Item Drop Rate

I noticed the articles on monsters included which items it could drop but not the probability of each one. I am going to start recording that data, but for other people to contribute to it, they'd need to know how how many monsters were killed while collecting the data. Should that go on the talk page, the main page, or somewhere else? For things like arrows that get dropped in stacks, I'm going to include the average number per stack along with the probability that a stack will be dropped. A range of amounts could also be useful. Gold drops could also be done that way, without using lucky finishes or huge lucky finishes to calculate the amount dropped, of course. I'm not sure what format to use to include the item, quantity(average and/or min-max), and drop rate. Changing the template seems like the most concise way to do it, but also seems inconvenient. All this, of course, is under the assumption that having some monsters list item drop rates and others not is better than none listing item drop rates, because I definitely won't be killing every single monster 300 times and recording what I get.

To go hardmode on your statistical study, researchers would also have to consider that "monsters labeled weak or weakest have a reduced drop rate" and I can't seem to find (quickly, anyway) the exact drop rate reduction nor the data to back that statement*. In addition, the game claims that the day of the week also influences drop rates! Still, I wish you luck; may the random number goddess be with you (or not.. as that could affect your findings).

*The aforementioned linked quote initially stated that "monsters labeled weak or weakest will drop fewer items." It wasn't until mid-April of this year that the stated clarification was made. The authors of these revisions may be seen at their respective links. /funfact

I was thinking to stay away from weak monsters, at least at first, but I'd forgotten about drop rate being affected by the day of the week. Thanks for the reminder!

For the sake of completeness, expanding upon Sylfaen's comments, you should do consider a couple of studies.

One: find one monster for which you can make appear as different power levels (weak, normal, strong, >9000) and verify if there is indeed a difference in drop rates. Unfortunately, for online game purposes, this means killing something like 500 to 1000 for the most useful data set.

Two: the same monster, in different difficulties (basic, adv, hm, elite), assuming experiment one showed no difference in drop rates.

Experiment One is far more valuable than Experiment Two in terms of your goals. When considering drop rates, you should keep track of three variables. 1) anything is dropped; 2) item is dropped; 3) gold is dropped. Many monsters frequently drop gold, and this may be separate from items (and I think it usually is for most games). Only record whether something is dropped or not, the amount does not matter unless you also want to record the probability of dropping set numbers (might also matter).

I've been keeping track of each item separately, and for things that drop in stacks, I was recording the stack size of each one (ex. 28 Young Emerald Beatles dropped 91, 47, 66, 61, 54, 56, and 77 gold, 4 food waste, 6 berries, 2 potatoes, and 3 coconuts). Now that you mention it, though, I'm curious as to whether each item is calculated separately (as I had assumed) or not. I've also been keeping track of the monster's combat power relative to mine, with the idea that eventually I'd have enough data to look for some sort of pattern there. I suppose I could stage an experiment to speed that up, though boredom may be a danger.

The easiest (I can imagine) way to code drops is to have a couple of different "drop slots" which calculate independently. One for gold/currency, and one (or more) for items or item types. Then if a drop is passed, a number for an amount is rolled separately, if applicable. It may be the case that each monster has two item drop tables, one for regular drops and one for ingredients, or there could be more, but there isn't really any way to tell without large quantities of data or the actual code.

Or devcat could do something else entirely just to be different

Since you commented, I've been watching, and while I've seen monsters drop both gold and items, I've not seen a monster drop more than 1 item/stack. If I do, I'll try to make a note of it. Also, I know they apply some sort of "camping penalty" to EXP. If they do something similar to items, it could potentially throw off my data.

You could try some enemies that don't really ever get camping penalty like Sasquatches and wild gray wolves or dungeon monsters.