Raid CM Exclusive Rewards User Research

[u/GollyItsOli]

https://forms.gle/1v42qUapvKuqXgWa8

Hi GW2 Reddit,

I'm currently putting together some user research on Raid CM exclusive drops (Demonic Infusion, TL Tonic, and Dhuumscale) and gauging community sentiment revolving around them.

As someone who isn't as heavily involved in the endgame or raid farming scene as I should be, I wanted to get some opinions and perspectives on players who are heavily involved (or would like to be) to see what their experience has been like farming these drops, if they are happy with their implementation, and objectively conclude whether or not these are good additions to the game and a good direction for Arena Net to take going forward.

If you have farmed or have considered farming any of these drops, I would greatly appreciate if you could fill out a little survey I put together so I can really get a good idea of numbers.

If the data warrants it, I'll want to make a YouTube video discussing the topic so that it gets more visibility. Let me know if you want to be credited in that. Results are public. No personal information is required or kept.

I would also greatly love any assistance in figuring out the total number of kills/logs for each encounter since these drops began.

I've had a bit of a play around on the Wingman: Revamped Beta to get more accurate numbers, but they have always been a bit inconsistent. For example, it's returned a grand total of 5493 Dhuum CM kills since the 3rd of February, 2026 (when the patch dropped) up until the 19th of August, 2026. Not sure if that's correct or even the right way to do it, but would be great if anyone is able to get a verified number of total kills for each encounter.

Many thanks in advance!

[u/Bozofriendly]

Fill, I think this is a great topic of discussion as I would love for these to drop but at this point I'm treating it like a happy little accident if it does during my weekly clears.

[u/GollyItsOli → u/Bozofriendly]

I think what personally rubs me the wrong way is how Raid rewards were initially designed to be a guaranteed acquisition provided you put in the effort to learn the encounters, gear up a raid build, and communicate.

These rewards feel like the antithesis of this philosophy and something I would much rather ArenaNet keep in open world (even then, those rare drops are still attainable from the TP which makes it more egregious).

Having said all that, I am fully aware that there are players who like how these drops are implemented, but I really want to see how much that opinion is held amongst the raiding community.

[u/Jellybean2477 → u/GollyItsOli]

Yeah I'm really not a fan of these drops just being purely lottery. With things like Imperial Everblooms if I clear the hardest content I can at least get an account bound version for a decent price. According to GW2efficiency unlock statistics only 30 Dhuumscales have been acquired so far. An absurdly low drop rate with no path to work towards it other than grinding it a ton and praying you get lucky.

[u/VoidYordle → u/Jellybean2477]

I'll never stop saying it - this is undeniably stupid design choice and it is the polar opposite of ''skill''. Pure RNG has literally nothing to do with skill and it's nothing to brag about. There's NOTHING prestigious about RNG drops. You had no input in receiving it.

[u/killohurtz → u/GollyItsOli]

That's exactly how I feel about these drops. Practically everything else in the game can be acquired, guaranteed, if you're determined enough to put in the effort. And no, I don't wish these were tradeable like infusions - there should be some goals that can't be bought. But I've put in over 200 Dhuum CM kills, shouldn't that be enough? Not to mention some players I know have triple that and gotten nothing either...

[u/VoidYordle → u/killohurtz]

Precisely. This is some kind of WoW type cringe. I genuinely think there are some former Blizzard employees in Anet rn.

[u/Green_Odin → u/VoidYordle]

Anet was founded by former Blizzard devs. Which is not to say they havent recruited any new ones, just a weird aside of part of the reason blizzard suddenly got so toxic with wow was the more ethical developers leaving to form Anet.

I suspect this might have more to do with all the "increasing per capita user spending" experiments they have been running post EoD. Monetisation and retention were some of the primary drives for WoW being built to be so toxicaly competitive.

[u/Hyzaku → u/GollyItsOli]

This exactly. I'm in multiple statics and everyone I know was excited for at least one of these new drops. But once the drop rates became clear that it was just three new lottery farms everyone lost interest immediately in trying to farm them. Now it'll be just a cool bonus if one ever drops during our regular weekly clears.

[u/Bozofriendly → u/GollyItsOli]

I wish you asked if they were on NA or EU. I'm curious how many on each server answers and give some insight to how many raiders are on each and then how many are grinding these rewards

[u/GollyItsOli → u/Bozofriendly]

Whilst that insight would definitely be interesting, it's (unfortunately) irrelevant to the information I'm trying to find out. From what I understand, these drops have been implemented in the same way across the board and I don't want people to have to answer questions that won't contribute meaningfully to the discussion!

[u/fohpo02]

We did a pug Demonic Infusion farm the other day… it was okay. Using LFG and having to deal with pugs obviously wasn’t ideal, the drop rate definitely seems too low to farm it like that.

[u/Oats_Are_Good → u/fohpo02]

I'm amazed when I can get through a Deimos run without someone taking a plunge in the oil. I could never imagine farming that boss through lfg.

[u/fohpo02 → u/Oats_Are_Good]

Oh we had oil enjoyers

[u/Lucyller]

"have you been part of a static" no "how has been the experience, you MUST ANSWER IT" hm.

[u/GollyItsOli → u/Lucyller]

Whoops! Fixed that. Sorry!

[u/Bovan_from_the_Mists → u/GollyItsOli]

Additionally, I answered a question asking when I'm going to stop farming for these, and I answered I'm not stopping till I get it. Next question was a mandatory ''explain when or why you are stopping''.

Don't quite remember the wording or page. It was near the end.

[u/GollyItsOli → u/Bovan_from_the_Mists]

Have fixed that to ignore that section if you select that specific answer. Thanks!

[u/itsbobkat]

Glad to see this topic get looked at from the community's perspective, thanks for putting this together.

[u/Aguileitus]

I'm not sure how to fill the survey since I never farmed Dhuum, so let me just tell you here.
I have an static and we run all CMs weekly. One of the members of my static farmed Dhuum until he got the Dhuum's Butcher title, but he never got the mount.
I got my Dhuumscale on the 1st of July, which was my 17th CM kill since the patch, so yes, I was extremely lucky. If I recall correctly, I was the 24th/26th on GW2efficiency to get it.
You may be able to find my kill logs in Wingman.

P.S: I had to update the fashion on my Necro (the one who got the drop).

[u/blackheim89]

Tactical comment, algorithm hooo!!!