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Problem with fractal weapon collection vs. golden


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I've run into a problem with the fractal and golden fractal weapons sets. By the time one gets close to earning golden, the normal fractal set is only half done. I think this is because you only earn the normal ones on lower levels, with half of the weapon drops being golden on the highest tier. But, by the time you get that far, you're almost always doing tier 4 fractals.

But, the prize for earning the whole non-golden collection is a golden weapon, which by definition you won't be able to use (because you already earned golden a long time before).

So, the solution seems to be to buy all the normal weapons with pristine relics.

But, then, once both collections are complete, there's another problem: further drops are completely useless. You can't salvage them for anything valuable.

Does anybody else see these things as a problem?

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@"Daddicus.6128" said:I've run into a problem with the fractal and golden fractal weapons sets. By the time one gets close to earning golden, the normal fractal set is only half done. I think this is because you only earn the normal ones on lower levels, with half of the weapon drops being golden on the highest tier. But, by the time you get that far, you're almost always doing tier 4 fractals.That's an interesting misconception, seeing as the wiki explains the source:

  • A rare drop in higher levels of FotM
  • Acquired from the fractals' Daily Reward Chest upon completing a fractal level 11 or higher.

In other words, it's more likely to get fractal weapons if doing T4 dailies than doing lower tiers.

I think what we are seeing is that at some point, ANet tweaked the rewards so that the golden weapons dropped more often, without similarly tweaking the blue ones. In other words, it's just different drop rates.

Regardless, you can always choose to spend relics to acquire either/both type.

But, the prize for earning the whole non-golden collection is a golden weapon, which by definition you won't be able to use (because you already earned golden a long time before).The goldens are exotic weapons; they can always be salvaged for ecto (and a guaranteed relic) or re-forged with any three other exotics for Zommy's pleasure.

So, the solution seems to be to buy all the normal weapons with pristine relics.Or wait. I'm in no rush to complete it.

But, then, once both collections are complete, there's another problem: further drops are completely useless. You can't salvage them for anything valuable.Blue drops are useless, sure. Gold fractal drops are, as noted above, still exotics.

Does anybody else see these things as a problem?See what as a problem? All I've seen you do is outline what you don't like about the acquisition methods. It's not a gameplay problem. It's not a collection-completion problem because, as you note, there's a guaranteed source.

So the only potential issue is that at some point, it becomes yet another reward that isn't that rewarding to the most veterany veterans of the game. That's a problem inherent to any reward structure.

I'd support ANet taking a look at the drop rates and offering something for people who have completed the blue collection, even if it's just a gold relic for combining 10 skins ... that we can't use yet. I just don't see it as a "problem" that needs a solution.


FYI One of the devs said (some time back) that we should hang on to the gold fractal relics because they had a long-range plan for a use for them. No further details were given. I don't have the source saved because it was short on details or timeframe.

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Odd. normally, exotics salvage to dark matter, but I just tested, and you do indeed get ectos. So, it won't be completely worthless.

You could be right, though, about them not balancing them at some point. I'm way ahead in the gold collection vs. where I am in Fractal Master. Only two golds left to get (and I have one crate), where as I need 8 more of the lesser ones (with two crates in-hand). It could be random chance, but I've been watching as I received duplicates, and I get a lot more gold ones than normal.

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@Daddicus.6128 said:Odd. normally, exotics salvage to dark matter, but I just tested, and you do indeed get ectos. So, it won't be completely worthless.

Exotics have always salvaged into ectos ever since vanilla and before dark matter was ever added to the game.

@Daddicus.6128 said:Also, I've been playing tier 2 lately, to avoid getting too many gold weapons before completing fractal master. But, that just isn't right.

That makes no sense at all. If you were doing T4 fractals you would be getting 14 pristine frelics per day (17 with recommended and 19 with CMs). Given a fractal weapon crate (https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Fractal_Weapon_Crate) costs 20 pristine, not doing T4 or intentionally doing lower rank fractals slows your chance of completing the lower collection...

As far as Fractal Master, unless you go out of your way to complete all 76-100 fractals, doing T4 fractals would not complete the achievement since not all fractals (in any tier) are dailies. Some never show up.

As far as the drop rate for regular fractal weapons, that one was adjusted down with the addition of the weapon crate. Suffice to say, given a 20 pristine crate per skin made completing this collection a LOT faster.

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@Daddicus.6128 said:Also, I've been playing tier 2 lately, to avoid getting too many gold weapons before completing fractal master. But, that just isn't right.

Wtf did I just read. That really makes no sense like Cyninja said.Just go ahead, complete the collections actively when you can or wait until you get the drops which could last for years even if you don't have bad luck. The rng factor getting the skins someone needs is so big I personally would never wait for those to drop. That's why I bought everything - almost no costs at all if you run fractals on a regular/daily basis.In the end you'll be disappointed. Those collections aren't worth it and you gain almost nothing for completing them.

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Summarizing:

  • The drop rate for gold weapons is higher than for blue weapon skins, for reasons that ANet hasn't explained
  • Gold fractal weapons salvage into ecto & dark matter (same as any exotic weapon) and a guaranteed gold fractal shard.
  • The fastest way to complete the collections is to do T4+recommended+CM, so you can buy what you need.
  • The cheapest way is to do dailies until RNG favors you.

The only reason I haven't bought the blues as @Vinceman.4572 has: I'm still working on other goals that require relics and/or pristines.

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Well then just go for the MA2. As I said the collections aren't worth it. I had the blue collection done long before attunements came out. Even before HoT only 3 skins were missing for me and when I got the possibility to buy them with HoT I was able to get them instantly with the tremendous amount of relics from playing over the years. That's how old this collection is. Back in vanilla GW2 it was kinda odd because you couldn't buy those skins and it was a terrible rng fest to get all the weapons.Usually long-term players don't need mastery points so completing the weapon collection is only a thing for dedicated completionists. Newer players will get their mastery points elsewhere because thoe aren't interested in playing fractals in the first place and acquiring pristine relics obviously isn't the easiest task for them.

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@Vinceman.4572 said:Well then just go for the MA2. As I said the collections aren't worth it. I had the blue collection done long before attunements came out. Even before HoT only 3 skins were missing for me and when I got the possibility to buy them with HoT I was able to get them instantly with the tremendous amount of relics from playing over the years. That's how old this collection is. Back in vanilla GW2 it was kinda odd because you couldn't buy those skins and it was a terrible rng fest to get all the weapons.

This.

The collections are not worth pursuing over MA2 or any other optional fractal Deroir upgrade which you desire. I was in the same boat as Vinceman, had the basic collection done before HoT. Did find it unfortunate that they added the basic skin chest since it devalued the skins a lot even more so after the wardrobe implemenation(I was quite lucky to own 2 fractal swords even before the wardrobe change. It was quite seldom back then and the skins were rare).

I would probably recommend to get MA3 first (it's faster to get from MA2 to MA3 than from MA1 to MA2 funny enough). Then since MA4 is ages anyway, get which ever skins you feel like getting then. MA4 without CMs takes close to a year, so what is a few days spent on finishing the collection?

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Well, I went and bought the six I needed, which I thought was enough to also finish gold. It turns out that one of the gold crates I had was random (vs. choice), so I'm still shy one gold weapon.

But, I'm glad I did it. Now I don't have to think about it any more.

And, you're right: MA4 will take forever. MA3 will probably be done the same day I get MA2, or close to it.

Thanks for all the help!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Its the total opposite for me. I finished the normal fractal weapon collection a very long time ago when Fractals were reworked.But the golden one... dude, I think my account is seriously cursed. Im missing like 6 weapons, but they just won't drop. I run cms + t4 + recs.Instead I get spammed with ascended boxes nonstop, like almost every second run gives me a box, it's ridiculous. I have 4 bank tabs full of that stuff, andthat's just the leftover (I periodically salvageas as much as possible). And yes, I have every class fully equipped with ascended weapons and armor.

I think the last golden weapon I got was three months ago. And it was a double... yeah... because that apparently can happen too.

In a few weeks I will finish Envoys Herald, and from there I will start doing my fractal runs on a daily basis to get the fractal goddess title. Maybe Ill be luckier then.But for now it seems like the game is trolling me.

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@Clyan.1593 said:Its the total opposite for me. I finished the normal fractal weapon collection a very long time ago when Fractals were reworked.But the golden one... dude, I think my account is seriously cursed. Im missing like 6 weapons, but they just won't drop. I run cms + t4 + recs.Instead I get spammed with ascended boxes nonstop, like almost every second run gives me a box, it's ridiculous. I have 4 bank tabs full of that stuff, andthat's just the leftover (I periodically salvageas as much as possible). And yes, I have every class fully equipped with ascended weapons and armor.

I think the last golden weapon I got was three months ago. And it was a double... yeah... because that apparently can happen too.

In a few weeks I will finish Envoys Herald, and from there I will start doing my fractal runs on a daily basis to get the fractal goddess title. Maybe Ill be luckier then.But for now it seems like the game is trolling me.

You know you can upgrade your blue to the same kind of gold right?So if you need a golden spear and get a blue one instead just mystic forge it to golden bud.

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