How does increased Magic Find work with chests?
I have some equipment that I can swap in as-needed to boost magic find instead of more useful mods. Normally I end up not using the MF pieces much, as I'd rather focus on killing mobs instead. However, there are Resplendent Chests in the game which give several magic items when opened - when does the game decide what to give me, is it
- when the level is generated
- upon entering the room with the chest
- on opening it
Would carrying around +MF gear and swapping to it before opening the chest make a difference in the quality of its drops?
Solution 1:
As of the 1.03 patch, Magic Find only affects the drops when a monster dies. It has no effect on chests, barrels, or other containers.
I don't yet have enough MF gear to test it properly, but information is nevertheless from personal experience, from the existence of the Treasure shrine, and from Blizzard comments such as the one quoted in this Q&A session, in which they acknowledge that switching weapons right before a boss dies will make its dropped loot better, which is why there's no fast weapon-switch concept like there was in Diablo II.
Solution 2:
It is to early to say for sure but if it works like Diablo 2 then it is your magic find when opening it that count towards what loot drops, so equipping a magic find set before opening would increase your chances of better loot.