# Explore difficulty question

**URL:** <https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/explore-difficulty-question/13799>\
**Category:** Uncategorized\
**Created:** [October 15, 2016, 1:07am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/explore-difficulty-question/13799 "2016-10-15T01:07:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Xbox\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/dec6dc/32.png) [@Xbox\_guy](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Xbox_guy)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2016, 1:07am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/explore-difficulty-question/13799/1 "2016-10-15T01:07:05Z")

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Does the difficulty in Explore determine possibility of traitstones?  
I have played a fair bit of explore since the update and have not had an arcane traitstone. I was just wondering if this is because I am playing on the lowest difficulty so it is faster or I am just unlucky?

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**Author:** ![Tacet](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/tacet/32/35_2.png) [@Tacet](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Tacet)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2016, 1:14am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/explore-difficulty-question/13799/2 "2016-10-15T01:14:24Z")

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No, difficulty has no effect on traitstone droprate. Technically, a higher difficulty REDUCES drop rate since matches may take longer leading towards less traitstones per hour.

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**Author:** ![Xbox\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/dec6dc/32.png) [@Xbox\_guy](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Xbox_guy)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2016, 1:18am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/explore-difficulty-question/13799/3 "2016-10-15T01:18:14Z")

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> [@Tacet](#):
>
> No, difficulty has no effect on traitstone droprate. Technically, a higher difficulty REDUCES drop rate since matches may take longer leading towards less traitstones per hour.

Alright, thanks. Good to know I still can get arcane traitstones in the lower difficulty, just have to keep trying I guess.

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**Author:** ![Lyya](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/lyya/32/3650_2.png) [@Lyya](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Lyya)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2016, 1:25am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/explore-difficulty-question/13799/4 "2016-10-15T01:25:16Z")

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For historical context, traitstone drops once were not guaranteed. The chance for a stone would go up by difficulty, to 100% at Warlord IV. If a stone dropped, it followed a constant distribution unaffected by difficulty. The devs made traitstone drops guaranteed early this year, at which point difficulty ceased to impact yield.