[b]There is a TL:DR section at the bottom of the post that will list out my changes as briefly as possible.[/b]
[b][i]Please give feedback!! I'd like to make updates to this until it's formed into an idea that is largely agreed upon by most people. If enough people want changes, I will change it.[/i][/b]
The posted article brings up really good points, and some points I don't agree with, but it got me thinking. Check it out of you wish. I think there is a problem with the reward system for PoE. This will be extremely long winded, but I'll divide it into sections so that you only have to read what you want. Those of you who wish to read my reasoning, check out the sections and comment. Let's talk about different ideas should be fun.
This will be broken down into separate sections of Treasure keys, level 28, level 32, level 34, and level 35 changes. My goal in this is to make this consistent with the rest of the game's reward systems, in particular, the raid reward system. I'm not interested in making rewards easier to get or harder to get, or even fairness; I'm an only trying to making this consistent.
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[b]Overview[/b]
The main changes are going to come to the high level (non matchmaking) PoE rewards. They should offer good drops from a loot table once per character per week, and then once completed, they only offer the usual small rewards from chests (unless you have a key to open the big chest). These need to be more like raids. Take away the guaranteed armor/weapon cores, and etheric light. Armor/weapon cores and etheric light should be a part of a loot table of rewards that you get from the 2 small chests at the end. The loot table will be adjusted according to accommodate difficulty (just like raids), but there will be no guaranteed specific rewards, and instead you will get random drops from the loot tables. I'm not sure if I think we should get drops after each round, or if we should get all drops at the end from the small chest. But in the end, those semantics don't matter. I will lay out loot tables below.
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[b]Treasure Keys[/b]
We do not need change the key drop rate. Keys give you access to a [b]bonus[/b] reward, and it should not be expected to be a consistent reward for completing elders. However, the rewards you from the big chest need to change. The rewards must reflect the rarity of the keys. Since they seem to be one of the rarest items in the game now, the rewards need to be awesome. Probably a guaranteed exotic. Or maybe even 365 raid weapons or super rare shaders or something. Whatever it is, it needs to be a great reward, with no chance of getting something shitty.
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[b]Prison of Elders 28[/b]
Rewards don't need to change. They're ready similar to Dragon strike rewards, which is what they should be. Rare engrams and consumables mostly, with a small chance of legendaries and a smaller chance at treasure keys. You can get these rewards as many times as you want per week.
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[b]Prison of Elders 32[/b]
I'm thinking queens gear for this one. It's good solid armor that will get you to level 32 (unascended) and I think it looks pretty cool. Armor cores and weapon cores should also drop, but not as often as they do in level 34. Legendary engrams in general should be a part of this loot table. I'd say make a weapon core a rare drop, as well as exotics. Also keys are just as rare of a drop as usual. So for this activity, fairly mild rewards, but at least decent.
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[b]Prison of Elders 34[/b]
Now we can start talking about armor cores. Armor and weapon cores should both be a common part of this loot table, as well as etheric light. This is a pretty challenging activity, and certainly worthy of getting access to end game gear. Also, (this is where it gets good), they need to introduce some actually useful weapons for PoE. We were given some [i]awesome[/i] weapons from both of our raids, and PoE needs some of that going on. I don't have any ideas for what they should be, but they need to exist. They should only drop in PoE, and shouldn't be sold by any vendor. I like weapons that you can get exclusively from activities. Only heavy and special weapons should drop at level 34. Armor cores, weapon cores, etheric light, exotics, and specific Variks weapons and armor should all have chances to drop.
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[b]Prison of Elders 35[/b]
Good shit needs to drop here. High chance at exotics, new elemental primary weapons (again, like we've had in the hard mode raids), as well as an exclusive shader, emblem, and ship for bragging rights. Maybe a new sparrow? Also, I would posit that keys actually should have a much higher drop chance here. Maybe 25%.
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[b][i][u]TL:DR[/u][/i][/b] (summary)
Treasure keys: don't increase drop rate, just get much better rewards.
PoE: rewards are once per week, based on a different loot table in accordance with level. After claiming, rewards from each difficulty, you only get level 28 rewards from any activity until reset.
[b][i]Loot tables:[/i][/b]
[b]28:[/b] same rewards as now
[b]32: [/b]queens gear, legendary engrams, weapon core, armor core, small chance for exotics, treasure keys
[b]34: [/b]etheric light, armor cores, weapon cores, new and exclusive excellent weapons similar to previous raid weapons (only heavies and specials), specific Variks weapons and armor, higher chance for exotics, small chance for treasure keys
[b]35: [/b]etheric light, new and exclusive elemental primaries, exclusive ship/shader/emblem, Variks armor, high chance for exotics, higher chance for treasure keys
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[b]Change:[/b] I'm officially updating the level 32 PoE rewards to add armor cores to the loot table. Every single person who has commented wants it, so that's how it should be.
[b]Edit:[/b] ZHX1138 had some interesting. Input on why 32 should drop armor cores. I'm inclined to agree now that I know this. Here's his feedback:
[spoiler][quote]You're comments are not valid regarding level 32 having no armor core. We need plenty of armor cores because there will be 4 variants to each armor piece with specific traits for each enemy faction. It's no longer about who gets to level 34 first it's about having armor that's effective for each round type. To collect all variations it will take you pretty much a year playing each week. I think this is why there will be no more ascendant shards for leveling up only glimmer and basic planet materials.
Kellbreakers Cloak will have many different version based on drop:
http://destinydb.com/items/4013007887-deathsingers-mantle
Helmet:
http://destinydb.com/items/3620910776-will-of-the-archon
Gloves:
http://destinydb.com/items/3660153609-grip-of-the-archon
Boots:
http://destinydb.com/items/3910621915-stride-of-the-archon
We will mostly likely get 4 different version of armor chest plates, gloves, boots and helmet. Each with specific traits for vex, hive, fallen and cabal.
This applies to all classes. They will have total of 16 Armor types per class.
This also applies to Armor Core and guns because the guns will have different perks specific to killing different enemy types, Dreg, Shank, Vandals and Captains.
Six Dreg Pride hand cannon will have 6 variants: http://destinydb.com/items/270944924-six-dreg-pride-ii
Auto rifle: http://destinydb.com/items/2235712585-wolfslayers-claw-ii
Scout: http://destinydb.com/items/3093674676-wolves-leash-ii
Pulse: http://destinydb.com/items/1548878643-aegis-of-the-kell-ii
Do some research on destiny DB and you will see that we will have 6 variations of the same guns that will random drop and be sold so getting weapon cores and armor cores should come plenty. For a total of 70 variations of guns combined.[/quote][/spoiler]
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Lvl 28 prison of elders is longer than a dragon strike. We should get more than 65 rep for house judgement (10 per round, 25 at end). We should get 100 rep for house judgement. Maybe 35 rep for vanguard/faction. Maybe have etheric light as rng drop. Or keep lvl 28 as is if they make 32, 34, 35 matchmaking.