but slightly less steep, drop off.  I'm guessing the rationale behind the difference is that it takes way more scenarios to bump up a tier compared to the five scenarios per Adventure Deck.  The net result is that you end up having a similar overall exposure to higher-quality boons per AD/Tier.  Otherwise you'd gear-up too "early" per tier level.

Edited December 12, 2016 by Ethics Gradient

[Darkren]

it FEELS like, when I get new cards for the story mode, that those new cards show up FAR more often than cards that are not as new.  

 

Like there's a "look at the shiny new bling" variable programmed in.

[Fenwick]

Can anyone explain how the card pool works in quest mode?

 

If I decide to switch characters, do I have to loot my old character to return those cards to the pool of available cards that I can find?

[Ethics Gradient]

Can anyone explain how the card pool works in quest mode?

 

If I decide to switch characters, do I have to loot my old character to return those cards to the pool of available cards that I can find?

The Quest Mode card pools work roughly the same as in Story.  Instead of drawing from Basic and AD1-AD5, it uses a modified series of decks based on the party's tier (let's call them QB and Q1-Q4).

 

The Q decks are about 90% the same as the corresponding AD decks.  The remaining difference is a handful of cards that got moved "up" or "down" by Obsidian.  A notable example is Haste being found in Q3 instead of normally being seen with AD2 cards.

 

When you start a Quest Scenario, the game adds together the decks from QB through your party's tier level, subtracts out the contents of your party's decks, then subtracts out some additional Basic/Elite cards based on the cull.

 

So, to answer your question.  No, you do not need to "return" cards to any pool.  The Vault is generated fresh each scenario.

 

For example, there is only one Wand of Minor Healing, and it is found in Q3 (Tier 3).  If someone in the party has one, it gets subtracted out of the Vault each time it is built.  But if you kick that character out of your questing group, or transfer the Wand to an inactive character, it will reappear in the Vault, and my be randomly dealt out again.

 

If you happen to get a second Wand of Minor Healing, there is nothing preventing you from having two or more in a party if you trade around among your characters.  It is entirely possible to farm duplicate items and consolidate them back to your "main" party, but it is likely to be a long, boring process.