Question about how magic-find works

**Gnarli** · 22-06-2012, 20:43

I've noticed that when rares drop for me, their stats are usually pretty poor for their item level. That is, if I get a rare sword that is level 50 (requires lvl 50 to equip it), the primary stat (in this case, dps) is always a lot lower than same-level weapons for sale on the Auction House. If I find a rare sword that does 265 dps, I always find that rares on the AH, at the same level, are way over 300 dps. Many times I've scrolled down the pages of the auction house to get to weapons that do similar dps to the one I found, and it's invariably not til at least page 30 that I start seeing this, and of course the prices are pretty low.

As a result of this, I've been completely unable to make any gold by auctioning items. I wonder if this is a common problem.

I haven't geared for MF; my magic find is only 24%. What I'm wondering is, if I gear up for magic find, will that improve the quality of rares that I find? I don't expect to find level 60 items... what I'm really interested in is finding lvl 50ish items that have stats that are competitive on the auction house. I'd be thrilled if I could work out a viable strategy for increasing the chance of finding stuff that people would pay for. (Gold AH at least)

Has Blizzard released any details on how MF works exactly?

**iESCAPISM** · 23-06-2012, 09:36

It's rather about people lucking out and finding really good drops, which have a chance to be competetive at the AH.

Mf does not increase the quality/quantity of the stats of a drop.

Also, bear in mind that the best lvl 50-59 items are actually level iLvL 63 items with Reduces level requiered by xx, which can result in lvl 48 one handed weapons with 1.1k dps.

**Sir Toggo** · 23-06-2012, 14:37

Follow-up question if I may, everywhere I look people say MF & GF is averaged among party members. I have been testing this a bit, but joining a party with someone with much higher or lower GF doesn't change anything, nog even while killing stuff.
Are these party modifiers hidden? And does that mean you char info lists you MF & GF incorrectly when you are in a party?

**Karth** · 23-06-2012, 15:30

Originally Posted by Sir Toggo

Follow-up question if I may, everywhere I look people say MF & GF is averaged among party members. I have been testing this a bit, but joining a party with someone with much higher or lower GF doesn't change anything, nog even while killing stuff.
Are these party modifiers hidden? And does that mean you char info lists you MF & GF incorrectly when you are in a party?

It lists the MF and GF you currently have equipped, not the MF & GF that is currently acting on your drops. I don't think it even shows MF from followers' equipment.

**iESCAPISM** · 24-06-2012, 08:43

It shows the followers equipped MF. Tried equipping/removing a +25% amu which resulted in a 4-5% difference in MF on my Details.

**Redden** · 24-06-2012, 10:03

Originally Posted by iESCAPISM

It's rather about people lucking out and finding really good drops, which have a chance to be competetive at the AH.

Mf does not increase the quality/quantity of the stats of a drop.

Also, bear in mind that the best lvl 50-59 items are actually level iLvL 63 items with Reduces level requiered by xx, which can result in lvl 48 one handed weapons with 1.1k dps.

If MF doesn't affect quantity and quality, why do players swap to their MF gear to give the killing blow?

**Sir Toggo** · 24-06-2012, 10:15

Originally Posted by Redden

If MF doesn't affect quantity and quality, why do players swap to their MF gear to give the killing blow?

It effects the quantity of drops (aka higher drop rates, more rares).
It does not affect the quality of drops, nor the quantity of stats on the drop.

**iESCAPISM** · 24-06-2012, 12:58

Like Sir Toggo pointed out; it effects the # of drops and the rarity of said drops, but like I tried to explain it does not make the stats of drop X any better. An item that would roll +50 str won't roll 20% more str if you wear 20% more MF. I hope that clears up what I was trying to say.

**Lanthanide** · 25-06-2012, 01:16

Note that Nephalem Valor, which appears to be (up to) a 75% gold and magic find boost has mechanics additional to the straight MF part.

5 stacks of NV will force all elite bosses to drop at least 1 rare item, and cause all Act/Major quest bosses to drop at least 1 rare item. It also increases the number of items dropped by the Act/Major quest bosses significantly, and seems to increase the ilvl of items they drop as well. These behaviours however are specific to NV and are not part of the MF/GF boost that it provides, but in addition to it.

**Dave Null** · 26-06-2012, 10:43

Correct me if I'm wrong, but NV stacks aside, MF doesn't actually increase the number of items dropped. The only thing MF does is it increases the chance that a dropped white item becomes blue, a blue becomes yellow etc.

For example, an elite pack has a 4% chance to drop a rare with 0% MF. That chance becomes 8% with 100% MF and that's that. (All numbers made up).

That's how it worked in D2 and I believe Blizzard mentioned MF works the same way in D3.