Loot system discourages group play

First post here, pardon my ignorance.

When some folks post that this game is supposed to be cut-throat which explains FFA loot then please explain why there are Aura gems? If these characters were really in a life or death situation like the story narrates (aka cut-throat) then wouldn't it make sense for these Aura gems to boost your stats and diminish those around you?

Furthermore, what's the point of grouping together in a cut-throat environment? It just seems to me that this reason is used at times when it makes sense and ignored when it doesn't.

Also, for those who constantly DC, it is unrealistic to create groups with loot rules.

Edit: I strongly feel that D3 got it right with instanced loot. They didn't get much else right but this was definitely the way to go. Not many online games have this loot system, I believe.

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wrathmar wrote:

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Sickness wrote:

People who take your loot are not 'ares' or bad People, or even rude. They are infact just playing the game as the devs intended.
Blaim the game, not the players.

Do you speak for the devs? The last public post from any dev is over a year old. How do you have any idea what the devs actually intended?

I tend to agree with Sickness. The game promotes this kind of activity. The devs have only ever supported competitive play. I don't really expect people I have just met to be nice to me. We are strangers over the internet.

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wrathmar wrote:

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Sickness wrote:

People who take your loot are not 'arses' or bad People, or even rude. They are infact just playing the game as the devs intended.
Blaim the game, not the players.

How do you have any idea what the devs actually intended?

We still have FFA loot with every short timers (that are just intended to make up for some lag and running distance, not to evenly distribute the loot in the party), and they always talk about "loot tension" and "cut throat feel" so it's easy to assume what they intended.

Hopefully they will reconsider before it's too late, but until then it's really not fair to complain about someone being a 'ninja'.

This game doesn't need to be another Blizzard care bear game, and one of the things that sets it apart is the loot system.

I played the open beta with a friend yesterday, and it was the most fun I have had with a game for a long time. And yes the loot system contributed to the fun, battling each other on who to pick up items first, brought back good memories from Diablo 2.

If you want the loot system where everybody gets their own loot you take away part of the community feeling this gaming is trying to build, by not having an auction house and not have currency people are forced to interact to trade items. In fact many aspects of this game is based on actual player interaction, a decision that is welcome by me, after all other games in recent years, have tried remove/lessen player interactions completely.

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firestorm_dk wrote:

If you want the loot system where everybody gets their own loot you take away part of the community feeling this gaming is trying to build, by not having a auction house and not have currency people are forced to interact to trade items. I fact many aspects of this game is based on actual player interaction, a decision that is welcome by me, after all other games in recent years, have tried remove/lessen player interactions completely.

You fail to see that the loot system encourages negative player interaction. You can tell by looking at the forum posts that a lot of players are not having fun in these interactions.

Encouraging player to player trading is great. How in the world does that have anything to do with the loot system that encourages you to compete with your teammates? Thats not the same thing at all.

You FFA players all say the same vague term "interact". The real question is what kind of interaction is it?

FFA has a lot of positives when your with friends. When your in a group of randoms in public games those positives are for the most part thrown out the window. Theres far too many negatives to ignore. I find it unacceptable at the amount of players that are apparently completely avoiding public games even though they actually desire to coop with other players. Its just because of this loot system with no other playstyle option.

We have playstyle options for the cutthroat experience, but none for the PVE experience?

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iamstryker wrote:

You fail to see that the loot system encourages negative player interaction. You can tell by looking at the forum posts that a lot of players are not having fun in these interactions.
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A first it does, then it encourages people to think about their actions if they want to have a long life in the game, because eventually groups/guilds will form, and players with bad behavior is generally not welcomed in good guilds. Playing MMO/RPG games back in the days was all about reputation, today nobody cares about that, because it's not needed as you will get your items regardless.

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firestorm_dk wrote:

This game doesn't need to be another Blizzard care bear game, and one of the things that sets it apart is the loot system.

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firestorm_dk wrote:

I played the open beta with a friend yesterday, and it was the most fun I have had with a game for a long time. And yes the loot system contributed to the fun, battling each other on who to pick up items first, brought back good memories from Diablo 2.

Loot options would not take that away from you.

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firestorm_dk wrote:

If you want the loot system where everybody gets their own loot you take away part of the community feeling this gaming is trying to build, by not having an auction house and not have currency people are forced to interact to trade items. In fact many aspects of this game is based on actual player interaction, a decision that is welcome by me, after all other games in recent years, have tried remove/lessen player interactions completely.

That is just incoherent rambling. If anything, you are saying that if loot options were added there would still always be player interaction because of the lack of AH and currency.

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firestorm_dk wrote:

A first it does, then it encourages people to think about their actions if they want to have a long life in the game, because eventually groups/guilds will form, and players with bad behavior is generally not welcomed in good guilds. Playing MMO/RPG games back in the days was all about reputation, today nobody cares about that, because it's not needed as you will get your items regardless.

If you get a bad reputation from acting on the intended "loot tension" and "cut throat feel" then it must be clear to you that the system is inherently flawed.

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Sickness wrote:

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firestorm_dk wrote:

This game doesn't need to be another Blizzard care bear game, and one of the things that sets it apart is the loot system.

Loot options would not take that away from you.

It would take away victims which is why all the FFA supporters are against it. You see competing for loot against hardened ninja veterans is not fun. It's the sheep these guys need and loot options would take that away from them.

I never seen much sense in fighting for loot with own party. Its inlogical design, you party to have fun, you party with friends, you party to meet new friends and to work together.
The current design discourage to party with random people because of potential ninja looting, also why should I fight with my own mates for drops? Its not like they are the evil I should fight with.
So I just play with people that I know, but its sucky I cant party with random people and enjoy the game equaly.

The system would be good if on one gigantic map there would be few parties. Monsters runing around, open PvP, and fighting for loot between the groups.