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

Ah, okay. Sorry, I did not catch the whole fixed loot thing.... you make a lot of sense though... Wow doesn't have unidentified items... hmm That would definitely get in the way of that system.

If an object falls down from a monster closer to another player is not so much a problem. I understand that it's just luck and that in an other ocasion I will be lucky. I think that adding an allocation time to the objects is redundant as complicates something that for its own is luck. Complicates too much the game.

I still think that it's best to allow parties to choose from a few options. It shouldn't be too hard to do from a development perspective I imagine. It means you can have normal items be free for all and maybe if you do a boss run allocate it a bit better.

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Skivverus wrote:

Problem, though:

Not all rare (or magical, or even normal) items are created equal, thanks to the variety of basic item types - not in trade value, and not in personal value.
Three to four magic items apiece? Great!
Three to four huge two-handed weapons you'll never use, that happen to have a few paltry enchantments? Not so much.
Especially when they
(1) take up room that could otherwise be used for items you'd actually want and
(2) might have been picked up only because your partner wanted them.

Also, what happens when one player's inventory becomes full? Do they get cut out of the tally, or does it save up until they clear out some room (or is there some other methodology entirely)? There are issues with either direction.

What normaly happens when you try to pick up an item and there's no room for it in your inventory? The same would happen with suggested system - item jumps into the air, and appropriate sound is played. Player opens inventory, drops some garbage to make room for new item, and game puts it into his inventory automaticaly.

Any item dropped from inventory becomes FFA, and does not affect counters in any way. Thus, if item ended in your inventory, and you don't need it, just drop it. Other player will pick it up, and that's it. Or if there are 2+ players that would want it, chose one of them and trade him. Or make them fight over it :o))

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tormenta wrote:

Any item dropped from inventory becomes FFA, and does not affect counters in any way. Thus, if item ended in your inventory, and you don't need it, just drop it. Other player will pick it up, and that's it. Or if there are 2+ players that would want it, chose one of them and trade him. Or make them fight over it :o))

A useful clarification.

Still, taking the time to open your inventory and clean out the junk takes a couple seconds and a significant amount of attention which could otherwise be devoted to combat; this opens the door for (possibly inadvertent) griefing when one player in the party decides to pick up absolutely everything, whether anyone wants it or not.


For the full inventory situation, consider the following scenario:

(1) suppose the player (let's call him "Ed") picking up the item has room, but their party mate (called "Jess"), who would be "due" to get the item, does not.
Does Ed get the item, or does the item not get picked up until Jess clears some room?

This is the system for when playing with random players. If such a player refuses to stop picking every shit that drops, or anything else, you simply quit that party. In any case, what happens inbetween players is up to players. What this loot systems does, and the only thing it does, is making sure amount of items based on a type is shared as equaly as possible.

(1) It's the same as Jess had room, got item and wanna keep it - item stays on the ground, and Jess keeps priority on it indefinitely. There is nothing Ed can do about it except ask Jess to do something - make room in her Inventory by dropping some items, go to town and put items from Inventory to Stash, or just quit party if she refuses to cooperate in some way.

Have players set up their own options like in other MMOs (From the Party Menu): Need/Want/Ignore, Round Robin... whatever else.

In Dungeon Hunters (PSN) it is always Round Robin Style, but you can do a "Drop" or "Give", "Drops" can be picked up by anyone, whereas "Gives" are special Color-boardered according to the player they are meant for when they hit the ground.

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tormenta wrote:

This is the system for when playing with random players. If such a player refuses to stop picking every shit that drops, or anything else, you simply quit that party.

So, basically the same mechanism as for when you're dissatisfied with any loot system.

I'll agree that it does what it sets out to - equalize acquired item rarities for partied players - but there's more to loot than rarity. Consider:
Any given base item type will (in probably five out of six cases if not more) be more useful to one party member or the other.
This system ignores that.
So, for two people, you have 1/2 * 5/6 = a 5/12 chance (that's 41%) that any given item goes to the less interested player.

Also, it's a powerful disincentive to pick up just the items you're interested in:
Since any item you pick up is probably just going to vanish into someone else's inventory, there's correspondingly less incentive to pick up the items you're actually interested in and more to just pick up every last piece of junk and hope some of it's worth trading for the stuff you do want.
Assuming you're into trading, and won't just solo to avoid the system giving away half the items you want.

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Skivverus wrote:

Assuming you're into trading, and won't just solo to avoid the system giving away half the items you want.

This is really important to realise. If people don't feel like they will have a good shot at getting the items they want then they'll just play solo.

I hope there are +Treasure find% and +Bonus Exp% Equipment like in MANY ARPGs!