



This is going to be a long read so bear with me.



I have finally reached level 100 after hours and hours of grinding. For most parts I had fun, a lot of it, although there were few really annoying moments which I will share at the end. From level 98.5 onwards I decided to record the maps that I personally rolled and the map drops that comes with it. This is because I am convinced map drops are too random, and not related to high quantity at all and the level of map drops are shitty yet there is no hard facts.



It is also time for me to take a break from POE and to give something back to the community, as I am joining the national service in Taiwan for 1 year in the near future, I will be following the news etc and hopefully when I am back act 5 will be ready for me to play.



TL;DR

Spoiler stop being lazy and read



The data

Spoiler I have 207 worth of data points (I have done far more maps than this, but mostly in a map rotation), from level 75-78.



Few points to note:



I skip all of palace bosses, about 50% of courtyard bosses and piety since the risk and reward from my point of view isn't worth it.



I also try to clear the maps but sometimes it is just impossible to track down where the remaining few mobs were at, especially if they are hidden underground or the map has temp chain as a mod, but generally they are less than 20 remaining.



For rolling the maps, usually I tend to aim at pack modifier (can be seen from the raw data in the link at the end) ie pack size, magic monsters. I mostly avoid rare unless its 76 or below, and would re-roll over it even it's 50% rare. If no monster modifiers, then the map will be really high Q. I always 4 chisel the map and spare no chaos orbs in general.



Towards the end (level 99 95%) I started alt regal, aiming for just high pack size for the extra exp



I have included unique maps drops in my data, so poorjoys will be recorded as a temple drop for example



The data were collected after 1.0.6 and before 1.1, unless there is ninja change to the map drops, one can assume the data were collected under consistent manner



Results



Spoiler

The graph shows number of maps drop vs quantity of the map. I cannot see any correlation whatsoever You have maps with 130% dropping nothing and maps below 60% dropping as many as 6 maps. Are these outlier? I don't think so, it just a pile of mess. I didn't even bother trying to do regression analysis... For ages people have complaint it's all random and data I collected seems to support this.



Some interesting stats.



Average level of maps done 77.1

Average map quantity 76%

Average number of maps dropped 1.7

The graph shows number of maps drop vs quantity of the map.You have maps with 130% dropping nothing and maps below 60% dropping as many as 6 maps. Are these outlier? I don't think so, it just a pile of mess. I didn't even bother trying to do regression analysis... For ages people have complaint it's all random and data I collected seems to support this.Some interesting stats.Average level of maps doneAverage map quantityAverage number of maps dropped

Breakdown of map drops



People have also been complaining that the range of level of maps drop were too wide, is this the case? lets look separately at level 78,77,76



78 (palace and courtyard)



Spoiler





Interesting stats

Total no of maps 99

Total map drops 136

Average map quantity 75%

Average number of maps dropped 1.4



The first graph shows the distribution of the map drop. Please not that 78 maps cant get +1 or +2 drops.



The second graph shows the % of the map level for the drops, with 78s just account for 22% and 77s just a mere 19%



Combining the distribution of drops to the average map drops we can say that doing a 78 map, you have less in 1 in 3 chance to get a return, and just more than 40% of getting a 78 or 77.



Also the average number of map dropped seems a lot lower than the average of the whole data set (1.4 vs 1.8 maps for the total), indicating 78s are less likely to drop maps.



On a side note palace seems to be a bit smaller than courtyards, judging by the XP gain per map

Interesting statsTotal no of mapsTotal map dropsAverage map quantityAverage number of maps droppedThe first graph shows the distribution of the map drop. Please not that 78 maps cant get +1 or +2 drops.The second graph shows the % of the map level for the drops, with 78s just account for 22% and 77s just a mere 19%Combining the distribution of drops to the average map drops we can say that doing a 78 map, you have less in 1 in 3 chance to get a return, and just more than 40% of getting a 78 or 77.Also the average number of map dropped seems a lot lower than the average of the whole data set (1.4 vs 1.8 maps for the total), indicating 78s are less likely to drop maps.On a side note palace seems to be a bit smaller than courtyards, judging by the XP gain per map

77 (shipyard and shrine)

Spoiler





Interesting stats

Total no of maps 55

Total map drops 121

Average map quantity 79%

Average number of maps dropped 2.2



77s can drop +1, and it is perhaps surprising to see that 78s drops are more often in 77 maps than 77s. It is perhaps more significant that the number of map drops are much much higher than 78s, with 2.2 drops per map. This means if you are gonna do farm maps and build up a pool, perhaps 77s might be better than 78s as for each 77s, you will get 0.7 77/78 return based on data I collected



This might be random fluctuation as the number of data points are less than 78s I've done, one would need to do a hypothesis test, and I am too lazy. Interesting statsTotal no of mapsTotal map dropsAverage map quantityAverage number of maps dropped77s can drop +1, and it is perhaps surprising to see that 78s drops are more often in 77 maps than 77s. It is perhaps more significant that the number of map drops are much much higher than 78s, with 2.2 drops per map. This means if you are gonna do farm maps and build up a pool, perhaps 77s might be better than 78s as for each 77s, you will get 0.7 77/78 return based on data I collectedThis might be random fluctuation as the number of data points are less than 78s I've done, one would need to do a hypothesis test, and I am too lazy.



76 (crema, academy, precinct)

Spoiler





Interesting stats

Total no of maps 38

Total map drops 71

Average map quantity 75%

Average number of maps dropped 1.9



Similar sort of story really. 76s do give more map drops than 78s, and for every 76 map, you are expect to get 0.58 76/77/78 back. One thing to note is for 77s, 78 maps are more common than 77s, this is not the case here as 76 maps are the most common drop. This might be something to do with the fact that both +1 and +2 drops are possible for 76, but only +1 would be possible for 77. So for maps which would drop +2, you only get +1 in a 77. Interesting statsTotal no of mapsTotal map dropsAverage map quantityAverage number of maps droppedSimilar sort of story really. 76s do give more map drops than 78s, and for every 76 map, you are expect to get 0.58 76/77/78 back. One thing to note is for 77s, 78 maps are more common than 77s, this is not the case here as 76 maps are the most common drop. This might be something to do with the fact that both +1 and +2 drops are possible for 76, but only +1 would be possible for 77. So for maps which would drop +2, you only get +1 in a 77.



Summary



Spoiler Map drop sucks ass. You are expected to lose maps when you do a map, although compensated by the fact that lower level maps can drop and you can perhaps work your way up again. This is inefficient as when you are doing the final push, you only want to be doing 78s as it gives most xp but 78 drops suck even more.



Even for my friend bigdaddy, who is self sufficient up to 99.5 never needing to buy maps ends up spending tons of exalts buying 78s so we can keep rotating.





Special thanks

Spoiler My guildie vent, laz, blast, pkmode, noms, Kayosse and keith for keeping me company and provide tons of laughter



Petrov, Kura, and Arly for the good banter

Flubby for giving me a crema when I was a scrub when he first moved to anarchy, this crema proved to be the start of my map pool and also bro dealing me the 78s when dom ends so I can do the final push



AXN for his wonderful craft making the game so much more fun



Iro(who also provide very good data points when we duo run after we both died at 99), google, Fyndel, Daddy, brubee Clan Brocco, ASGARD, MIDTWO, Monk, RF cyclone bros (you know who you are) Taka, Mamba, Orlando bloom (aka lego), Sofia, honeyface, Craze, Shaun, Roided, Whisper, GrimJester, Supernova, Puotsos and tons and tons of people who I have maps with

GGG for making this game





Annoying matters

Spoiler -Temp chain and enfeeble, wtf is wrong with GGG

-Having to track down remaining mobs combined with temp chain, made worse by the shitty drop forcing you to have to track them down

-desync and lag, which had caused 1 death at 99

-trading, I want to play ARPG, not fucking stock market, yet you need to trade to get currency to buy maps/chaos/chisels

-waiting and trying to organize a rotation, its both slow and time wasting but you have to because of the currency involved

-why cant i have a bigger friends list



Raw data

Spoiler https://www.dropbox.com/s/a8pegeu1rbjow1f/map.xlsx

for those of you want are interested in these sort of thing





edited average map drop to be 1.71 as my original 1.8 was wrong, this is why work need to be checked...

















HiThis is going to be a long read so bear with me.I have finally reached level 100 after hours and hours of grinding. For most parts I had fun, a lot of it, although there were few really annoying moments which I will share at the end. From level 98.5 onwards I decided to record the maps that I personally rolled and the map drops that comes with it. This is because I am convinced map drops are too random, and not related to high quantity at all and the level of map drops are shitty yet there is no hard facts.It is also time for me to take a break from POE and to give something back to the community, as I am joining the national service in Taiwan for 1 year in the near future, I will be following the news etc and hopefully when I am back act 5 will be ready for me to play.TL;DRPeople have also been complaining that the range of level of maps drop were too wide, is this the case? lets look separately at level 78,77,76Special thanksAnnoying mattersRaw dataedited average map drop to be 1.71 as my original 1.8 was wrong, this is why work need to be checked... Green_honey_boo_boo is my favourite south park character!



My Goddess Scorned crit ele cleave build @ 1076445 Last edited by turtleken on Mar 4, 2014, 3:15:03 AM