I think people over-inflate the failures. Its a bias syndrome. Negative emotions are remembered, and stand out, far more then positive or neutral ones. So the bad rolls take up more of the brains spotlight then the good ones.
As long as it is a truly random generator for the rolls I disagree with the general assessment as I think there is heavy user bias to remember the negative rolls more. That and the fact that many users are used to the binary skill check. Either you have the skill level or you don't. So used to passing a lot more and hence playing a game where its more random they put more emphasis on the negative.
I have 99 hours in. I save-scummed a number of times on certain rolls. Each play through I scummed less though as I was less worried about the after effects having already experienced them.
So for me, my own experience with almost 100 hours of playing and paying attention to the rolls, is that I got plenty of 20 rolls mixed in with critical misses/failures, and everything in between.
Sometimes I had a string of "bad" luck and sometimes a string of "good" luck. And, once again, a string of bad luck will stand out far, far more then good luck. If you are passing a bunch you just keep going. Bad ones you may reload, you may bitch more, you may worry more. So the negative will stand out in memory more then good ones, where you just keep going.
I was pretty hyper-sensitive to the rolls on my second and third play through, after feeling like the first one as too heavy on the bad rolls. I realized it was the negative bias effect.
Also things do increase your chances - skills, abilities, spells.
You might get a +4 or +7 to a roll. That increases your odds of passing (same for negative). Meaning if you need a 10 or higher to pass, then add 7 and need a 3 or higher to pass - the odds are more in your favor of passing needing a 3 versus a 10. As there are more results that pass then before.
As long as it is a truly random generator for the rolls I disagree with the general assessment as I think there is heavy user bias to remember the negative rolls more. That and the fact that many users are used to the binary skill check. Either you have the skill level or you don't. So used to passing a lot more and hence playing a game where its more random they put more emphasis on the negative.
I have 99 hours in. I save-scummed a number of times on certain rolls. Each play through I scummed less though as I was less worried about the after effects having already experienced them.
So for me, my own experience with almost 100 hours of playing and paying attention to the rolls, is that I got plenty of 20 rolls mixed in with critical misses/failures, and everything in between.
Sometimes I had a string of "bad" luck and sometimes a string of "good" luck. And, once again, a string of bad luck will stand out far, far more then good luck. If you are passing a bunch you just keep going. Bad ones you may reload, you may bitch more, you may worry more. So the negative will stand out in memory more then good ones, where you just keep going.
I was pretty hyper-sensitive to the rolls on my second and third play through, after feeling like the first one as too heavy on the bad rolls. I realized it was the negative bias effect.
Also things do increase your chances - skills, abilities, spells.
You might get a +4 or +7 to a roll. That increases your odds of passing (same for negative). Meaning if you need a 10 or higher to pass, then add 7 and need a 3 or higher to pass - the odds are more in your favor of passing needing a 3 versus a 10. As there are more results that pass then before.