Andariel Drop Bug

[Zenkat]

Hoyunah is right, it is theoretically impossible to not have the bug.
Thus i am going to kill andy will all of my characters and check her drops.
I will post the results.

Zimbardo: andy drops far less than meph does most of the time, this can be remedied by a full game. I have had her drop a single item many times, it happens. This also means the bug is active, since her drop could be a scroll or potion but can't because of the bug.

[kle02]

I just think the bug happens at random either you get it or don't again pure luck! Andy did happen to drop me a key though...

[Zenkat]

Tests were done in the USwest Ladder on all difficulties, with varying mf (some char have lots like a sorc, others have none). Only one kill of andariel was made, since it takes forever to do this with all of my characters. I declare it bugged if all items that dropped for me were set/rare/unique or faileds. Its obvious when its not bugged, since gold piles and potions usually drop.

Matriarch Blizzard Sorceress level 92
norm/nm/hell - bugged

Patriarch Zealot Paladin level 79
(no norm wp) nm/hell - bugged

Patriarch WW Barbarian level 86
norm/nm/hell - bugged

Patriarch Werewolf Druid level 91
norm/nm/hell - bugged

Champion Javelin Amazon level 78
norm not bugged. (very peculiar)
nm/hell - bugged

Patriarch Hammer/Healer Paladin level 88
norm - bugged? (a failed set ring mail dropped... too weird)
nm/hell - bugged

Slayer Summon Necromancer level 59 (not in hell yet)
norm/nm - bugged

Patriarch Wind Druid level 84
norm - bugged? (An ethereal failed set ring mail??? o.O)
nm/hell - bugged

Champion Kicking Assassin level 73 (had not done hell andy quest)
norm/nm - bugged
hell - not bugged, and here i think is why.
I first had to acquire the wp to actually get to her and do that quest, when the quest was finished, i left the game without talking to any npc's. When i came back, i talked to an npc, went to act 2, and left the game again. On the 3rd game, i went down and killed andariel again, and she indeed did not drop her usual bugged items.

From this info, i am going to assume if you kill her and do NOT talk to an npc, but instead leave the game, this will somehow bypass the andariel bug. Obviously a little more testing is required, but i think i solved it.
Continuing on...

Champion Strafe Amazon level 74 (had not done hell andy quest)
norm/nm - bugged
hell - not bugged again. this time done a little different.
I did the andariel quest, and left the game again, i then made a new game and talked to warriv, but didnt travel east, and then proceeded to kill andariel again.

With these 2 finishers, i think i have partially solved the andy bug.
If you want the bug, do your andy quest and talk to the npc in that same game. If you want to avoid it (dunno why you would), do the andy quest and then leave the game without talking to anyone.

Hope this helps some people a little on this andariel bug mystery we've been having.

[th5418]

Im still confused. So the andy bug works by.
1) create new game
2) chat with a NPC
3) kill andy

[Zenkat]

Im still confused. So the andy bug works by.
1) create new game
2) chat with a NPC
3) kill andy

no no no!

The andy bug is a PERMANENT event. If you kill andy for her quest, then talk to an npc in that same game, she will be PERMANENTLY reset to drop her bugged drop class for that difficulty and character.

If you do what i did above in my tests, and leave the game right after killing her for her quest, the andy bug will NOT work EVER with that character and that difficulty.

It's a one time setup. You either do it right and get the permament bug, or do it wrong and never get the bug for that character and difficulty.
I do hope thats clearer, thats the best i can describe it.

[th5418]

Awwww crap! That sucks then.

[RTB]

Sometimes? When you kill her for the quest, she drops three gems in addition to whatever else she drops. So, if she's not dropping three gems for you every time you kill her, this "bug" is obviously not working...

The gems (additional 2 chipped and 1 normal gem) are part of a hardcoded drop, it only happens on the very first drop.

The bug is about the quality, her quest drop (only supposed to happen on the first drop) has improved odds for unique/set and always drops rare. Magical items can drop, but they're always failed set. Get more MF if you don't want that to happen.

The Andy bug can be tested by the fact that any magical items are failed sets and that junk items (like bolts, gold and scrolls) don't drop.

Zenkat: Can you complete the quest without talking to NPCs? If you can't then the bug should be impossible to avoid.
Normal Andy is Mlvl 12 and the Angelic set requires at least Ilvl 17 to drop. So the failed set isn't so weird afterall.

[kryo]

One thing: I never leave the game after killing andy for quest--I always go to act 2 first thing.

Anyhow, I just did a couple quick andy runs on nm, and where there was no bug the other day (she dropped mostly non-failed magics) she now dropped piles of low sets (milabrega armor, cathan mask) and uniques (spirit forge), and all the magics were definitely faileds. So it seems my sorc now has the bug

[cainc5]

i confirm that
ive made like 10 runs in hell
it drops rares, sets, uniques, runes and failed magics

[Dreamsmith]

The gems (additional 2 chipped and 1 normal gem) are part of a hardcoded drop, it only happens on the very first drop.

That was my point. Earlier, someone had said the bug was that if you talked to an NPC after killing Andariel, she would subsequently always drop as if it was the first drop. If that were the case, you'd always get the gems. As for only dropping uniques or sets (or "failed" uniques/sets), I'll have to look into that. Should be easy enough to test, save that I can't test the other scenario (why on Earth would anyone kill Andy and then quit without at least taking that handy free town portal back to town and talking to Warriv -- I certainly don't have any characters on any difficulty level that would qualify as "non-bugged" if it really does work that way)...