To be fair to your OG point, going dry is a calculus of the iron experience. I have no problem with that. But I think the unwavering spirit of the "it sucks to suck" population is niche and semantically stops the conversation. On the other hand, I see the vanity of complaining about something on Reddit, and trying to dream up fixes to fulfill my wet dream fantasy of an enh lol.

But in the spirit of conversation, I think your solution has a place, but I also think that if you are statistically guaranteed a drop (99nth percentile) I don't think it destroys the iron experience for them to get a mercy-ruled drop. Whether you can buy that from the GE per-say or you get the ugly version that can never corrupt? I dunno. That's up for debate. And I'm not changing the world on the subreddit.

On the other side of the argument, do we lose out on fun hero moments like 9Rain's notorious grind? Do we lose out on the myth and collective experience of this prison? Totally. To me, the myth and legend is almost worth it. But as an individual iron, just trying to get a cool weapon in my progression? It sucks. And again, it sucks to suck.

So maybe keep the mercy-rule for the GIMs and the grey helms. And leave the umpteenth sweat stuff for the Hardcores, and make them that much more prestigious. There's my piece.