Looting -- The official thread for discussing the loot system. Updated 18th March, 2013.

In my opinion the looting system is the worst thing left in an otherwise fantastic game. It puts ranged characters at a disadvantage, it makes people want to stop fighting when the mob is about to die so they can snag the best items, and it causes fights and arguments over items that someone didn't just quite get to in time.

It makes public games a source of frustration instead of cooperation. Either you play with friends or you play solo.

If they really love the current system they should at least put in an option for an individual loot system. Right now playing in public groups is not much fun unless you know everyone.

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In my opinion the looting system is the worst thing left in an otherwise fantastic game. It puts ranged characters at a disadvantage, it makes people want to stop fighting when the mob is about to die so they can snag the best items, and it causes fights and arguments over items that someone didn't just quite get to in time.

It makes public games a source of frustration instead of cooperation. Either you play with friends or you play solo.

If they really love the current system they should at least put in an option for an individual loot system. Right now playing in public groups is not much fun unless you know everyone.

I totally agree with that! I hate fighting monster with the constant "fear" of getting good loot snacked away right in front of me.

I like competition, but I prefer to have that in making the best build and owning in PvP.

In D2 I lost items to a damn leeching noob, while doing Baal runs, way too often. I don't see the fun factor in it, I would definitely prefer individual loot. When the game goes public all the hardcore players who likes this kind of thrill will be minimized to under 3%. I you want the casuals to like mf'ing together, you go for the individual loot.

And btw, it is NOT about skills! It's random who gets the item, and I don't want to fight along random players to see the leecher get the item. This forces me to play solo, like it did in Diablo 2. You should learn from D2, not compete its mistakes - most ppl didn't play together, as soon as they got strong enough to solo. I would love to have engame with other ppl, but this system doesn't make it an advantage.

I agree with everyone, that I won't join public games just b/c of the ninja looting. Individual loot seems better, so it actually becomes fun playing in public games with others rather then worrying if some idiot is just going to grab everything. Right now I only play with my friend and we share the loot and give each other the items for our classes.

The loot system I saw in WoW was rather decent. Each party-leader could decide (out-of-battle) whether loot was FFA, Round-Robin, Need-before-Greed, and they could set what the threshold was (blues, yellows, etc.).

I love the timer that's implemented, but again: more choices = better. Perhaps the party leader could set the timer base value? Perhaps, also, the timer could vary, or just not start, based on the number of nearby enemies? Perhaps, to combat latency, the timer could also start based on a ping of the "owner"?

A game to me should be challenging, but it also shouldn't confine you to a corner. I love HC leagues and cut-throat attitudes, but I love that that's not the only way to play this. More choices, better.

I think that instead of beeing alocated for a player for a few seconds it should be FFA for a few seconds.Then the "underserving" players would be the ones who have to pay attencion. Also i think alocated shouldn't be random: it would have to have rules of course (ex. damage dealt,last hit,...)

My second sugestion (GGG's system) would be that players that attack the farthest (or something like that) away should have slightly more chance of beeing alocated.

Then again no one knows how is it just now so GGG should for now stick to their idea.

Congrats...

This is a very long thread so I haven't read all the discussion leading up to this point. If this has been discussed before, I apologize.


I had my first taste of this system yesterday co-oping with a buddy. At first I was confused as hell and then I remembered this forum lol. While I understand what GGG is trying to achieve with the cut throat aspect, I personally don't enjoy it and I'll explain why.

First, when playing solo you obviously have all the time in the world to sort through the drops, take what you need, and leave the rest. If you're fighting a group of tough enemies and the first drops a rare/unique while you're still fighting, it's not a big deal. You finish up the battle and enjoy the spoils. In other words you are rewarded.

Now, an "open" loot system causes major problems and can completely ruin the co-op aspect of an ARPG. We know this from prior games like D2. Your compromise of the timing is a GOOD compromise I agree. However, the core issue still lingers as do the other minor issues.

Core Issue:

Simple and we're all aware of it. A high level rare or unique can drop and someone else will grab it. Let's understand a simple fact. This only needs to happen ONE TIME for co-op to be completely ruined for a player. I can tell you for a fact that if, as a Marauder, a unique axe dropped and the Witch I was co-oping with grabbed it before I could, I would likely never play co-op again. That's simply NOT FUN.

Other Issues:

Other issues with a shared loot system I have already seen talked about in other threads such as:

- It prioritizing loot over the battle itself when trying to work together.

- Longer times to sort through everything as more is dropping especially once you start racking up "quantity" stats in a 4-6 player game.

- Having to try and balance the timers for things like lag/latency, class differences, in-game modifiers like movement speed and abilities, etc......

- Players joining public games just to try and steal loot then leaving.


When you look at the whole picture, a good co-op game is supported more by having loot drop individually for each player. A hostile environment has it's place such as the cutthroat league, hardcore, etc.... But to foster a positive co-op experience in the standard leagues, it should be separate. Players shouldn't have to make a decision before playing co-op of "do I want to fight for loot" because I can tell you for a fact that will stop people from playing co-op at all. A lot of people play these games for the loot first and foremost. Individual loot allows battles to play out properly with each player playing their role and supporting each other without worry or concern over what's dropping. There are no distractions or interruptions. Players can't troll each others games. The list goes on and on.

Meanwhile, individual loot fosters a positive experience and even makes players work together MORE by sharing the loot they WANT to share and trading in game. That's how it should be in my opinion. I've been farming in Inferno for over a month now and I can say with confidence that individual loot is one of the few things D3 got right.


Love the game and I applaud you GGG for your efforts with it. I'm proud to be a supporter and I will continue to market this game for you. I will say that the current timer system is one of my few complaints with the game in its current state and I'm hoping you change your mind.

My final suggestion:

For the standard leagues have an individual loot system.

For the cutthroat league and hardcore leagues, have the timer loot system.

The noob here would like to chime in with a simple question....What really is the advantage to having FFA loot in ANY form?

The OP stated that they want a "Cut throat" feel to the game. Please explain why it is important to have this feel and how many of your players do you think absolutely want it?

The con to using any form of FFA loot is obvious. A ton of ARPG players cannot stand it and evenutally decide to play solo or not play at all if its in the game. This thread proves that most players do not like it.

So whats so important about having it in the game? I'm just curious as to why people want it and what does it really add to the game that makes it worth upsetting so many players?

Personally I am fine with a long count down timer of like 30+ seconds so that if an item is missed then it can be found by another player. Thanks for reading

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Stensballe wrote:

Lots of great feedback, i hope u figure this one out GGG.

My opinion:

Make different loot-options to set for leagues & party.

Free for all option. (d2)
Personal loot option. (d3)
Timed option. (mentioned in this thread)
No loot option. (imagine Ironman league)

etc etc.

Would someone who enjoys FFA please explain to me why you would choose it among the options? I really don't see it being very popular if a system like this was implemented. I am a fan of D3's system (not really anything else) but to be honest the only thought I could possibly have for selecting that option(not timed) is....Hmm maybe I can hog the loot from the other players in this game....

I am willing to bet that is the thought that most people have when they think of a completely FFA loot system so why is it even being entertained? Is it competitive? Yes. Is it fun? According to most players No. Does this competitive aspect need to be in the game at all? I know that this game is currently using a timed method but the timer is so short that it poses the same problems but just to a slightly lesser degree. Sorry about posting a second time, I guess I just had some more thougths to get out :)

Just a note to follow up my long post from yesterday. For whatever reason this was running through my head and I felt a better way to explain it was this:


"Co-operative" by definition means working together. When you join a group to play a game like this, you are working together to finish missions, kill enemies to level up, and find loot.

The thought of looting being "cutthroat" in a "co-op" environment is counter intuitive. This is not "competitive multiplayer".


I think this is why the overwhelming feedback is to keep loot separate.