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!