Does half of a shield even exist?

[Blaze The Movie Fan]

I'm asking this because I have been fighting all sorts of monsters since 2006, and I have never, not once, gotten half a shield.

 

That does make me question if that item really exists or if it's just a myth.

[Steph]

It does.

[DeEliteOne]

 

Taken from my bank. So yes, it does; if shield left half didn't exist then dragon squares wouldn't be in the game...

[Blaze The Movie Fan]

Well, alright, it exists.

 

But I still find it odd that I never got it despite the fact I have been a RuneScape member since 2006 and have been fighting monsters since then.

 

Sure, I did take a long (over a year as a matter of fact) break from RuneScape, but that still leaves over five years of fighting monsters.

[Arceus]

It's a 'very rare' drop on the rare drop table according to wiki.  I guess it depends on just how many monsters you killed in those years and how many have access to RDT as well :P.

[Wkw]

Left half is one of the rarest drops in the game :p

[Sy_Accursed]

My account is nearing 11 years old and I've never had it as a drop either, so yeah it's just overly rare for the kind've junk it is.

[xpx]

My account is nearing 11 years old and I've never had it as a drop either, so yeah it's just overly rare for the kind've junk it is.

I've also been playing for 11 years and have had about 10 drops. It's really isn't (or wasn't) all that rare, although it seems as though they were made more rare with the rare drop table update. KQ is probably the most likely monster to drop one given that she has no other significant drops. I've also got 2 of mine from there (one was worth over 3m(~purple partyhat at the time)).

[Gang Sabre]

I think lesser demons drop em, I have 1 in the bank.

[Blaze The Movie Fan]

Well, it's not like I haven't gotten any items from the rare drop table.

 

I have gotten over 100 noted adamantite ores once, and over 30 of a clean herb (don't remember the name of it though), and tooth/loop half of a key several times.

 

And at the top of that, I have gotten dragon platelegs from steel dragons a lot of times.

 

How the heck are dragon platelegs more common than half of a shield if it's worth a lot less? Can someone explain to me the logic of this?

[Sy_Accursed]

Simple:

Shields are predominantly useless in runescape, other than a few niche top end bossing situations.

So a t60 sheild is worthless, whilst the only t60 melee leg armour still has something of a use.

This is compounded by the fact square shields, which the shield half makes, give worse stats than kite shields. So no-one would go for a square shield when they could go for a kite instead.

 

Item rarity on a drop table is not the be all and end all factor of how it's value is derived - It's called supply and demand.

Despite having a rather limited supply the shields have little to no demand resulting in a low value.

Meanwhile the legs have a higher supply, but a much higher demand, thus creating value.

 

Jagex could decide to make a unique level 1 weapon the rarest drop in game, its not going to magically make it valuable because there won't be a demand for it.

Equally they could make some of the most useful items in game supremely easy to get (kinda like runes) it won't magically remove all value from them because there is a high demand for them.

[Arceus]

^ A level 1 unique weapon may have some cosmetic appeal to skillers :P.  But yeah, I get the point.

[Kaur]

Taken from my bank. So yes, it does; if shield left half didn't exist then dragon squares wouldn't be in the game...

You could get them from 75k-ing...

 

 

I have had like 10 of them from slayer @56m exp.

[Ezkaton]

2 from QBD in the past month. Fight her for a while, and say hello to the greater majority of the RDT.

[Kimberly]

How the heck are dragon platelegs more common than half of a shield if it's worth a lot less? Can someone explain to me the logic of this?

 

What your asking is better tweeted to a Jagex Moderator, one relevant to balancing like Mod Timbo. It is not a question we can answer here. 

 

Please limit your topics to questions that actually can be answered by the community. The Help & Advice board is not for discussing theories and speculation. Your question has been answered to the best extent it could be. If you have any other question about game mechanics, feel free to make another topic or PM a moderator to see if it's an appropriate question to ask.