Learning plans is bad for you

[lockwoodx]

I came into the game late and rare drops that people have been chasing for years just fall into my lap. Why? Because I haven't learned a single brotherhood plan, or secret service, or any of the other stuff because it greatly expands aka waters-down the loot pool.

So heed this advice new players. SELL your spare plans even if you haven't learned them. EVEN if they're good ones you might want down the road. They'll be back don't worry. There's a method to the madness.

[Kuroneko]

ON THAT NOTE : If a player gets a Plan that they haven't learned yet, they should learn it & any Extra Plan's that has already been learned, should be sold or given to other players or do what ever that player feels like doing with the EXTRA Plan's.

A PLAYER SHOULD NOT : Sell a Plan that they have not learned yet, cause you never know when you will see it again UNLESS it's been known to appear constantly in the same SPOT or LOCATION 100% of the time.

So best thing to do is Learn any Plan's that you have yet to know, & then sell any Extras that you already know, or Trash or Give them away.

[cougarshamn]

I am curious as to what rare drops have fallen into your lap due to this? Not learning SS armor seems counterproductive, as SS is arguably the best non-PA armor in game, and you won't get drops until you learn the armor plan (unless that has changed). It is true that learning plans for things you have no intention of ever using can "water down" your loot pool, I don't think it'll make a noticeable difference

[Traveler]

Originally posted by lockwoodx:

I came into the game late and rare drops that people have been chasing for years just fall into my lap. Why? Because I haven't learned a single brotherhood plan, or secret service, or any of the other stuff because it greatly expands aka waters-down the loot pool.

So heed this advice new players. SELL your spare plans even if you haven't learned them. EVEN if they're good ones you might want down the road. They'll be back don't worry. There's a method to the madness.

What giberish.

[AnonymousGamer79]

Had to leave the game to comment when I saw this. I don't know who you guys are fooling trying to make out like OP is off base here. The loot and drop system in this game is retarded, malicious, and disrespectful to the players. OP is right in that you should minimize the plans you know. Decide what PA you are going to use and only do that quest if possible or learn/buy those plans. Once you get a set of plans you will get those drops at a much higher rate for a considerable time period. Case in point, I bought Thorn from Minerva recently just because I didn't know it and now I get Thorn drops out the wazoo even though I don't use it or have any intention of it in the near future. Just got a couple Brotherhood Recon plans from DOPS or somewheres and now I'm getting those drops. Sure they can be salvaged, but it isn't desirable items like pieces for your chosen set of PA. Avoid learning the plans if at all possible. Like some have commented, SS is great. Well ONLY learn SS plans and I bet you the vast lion's share of your drops will be SS. These people know this.....

[Traveler]

Originally posted by AnonymousGamer79:

Had to leave the game to comment when I saw this. I don't know who you guys are fooling trying to make out like OP is off base here. The loot and drop system in this game is retarded, malicious, and disrespectful to the players. OP is right in that you should minimize the plans you know. Decide what PA you are going to use and only do that quest if possible or learn/buy those plans. Once you get a set of plans you will get those drops at a much higher rate for a considerable time period. Case in point, I bought Thorn from Minerva recently just because I didn't know it and now I get Thorn drops out the wazoo even though I don't use it or have any intention of it in the near future. Just got a couple Brotherhood Recon plans from DOPS or somewheres and now I'm getting those drops. Sure they can be salvaged, but it isn't desirable items like pieces for your chosen set of PA. Avoid learning the plans if at all possible. Like some have commented, SS is great. Well ONLY learn SS plans and I bet you the vast lion's share of your drops will be SS. These people know this.....

I have all the plans for everything except those behind currency (stamps, bullion) walls. The only plans that are hard to get are legendaries.

[DocBravo]

IMO, to a degree.
My 2nd is a Shotgunner with a WIP Heavy Gunner 2nd build.
I've no plans for it to use Rifles or Pistols in any capacity.
My 1st is a Stealth Sniper 1st with a Ballistic Commando and Energy Commando as 2nd and 3rd builds; separate of course.
My first is also my first character here and in part a "make mistakes and learn" and want that one to have the most plans within reason.

I LOATHE any "Mounted Creature" plan. I LOATHE the Cigarette and Ashtray plans.
I've NO desire to get every Achievement in 76 or anywhere near it.
My 3rd is the newest and made in Q4 last year as a Ballistic Commando and WIP Ghoul Melee.
*The Spiked Deathclaw Gauntlet paint that's in the Atomic shop is wicked. It's 2 claws and changes to 3 if you have the additional claw mod on it.

I have 3 characters now so I used the Private server to send them what I don't want/need for my first. If both have them then I switch back to the Public and put excess in the Morgantown Station Donation box.

[lockwoodx]

Originally posted by Traveler:

Originally posted by lockwoodx:

I came into the game late and rare drops that people have been chasing for years just fall into my lap. Why? Because I haven't learned a single brotherhood plan, or secret service, or any of the other stuff because it greatly expands aka waters-down the loot pool.

So heed this advice new players. SELL your spare plans even if you haven't learned them. EVEN if they're good ones you might want down the road. They'll be back don't worry. There's a method to the madness.

What giberish.

Found the guy with a huge loot pool!

Originally posted by cougarshamn:

you won't get drops until you learn the armor plan

That is correct. I don't have to worry about random SS drops in my loot pool. It narrows your rolls.

[Mooman]

Items that get added to the loot pool only come from bullion/stamp/season unlocks and some events. Almost everything else is already in the loot pool by default regardless of whether it's been learnt or not.

Therefore the loot pool is already fairly deep. Take armour for example, it contains by default metal, leather, marine, scout, combat, trapper and wood. It also contains all weight types (light, sturdy, heavy) for those that have variations.

Multiply each type by 5 and you'll get an idea of how deep the default pool is. Adding the 5 plans of say Service Armour is a drop in the ocean.

However... RNG isn't so random. Newly learned plans will have a higher chance of dropping (anecdotal but from my experience it's been an easy way to gear up without crafting).

So the concept of not learning technically does increase the chance of you getting something else, that chance increase is really low due to depth of the pool.

[Phantom]

ish

this used to be true, but now everything you can learn from a plan doesn't really take away from those you can't

[LT2483]

This may have originally been true, when legendaries were still random, but now that we can legendary craft, there is no reason to not learn plans (except maybe to sell the really rare ones, if you don't want them). A smaller item pool doesn't do anything for you anymore. In fact, not learning plans can make getting the ones you do want harder, because certain plans are removed from certain sources once learnt.

So yeah, if a new player finds this, don't listen to OP. It was always kind of questionable advice, but with recent updates, it's now downright bad.

[Coolverine]

I usually just put em all in my machine for 0-1 cap each, or just stuff em all in one of those boxes next to vendors.

[AnonymousGamer79]

Well the brain trust has spoken and new players will be good bois and read their plans or else. Just keep in mind that you get only half-truths here. The advice proffered here may be generally sage but not applicable for every circumstance and situation and these people know this. Just as an example, when you do the Scorched Earth event and kill the SBQ, besides your quest rewards you receive each time an unknown weapon receiver mod plan. For example, PLAN: Prime 10MM reciever...etc. Now recently I noticed I stop receiving these and the reason ofc is that I learned them all. I was a good boy and read my plan right away and now that I know them all the game doesn't give me any when I do SBQ. Now while I know all of these plans, I have never used them once as I have not put a prime receiver on any weapons. So I could have just saved those plans, not read them and stashed them away, sold them, given them to another character, etc. Then I would still be receiving these plans each time I do the quest. So you see, it isn't always sound advice to just "read your plan". It's a real convoluted game and you need a degree in skullduggery to get anywhere in it.

[Global Rage]

Wow! see Bethesda what you did to your game when you implemented vendors? You destroyed what little of an economy that you could have had with players creating weapons and not loot drops.

[spoggie]

Originally posted by AnonymousGamer79:

Well the brain trust has spoken and new players will be good bois and read their plans or else. Just keep in mind that you get only half-truths here. The advice proffered here may be generally sage but not applicable for every circumstance and situation and these people know this. Just as an example, when you do the Scorched Earth event and kill the SBQ, besides your quest rewards you receive each time an unknown weapon receiver mod plan. For example, PLAN: Prime 10MM reciever...etc. Now recently I noticed I stop receiving these and the reason ofc is that I learned them all. I was a good boy and read my plan right away and now that I know them all the game doesn't give me any when I do SBQ. Now while I know all of these plans, I have never used them once as I have not put a prime receiver on any weapons. So I could have just saved those plans, not read them and stashed them away, sold them, given them to another character, etc. Then I would still be receiving these plans each time I do the quest. So you see, it isn't always sound advice to just "read your plan". It's a real convoluted game and you need a degree in skullduggery to get anywhere in it.

Players mileage may vary.
I have learned those Prime receiver plans and do get multiplies of them and throw them away.
Anyway what are the rare plans that some players want?
Is it things like plasma grenade plans, stimpak diffuser recipes (I have received multiples of them having learned them)
I don't have a weenie wagon plan but what I really want is to learn the quad mod box recipe which is proving to be elusive.
Just a few minutes ago before I logged off I learnt unyielding.

[lockwoodx]

Originally posted by Mooman:

Items that get added to the loot pool only come from bullion/stamp/season unlocks and some events. Almost everything else is already in the loot pool by default regardless of whether it's been learnt or not.

Therefore the loot pool is already fairly deep.

I did happen to get stuck with Civic Duty armor from Atlantic city and noticed the pieces started polluting my loot pool almost immediately which is what got me thinking about this subject.