Quick and Dirty Rundown of Chaos Dungeon Changes
To begin with -
What this is: a quick explanation of what changed system-wise between old Chaos Dungeons and new Chaos Dungeons
What this is not: a deep dive into what numbers changed exactly and where
TL;DR - don't feel the need to change any of your habits. If you were running rested before, you don't need to adjust to get the third level every single week. If you want to push a character and are missing shards or silver only, putting them on rest bonus will be fine. If you want to push a character and are missing leapstones in addition to shards and silver, keep running as before.
So what actually changed?
They moved the shard and silver rewards completely out of the regular mob drop table, and instead separated them into the end of dungeon rewards screen and the purification meter. Now, the only shards obtained over the duration of the Chaos Dungeon are from dismantling accessories (32 for relic, 34 for ancient) and amulets (roughly 20 each).
Here are the rewards from each level of purification:
| Purification | 1520 | 1540 | 1560 | 1580 | 1600 | 1610 | 1630 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I. Shards | 42,000 | 47,000 | 47,000 | 50,000 | 50,000 | 58,000 | 58,000 |
| I. Silver | 325,000 | 358,000 | 358,000 | 377,000 | 377,000 | 410,000 | 410,000 |
| II. Shards | 42,000 | 47,000 | 47,000 | 50,000 | 50,000 | 58,000 | 58,000 |
| II. Silver | 325,000 | 358,000 | 358,000 | 377,000 | 377,000 | 410,000 | 410,000 |
| III. Shards | 56,000 | 62,000 | 62,000 | 67,000 | 67,000 | 77,000 | 77,000 |
| III. Silver | 434,000 | 477,000 | 477,000 | 503,000 | 503,000 | 546,000 | 546,000 |
And from the event boxes:
| Purification | 1520 | 1540 | 1560 | 1580 | 1600 | 1610 | 1630 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leapstones | 20 | 20 | 20 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| Red stones | 250 | 250 | 250 | 150 | 150 | 150 | 150 |
| Blue stones | 750 | 750 | 750 | 450 | 450 | 450 | 450 |
| I. # boxes | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| II. # boxes | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| III. #boxes | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
What does this mean for overall rewards?
Depends on what you intend on running. Previously, you could either:
A. unrest everything (2 CD/day, 7 days/week, equivalent 14 CD/week), or
B. fully rest everything (2[*2] CD/3 days, 7 days/week, equivalent 28/3 CD/week)
Using B under the new system, you'll claim the third level of purification once every three weeks, and only the first and second on the other two weeks. Alternatively, you can now try
C. run 3 days/week - 2 days fully rested, 1 day unrested (2[*2] CD + 2 CD/wk, equivalent 10 CD/week)
This way, you'll always hit the third level in exchange for running 2 more chaos dungeons in any 3 week period than you would fully rested. We'll call (A) Unrested, (B) Rested, and (C) New Pattern.
For direct comparisons of each method See directly below charts for notes:
These are based on 112 cd all ran personally, with varying sample sizes for individual levels. I aggregated all the unrested and rested runs together to get an average, assuming that the rested dungeons would be approximately double the rewards of unrested. Sample sizes below:
| r/u | 1520 | 1540 | 1560 | 1580 | 1600 | 1610 | 1630 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rested | 6 | 21 | 4 | 18 | 8 | 6 | 2 |
| Unrested | 4 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 17 | 8 |
In general, we see that the newer Chaos Dungeon system gives more rewards, especially in silver and shards. Between 40-60% increase in Silver if not changing any rest habits, between 70-100% increase in Silver if changing to type C rest method.
With such a small post-change sample size, I'm willing to overlook some of the oddities such as some items going down or up by a small amount (notably 1600/1630 leaps, destructions, guardians, and 1610 gems) as sampling errors.
HOWEVER, it does seem possible that some of the lower tier rewards from 1520-1560 may have been bumped up a bit. This may be something to keep an eye on as time goes on.
Now, what if we want to get a bit lazier?
Here's where it depends on what you're going for. In general, since the rewards for each tier (A -> A, B -> B, C -> C) seem about the same, it's perfectly okay to just keep doing what you were doing before. You'll end up with roughly the same amounts of materials in leaps, destructions, guardians, and gems, and way more in shards and silver. However, if you're starting to feel some burnout or some extra need to grind other characters, you do have some options.
If your roster is in need of extra silver, the new update has got you covered. Feel free to keep running those lopang alts without adjusting to the C pattern, or heck you might even be able to drop some of them.
If individual characters are in need of more shards, you're probably okay too. Running the chaos dungeons themselves doesn't give too many shards, so just grabbing the first and second level of rewards 2/3 weeks and the third level 1/3 weeks will still have you better off than you were before.
Here's the comparison for moving an old, unrested character to the new (C) Pattern
Here's the comparison for moving an old, unrested character to full rest bonus (B)
If you're short on shards, go ahead and drop them down to rested. You'll be fine. If you need leaps or anything else you're probably better off just maintaining whatever you were doing on the old system.
But is it worth it doing more?
Most of the gains in materials are just from adding more chaos dungeons, but if you're really feeling the silver squeeze, adding in two days of chaos dungeons every three weeks on those 1540 lopang alts will nearly double their (chaos dungeon) silver income compared to before! If you want to be lazy about it, you could even add in the extra chaos dungeon on your favorite chaos lopang alt and drop one of your lesser favorites - you'll still be making about the same amount of silver.
That's all for the update. Just remember, whatever stops you from quitting will always be more efficient in the long run. Happy slaving away in the chaos mines gaming!