I feel like the orb drop rate has decreased ever since I've completed the 4 star gear.
the 5 star orb drop rate is fine for me, but advanced and elite orbs have just gone WAY too down, I keep doing depth 9-17 and getting nothing, and I do missions repetitively like Built to Destroy, Axes of Evil, I didn't even get 1 single orb from running The Sovereign Slime 3 times with 3 other people.
So has the drop rate decreased or something?
(And I know you can buy orbs from the supply depot)
How many runs?
My data suggested between 3 and 8 runs of RJP or IMF was about the average to get one orb.
IMF elite: 2 Elite Orbs in 11 runs
RJP elite: 1 Elite Orb in 7 runs
Not many data there. And it would be even fewer if I tried to tease out whether the last month is different from the earlier months.
Thanks for the info, just one more question, should I run the whole IMF or just the 2 depths of it?
If your goal is to get orbs, then you want to open treasure boxes. There are eight of them on the last depth. So it seems like a good place to go.
If your goal is to get crowns (which can be used to buy orbs anyway, via energy), then the last depth pays very well. Especially when you consider how little time it takes, relative to other depths. (Once you know the boss fight well, it should take you no longer than 2 minutes.) Especially when you consider the value of the boss tokens.
Well, Lancer Knightz has been collecting data on orb drops since 2013/12/26. I don't have the numbers in front of me right now, but I doubt that they will show any significant trend. Generally, to estimate the frequency of a rare occurrence, we need a whole lot of data.
In other words, you might be right, but it's hard to gather enough data to argue convincingly that you're right (or wrong).