Time based RNG, a concept.

[Hesione.9412]

@Nazarick.9653 said:

@Danikat.8537 said:

@Hesione.9412 said:In this case it really depends on how GW2 does it, which may well not be nearly as random as computers are capable of being because Anet only needed to create a system which is 'good enough' to create a typical distribution of drops while being unpredictable to players, even if it isn't truly random and wouldn't stand up to the kind of analysis professional mathematicians would use.

For example in the earlier Pokemon games it's very easy to control 'random' outcomes because while they are randomised in the sense that the game draws from a string of randomised numbers to determine the outcome all random events in the game use the same string of numbers, which never changes. (That's due to the limitations of fitting the game on a cartridge - they couldn't fit a true random number generator in.) So once you know the pattern you can manipulate it - for example using something easily repeatable like the coin flip tool to work your way through the sequence of random numbers and then start the fight with a legendary pokemon, knowing you've reached the point where it's guaranteed to be a shiny.

I think GW2 has a much more sophisticated RNG system, and quite likely doesn't use the same RNG system for everything (it's a bigger game, running on much more powerful machines, and can be updated remotely so there's none of the same limitations). Otherwise I think players would have cracked it by now. Although if they did I suspect Anet would change the system so it's no longer possible to predict it. But even so I'd be surprised if it's truly random. The only important thing is that players won't get the same results all the time or in a predictable order. As long as the underlying code isn't accessible to players you can achieve that result with a fairly simple system which is cheaper and easier to produce and needs less processing power to run. Which would also be an important factor when you consider that things like drops from enemies are randomised and you could have 150 players on a map killing dozens of enemies and each needing their own personal drops created for each enemy.

That reminds me of all the whining on the WoW forums about RNG in pet battles...and someone figured out that instead of doing a separate roll for each event, the RNG code would roll from where the last roll landed...which led to the 5%-chance misses/dodges happening multiple times in a row. In short, the code was a bit lazy/flawed, probably to save on processing power.

I'm not quite following. Are you saying that the RNG was rolled using the previous seed, or that the first roll result would seed the second, the second would seed the first, and so on?