I as well as many others have this thought, wondering if Ruin armor through Tier 4 Public Quests (Hard difficulty) is worth getting.
I would like to get my rant out of the way by saying that I have spent 11 hours, more or less, trying to obtain this armor through the Massive Loot Bag(s) (gold) and have not obtained a single one in this time. I will also tell that I am of the Zealot class. I have received roughly 9 gold bags, only through the Caladain's Furnace PQ, and of those 9 gold bags, I have only gotten three of the armors I need; helm, body, and gloves. The rest of the armors I received from the remaining gold bags were duplicates of ones I already had and the happiness of getting a gold bag was useless to me because of all the work I would accomplish to achieve one, I would come to find that looting it was quite useless BECAUSE of receiving duplicates of the time spent. I would like to finish this first rant by saying that of 11 hours, I was the one who ran a warband for all this time and was there for all the time, watching other players come and go, at the point where it had alternated a whole wave of new players for some had given up - I still remained in my efforts, in the low contribution rankings for whatever reason it may be, bad luck or just not realizing that me as a Zealot is collapsing.
Since Caladain's Furnace is not working in Dragonwake, the Public Quest in Black Crag, "Valley of the Rangers" is Destruction's second option. Where the stages are to:
1. Kill 150 enemies
2. Capture 5 objectives
3. Kill a hero
This Public Quest takes roughly double the time it takes to complete Caladain's Furnace, me implying that you can probably complete Caladain's Furnace twice in the time it takes to complete Valley of the Rangers.
In these 11 hours that I recently told of, I have spent this time at Valley of the Rangers and have used the same methods I have used at Caladain's Furnace, nearly every heal I have, using mainly an AoE heal (Dust of Pandemonium) and a leaping heal that gives health to nearby allies (Leaping Alteration), as well as heated heals (Tzeentch's Cordial) and the instant heal (Flash of Chaos) along with my two AoE damages of Rite of Agony and Demon Spittle. In these 11 hours, I have placed no more than 5th, and earned everything less. My balance was either a green bag or nothing, which is very disappointing in this time spent.
I now have questions:
1. Is Ruin armor worth achieving given the time and toughness it is to gain versus Mercenary and Annihilator armor?
Some argue that Ruin armor sometimes is not even worth the effort because of some stats given that have no core need on the class, by my knowing of the Cowl of Ruin (Zealot helm) giving + 11 Weapon Skill. Why do I need Weapon Skill? It should be replaced with Toughness, or Wounds.
2. Is the time worth spending?
From experience, I was able to obtain Mercenary armor within 4 to 5 days matching the hours I would spend to obtain Ruin armor. It has taken me more over a week to obtain just 3 differing pieces with the hopes that a gold bag would grant me the piece I need and not another of the piece I already have. It's this reason that makes it even harder and more upsetting for a person to actually win a Massive Loot Bag and say they already have a Ruin armor, like a helm for example. Say that is their first piece and they hope for a new piece, but no, it's another helm, and they don't see a new piece for more hours, days, or even weeks to come.
3. Can we please have a change in this?
I would like to offer some solutions to make other players happy, as I ask about in chat for opinions and answers, I get some relatable feedback and some stingy feedback that is aimed at me being ungrateful or such. I am happy that I have currently 3 Ruin armors, but I am not happy at seeing how the system works to obtain these.
Might I offer some solutions?
1. I would like to start with one of my most thought-of ideas. Instead of having one Ruin armor be contained within a Massive Loot Bag, have 2 or even 3 differently generated Ruin armors within the bag so there is at least a variety for a player to choose from if he/she already has one of the pieces, and can then select a differing piece. This would terminate the issue of having to deal upsettingly with working greatly and having that work NOT pay off due to the other fact that you may not always get 1st or 2nd on the contribution/board.
2. Instead of having 1 gold bag drop, why not 3? And I am implying that 3 gold bags should drop EACH time a Hard Public Quest is completed. I don't see the bad in that, because say you think that, "Oh, well if only 3 players participate in the Public Quest, than that means all 3 would earn a Massive Loot Bag, and it shouldn't be that easy for them." Well also consider that if 3 players were to actually and successfully complete a Public Quest with just them, and also given that the Public Quest is labeled as Hard, than why not? They should earn that. And this extends to warbands too, giving large numbers of players the ability to fluctuate somewhere to at least reach third place if not second or first.
3. Last opinion for actually obtaining a Massive Loot Bag - upon acquiring a gold bag from a Hard Public Quest, insert somewhere a merchant that allows you to trade any Ruin armor for a piece you actually need. Say you received a Ruin helm and the next gold bag you receive gives another Ruin helm, have a merchant somewhere in the IC allow you to trade that armor piece for any other Ruin armor you may need. This idea is actually not effective because if you had to do that, than why would there be a random loot roll anyway for a chance at Ruin armors that you need. This is really a scribbled idea though. I would consider the first two.
I would like lastly for:
1. Give your opinion on this thread. Is it fine the way it is? Should there be improvement? Let me know, and let the team know.
2. Don't shoot these ideas down if you are Mercenary or Annihilator biased
Some of us actually want to obtain Ruin armor for a varying amount of reasons. Don't shoot these ideas down also if you are one to have already obtained your Ruin armor without a problem. Some of this feels like it's luck-fed.I'm not expecting any change if there were to be. This thread is really just based on a topic that is yet relatable to many others who just didn't take the time to voice it like I. May my offered solutions be of help and my expression be of something to think about as of the topic of this matter. Cheers!
