Nekomimi

I just want to echo the sentiment of a few other players. I like the stones and the system for getting them. I do have a problem with the drop rate, however. The issue is low drop rates in general. It is much more enjoyable to farm for 100 items with a drop rate of 1% than it is to hunt for 1 item at a drop rate of 0.01%. The reason is because the latter requires such a large sample size to become consistent.
 
So, my proposal is this: rather than require 3 raw stones at drop rate 0.15% to get one Honed stone, I think it would be better to require 300 raw stones at drop rate 15% to get one Honed stone. The odds would seem to be the same, but the latter is much more consistent, meaning the chance of being destroyed by bad RNG is lessened. You still get the same "feel" of farming mindlessly, but with more assurance. 
 
For example, running a test on a binomial calculator with 0.1% (1/1000) success and 2000 trials there is a 13% chance of no successes. Now you may say it will even out eventually, but the number of sample runs to achieve this "evening out" is quite high.
 
Anyways, food for thought. Love the stones, like the new system, but perhaps shifting to higher odds and higher input requirements will be less stressful for all.
 
Cheers.

Hi, I rarely post but @Nova I think demographics should definitely be a consideration when creating content. From my experience, all the friends/guildies/people I meet in game, most of them are in their 20's and some even in their 30's. At this stage in life, grinding out hours on end like we did in our teens is just not reasonable due to our careers/education/life commitments. Yes, you mentioned that you had bots and player tests - what were the results on average for acquiring a full class set for 1 character? If you make these items account-bound, that would be pretty punishing to the average player, especially if they wanted to gear up multiple classes. I am also surprised that you oppose it being marketable, as it would surely generate more income for you in the form of nova point purchases. Regardless of the fluctuation in price, not every player is willing to grind mobs for hours for a small % shot at obtaining new gear (shortcut = swipe credit card). Will you need to wait for potentially more negative feedback and risk losing a certain demographic over time in order to make changes? Perhaps I am biased and speaking for only a small subset of people, but I think my perspective promotes the longevity and success of this server.