Blackthorns... Am I losing the plot?

[Akiho]

For a change of scenery I popped in to Blackthorns for the first time since they reverted it to it's pre-fellowship condition. I was aware the Captains unique spawn was back, always wondered why they were removed in the first place, anyhoo no biggie just takes a little more time to clear up.

After clearing all the Captains it became very apparent that I was only getting one single Minax artifact from each Captain. Surely this can't just be bad luck after clearing the whole zone? Was this an intentional change? Given they have added the trash spawn back, it seems like more effort for less reward now.
Whilst I recall it being a single drop in the original iteration of Blackthorns it was certainly a chance at multiple drops prior to the fellowship event.

Additionaly, and I may be wrong here, did EoO not used to work on the lighthouses? Seemed to take forever to take it down, far longer than I remember, it took that long I dozed off and died to the reflect!

Am I losing the plot or have these things actually changed?

 

[Pawain]

The 3 drops pet captain was only while there was no other spawn. I assume that was a mistake.

Glad I got 500 plus a bunch of items.

 

[Keven2002]

I did blackthorns the other day (maybe a week ago now) and the first captain I killed was a macer... he gave me 2 drops. I then killed an assassin captain and only got 1. I killed a sampire and got another 2.

I don't have a much bigger sample size as I quickly became bored with the grind but I can say for fact that I was able to get at least (up to) 2 per captain.

 

[Akiho]

I did blackthorns the other day (maybe a week ago now) and the first captain I killed was a macer... he gave me 2 drops. I then killed an assassin captain and only got 1. I killed a sampire and got another 2.

I don't have a much bigger sample size as I quickly became bored with the grind but I can say for fact that I was able to get at least (up to) 2 per captain.

Well, this would suggest they have changed something in the past week which makes it even more ludicrous. I just did a full clear again this morning purely out of curiosity. Was about 30 Captains in total killed and each one only dropped a single Minax arti, besides those I got 2 random drops from all the trash spawn killed.

For me this is not an issue, I only went in there for a change of scenery I already have everything I ever need from there, but if a newer player wanted to get some of those Blackthorn Artis, good luck! Not only have they got to deal with more spawn now but they have to expect less return for their effort and expect to take 2-3 times longer getting the required number of Minax Artis for the ultimate rewards.

The drop rate previously was great to get players in there, I'd never seen it so busy and people actually worked together in most cases. Can't see that happening now, final nail in the coffin for Blackthorns dungeon in my opinion, RIP.

 

[PlayerSkillFTW]

The 3 drops pet captain was only while there was no other spawn. I assume that was a mistake.

Glad I got 500 plus a bunch of items.

Nope. Each Captain is giving between 1-3 Artifacts to EVERYONE that gets looting rights. I run Blackthorn's Captains for my weekly guild hunt fairly often, and we can have 10-20 guildies there all acquiring artifacts. At the end of each run, everyone has between 30-55 Minax Artifacts.

 

[Akiho]

Well, after another 13 kills I finally got 2 drops from a Captain. That's got to be the unluckiest run known to man! Easy over 60 Captain kills with only single drops from each one. Incredibly frustrating but I guess I am not losing the plot all together.

The perils of RnG when it absolutely hates you the most!

Case closed.

 

[Obsidian]

Yes, we did a Blackthorn Pods run with my guild recently and we finished with ~40-45 Minax arties per person. Each captain was dropping from 1-3 upon the kill.

 

[Chrille]

The more people that attacks a captain the higher the chance is that it drops 3 arties, this is my perception about how the drops worked before they got the guardians back up.

 

[Pawain]

The more people that attacks a captain the higher the chance is that it drops 3 arties, this is my perception about how the drops worked before they got the guardians back up.

That could be true. We rarely got less than 3 drops pet captain. We're always 4 or more of us.