ok, now I am confused, how does ‘a ton and then some’ translate to 4 - 10 drops?
Does the 4-10 talk strictly about armor and weapons, not belts/rings/amulets ?
I think this is what you’re running into with a pet build… I did a quick scan of graceful dusk’s item database…
There are a total of 2 epic and 1 legendary chest pieces with + pet skills, for rings the numbers are 5 and 1 and amulets are 7 and 3. So it make complete since you would see more rings/amulets than chest piece…looks like it will be really hard to actually get your chest piece…
As far as suffixes, of the 45 magical suffixes, 0 are for pets. of the 18 rare suffixes, only 2 are for pets. Prefixes aren’t much better… For magical of the 47+ (may be off as there were some repeating “categories” that have different stats like “Resistant” but names like “soldier” were grouped under one) only 2 contain pet bonus. Among rare prefixes, there is 2 out of 26 different categories. Course I don’t think each one of the prefixes has an equal chance of dropping as some have more deviations among the name. Like “soldier” has 27 different deviations it could be spread across all levels while “insulating” has 5… Each deviation of each prefix/suffix probably has the same chance to drop as a prefix/suffix that only has 1 deviation which would result in even few drops for pet bonuses… But you’ll see more “pick class here” prefixes because of the deviations…
(Note: these number are on amulets… I guess there are different pools for different piece of gear too… I quickly scanned the prefixes for Chest pieces and there are 0 for magical, but 3 for rare… Still really small odds… Also these are very “rough” number as I don’t think every prefix/suffix is available at every item level…but I think the general rareness of +pet skills can be applied still based on these numbers)
If you’re actually lucky enough to roll a pet prefix/suffix, getting them on an item you actually want to use is another story…
So statistically speaking, you’re kinda screwed looking for + pet skill gear… The thing is, + pet skills are only good for pet builds and there are only a handful of viable builds… This makes pet builds kind of a small niche class… things like + fire, + physical, etc, can be used by many more builds so the balance is probably on par for where it should be… Just something you’ll have to deal with if you go with a pet build…
If they increased the number of suffixes/prefixes with + pet bonus, all the other builds would be complaining there is too much + pet skill drops…
Thanks for helping out with this; it makes a lot of sense and would explain why I’ve seen so few drops. I’m working with a hybrid ranged/melee build now so we’ll see how the gear goes with that. It looks like I might have chosen the one build category for which it’s difficult to get gear. We’ll see!
Regards,
Tarkus
yeah, no problem!
My first character was an AAR sorcerer and I was able to get a good number of drops for him. I wasn’t saving gear until lv 60+ either because I hate using mules and there isn’t that much space… But now I have Grim Dawn Item Assist and use that for inventory control allowing me to save more… I started a pet build as my second character because I got a couple drops for the leg set. I was running into the same issue you were with lack of drops and I didn’t save any early gear due to the late addition of GD item assist. So then I started a Bleeding/IT Warder and am finding a lot of gear for him(looking for anything with physical, bleed or internal trauma opens up the item list a bit more)…plus some pet gear along the way to help when I go back to that guy! 
I don’t think there is an “easy” build to get gear for but there are definitely harder ones than others…
Hey Tarkus,
I can understand your frustration with drops. I also used this same build, but it was probably about my 7th character, so had about 5-6 pieces already of the BiS items. However, of the set pieces (out of a bit more than 800 hours played) I still only have 1 through 8 characters. RNG can be really odd in this game. My first 85, a druid, received hardly any legendaries that were ideal until just recently after transferring from other characters. Consequently, that character was having a hard time, and I wasn’t playing her much until again just recently.
On the other hand, I have so many legendaries for my low level arcanist that it’s bordering on absurd. My fun in this game is trying other builds. It becomes easier with each one due to drops from the previous characters. I’m betting if you can stick with it, then you’ll be a bit less frustrated with some future characters. I tend to switch back and forth a bit when drops are poor for one guy and better for another. I also found it helps to have several leveling simultaneously as drops can quickly be passed back and forth and used immediately. Good luck with future drops. And as suggested, maybe try out a build that drops are pushing you towards. You might even like the new one a lot.
So the new patch should help with at least finding a few more nice rare items… Probably still screwed if looking for legs and epics…
75k and 8 components is not bad for making a piece of legendary gear. Also drops outside your class are sometimes sick enough to inspire the birth of a new character 
They only mention rare and unique, I don’t think legendary drop rates were changed.
The new affixes are definitely interesting (the devs know their stuff - the bonuses are to total damage/OA/health/mana regen and pet health/resistances/damage) and I’ll probably use these in a build or two at some point but not on my current builds. Torso/leg armors still carry some of the best defensive affixes/bonuses (affix numerical values vary between different pieces of gear, with torso/leg armors getting the highest bonuses) and many defensive affixes are also gear slot-specific.
The new affixes (they’re prefixes btw, so your complementary defensive suffix options are limited) are also rare-type (green), which means you likely won’t be seeing them on drops often. It’s going to take a lot of crafting sessions/store hopping for you to get the combination you want. It’s still easier (by far) to get yourself a full set of Subjugator’s accessories, which show up in stores frequently.
All in all, these new affixes seem to be designed for either hybrids or end-game summoners, allowing you move around bonuses and possibly even equip those godly bracers or boots or helm/etc. that you couldn’t previously because you’d be giving up a significant chunk of your survivability.
I agree with this post, considering I am starting to wonder with each patch, if loot drops are even a thing in ultimate. And I have given up on the nemesis farm, since I still haven’t seen ONE in my seven days of in-game play time. Such an ironic name to give to an enemy that has yet to spawn, I’d thought they be abundant and would hunt me down for my genocides. Also, I would love to find some recipes for crafting, considering I am still using relic from my normal play through.
Once you reach nemesis each one will spawn once per game session. There are only specific spots they will spawn, you wont find them just randomly anywhere…
This thread has most…although I sounds like the last patch may have removed some of Fab’s spawn points…