question on /players setting

[alvar]

question on /players setting

I had read on an earlier thread that you can fight a Boss (I am currently running Meph), and then switch to MF gear before killing him, and get the bonus of the MF. Does that also work for the /players setting? Does that 'dilute' the qualilty of the MF? Or does it simply increase the amount of items dropped? Is it worth it?
As well, if /players setting is set to 8 (for example), how much more experience does that translate to for my character?
Hope my questions are clear.
Thanks!

 

[krelm]

Re: question on /players setting

It doesn't work because once a monster/boss has spawned then it's health/xp/loot is permanently set to whatever /player setting you had on when it spawned. So if you'r killing Meph on /players 1 then switch to /players 8 just before he dies you will only get the benefits of /player 1 because that's how Meph spawned.

And i believe it's an extra 50% EXP per player setting :thumbup:

 

[Noodle]

Re: question on /players setting

Krelm is accurate for health purposes, but the drop is determined at the moment the monster is killed. Please note that spawning a monster at /players 1 and switching to /players 8 for the killing blow is consideredextremely cheesy, and would be forwned upon by the Single Player Forum.

Warrior of Light explained the drop calculation best, in my opinion:

In multilayer game NoDrop value is reduced.
NewNoDrop=int( ProbSum/(1/((NoDrop/(NoDrop+ProbSum))^N)-1) ),
where N=int(1+AdditionalPlayers/2+ClosePartiedPlayers/2),
AdditionalPlayers — the number of all additional players in the game, where the monster is killed,
ClosePartiedPlayers — the number of players in your party near you (not far than two screens away),
ProbSum=Prob1+Prob2+Prob3+...+Prob10,
int — operation of truncating fractional part of a number.

In SP /playersX command sets the number of NON-partied players, e.c. /players8 command sets N=4.

Lets take an example. Say you kill non-boss Devilkin in The Pit level 1 in Hell in /players8 mode (or in the full game in Battle.net). It has Mlvl=85. In monstats.txt file Devilkin is figured under "fallen3" name. Non-unique fallen3 drop items from "Act 1 (H) H2H B" TC in Hell difficulty.
In TreasureClassEx.txt file "Act 1 (H) H2H B" TC has group=7 and level=66. Because Mlvl=85 the TC is upgraded to "Act 5 (H) H2H C" TC, which has level=85 (less or equal to mlvl).
So Devilkins in The Pit drop items from "Act 5 (H) H2H C" TC.
It has 1 pick from fallowing possibilities:
* NoDrop (100);
* gld (21);
* Act 5 (H) Equip C (16);
* Act 1 (H) Junk (21);
* Act 5 (H) Good (2).
The numbers in parances are probabilities.
Lets calculate NewNoDrop:
ProbSum=21+16+21+2=60.
NoDrop=100.
N=4.
NewNoDrop=int( 60/(1/((100/(100+60))^4)-1) )=11.

So The Pit Devilkin has fallowing chances:
* 11/71 for no dropping at all;
* 21/71 for dropping gold;
* 16/71 for dropping from Act 5 (H) Equip C;
* 21/71 for dropping from Act 1 (H) Junk;
* 2/71 for dropping from Act 5 (H) Good.

 

[Hrus]

Re: question on /players setting

Actually, you can't influence the drops by changing player settings in your favor. I made few tests years ago and player number worked quite unexpectably...

I tried it on Meph. On players 1, he usually drops 4-6 items, on players 5-8, he allways drops 6 items.
Spawning at P1, changing to P8, I got few kills with less than 6 items. - So changing Player settings didn't helped.
Spawning at P8, changing to P1, I ALSO got few kills with less than 6 items. So going down with player settings, it actually changed player number.

Strange HUH?

 

[alvar]

Re: question on /players setting

Interesting. So, when exactly does a monster spawn-- when you first step onto that dungeon level (eg. Durance of Hate 3), or when you first see him?

 

[Hrus]

Re: question on /players setting

Widely accepted opinion is that the monster spawns around 2 screens from you. With Meph and quite small Durance, I had the appropriate player settings active while entering the level just to be sure.