A Matter of Coordination: Discovering the Secret to Drop Consistency

Give this a try: With one hand, rub your stomach in a circular motion. With your other hand, begin patting your head. It may take a little practice, but this is do-able. Are you able to do either motion out of time with the other? Change rubbing direction? What about switching motions on a whim or even changing hands? Even though this appears as just another coordination challenge, there is some justice to it. Let's look into the history of things and see what effect coordination really has on the game.


Of course, our pirates are as well very coordinated, Swashbucklers being no exception. I had heard of the messageboards user "Sp4zrx" before when they had proposed a question regarding Agility. However, they later posted a question pointed out to me some time ago regarding drop rates. Ratbeard was quick to respond, stating that experimentation regarding a certain coordination challenge would be required to uncover whatever secret regarding drop rate he wasn't eager to tell.

As a blogger, I accepted this as a challenge...but alas, I'm not very coordinated as a person, myself. Coordination is a wonderful thing, isn't it? Being able to walk, run and type are some things that a lot of people take for granted and are very special things that one can definitely spare some thankfulness for. In order to embrace something that's so easy, let's try something more difficult...besides licking your elbow...and that's looking into the history and science behind stomach-rubbing and head-patting...and how this could be used to influence drop rates.

In Buddhism, one major figure is called the Laughing Buddha, a celestial monk by the name of Hotei or Pu-Tai. A Buddha is recognized as an enlightened individual, balanced in knowledge and curiosity, the most notable being Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism (otherwise simply known as the Buddha). Legend says that rubbing the Laughing Buddha's belly would bring forth luck and prosperity.

As our pirates have been in contact with beings on the path of enlightenment, have we picked up the idea of rubbing our own stomachs? Or are we just hungry and wishing for food...? Whatever the answer may be, there is enough logic from the story of the Buddha to have us assume that the logic behind the coordination challenge of the post may lie in Mooshu.

The adversity of both motions - head-patting and stomach-rubbing - can be at times difficult to undertake. Of course, adding this challenge to the game can only be a part of the updates to come, AKA those advancing many aspects of the game. Sneakily enough, this may have been implemented already. Many individuals, myself included, are busy testing various aspects related to head-patting and stomach-rubbing that may prove more techniques. However, I do have my own lead towards Mooshu...could this mean that some of the hardest bosses within the grassy hills could contain the secret?

...what, are you kidding? Of course I'm not going out there! I think I know enough, anyways. Ninja Pigs. See, ninja pigs can be one of the most capable of this challenge simply because they were trained to be completely balanced in mind and body. Because they are capable of such coordination challenges as we pirates are, there is enough evidence to possibly prove that they hold the secret to boss drops.

Like ninja pigs, bosses must be balanced in mind in order to fight so efficiently. At least as a Swashbuckler, that's what I think. In order to increase our drop rate from these balanced bosses, one must first start by mimicking their actions. And so, we may set upon their own efforts to have a balanced, coordinated mind by rubbing our stomachs - already a luck-pusher - and patting our heads.

However, one cannot simply fight fire with fire, so we must be able to counteract such a balance. Think about it simply - if a scale is balanced and then you make it unbalanced, what does the scale do? It tips. As we cannot let the game know what we are doing, our actions must be simple. While we're rubbing our stomachs and patting our heads, there is something incredibly simple for laptop users that can be done. Simply lift a knee so that your laptop is tilted to the side.

Much of the game's coding is in binary, a code composed of ones and zeroes. See, things can change if we simply alter our surroundings. By tipping the laptop, the code in its wonderfully straight lines as well tips. Perhaps some may collide in such a process. The colliding ones will become twos...and - bam! - the drop rates increase. Voila!

Partners in Proof

Of course, I'm not alone in my research. There are several other bloggers as well contemplating what Ratbeard had to say in this. As well on the terms of imitation is Beatriz Abbott on The Simple Swashbuckler.  Listing many other useful techniques is Evan Silver on Pirates in the Sky. For the Wizards in us, Ian Stormstaff/Sharp has a new post on his hit site, Wizards Unite!  It doesn't end there, though - Swordroll has backed up the theorycrafting with clever animation, and Sneaky Kevin of Adventures of the Spiral as well has a theory pertaining to the farming fiasco.

So, what do you think? Are you able to assist with testing? Chime into your zen and get the binary toppling!

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