Update MineZ Loot Changes

This balance patch is going to work a little differently. We normally just post the changes and let the community figure out why we made them. This wasn’t the greatest method and left a lot of players in the dark on why certain changes were made, that’s why this time we’re going to give a couple of sentences on our changes and give some of our insight as to why some of these changes were made. This should help a lot with transparency in the staff team and help you guys (the players) get a little more of an understanding as to where the game is heading in terms of balancing. So with that out of the way here is what we have for this week.

This balance patch is a pretty big one and one that we’ve been thinking about doing for a while now and that has been re-separating the Civilian Loot and Tool Loot into their own respective loot tables again. The reason for doing this was that a majority of the towns felt the same. Northern towns that are meant to have good loot for tools had chests with dyes and it didn’t really feel interesting and in some cases. Civ loot flat out didn’t fit the theme of some builds and didn’t fit certain chest locations. We took good chunks of the different tables and split them both up so we could have certain towns focus on Tool chests rather than Civilian loot.

• Civilian Loot
  • civ_common
    • Removed
      • Fishing Rod
      • Wooden Hoe
      • Iron Shovel
      • Water Bottle
  • civ_uncommon
    • Removed
      • Iron Shovel
      • Fishing Rod
      • Wooden Hoe
      • Water Bottle
      • Cobweb
  • civ_rare (chest removed entirely)
• Tool Loot
  • tool_common
    • Added
      • Snowball
      • Button
      • Wooden Hoe
      • Wooden Hoe (Fortune I)
      • Cobweb
      • Shovel
      • Shovel (Fortune I)
      • 1 Leather
      • 2 Leather
      • Stone Axe
      • 7 Arrows
  • tool_uncommon
    • Added
      • Snowball
      • Button
      • Wooden Hoe (Fortune I)
      • Wooden Hoe (Fortune II)
      • Shovel (Fortune I)
      • Shovel (Fortune II)
      • Cobweb
      • Fishing Rod (Lure I)
      • Fishing Rod (Lure II)
      • Bag
      • 1 Leather
      • 2 Leather
      • 3 Leather
      • Grenade
      • Iron Axe
      • Crafter's Block
  • pot_common
    • Removed
      • Cleansing Elixir

The Military Mythic change was one we heard a lot from the community and is one that we’ve finally been able to finalize. The biggest change to Mil_mythics is that we flat out removed pristine chain. It felt really awful to risk your life at a location like Hell Tree and pull filler like pristine chain so we got rid of it. In the absence of pristine chain in the chest we actually raised iron percentages in the mythic chests to make them really feel like good chests again and make them worth your time.

• The following changes have been done to loot tables
  • Military Loot
    • mil_epic
      • Added
        • Iron Sword (Smite III)
      • Nerfed Drop Rate
        • Arrows
    • mil_mythic
      • Removed
        • Pristine Chain Armors
      • Added
        • Speed Potion
        • Grapple (4 uses)
      • Nerfed Drop Rate
        • Arrows
      • Buffed Drop Rate
        • Sugar
        • Grenade
        • Weak Grapple (3 uses)
        • Iron sword (Smite III)
        • Iron sword (Smite III Knockback I)
        • Iron Axe (Smite I)
        • Diamond Axe
        • Iron armor
        • Gunpowder

The following changes have been made to locations:


Treetop Shelter had some of the lowest traffic on the MineZ map for a few months. This location is really far north and for the balance team, it doesn’t make sense as to why there are so many Mil_rare chests up there. So we replaced them with good food chests and high-tier tool loot. We also buffed the farm there as well.

• Treetop Shelter
  • -7 mil_rare
  • -6 mil_epic
  • +3 food_rare
  • +4 food_uncommon
  • +6 tool_uncommon
  • Added more wheats to farm

Al Hasa Quarry is a town that hasn’t found its footing in the meta for years now. We decided to put a couple of tool chests here so you can get a hoe and farm crops at Abandoned Farm and also added Mil_uncommon chests so you can refill on sugar after fights at Al Hasa.

• Al Hasa Quarry
  • -3 civ_rare
  • +3 tool_uncommon
  • +3 mil_uncommon

The goal of this change was to repurpose Dragons Pass entirely. Currently, it’s a waste of time military location that’s extremely bland and has no use. The goal of this change is to add multiple higher item drop Mil_rare chests that make it so you can get grenades easier up north.

• Dragon's Pass
  • -5 mil_epic
  • +7 mil_rare

Kauri is a town that a lot of people skip in the jungle because, in reality, it’s a worse Agni Ignis. We added potions and better military loot here so that it could stand out a little more from Agni Ignis and have its own purpose in the jungle region.

• Kauri
  • -1 civ_rare
  • -3 mil_rare
  • +3 mil_epic
  • +1 tool_uncommon

We’re lumping both of the Jungle Stair locations together for this note. These locations didn’t have any chests and it felt like these could be locations that deserve loot.

• Jungle Stairs (East)
  • +1 mil_epic
  • +2 tool+uncommon
• Jungle Stairs (North)
  • +2 mil_epic
  • +1 tool_uncommon

Quarry is a really weird town. It’s south of two towns that do a better job than it. With the rebalanced Tool_uncommon chests, this will hopefully make it worth the visit.

• Quarry
  • -4 civ_rare
  • -3 mil_rare
  • +4 tool_uncommon
  • +3 mil_epic

Lorfaul Mines is a really hard location to balance. On one hand, if you buff it too much, just about every location north of it becomes obsolete. The route we took here was baby steps. If this change doesn’t help Lorfaul too much then we can always look at it again in the future.

• Lorfaul Mines
  • -1 Zombie Spawner

Shocked to see this one on the list? This is a big change for the west and one we like. Crowmure is in many ways the Al Hasa of the west. This is where big fights take place so we wanted to make it feel more like Al Hasa. We did this by making it a worthwhile location to visit and make it have good loot for a pretty southern location. Sanctuary of Peace and Crowmure Farm are both close as well so the removal of Civ chests and Food chests aren’t that big of an issue. By removing those chests it also gave us room to buff the location from a military perspective as well.

• Crowmure
  • -2 food_uncommon
  • -2 civ_uncommon
  • -2 civ_rare
  • +2 tool_uncommon
  • +2 mil_rare
  • +1 mil_mythic

Camp Kharj has the same issues Lorfaul Mines has. If we make this place too good then all of a sudden Eillom is pointless. This is an experimental change so we want to see how this turns out

• Camp Kharj
  • -3 civ_rare
  • -2 mil_epic
  • +3 tool_uncommon
  • +2 mil_mythic

Fisherman House is a weird location. It’s in an awkward spot and doesn’t really have a whole lot of use. We decided to test out a change here and make Fisherman House a button location and give it really good food chests. Fisherman House

• -1 Civ_rare
• -1 Food_common
• -1 Mil_rare
• +3 Food_rare
• +2 Tool_uncommon

Cozy Cottage is a location that is so far out of the way and had awful loot. This change should at least make the location a little more bearable to visit and restock on food if you’re visiting something like Sunken Library.

• Cozy Cottage
  • -1 civ_rare
  • -1 food_uncommon
  • +1 civ_uncommon
  • +2 food_rare

Amorel is a town surrounded by better versions of it. Better food to the west at Exolesco and better Military to the north at Stillwater Motte. Both of those locations had better Civilian loot too. With this change, we made it so that Amorel has a lot of Tool chests now that make it stand out a little more in swamp and might be worth a visit.

• Amorel
  • -1 civ_rare
  • -5 mil_uncommon
  • +2 tool_common
  • +3 tool_uncommon
  • +1 food_uncommon

This change is a rework to make Altin go from a good Civilian town to the best Tool town in the game. This is a really out-of-the-way town in the cave system that should be a good stop before heading to Krubera Vault.

• Altin
  • -7 civ_uncommon
  • -7 civ_rare
  • -2 food_uncommon
  • -1 pot_uncommon
  • +3 tool_common
  • +13 tool_uncommon

The following towns from here out have just been reworked so that they will have some of the new Tool_common and Tool_uncommon loot. These changes aren’t major enough for us to feel the need to write a lot about them but are changes that should be present in the patch notes.

• Worthington
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 civ_uncommon
• Cole Castle
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 civ_uncommon
• Fort Rockwood
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 tool_uncommon
• Tristitia
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 civ_uncommon
• Afaya
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 civ_uncommon
• Yawpton
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 civ_uncommon
• Crowmure Farm
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 tool_uncommon
• Ruins
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 tool_uncommon
• Aspermont
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 tool_uncommon
• Sanctuary of Peace
  • -2 civ_rare
  • +2 civ_uncommon
• Septus
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 tool_uncommon
• Krubera
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 tool_uncommon
• Mountain Bunker
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 tool_uncommon
• Zerbia
  • -6 civ_rare
  • +6 tool_uncommon
• Virway Tower
  • -2 civ_rare
  • +2 tool_uncommon
• Manzana
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 food_rare
• Camp ( -2929, -1818 )
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 food_uncommon
• Overgrown Encampment
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 food_uncommon
• Swamp Pit
  • -2 civ_rare
  • +2 civ_uncommon
• Concord
  • -4 civ_rare
  • +6 tool_uncommon
• Melon Town
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 food_common
• Ponsot Cottage
  • -4 civ_common
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +3 tool_common
  • +2 tool_uncommon
• Camp (-2800, -710)
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 food_uncommon
• Kaocho
  • -1 civ_common
  • -1 mil_common
  • +2 tool_common
• Grimdale
  • -13 civ_common
  • +17 tool_common
• Grimdale Farm
  • -4 civ_common
  • +4 tool_uncommon
• Carnival
  • -1 civ_uncommon
  • -1 civ_rare
  • -1 mil_uncommon
  • +2 tool_common
  • +1 tool_uncommon
• Yongton Abbey
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 food_common
• Ruins (-2270, -1620)
  • -1 civ_rare
  • -1 food_common
  • +1 food_uncommon
  • +1 tool_uncommon
• Forest
  • -1 civ_uncommon
  • -3 civ_rare
  • -1 mil_uncommon
  • +5 tool_uncommon
• Lost Woods Shrine
  • -2 civ_rare
  • +2 mil_epic
• McLovinville
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 civ_uncommon
• Treehouse
  • +1 tool_uncommon
  • +2 mil_epic
• Kadaar
  • -2 civ_common
  • +2 tool_common
• Pravus
  • -7 civ_common
  • +7 tool_common
• Drycreek
  • -1 civ_common
  • +1 mil_common
• Ruins (-515, 165)
  • -2 civ_common
  • +2 tool_common
• Devil's Castle
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +2 tool_uncommon
• Logging Camp
  • -4 civ_uncommon
  • +2 tool_common
  • +2 tool_uncommon
• Whitehaven
  • -2 civ_uncommon
  • -2 civ_rare
  • +2 tool_common
  • +2 tool_uncommon
• Paluster
  • -2 civ_rare
  • +2 tool_uncommon
• Ephirion
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 tool_uncommon
• Thannus
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 tool_uncommon
• Ridgevale
  • -1 civ_common
  • +1 tool_common
• Sirus
  • -3 civ_uncommon
  • +5 civ_rare
  • +2 tool_common
  • +8 tool_uncommon
• Clarce
  • -1 civ_uncommon
  • -3 civ_rare
  • +1 tool_common
  • +3 tool_uncommon
• Snow Tree
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 pot_uncommon
• Crymoore Pond
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 civ_uncommon
• Portsmouth
  • -3 civ_common
  • +3 tool_common
• Bell Farm
  • -4 civ_common
  • +4 tool_common
• Farmhouse (1040, 70)
  • -1 civ_uncommon
  • +1 tool_common
• Carrot Farm
  • -2 civ_common
  • +2 tool_common
• Torchbar Farm
  • -2 civ_common
  • +2 tool_common
• Homestead
  • -2 civ_common
  • +2 tool_common
• Romero
  • -8 civ_common
  • +8 tool_common
• Carmi
  • -6 civ_common
  • -3 mil_common
  • +9 tool_common
• St. Roseluck Island
  • -1 civ_common
  • -1 civ_uncommon
  • -4 civ_rare
  • +2 tool_common
  • +4 tool_uncommon
• Tristitia
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 mil_rare
• Saens
  • -2 civ_uncommon
  • -4 civ_rare
  • -2 mil_rare
  • +8 tool_uncommon
• Purplesunshine Humble Abode
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 civ_uncommon
• Deserted Stall
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 tool_common
• Geuten
  • -5 civ_common
  • +5 tool_common
• Grandfather's Curse
  • -1 civ_common
  • +1 tool_common
• Zerbia
  • -6 civ_rare
  • +6 tool_uncommon
• Grayvale
  • -3 civ_uncommon
  • -4 civ_rare
  • +7 tool_uncommon
• Barren Bivouac
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 tool_uncommon
• Virway Tower
  • -2 civ_rare
  • +2 civ_uncommon
• Ragtag's Cove
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 civ_uncommon
• Fort McHarlington
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 mil_rare
• Al Hasa
  • -4 civ_rare
  • +3 civ_uncommon
  • +1 tool_common
• Pirate Ship
  • -1 civ_uncommon
  • -2 civ_rare
  • +3 tool_uncommon
• Cannibal Hideout
  • -2 civ_rare
  • +2 tool_uncommon
• Archaeological Dig Site
  • -1 civ_rare
  • -1 mil_uncommon
  • +2 tool_common
• Mining Town
  • -1 mil_epic (in cave)
  • +3 tool_uncommon
• Frostine Valley Acres
  • -3 civ_rare
  • +3 tool_uncommon
• Bridge Troll Hole
  • -1 civ_rare
  • +1 tool_common

This is probably one of the biggest balance patches this game has seen in an extremely long time. So the question some players have right now is, “Where do you go from here?”. In the coming weeks, we want to look at food loot tables. That is probably going to be an overhaul as well. Also coming down the line soon is a good look at the caves. The caves haven’t been great for a while now and we want to take a look at those and really give the caves some personality coming soon. We want to thank you for your patience in waiting for these changes and we also would like to thank you for your feedback on the game.

-The MineZ Balance Team


So we wanted to give a little background information on what we do as a team and what actually goes into balancing. The balance team has a giant sheet full of location data.

For example, we can see that during the weeks of 6/13 to 6/19 that Amorel only had 5 visits. As a result, we buffed and reworked the town to hopefully gain more player traction. However, a high population isn’t always a bad thing. For example, our most visited town during the weeks of 6/13 to 6/19 was Al Hasa 1,820 visits. With this in mind, we can see all the different locations on the map and get a good view of what needs a little bit of a change. We can also see which locations are completely dominant and might need a bit of a nerf.

This is a major tool that the balance team uses to help guide our decision on what towns receive changes. However, this isn’t the only thing we use to help dictate our changes. We also patrol, spectate players, listen to community feedback, and have tests to make sure everything looks ok.

Hopefully this will help you guys know a little more about how we operate behind the scenes!