Gear drop rates are changed from last update.

It is not a secret, nor is this new, many guilds and players have long suspected that the powers that be, have tweaked drop rates, nerfed toons, and have long held the ablity to alter content after the fact. You just said it best in your original post, they give us something in the right pocket, while at the same time taking from the left pocket. They increased the amount of trys, then got rid of the 2 x 25 crystal refresh and reduced it to 1 x 25 crystal refresh. Now after the 1st 25 crystal refresh, it goes straight to 50. They are very slick about it. Make us think they gave us something good, then at the very same time take something away. Smaller gear drops rates equals more purchases of gear. The carrot keeps getting smaller and smaller.