[UI] Always Highlight Allocated Items

Introduction
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Recently three of my characters hit 70 and I started playing with random groups. First thing I noticed when partying is, that the amount of item labels on the screen is literally killing me. Especially white items. Also, groups are fast and generally don't like people who can't keep up, so reading through all the items is not an option.

This is nothing new. The screen being flooded by item labels has been an annoyance for some time now. With patch 0.11.0 some changes to the Loot System were introduced, to combat part of the problems which had emerged over time.

Now some of you may ask, "What is so special about that, riddie? Isn't this just part of the normal game development progress?" With Path of Exile, it's actually a pretty delicate matter. Grinding Gear Games has always been catering their game to players inclined to the more hardcore experience.

"
Wraeclast is a dark, brutal continent. Scarred by mysterious catastrophes of the past and inhabited by creatures of nightmare, the very environment challenges exiles who dare explore it.

We're sick of the recent trend towards bright, cartoony RPGs. The art style we chose for Path of Exile is dark, gritty and realistic. Wraeclast is terrifying, and we've tried hard to do it justice.
This quote is of course about the artwork but you get the general idea.

I started playing in early August 2012, and since then GGG has been very reluctant indeed, to make the game more casual friendly. For which I am very thankful, because my worst nightmare would actually be PoE becoming just another generic D3/Torchlight clone. So, what finally forced this change to the Loot System?

Well... With only the "Short Allocation" option available, players stopped taking part in the team effort, because concentrating solely on looting the valuable items would give them a personal advantage in the short run. This slowed down team efficiency to a near still-stand. So, GGG then added "Free For All" and "Permanent Allocation" together with forced highlighting of valuable items to combat this.


Summary
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Problem 1: Item labels block view on the actual gameplay.
Solution Botch-up (current): Option to turn off item labels. Force highlighting of valuable items (when playing Solo).


Problem 2: In a big party, reading through dropped Loot to find valuable items takes up too much time. Temporary allocation of valuable items in a game based on building god-like characters through gear upgrades.

Player reaction: Focus on securing valuable items for yourself (and less on aiding the team effort).

Solution Botch-up (current): Prevent player from looting the valuable items allocated to other players (as long as you don't leave the instance. CTD = get punished). Or, if you play with a group of trusted people, make everything FFA to increase team efficiency.


As you can see, this only tries to combat the natural player reaction, but not the problem which causes this reaction.

My Solution: Add a "Always Highlight Allocated Items" option. Extend the valuable item filter and make it customizable by the player. This is a existing functionality, it doesn't require extensive re-writing of game code.


  • This would make Short Allocation more attractive to players and less prone to sharks. Since sharks prey on the advantage they gain through focusing on locating valuable items in the loot. If you take away this advantage, the players will take a larger share and thus, this option becomes less attractive to sharks.
  • Less unclaimed items in Permanent Allocation parties.
  • FFA would remain as it is since it has no item Allocation, unless in this case you let this option highlight the valuable items nonetheless.
  • All Allocation options gain a better, more immersive view on the actual gameplay.



Preview
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Always Highlight

This is how "Always Highlight" currently looks in group play.



Always Highlight Allocated Items

This is how "Always Highlight Allocated Items" would look like. (if it was done with shitty photoshop skills)


Alternate Solution
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One point of critique I can see with my solution is, currently the amount of loot popping out of the mobs feels overwhelming, which is a good thing when you think about it. It stirs up the hunter's instinct in everyone of us. So maybe to preserve this feeling, an option of compromise would be to simply enhance the highlighting just a little (e.g. brighter colors/colored border/slight glow, fading to normal as the Allocation timer runs out), slightly extend the time items stay highlighted and make it work in groups.


___________________________________________________
This suggestion is a work in progress. It's by no means thought through completely and I do not claim to have found the perfect solution. If you like this suggestion and want to see it implemented, please feel free to comment.
IGN Riddericke ▪ UTC+1 ▪ SHOP 498896
Last edited by riddie on Feb 23, 2014, 3:33:34 PM
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IGN Riddericke ▪ UTC+1 ▪ SHOP 498896
Truthfully I like seeing the loot other people get, might totally just be me though.
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to always tell the difference.
Nice idea. I mostly don't care what other players get, unless im looking for something particular.

Another solution is "Hide normal items" and "Hide magic items". Here you will also see rare items and cuurency allocated to other players.
IGN:NiteSlacker
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Silva wrote:
Truthfully I like seeing the loot other people get, might totally just be me though.
Of course you would still be able to see other peoples loot. I never mentioned anything contrary.

Allocated items means ANY loot that has been assigned to a player, whether that player is you, or someone else from your party doesn't matter.


"
Chris wrote:
*Valuable items are the ones that currently get allocated to players - Rare items, Unique items, Currency, Gems and Maps. We've also added items with four, five or six linked sockets to the valuable items list. Base types of the level of your world area or higher are also allocated. This only applies to level 60+ world areas.

The item allocation mode takes affect when an area is spawned. We wanted to avoid abuse cases where the party leader can change the allocation mode while their party is currently in an area. If you accidentally create an area with the wrong allocation settings, just make another.

Allocated items are still visible to everyone, but greyed out.
IGN Riddericke ▪ UTC+1 ▪ SHOP 498896
Last edited by riddie on Aug 3, 2013, 12:17:27 PM
Aside from all the other ideas you touched on, all that would need to happen for this is an Option to see only your loot, and an Option to see your loot and the loot of other players.

Problem solved.
When game developers ignore the criticism that would improve their game, the game fails.
Just because a game receives a great amount of praise vs. only a small amount of criticism
does not mean to call it a day and make a foolish misplaced assumption that it is perfect.
(me)
"
Aside from all the other ideas you touched on, all that would need to happen for this is an Option to see only your loot, and an Option to see your loot and the loot of other players.

Problem solved.
If I would only see my loot (the items I'm able to loot), that would still include all the white items, all the magic items, basically everything not allocated to another player.
IGN Riddericke ▪ UTC+1 ▪ SHOP 498896
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IGN Riddericke ▪ UTC+1 ▪ SHOP 498896
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IGN Riddericke ▪ UTC+1 ▪ SHOP 498896
Yeah I can vouch for such an option, to only highlight items that are allocated to anyone and to hide items that aren't allocated to anyone.
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