One funny irony when playing on the PTR is finding items that you’ve been hoping would drop on live. I’m not the only one as I constantly saw in chat other players linking items that haven’t dropped for them on live; like a Starmetal Kukri, Thunderfury, SoJ, etc (you get the point).
Myself, I consider fortunate to even have the items I have where the majority of it (enough to fill 3 other alt mules) dropped within a game play span of around 10 hours (the first 1.25 months was terrible when it came to the quality level of legendaries).
Early on, I was hoping to be able to get a complete Tal Rasha’s set (I had completed a level 60 version within the first week of the patch 2.0 pre-expansion). But my first Tal Rasha item (the chest I’m still using on my main), did not drop until early May during that period where a whole bunch of other items including a complete Firebird’s, Moonlight Ward, and my Thunderfury all dropped.
The next 4.5 weeks before I stopped playing in early June, has been fairly fruitless except for getting my first (one of two which dropped within a week) Stone of Jordan, an okay cold damage Tal Rasha amulet and Guise of Wisdom (neither decent enough to use on my main; I have the amulet muled on an alt with cold damage gear).
Playing on the PTR though, I’ve had two decent Tal Rasha sources drop, a better Tal Rasha helmet, and The Magistrate wizard hat (something I was hoping would drop for my cold wizard) all in under 8 hours of game time play. The Magistrate (along with Dark Mage’s Shade) does not drop as frequently as say a Swami or Archmage Vicalyke but isn’t ultra-rare like a Velvet Camaral (all of these are wizard hats) was not better rolled compared to the cold damage Andariel’s that I found on live though.
This is where the developers miss the point about item rarity. First of all, class specific legendary/set drops (if you play the game as designed and did not do things like chest runs or Rifting it Forward) is already an RNG-fest; like I rarely even see legendary sources or wands. When a legendary wizard hat does drop, it’s unsurprisingly going to be either a Archmage Vicalyke or Swami (I’ve had over 10 of the former drop already). The Magistrate isn’t as common as those two but not extremely rare either. But it’s never dropped on live for me.
So when it finally does drop (on PTR), the feeling ends up being one of finally (rather than elation) and when you try and use it, and find that it turns out to be underwhelming, it makes you wonder why it doesn’t drop as often. It’s implementation is way more underwhelming than I thought it would be that I now no longer care if it doesn’t drop on live.
Interestingly enough, I have one of rarest sources in the game, Winter Flurry (which I got from Kadala within my first 2500 blood shards – this was back when the drop chance data had yet to have been mined). Aside from the cold damage on it, it’s proc effect is an “on kill” one; enemies killed by cold damage have a chance at releasing a Frost Nova. This is why I thought this source and the Magistrate would create an incredible Frost Nova synergy.
After trying this combination out (I also have an Azurewrath – the only thing I lack is Frostburns), the results were meh. The crowd control aspects never really materialized (let alone how long it takes to kill stuff with cold even with close to 100% cold damage). So anyone looking for a Winter Flurry for their cold wizard, will end up feeling the exact same way when The Magistrate dropped for me; but it will be even worse because the ultra rarity of this source is unjustified except to maybe get a cool looking wizard source transmog.
And this is why there aren’t many more items that I’m actually looking for on live. The ultra-rare items might serve a specialized purpose based on its legendary property, but most of them don’t seem to be very well designed for actual general game play. Many players complained about how common Blackthorne’s were. I honestly believe it’s full set bonus will be far more useful in say higher tiered Greater Rift’s (because you are immune to most ground effects). Another common amulet drop is Countess Julia’s Cameo (which prevents arcane damage) – thus you can stand in arcane sentries (and in higher tier Greater Rift’s, just one touch of a beam will take you out).
Having a Ring of Royal Grandeur will also help because if you can find Ice Climbers, one can forgo the Blackthorne boots and also get immunity from freeze and immobilizing effects. That leaves dealing with physical, lightning, and fire damage. While fire is one of the most common damage sources in the game, a lot of it is avoidable.
Two (out of three) of the ultra rare amulets is the Star of Azkaranth which prevents all fire damage and Xephirian Amulet which prevents all lightning damage; they might be generally useful if they roll the right properties. And that’s the problem because of the layers of RNG involved. It’s easy with a Countess Julio because they drop often enough that you can try re-enchanting or possibly get a better rolled one to drop. The ultra rarity of those other amulets though will usually make it a very “meh” moment when it does drop.
Rarity in Diablo II was more about finding those items with the perfect rolls. And ultra rare items like a Tyrael’s Might was due to it’s -100% requirement, no strength requirement to equip, guaranteed all resistance rolls (needed in late game). But there were other unique items in game which were as equally useful and actually had more defense (just needed the right requirements to use). The hardest part was getting those perfect rolls. The D3 devs however believe that it’s all about the unique properties that are only available on that one particular item, which justifies their rarity (rest of their random properties and roll ranges be damned).
But I guess that is what is to be expected when you have former World of Warcraft designers or lead content designers who clearly want D3 to be disconnected from D2, making those decisions in Diablo III where they constantly miss the mark when it comes to the itemization differences (including their rarity) between D2 and D3.
