2

With the recent change to Staff of Herding and all its components going from Normal (White) to Legendary (Orange), does it affect the drop chance for the Plan from Izual (Act4)?

I was reading before this change that you should take off any nephalem valors and any magic find gear to improve the chance to drop the plan, since it was a poorer quality item.

Now that the item has changed to legendary, do I need to stack Magic Find in order to get it to drop?

Also does it matter if I farm the plan on Normal Difficulty or Nightmare/Hell difficulty? Or do the plans drop in all difficulties?

Improve this question
9
  • possible duplicate of What is the drop rate for the Plan: Staff of Herding?
    – ayckoster
    Commented Jul 16, 2012 at 11:13
  • It does affect it, otherwise I would not have gotten it 3 times in a row with 350 MF. The drop chance is not that high otherwise.
    – ayckoster
    Commented Jul 16, 2012 at 11:14
  • 4
    The reason that it's legendary is simply so that it's easy to spot on the ground. I don't know about the magic find/nephalem valor claim. Seems dubious to me.
    – MBraedley
    Commented Jul 16, 2012 at 11:18
  • Well its easy to proof for whomever wants to invest the time. Do 10-20 Izual runs with 0 MF, and compare the drop rate to the equal amount of runs with 300+ MF. As already stated I tested it 3 times and I am quite certain it does affect it. Please do not argue with "I think..." or "Seems dubious..." as this is QA not a forum. This criticism is directed towards the current answers.
    – ayckoster
    Commented Jul 16, 2012 at 11:25
  • 4
    @ayckoster: You can't be certain with only 3 runs. It's statistically impossible to be certain with 3 runs. 3 runs shows a trend, that's it. It's a beacon to a statistician saying "Hey, look at me! I could become statistically significant, if you only run more tests!" If you want to back up your claim, do at least 30 runs with your magic find gear.
    – MBraedley
    Commented Jul 16, 2012 at 12:01

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
3

No, the way magic find works has no effect on items like the plans for staff of herding. Also taking off nephalem valor would not affect the outcome either.

The way magic find works is once the type of item that will drop is chosen it increases the chance that it will be a magic/rare/legendary/set item. But since the plans for staff of herding is most likely in its own category, it can not drop as anything other than it self and Magic Find will not effect its drop chance.

The difficulty you farm in does not matter towards your chance of getting them, it is just a question of how fast you can kill the boss or maybe get xp/usable loot while doing it.

Improve this answer
4
  • Do you have any proof whatsoever?
    – ayckoster
    Commented Jul 16, 2012 at 11:15
  • 1
    what kind of proof are you looking for? I applied the knowledge we have about how drops work to the plans for staff of herding, if you want to know more about it there are plenty of posts here asking about how MF work in general.
    – Blem
    Commented Jul 16, 2012 at 11:25
  • @ayckoster: The onus is just as much on you to prove that magic find does effect the drop rate. Getting the plan 3 times in a row is merely a 1 in 1000 chance (assuming a 10% chance of dropping), which is entirely in the realm of possibility. Do 50 runs and tell us your drop rate then.
    – MBraedley
    Commented Jul 16, 2012 at 11:26
  • @ayckoster There is simple deductive theoretical proof. First, the game decides what item type to drop (for SoH plan the type must be plan) then it decides item lvl (1 for SoH plans). Magic find DOES NOT affect these decisions. Next, the item rarity is decided and this is affected by magic find, but since the only SoH plans with ilvl 1, there is nothing else to drop, so a SoH plan must be dropped. Hence, mf does not affect chances of getting SoH plans.
    – Alderath
    Commented Jul 17, 2012 at 6:51
2

I have had the plan drop hundreds of times for me, and I can tell you that magic find doesn't really affect the rate at which the plan drops. The biggest thing that does is the skill level you play on. Although you can get it to drop on any skill, due to the plan being of lower level (higher level plans for the staff are bought, not found), it's more likely you will get it to drop on normal. I have had it drop on all skill levels, but the drop rate on normal is much higher than any other.

Improve this answer
1

No I don't think so. It just dropped for me, but if you do have magic find items, then equip them in case.

I had the plans drop in nightmare, but I don't think it matters.

Improve this answer
2
  • dropped in normal for me
    – GoingTharn
    Commented Jul 16, 2012 at 11:25
  • My bother also got it in normal mode.
    – Kevdog777
    Commented Jul 16, 2012 at 12:33

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.