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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsUPDATED: Bag of candies working as intended
by Zach Yonzon 
Feb 13th 2009 at 2:00PM
Some people are crying foul over the apparently horrendous drop rate of the Bag of Candies, which produce the various candies needed to complete the Be Mine! Achievement. This, in turn, is required for the Fool for Love meta-Achievement. On average, players will need to get two of these bags of candies to produce all of the eight possible messages, as each bag has ten charges.
Many players haven't had much luck picking up the Achievement, including our own Liz Harper, who claims to have gotten one bag in two days of trying. One guildie swears that a specific NPC in Thunder Bluff hands it out, dismissing the fact that it is actually... completely random. This random drop rate has gotten some players up in arms. Blizzard poster Zarhym comes over to the forums to pronounce that the Bag of Candies drop rate is, in fact, working as intended.
Zarhym points out that many players think that they deserve a free mount simply for participating in the holiday events, but clarifies that Blizzard doesn't share the same stance. He says that the alternative is making major Gold sinks during these events or requiring the visit of 9,000 Elders -- something I believe nobody wants -- and explains that chance (or luck) needs to be a limiting factor. At the end of the thread, after much QQ, Zarhym concedes that "there is some consideration for increasing the drop rate," but that it will remain a lottery-type thing.
There are about three days left on the event, so don't get your hopes up about Blizzard changing the drop rate anytime soon. That said, those three days should be sufficient time to luck out on a couple of these bags, which should be enough to get all the right candies for the Achievement. My only beef is that you can't actually eat the darned things.
Love is in the Air and on WoW Insider. Check out our continuing coverage of the event and our guide to earning the achievement. And you better hurry; the holiday only lasts five days!Filed under: Events, Blizzard, Forums, Achievements
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 8)
Debesun Feb 13th 2009 2:28PM
I'm fine with achievements needing time and dedication but the fact that almost every part required for the meta achievement is based on RNG on a 1 hour CD and most of the items required counting as conjured and not available for sale on the AH really frustrates me.
I mean we have less than a week to collect required materials which is taking me longer than it did for me to do the lunar festival which was far longer.
Seems like a load of bollocks to me and i'm not going to be a happy cat when I have to wait a year later because I was F'd over by simple RNG.
Angus Feb 13th 2009 2:41PM
Exactly. Equating the effort to go all over the place, taking hours even with an optimized path, versus getting lucky when you are putting in as much or more effort to get adored every hour makes no sense.
Even the nastiness of having to do PVP BGs with a kid hanging out at least will pay you for the effort. If you try it, you will likely get it. But the RNG dictating that you get nothing after 3 times the effort is not right.
Balius Feb 13th 2009 2:55PM
My issue with these meta-events for the holidays isn't that they have RNG elements, it's that some actively ask players to play poorly to accomplish them. The Children's Week PVP event will be a nightmare as everyone is trying to cap flags or towers themselves instead of working as a team. What's my incentive to protect a flag if I am only rewarded if I retake it?
DoctorOtto Feb 13th 2009 3:13PM
Ditto. Spending time, energy, effort, gold, or any combination of those to accomplish a goal is an achievement. A goal which may only be reached subject to the whim of random chance, especially for those with limited playtime, is not an achievement.
VSUReaper Feb 13th 2009 4:36PM
I'm hitting the cities every hour, and when I am in class, my GF is doing it for me.
I'm missing 12 adorations per day (in theory) due to sleep and just no-one being able to log in for me.
I am at 0 candies atm. I'm honestly worried I wont get this achievement b/c RNG and I dont get along.
LenteP Feb 13th 2009 8:41PM
LOL screw RNG and blizzard... done it once every hour now, since about a half day in on the event (when i can be online ofc, which has been quite alot the last days)... and still do... NOT ONE bag of candies so far...
Nikilist Feb 13th 2009 2:09PM
And that they don't stack >
Riz Feb 13th 2009 2:05PM
angry angry carebears!!!
carebear angry!
carebear smash!
carebear can haz candy?
SaintStryfe Feb 13th 2009 2:32PM
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Medivh&n=Wolfieone
Dang right I'm an Angry Care Bear.
Even with this supposed Hot Fix I haven't gotten one. Almost 25 of them.
Procris Feb 15th 2009 7:08AM
I don't think "QQ" is the right term to use concerning what was a legit issue. I can't count how many people had problems with this before the hotfix and i myself, never got any bags of candies until after the hotfix.
Still, 1 hour between tries, RNG chance to get an item with a second RNG to get the correct heart candy. Can you honestly say thats a good design choice? Its not at all. It wouldn't be a big deal if the event was limited to 6 days making it the shortest world event yet.
StabinofTB Feb 13th 2009 2:06PM
They increased the drop rate.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=14990944942&pageNo=17&sid=1#338
Azhariel Feb 13th 2009 2:07PM
Hey, but they -do- drop only from non-guards.. no?
Coldmiser Feb 13th 2009 3:19PM
No. I got a bag of candy from a guard in TB.
Johan Feb 13th 2009 2:07PM
Your post is one blue post out of date. They in fact did hotfix the drop rate:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=14990944942&sid=1&pageNo=18#356
Same blue post confirms all NPCs have same chance
Jay in Oregon Feb 13th 2009 2:22PM
The biggest problem with the Bag of Candies achievement is that you have to beat the RNG twice: once to get the damn bags, and again to get one of each candy heart.
The same goes for the Box of Chocolates achievement, except you can bypass the random chance for getting the Boxes by doing the Alliance Gift/Horde Gift turnin quest for Kwik Q. Peddlefeet; that quest also awards you a choice of 5 Love Rockets, 5 Handfuls of Rose Petals, or 5 Silver Arrows. (Sadly, a Bag of Candies is not an option.)
Robert Lunn Feb 14th 2009 2:57AM
I have had two Bags of Candies and still only have seven of the eight needed, needless to say QQ!
Bascht Feb 13th 2009 2:41PM
Just got my title 5 minutes ago :)
3 bags in a 24 hour time period.
Guess I got lucky :)
Sabersice Feb 13th 2009 2:11PM
I had no trouble getting the bags before the increased drop rate. A fairly easy achevement if you ask me, but I do have to say I agree with not being able to eat the candies. They just eat up bag space. For the rockets, just do the capital city gift collections and you can choose rockets as your reward.
Vaeevictiss Feb 13th 2009 2:10PM
well hell, ive gotten three bags so far
7 in the 1st, 1 in the 2nd and 1 in the 3rd...now thats BS...i seriously have to get 4 bags to do this achieve?!
Firestride Feb 13th 2009 2:23PM
Me too. I got my third bag this morning, and I remain 1 short. Some rough math shows that the odds of not getting any specific 1 in 30 shots is less than 2%, but I understand that's not fully accurate, since it's not that simple of a situation. Still frustrating.