Over the course of the last four months I slowly managed to acquire another four pieces of it - I'm not 100% certain I remember correctly, but I believe the legs dropped from Soa in an Eternity Vault run, and three other pieces eventually showed up on Kai Zykken, enabling me to purchase them for tech fragments. However, that still left me one piece short of the coveted six-piece set bonus.
I actually saw the gloves drop off the first boss in Eternity Vault once, but we have a guild rule that you should only roll need on things for the class you're actually using during the run (unless nobody else wants them of course), and I was playing an alt at the time, so I watched them go to a friend instead. I didn't begrudge them their luck, but inwardly I did sigh a little.
Last night we were doing Eternity Vault hardmode for social night once again, and after some um-ing and ahh-ing about which character to bring and for what reason, I settled on my dps Commando. That way I could cap another character for Conquest and play something slightly different but would still be eligible to roll on any Apex Predator gear on the off chance that one of the two pieces I didn't own yet actually dropped.
We did make it through the whole operation without any useful trooper drops that I can remember and I was already thinking that I was out of luck once again when one of the loot roll prompts from Soa revealed a set of Apex Predator gloves. It's funny to think that there was once a time when I was so shy about accepting loot that I physically ran away from my computer just so I wouldn't have to roll on it, because this time around I hit that need button so fast you wouldn't even have had time to blink.
Two other people rolled on it, and the winner turned out to be someone who had been naughty and rolled even though he wasn't on a Commando. One of the other officers told him off and reminded him of the loot rules. "Give it to Gort then," declared the ops leader, and I frantically scrolled up to look at the results of the loot roll in detail. Gort had been the third person to roll on it (and was on his Commando) but his roll had been the lowest! Why was the ops leader ignoring me?!
So of course I piped up on voice chat with: "OR you could give it to me, who actually had the second highest roll" - and instantly felt bad because listening to my own voice I couldn't help but think that I sounded like a greedy jerk. It's not like I would have begrudged Gort the loot, but I did have the second highest roll and didn't want to be ignored! I guess nobody ever said that being assertive always has to feel good.
Anyway, the happy ending of the story is that I was traded the gloves, and everybody was happy for me despite of my doubts (at least everyone who said anything, hah). In fact, Gort (who was a good sport about the whole thing) and the oblivious ops leader invited me to a random master mode run so I could take my new set for a spin, and we got Battle of Rishi, where we one-shot Commander Mokan once again because of course we did.
I guess in the old days I would have included a proud screenshot of me wearing the new set, but to be honest I don't think it looks that good on a trooper, and more importantly the one "spare" piece I don't own is the chest piece, and what I'm using in that slot instead makes the whole ensemble look kind of silly. But I've got it now and I don't even care if it really is the best in slot for Commando healers anymore or not; it just feels bloody satisfying to own and wear after chasing after it for more than six months.
EDIT: Ah what the hell, I found a chest piece in my bank that kinda works with it, especially if you unify colours. Flexing time!
A commando in my guild has be going through the exact same thing as you, and she's still one piece short of the full set bonus. I'd heard that Dxun was the best source of the Apex Predator set, so we've been doing more storymode runs than we normally would, but it is not unusual to not have any set pieces at all drop run after run. A week or two ago, we had 45 minutes to kill and did a quick HM EV, and, like you, saw one of the pieces she needed drop. I'm fine with operations having specific rewards, but I know she frustrated that we're around 6 months into the expansion and she still hasn't completed her desired set. And it sucks for other commandos who would like a crack at that gear too. As for me, my Vanguard has never seen a single Emergency Power piece drop. I imagine it'll eventually make its way to the vendors, but this last vestige of RNG had been vexing.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the drop rates on these sets are absolutely bonkers. I don't think I've seen a single piece of Apex Predator drop in Dxun ever, not for myself or anyone else. Contrary to the official claims, EV seems to be the best place for them, but even there it's a rare chance.
DeleteEmergency Power is similar, though I have seen that one drop in Dxun a couple of times (but not in EV from what I can remember). In fact, the person I know who's closest to their EP six-piece is the same Gort mentioned in this post, and he's only at that point because he's spent about a bazillion tech fragments on gambling with random unidentified gear pieces from Kai Zykken. It's pretty ridiculous.
I do feel equally guilty about making it seem like you were being ignored - all I was able to notice in all that was going on was that the winner was a non-Commando. I think in my head I forgot you were also on a Commando, which is why I defaulted to Gort as the only person who was eligible for the set. I lose track of a lot of silly things these days.
ReplyDeleteNot intentional, just my mind faltering at a bad place again. Fortunately it could be salvaged...!
I know it wasn't intentional, Cal, don't you worry! In the heat of the moment and with my eyes on the prize I was just slightly distressed, haha.
DeleteOh, so you were the one person wanting this set that my mind kept trying to place as I saw it drop 3 times in the last 2 weeks (2 EVHM run, a 16M DF I think...). As I'm never in my commando these days, I haven't even got a single set bonus set for her, but...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, congratulations - and, yes, it may feel awkward to speak up and say you want things (I feel the same way, I'm terrible at ASKING for anything, even if it is something absolutely trivial such as a guild invite to a guild I'm already in), but the prize is worth it! Enjoy!
Sounds like DF may be the second best place to go after EV, as that's where I originally got the belt...
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