Revert or find a new 'middle ground' for bait drop rates

actually 70bait per hr is pre-nerf, post nerf is 40 bait per hr (after opening boxes) now :'-)

 

I don't know if this is at all possible or feasible but it might help if bait/box drop rate decreased after every drop, resetting daily. For example, it could start at a 20% droprate and then decrease by 10% of that rate each time. That way, casual players and less farming-efficient classes would be almost guaranteed to get a certain amount by just playing for an hour a day, but more "sweaty" players would eventually reach a point where drops became exceedingly rare though still possible.

 

My take and some numbers, on this event 2 weeks in.

I get on average 50 baits and 40 boxes per hour in the first week, with boxes turning in to 1.2 baits each (so that's 98 baits an hour) farming at HHG2.

On the second week, I have around the same for baits (50 per hour) but boxes are kind of lacking (30 per hour), with boxes turning in at lower (1.08), that's approx 82 baits an hour.

To max out a char (yes, I'm sweaty), i would need 3.75k for raffles + 5k for APRs + 1k for chairs (assuming i get 2 diff chairs) + 600 or more for cosmetics/pets/whatnots = Total of 10350 points more or less. With baits turning into fishes at 2.15 (on average, with decent luck), that would take me approx 4815 baits just to max a char, which equals up to around 58 hours.

For my other chars that does not require APRs (or rather, i've given up trying to get it done this event), i would just need 3.75k for raffles, and maybe an additional 1k (could be more) for cosmetics/chairs/pets = let's take 5k points approx, that would be around 2.3k baits ( 28 hours of farming at HHG2).

At first glance, to max out just a char, u need 2-3 hours of consistent daily grind throughout this event period of a month.
Let's say u have a second char which u aren't aiming so high, that would be an additional hour per day making it 3-4 hours per day throughout the event.

BPQ helps to chip off some points (assuming you are high level, able to down pianus in a team, you will get 672 bp = 672 boxes = around 1.6k points from fishing at a rate of 2.15 points per bait, roughly a saving of around 45mins maximum per day, but this is capped by ur level and your party's ability to rush to certain BPs)

As for quizzes, despite the buff, I've given up on that. Tried it for the first day for 3 chars and decided time is better spent on HHG2, plus i don't want to have headache/eye soreness from having to remember names or scroll through the cheat sheet like a mad man.

Disclaimer: as previously hinted, the turn in rates may not be exact (dependent on one's luck and bla bla) but it is a close approximation of what I have experienced over the past couple weeks with daily grinding at HHG2 for about 4-6 hours per day for 2 weeks. Also, the drop rates cited are what I consider pretty good for that hour, could be way lesser per hour. Do tell me if 2 weeks of 4-6 hours grinding daily still isn't "long term" enough for us to grasp the situation.

Plus point, I'm a working adult with life commitments too. Honestly, I think this event is achievable (Heck, i'm planning to max out a char and do 3-4 chars full raffle by the end of this event, and I'm on track) but is it challenging and difficult? Definitely nope. Is it tedious and to some may call "punishing"(as in horrendous hours doing the same thing mindlessly for RNG)? Yep.
Although, i have to and am acknowledging, "I do have to spend more time and effort in something if I want to advance quicker", basic logic in life i guess. Of course, I am also aware of the choice to "cut down, take it easier and don't aim for such high targets". Also... I'm aware that this viewpoint may be a small minority (as some may call, "sweaty") in the population of ML, hence negligible.

If you're in it for nostalgia and have life commitments but still want to be able to max out a char, yes, this event feels somewhat punishing. I can't be unsatisfied, this is a free game that brought nostalgia back to me and many new friends. But comparing to this year's anniversary event , the "value" of a fish point is significantly lesser compared to that of an anniversary coin, given the amount of time and effort it takes to get one.

Generally, this event feels to me and I have to agree with what somebody on discord said, quoting "1 step forward in efforts for anni event with variety of gameplay aspects involved, but is now taking 2 steps backwards".

Understood that people have been echoing that staff resources are limited and etc., and with that we thank you for doing your best in bringing back the nostalgia to us, I'm just voicing my opinions and the experience I had in this event. Good move by the team though, on making chairs more accessible instead of just raffle-able (not entirely sure if this is good or bad moving forward, as chairs are often seen as somewhat luxurious legacy items in the past, e.g. winter red/no fear/ghost ship and many more) and removing the hard cap on points limit so we can actually get to max out on the stuffs that we want (being able to fully utilise APR and raffles and also get cosmetics, YAY!). But we are now capped by the number of hours we are able to put into this game. No need to test the rates, just do some calculations with expected values and see if it's some what reasonable, which i believe it has been determined by the staff to be; otherwise we wouldn't be having this event.

Welps, time for bed and rest, more worm-digging to do in the next 2 weeks to do. Good luck everybody!