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

ok new idea, there seems to be two distinct classes of people, namely those that want free for all and those that want some kind of personal loot.

Well since free for all would be harder and most people here do seem to have some reservations about it, why not make it that by default, party loot is personal loot, so that you get assigned the loot that only you can pick up.

However, when creating the party or whatever, you have the choice to tick a box that enables the free for all loot and as long as half or more than half of the party members have ticked, then the party loot system will be free for all. Well why would people tick the box then? you give them incentive to of course. Perhaps you could test a % thats fair in which if the loot system is free for all, then you get a % chance of better loot, or % chance of more loot. In this sense, its sorta like an agreed adventure in which the people will willingly engage in such a dangerous task.

Conversely you could make the default free for all, if it seems more appropriate and then give a box that can enable personal loot, of course at a % less of better items etc

this kind of system exists in quite a few mmos i have played and it makes sense in that if they want to be regulated, they should be allowed. But if others so wish to contract out of the protection of the system, then they can do so knowing the risks and rewards. However, in most of those mmos, they have it so that you can switch between the two without any penalties or benefits, which i believes takes away from this cutthroat atmosphere.

FFA is the major pb of game, and saying Loot will be allocated to a nearby player is an aberration...
Why ? because like in most other game using FFA you'll see lot a people making KS : Juste by staying near a good fight, they 'll juste have to wait the mob to be 1% life and juste come and kill him, they 'll have the loot without any effort and the team or player wich make a valuable fight will just have their eyes to cry...
So, make drop dedicated, and only to people wich make the valuable fight.
On other way, if someone throw away an item (from his inventory), it should become FFA.
Edited : optionnaly, the drops can become FFA if the looter leave the zone or is going really far away

On the subject of FFA looting; IMO it's a terrible system that discourages group play, causes to much loot drama and is really just counter productive. The system encourages bad manners and bad game play.

There is nothing like being involved in an intense fight and a group member stops what they are doing to go grab some loot leaving the rest of the group to pull that persons weight while they are rewarded...

We all remember those Baal runs from d2 and how annoying it was to see all the drops go to whoever could click the fastest or the guy with the auto loot picker. It was common for ranged classes to have to stand up in melee range just so they had a chance at drops.

Frantically clicking the ground in hopes of getting any reward for a boss kill is bad. Everyone involved should be rewarded.

The timer system is more of a cop out than a solution. Any compromise in the looting system should promote fair distribution of rewards. I for one do not want to see another D2 pinata style loot system where everyone behaves like a bunch of spoiled children.

What attracts me to PoE is how it doesn't pigeon-hole you into any time of gameplay throughout (aside from being ARPG, obviously).

With such options as different leagues, the variety of skills, passives, and items that allow a person to play as they choose, why only have one looting system?

Perhaps have options in the party system to choose different looting methods (maybe have the time-based allocation default, but options for FFA or full allocation). And for different leagues, you can make sure only a specific mode is chosen.

For instance, with cut-throat and competitive short-term PvE leagues, set it to FFA for a more competitive feel. For the more soft-core leagues, retain the options.

I think that'd be a great compromise, at least.

I do not agree with the compromise on the ffa system assuming that many, if not the majority, of groups will be with strangers. If it was with a group of friends I would be all for the proposed system, but for now I think it would only cause frustration after,say, downing a very difficult and time-consuming boss. I assume most people want to relax and reap the fruits of their accomplishment after a tough encounter and not have to worry about losing control over loot.

I do understand the desire to maintain a "cutthroat" atmosphere central to the game, but because loot is such a strong incentive to keep playing I would stick to allowing multiple looting options. Perhaps a close-knit team would like to mix it up by turning on ffa-style loot, and a large group of strangers would rather keep it safe.

I didn't read through all of the posts here but concerning the looting idea proposed by Chris; If everyone can use any spell what is stopping the melee from walling off the ranged when a really good item drops? If the item can be picked up by anyone after just a couple seconds I could see everyone spamming walls when a good item drops just like in D2 when the necro would try and wall off an almost dead boss.

Thanks in advance and sorry if this has already been brought up.

why not have character specific loot instead of having players rush into huge groups of mobs dying to try to pick something up, seems to take away from the combat part of the game. i think it should be combat first, loot after

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why not have character specific loot instead of having players rush into huge groups of mobs dying to try to pick something up, seems to take away from the combat part of the game. i think it should be combat first, loot after

I agree!

I am hardcore gamer.
Meaning if i die reroll char.
That makes most hardcore player donate stuff away they dont need / use. Oldschool HC mentality, used by clan DA & DARK members.
I like loot being locked for char for a short timer some like 30 > 45 secs. So it wont be like in D2 where peops did drop stealing, when boss Bhaal running.

Hmmm, this is a tricky compromise indeed. I do like the ideas put into place by the devs, but I think the timers need to be a little longer. Free for all becomes a button/key smashing marathon, and unless your a keyboard destroying masochist this isn't the best option. However, I've played games where the timers are 45 seconds or a minute, and that's plain ridiculous. No one wants to sit around for a minute until items become available for them. In my opinion, the optimal timer should be between 10-20 secs. Why?

- Gives enough time for ranged players to get to the loot
- Prevents ridiculous key pressing (along with wear and tear to your keyboard :P )
- If a players misses an item, other players can capitalize on that loss in a reasonable amount of time
- Players can focus more on combat instead of frantically making sure they don't have any of their drops stolen

Basically I love the idea that the devs put in place, I just hope for slightly longer allocation timers :)