ok bid system

[VRock]

So i saw lot NEW people complaining about the new system will just leave this here:

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Wall-o-text incoming!
 

At first glance, the bidding system may indeed seem it is heavily favoring players with a huge amount of currency. Chance (basically rolling dice) may seem a better alternative. Well let’s have a look at that with a mathematical approach.

Before going any further, let’s take the following scenario: you are running a dungeon with 5 other players, something drops and everyone competes on it. That something drops every run (let’s not add other variables which aren’t related to the loot distribution system itself).
 
Chance / Rolling Dice

Every run, your chance (rolling dice) of winning the loot you want is p=0.166667 in this scenario.

Let’s have a look at your cumulative chance of getting what you want at least once, P(X >= 1) (cumulative probability), values are rounded up to the nearest 1/1000th.

 

2 runs: P= 0.306
3 runs: P= 0.421
4 runs: P= 0.518
5 runs: P= 0.598
6 runs: P= 0.665
9 runs: P= 0.806
10 runs: P= 0.838
12 runs: P= 0.888
18 runs: P= 0.962
 
What are these numbers meaning?

• If you roll on an item 6 times, against 5 other players every time, you have 66.5% chance of winning at least once.
• If you roll on an item 10 times, against 5 other players every time, you still have 16.2% chance of getting nothing.
• If you roll on an item 18 times, against 5 other players every time, you still have 3.8% chance of getting nothing.

 

You know that feeling when you open a Weapon Lockbox and pray to have the weapon for your class and waste 12+ keys on the same Box? Well that’s exactly the same here with a simple rolling dice system.

The Bidding System

With the bidding system, every time you lose an auction, the winning bid is equally redistributed across the party. The state of the Economy will dictate the price of almost everything. So bids will be in line with the current value players are giving to each item. If bids are lower than average, you can take advantage of it and win straight away. If bids are higher you still take advantage of it by accumulating more currency than you should have.
 
If you are after an item which is valued 50 silver. You run a dungeon 5 times, you lose the bid 5 times. Let's assume that you were beaten by players bidding 55 silver every time. (Worst case scenario.)
 
You will receive 11 silver for every dungeon run where you have lost the auction.
 
After 5 runs, you will now own 55 silver, allowing you to technically win the next bid.
After 10 runs, you will now own 110 silver, allowing you to bid twice the price of the item should you wish to do so. At that point you are almost guaranteed to win and even if you don't, well... that's at least another 22 silver straight into your pocket.
 
I wouldn't mind losing bids if I get paid money to eventually have twice the value of an item. What about you? If you were rolling dices at that point you could have had nothing at all, no currency, no loot.
 
The Bidding System also allows players to keep running dungeons even if they don't need certain loots anymore just so they can acquire more currency. That gives a reason to play content you don't directly need an item from which is something a typical rolling dice system doesn't offer. Don't forget as well that if no one wants an item, its sell back value gets automatically shared across the party.

Conclusion

The bidding system isn't perfect in all situations. When you play with your Guild or Friends, you may want to adjust the system and disable Auctions. That is something the party leader can choose. With a random party however, the Bidding System favor players who plays the content a lot opposed to players who are lucky. If you keep losing auctions, you keep getting currency. If you keep getting currency, you are way more likely to keep winning the next auctions.
 
With a rolling dice system, losing doesn't guarantee you anything. Each trial is independent. All it does is rewarding players who are lucky to get something quickly and punishing unlucky players to never get the item they want (exactly like Weapon Lock-boxes, except that you don't have any Blue keys).
 
Notes
 
I fully understand that the above is purely theoretical. Obviously in reality, you won't always run dungeons with 5 others players and you won't be competing for loots against 5 others player as well. The item you want may not drop every run as well.
 
But to compare two different systems properly, it is important to exclude external factors which are affecting both system equally. The number of players or item drop rate affects both systems the same way.