Catch-22: The Pistol Gap

The drop-rate of pistols as totally out of whack. There is an overabundance of (L) BLP pistols for those over level 90 and below level 50, but very few for those inbetween -- Engima L6 haven't been on auction in a while and Isis Project Zero-Eight and -Nine only drop once a month or less.
Meanwhile, there have been half a dozen UL EP-41 looted recently.

The catch-22 part is unavailability of pistols makes it hard to hunt and try and loot a decent pistol.

a dilemma or difficult circumstance from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or dependent conditions.

This situation is not a catch 22.
There are lots of pistols to use, they are just rare, or expensive, or shitty. They do exist and in over abundance as there are more then 1 per character that plays that can use each. There is lots of escape, it's just not good enough for you.

Venture Bros said:

There are lots of pistols to use, they are just rare, or expensive, or shitty. They do exist and in over abundance as there are more then 1 per character that plays that can use each. There is lots of escape, it's just not good enough for you.

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You are right. And if it were only 1 or 2 pistols unavailable, there would be other good choices.
The pistols that are available, which are not beyond my skills, are "shitty" for someone of my skill-level.

The most likely reason for this is those that normally hunt and loot the pistols I like to use have either taken a break or moved on to other mobs. The balance manager should see this and adjust what drops what to maintain BALANCE (it's the job title!). Adjusting the supply is a requirement in an artificial economy where someone has a finger on the buttons that control those things.

SnowLeopard said:

The catch-22 part is unavailability of pistols makes it hard to hunt and try and loot a decent pistol.

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I'm not familiar with the situation in the range mentioned but it might well be a case of solo hunter's vicious cycle - you keep looting smaller guns than the one you're using.

Team, being able to take on bigger mobs, does much better.

I see plenty of options, if their too expensive for you just skill slower using weaker guns or buy skills.

https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showthread.php?269613-2015-SIB-Chart-Update-Weapons


I'm not complaining about my lack of whips in the whip profession, now that is something to complain about. Or Gauss, Plasma? I mean really, there are so many pistols it's not an issue compared to nearly every other profession.

There was always a weird void of weapons between 50 and 90 and for the most part there still is. Rifle is a good example. It's gotten better but if you go the L route, there will always be some scarcity on some level or you'll have to pay markup or both.

The Herman in the sib chart are not crafted very often but perhaps kikki has some for sale.

SnowLeopard said:

The most likely reason for this is those that normally hunt and loot the pistols I like to use have either taken a break or moved on to other mobs. The balance manager should see this and adjust what drops what to maintain BALANCE (it's the job title!). Adjusting the supply is a requirement in an artificial economy where someone has a finger on the buttons that control those things.

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Hee, this is exactly what I have thought the last month!

Well yea there's always the option to use those smaller weapons that are always available... but, well, it doesn't really work that way for someone who got bunch of skill pills in inventory and Zero-Nine at 9.8 Hit. This means very few misses, good eco, reasonably good dps (Dmg way beyond maxed) but still in SIB. All the good stuff with no penalty! It's just not very smart to skill past this point and waste the skill pills...


So, I've been using swords meanwhile, waiting for the Migration to end (and hunters, whoever was supplying these guns, to return to their usual mobs).
Or for the balancing manager to wake up and fiddle with those sliders a little.