Hi. I'm Captain Evaríste Sorrow, and I ORIGINALLY used green font because it stands out better against the background in dark mode for me, but if this is an essay then I should make it as easy to read for others as possible. anyway
I've had thoughts on this subject for a while now, and after reading many threads and wiki comments, the first two pages and this current page of the thread, I feel prepared to make my informal mini-essay ("Tl;dr" whiners will not be spared. I come from a harsh school of debate philosophy where knowing & reading as much info as possible is highly important) at last in this intriguing thread. And no, despite its lengthiness, despite having to post it in multiple parts, I don't want to make it as its own separate post. That would both create a superfluous thread, and separate my response from the very thread it's a part of and replying to. So, without further introduction...
Why I Agree That Legendaries Should Be Dropped A LITTLE More Frequently
So. Let us start out with this: There are many many cases floating around, and undoubtedly more that have not gone on record, of people who have spent anywhere from 6 months to multiple years of playing the game off and on, sailing, fighting enemies, and farming bosses...without ever having received a single legendary drop. Just yesterday while I was farming Palifico I heard stories of the months and year-long periods of time it's been on some people's quests to obtain a legendary. To give my own, I've been at the grind for a full month now, just about every single day I've been spending anywhere from a few hours to half a day doing nothing but farming Darkhart, Remington, Jimmy Legs, Palifico, and The Twins, to get nothing. These alone, before anyone says anything else, constitute the first sign that there is a problem surrounding the drop rate of legendaries.
The second sign is apparent if one starts taking notes about the mechanics and numbers involved in the loot system. Let us begin: How many famed items there are? Hint- A lot. There are 200 famed items. Two hundred. Know how many legendary items you can obtain in the current version of the game? 22. Not even an eighth of the amount of fameds there are. "Alright, so what?" you may ask. I thus continue.
There are three types of loot containers: Pouches, which only contain low-level loot and money, chests, which can contain low, mid, and occasionally higher level loot and money, and skull chests (hereafter referred to as "skulls" because after spending so long writing this section at the same time as others I can feel the carpal tunnel syndrome beginning to set in...), which can contain any kind of loot at all, including very high level loot such as famed weapons and legendaries. The latter subordinate clause is where the devil hides: Skull chests can contain the gud swag, but they also are programmed to potentially drop mid level and garbage loot, as well as spare ammo and playing cards. This creates a whole mess of unwanted trash-destined items that a legendary's chance has to mix with. Couple that with the prior information that there are 200 famed weapons alone (I didn't even bother counting rares and commons because there are undoubtedly hundreds more), means that even if an already-lucky skull rewards you with a high-level selection of loot, there's still a virtual sea of famed weapons that drown out the chance of a legendary weapon has to fight through to be chosen for one of the loot slots.
But the demoralizing deepens. There is technically a fourth type of drop a boss can give: Nothing at all. No container, just a straight-up wasted kill. -There is a compelling sub-argument to be made that this is fine for normal enemies, but for bosses? There should be a guarantee that all bosses will drop some loot container every single time. No more wasted time and effort. Anyway- When you combine that with the first two, the added factor of a boss being able to simply, spitefully drop nothing whatsoever and even further complicate and thicken the brick wall of opposing odds it takes for a legendary to drop, this adds a subtle, yet potent icing on the cake of Sisyphean discouragement.
Seeing this, a second, much larger sign emerges that gives definition to the problem: The loot system incorporates a ridiculously-unncessary number of RNG rolls. By now there's a clearer picture starting to show why a large part of the playerbase still feels like the game's mechanics are unfairly oppressive to their hopes and efforts.
The final piece of the picture is a simple one, but arguably the most important of all: The playerbase themselves. There's a survey on this site that shows the overwhelming majority of players' ages are 18+, meaning that most players are likely in college and/or have a job. There is only so much time in people's weeks to give up for grinding for legendaries. And these players are people who (just about all of them) have returned to Pirates Onilne because of their emotional investment in the game. Emotional investment, much like patience, is something that can be eaten away by the frustrations borne out of a cruel RNG system. Once they smile and laugh through revisiting the jolly days of levels 1 to ~35, the only major rewards left that the game can still give them are within playing the notorious lottery of the legendary weapons grind. That becomes exactly what people spend their time doing.
Now, for the tiny portion of the playerbase that have neither school/college or work to go to, and have the whole week to do whatever they want with, and thus have the time the current RNG demands one to spend at the grind, to them the loot system is probably not their biggest concern with the game. But only a few compared to the total number of players have this luxury. The hundreds of working and/or in-college adults that make up the majority of people playing this game do not have the time to put up with the grind. Most of us have other things to do, most of us just don't have the kind of time to become a World of Warcraft-like professional grinder. As the current loot system stands, it actively punishes you for not having enough time during the week to keep farming each boss.
This is the final and most critical part of the big picture. The particular combination the two factors create make it even more so. People are here primarily from childhood memories and nostalgia, which is a fragile thing. Like any previously-treasured game from one's childhood, returning to it years later with a new outlook on games often reveals many flaws that make it no longer as engaging- however, this does not have to be the case for this game! This is a game now run by its own previous players. We don't have to treat it like a display car, only adding fun, flashy additions but never getting serious under the hood. And like an old sports car, there are some who have the time to get the enjoyment out of a long cruise, but most of us only have the time to go for a few spins. What I'm saying is, yes, there is a fraction of the playerbase that has the time and energy to truly reap the rewards the game can offer, but the vast majority don't have enough time to grind and grind and grind for the satisfaction of finding a legendary.
If you've finally reached this conclusion (but there are still a few important points I have yet to make, this is simply the end of the essay portion), it should be clear that the supposed problem with the RNG drop rates is very real, as is the extremely prolonged frustration shared by so many in the community. This has been a significant complaint that numerous have brought up for years now. Perhaps I should've started this whole thing with that. The fact that it's both commonly brought up and has a long history of being brought up is truly the very first sign that this is a major issue seen of the game by the community. It doesn't have to be something loads of people always complain about. Surely there will forever be a few people who demand their shiny legendaries be handed to them on a silver RNG platter, but there's no reason that so many people should be kept unsatisfied, none that outweigh the counterpoints brought by me and others that is. And as for the poll at the top of the page* that says an enormous number of people are fine with the extreme grinding, I heavily caution people to not look at that as a matter of "Aha! See, 59% of people are okay with it, that means we should do nothing. They win, you lose.", because it's not a government election, it's a survey of people's thoughts. While 59% of people say "Just keep grinding" (plus the ones that give the "no but 1 guaranteed" answer), there's still a whole third of the community according to it who aren't satisfied. There's nothing stopping the game from providing a compromise, a balance to keep the whole community satisfied. And who knows how many people would have said "Yes, I agree it should be higher" but have already given up on the game and aren't here to say? The portion of people who are fine will continue playing the game; those who are unsatisfied will likely eventually be fed up and stop playing the game, so heed that final warning against the perils of misleading statistics. And of course, please heed the collective request this essay has been written in support for. This problem may have a complex nature, but its solutions can be simple, and everyone can rest equally satisfied.
PART ONE OF TWO