Hello all (+Loot)!

[Llama8]

Originally Posted by Rhis

What are your opinions on the ideal solution? Round robin? Some form of need before greed?

For example, what happens if a gun drops --- does it always go to the ranged classes, or is it just the luck of the draw?

I'd probably go with random (though in the console version of S2 "random" meant that the host got virtually all of the loot...), as long as it is actually random. While I would prefer it to be based on need, I don't really see how you could stick that in an algorithm. Yes, you could give most/all of the ranged weapons to the ranged class, but what it the caster in the group is actually playing an odd ranged build?

One way you could do that, I suppose, is to have some hidden stats on the character regarding how the player does most of their damage: melee weapons, ranged weapons, melee spells/skills & ranged spells/skills, as well as what their preferred equipped weapon type is (whether they're using it to do damage or not). Then dump those ratios into a probability matrix along with all the other team-members to determin who's most likely to get what weapon type. Simple!

[medierra]

I was thinking a filter so that each person only saw loot dropped for them and if they didn't bother to pick it up, no one got it. Basically, as someone described, for loot it would be as though you were playing single player.

Anything else seems too involved and cumbersome for a fast paced ARPG. I mean who wants to have menus popping up asking you to vote whether you want an item. I found this to be mildly annoying even in WoW but at least there you have plenty of time to kill between encounters.

Class-based loot won't really work with the dual class system. Especially given that many class combos could be built as either caster, ranged, or melee.

[Llama8]

Originally Posted by medierra

I was thinking a filter so that each person only saw loot dropped for them and if they didn't bother to pick it up, no one got it.

The only problem I can see with that is that if I'm playing a caster & my mate's playing a tank, he might see a decent piece of caster gear drop & ignore it ('cause he's a tank), but since it's better than what I'm using I'd ideally want to use it, but because I can't see that it's dropped I don't know about it...

[Void(null)]

Originally Posted by Llama8

The only problem I can see with that is that if I'm playing a caster & my mate's playing a tank, he might see a decent piece of caster gear drop & ignore it ('cause he's a tank), but since it's better than what I'm using I'd ideally want to use it, but because I can't see that it's dropped I don't know about it...

But you would have your own loot drops identical to those that you would have in a SP game.

If your friend is playing solo and a piece of Mage gear drops, he has the option to be considerate and think about you and save it for you... or he can ignore it.

Likewise if you find some fighter gear you can be considerate of him, or you can not.

Its a twist in mindset. Would you feel bitter if something dropped SP and he didn't pick it up for you? Would you even know about it?

You still have the exact same chance to spawn good loot for yourself that you would normally have, and in addition to that your friend also has the option to find stuff he could give to you so your actually increasing your chance of finding something you can use if everyone plays nice and is considerate of each other, and mathematically you lose absolutely nothing if they don't.

[medierra]

Void(null) gave pretty much the same response I would have.

The one thing I'd add is that there is also every likelihood when playing with unknown people that they'd hoard whatever good items they happened to get regardless of whether they would be better suited for your character. Everyone loves to save up for that twink.

Besides, if your buddy isn't picking up armor that might be good for you, it seems like more of a problem with them than the system. I mean hey, we can fix the game, but we can't necessarily fix your friends! ; 0

[Void(null)]

Originally Posted by medierra

Class-based loot won't really work with the dual class system. Especially given that many class combos could be built as either caster, ranged, or melee.

As a thought, instead of looking at it from the perspective of class based loot, why not look to the items that the player currently has equipped?

If a Player is using a Sword, they probably like 1H Weapons so increasing the chance that 1H weapons will spawn by an extra 10% would probably make the player happy.

Likewise if they have 2 pieces of a set, there is a good chance they are hunting for the other 3 pieces of that set. So if the player rolls a set piece drop from the loot table, they would probably really appreciate it being from the set they are using, rather than a new or different set so giving them a extra 30% that its going to be a piece from the set they have equipped, would probably be appreciated by the player.

This would also go a long way to lessen the need for grinding while not removing it entirely.

Smart loot.

[medierra]

So basically you want some sort of n00b-loot system?


(oh snap son!)

[Void(null)]

Ooooooooo, That burned my inner Hardcore Gamer so bad that my children will be born playing Halo.

[Void]

I like the idea of everyone having their own loot that only they can see. Hellgate was fun in that regard. I don't want to narrow down the loot drops based on equipped items and class, because when I do loot runs I'm usually looking for gear for other characters as well as the one I'm using. I like the diversity.

I also REALLY like the auto-loot option if the above was put into place. Have a button that auto picks up everything in a radius around your character, and have in the options a filter: "Include common(white) drops" "Include magic(yellow) drops" etc. So that people can easily ignore trash loot that eventually never gets picked up.

[Llama8]

Perhaps Medierra's thinking of implimenting a loot system that makes it harder to drop sets you might ever use, weapons you might want to equip & so on. Also, item qualities start at broken/grey & get worse.

If Medierra had an avatar, it'd be wearing a box/goatie...

Originally Posted by Void

I also REALLY like the auto-loot option if the above was put into place. Have a button that auto picks up everything in a radius around your character, and have in the options a filter: "Include common(white) drops" "Include magic(yellow) drops" etc. So that people can easily ignore trash loot that eventually never gets picked up.

Possibly with a number of tick-boxes, one for each item quality & the misc item types (potions, relics, etc).