Is it just me or has the odds of finding a copper pickaxe, in a vessel at a ruins, increased?

[Broccoli Clock]

When I first started playing (1.20) I found a copper scythe in the vessel in the ruins. This seemed to be a bit of a pattern as with each playthrough if I found a copper tool it was always a scythe. It's a bit OP to find on the first day, but it's not hugely OP - after all it just speeds up what you can do with flint tools.

However recently when watching two different streamers get copper pickaxes literally on their first or second days seemed a bit odd, I was convinced it was "streamer loot" as I'd never found such a thing, as I say only the scythe.

Fast forward to my current playthrough, which I started the other day, on the 3rd day I found a ruin and guess what was in the vessel... a copper pickaxe. Like most experienced players I wasn't actually that far from smithing my own (a rather generous set of surface copper combined with some nice panning RNG brought me 43 nuggests), so getting a copper pickaxe when I was so close to creating one of my own is obviously a benefit but not a huge leap forward. 

However for less experienced players, I'm guessing an early game copper pickaxe would be a huge find, almost OP imo. The question I sort of have, as the title asks, are the odds of finding a copper pickaxe increased? Or it is still just RNG and both the streamers and I had lucked out?

In one sense I can see the reasoning, the "other block game" meta allows you to mine stone almost immediately and those coming from there may be frustrated at the slower progression, so upping the odds of finding one seems fair enough to catch those feeling soft locked.

[Zane Mordien]

I don't know if it had increased or not, but I've always thought it was a bit OP to find one.

[Slam]

You still need to grind for a hammer though, that’s always fun.

[LadyWYT]

1 hour ago, Broccoli Clock said:

However for less experienced players, I'm guessing an early game copper pickaxe would be a huge find, almost OP imo. The question I sort of have, as the title asks, are the odds of finding a copper pickaxe increased? Or it is still just RNG and both the streamers and I had lucked out?

I think it's still RNG, although I'm not sure if it's related to world seed or not. If loot drops are related to world seed, I would be suspicious of "streamer luck", given that a lot of content is somewhat scripted, but it's possible it could have been pure luck too.

Overall, I suspect that pickaxes are rare finds, but perhaps not as rare as what players tend to think.

1 hour ago, Broccoli Clock said:

In one sense I can see the reasoning, the "other block game" meta allows you to mine stone almost immediately and those coming from there may be frustrated at the slower progression, so upping the odds of finding one seems fair enough to catch those feeling soft locked.

Maybe, but a pickaxe alone won't break the softlock, given that a hammer is needed to actually process any ore dug up. A hammer and chisel are also needed for constructing the quern, so it's not really possible to get ahead there either.

[Broccoli Clock]

3 hours ago, Slam said:

You still need to grind for a hammer though, that’s always fun.

3 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

Maybe, but a pickaxe alone won't break the softlock, given that a hammer is needed to actually process any ore dug up. A hammer and chisel are also needed for constructing the quern, so it's not really possible to get ahead there either.

You are both right, to make full use of it you'd need a hammer, it does feel a little too generous though. 

[dakko]

I do think that it has increased.

I don't recall the first time I got a copper pickaxe (I started at the end of v1.5), but I was so thrilled! Then there was a long span where it seemed like I got nothing but grass and sticks. Sorry that I do not recall the version numbers when changes occurred, but I did notice an increase in copper tools when I was playing earlier this year.

[Teh Pizza Lady]

7 hours ago, Broccoli Clock said:

a rather generous set of surface copper combined with some nice panning RNG brought me 43 nuggests

That's enough for your first hammer and pick which is exactly what you need to start mining more!