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

I think the original suggestion is a good compromise which could be acceptable both to the FFA crowd and the more casual player. The actual time for allocation may need tweaking.

Then again, this system still doesn't encourage public grouping, but I don't find this to be the end of the world. Personally I do some pubs in any game I play, find some decent people, and between those and the friends I already bring into the game, I'm good.

Bottom line, +1 to the original suggestion. Old school with a compromise. I like it.

You guys should implement the suggested system to see if the player base will like it / hate it , but I would always prefer personalized loot system > this suggested thingy even before i've tried it .

Sometimes when you're in a group things happens way to fast for you to react not to mention the guaranteed lag / delay which is something every online game has . These 2 seconds or 1 won't be even close to acceptable as some people will lag and then they'll see after 1 second is left that someone else already takes advantage of that free for all loot with the cherry timer on top of it .

And please remove that quantity buff , people should group up for the fun of it / to beat the game or to farm together not for some artificial over the top % benefit srsly .

Do you even know how many people " leech " off other people's loot buff with the current system ? Just log in default and see how it is - it's a freakin' mess right now . To the point that people don't even play they just leech exp while the party leader leeches drop % buff .
We can have bots to do that same thing for us as well .
With the current system you guys promote afk , leechers and overall boredom . No fun in soloing all day just becuz the game might lag and you might lose your 2 secs of loot right and there goes your dungeon run for nothing but some random's benefit .
G
iving personal loot will give people an incentive to party with randoms - nothing else will . Otherwise you'll " looking for leechers " non stop so someone can afk while yuou take unfair advantage of his drop % .

This seems like a really solid idea, I mean you take into account reaction times from the melee classes as they see the loot drops and decide what they want to pick up, the ranged classes can make this decision as they close in on the loot. You combine this with the oh so limited inventory space and the fact that you probably aren't going to want to be hoovering every item in sight. I have to say I'm a big fan of this idea.

Is there a possibility of making some items Class specific in looting? As in only the Witch can pick up this item?

I've like the FFA system for a long time, but I feel as though if they had just made a set or two for each class that only that specific class could pick up, it adds to the security that there is a chance I could be guaranteed a drop if I'm playing with more skillfull people.

I'm also not saying these items to be overly powerful.. just maybe something that is 3 or so levels lower than the gear that drops off the boss which would only be good to people new to the zone.

Even having this item drop at a rate of 1 in 10 to the other drops, would add a little bit of variety to the gameplay. You could even add a really high timer of 15 seconds to give players a chance to get the item if said class doesn't want it.

Greetings fellow developers and forum users.

Here's my loot distribution concept:

In my humble opinion, items should be "reserved" for a certain player, yet be visible to all players. Moreover, one could add a keep/pass system for unwanted rare items.

Quest items should drop multiple copies reserved to each player respectively (under the condition that he/she has taken the quest that requires it). Also, I'd make them undroppable yet re-arrangeable by the player and untradeable to NPC vendors and other players.

Items of a higher rarity than common should be close-to-equally distributed to all members of the party.
(Maybe by having a counter for the amount of rare items reserved for each player since the area was generated. I don't know how the algorithm will look like, but you get my drift.)
As said, you could add a keep/pass system for unwanted rare items.

In addition, a killing blow could grant the player a bonus drop of uncommon/rare status for bosses, or a random bonus drop roll (could be null) for common mobs. Again, have a keep/pass option in case somebody else in the group wants to pick up an unwanted rare item.

To prevent the screen from being filled with keep/pass notifications, you could make the notification only appear once another player has clicked on the item (if a "pass" is confirmed then the item should be acquired automatically by the player who clicked on it [first to click gets it - if the owner passes that is]).


Another addition to this system would be to either make the owner's name appear above the item's name, or make the item/tag's visibility to semi-transparent..... or make it appear grey-colored to others while on the ground (This could be more complicated).

Moreover, you could have some character sounds added, like "My inventory is full." or "I can't carry any more items."
Or have a system voice introduced to the game, to announce this and other system/gameplay messages in second-person.

I just wish and hope for a fair game: no selfish roamers, lurkers or traitors who stand by and focus on grabbing a freaking drop while compromising the group's survival. We've seen that happen in many other games. Yet now we're playing yours and we're getting hooked, even though it's still a product under development. Let's keep things that way. ;)

Do you really want the chaos of "item grabbing" and are psychologically prepared for all the whiny teenagers complaining about how other players steal the loot that was rightfully theirs to acquire and possess? Why give an advantage to the closest player? This is unfavorable to ranged combatants. Isn't it more reasonable to have a countdown timer defining when a rare item can be picked up and give an advantage to the player who delivered the killing blow or dealt the most damage?

I could go into more depth, if you wish,
and I would be very happy if you were
to comment on my suggestions.

Kind regards and much respect for your efforts and dedication to this project.

Just an idea, maybe just for some leagues:
When loot drops and a player picks it up, all other players must allow. If they do, the guy who picked it up gets the item as usual.

If they don't, the loot becomes "contested loot" and is teleported into a chest. Every 5 minutes, the chest spawns and all players who contested or claimed the loot go into pvp mode right there. They fight to the death. The last one standing gets to open the chest and get the loot. If a player leaves the area for a number of seconds, he is disqualified and loses the pvp mark and contested loot.

You could perhaps make this a looting mode and limit somehow what kind of loot can be contested (ie unique items, rare orbs etc.) to avoid having a jerk contest everything that drops.

I don't know if this is a good idea or not but whatever..here goes. Instead of a timer how about color code the item by class (marauder red, witch purple etc)and have the items blink slowly then faster to indicate the time. The only immediate problem I could think of with this system would be the same class types being there. Two witches who's purple is it for etc..just a thought. Love it or hate it but at least it's a serious contribution. Edit: what I mean by color coding items is putting a glowing aura around them temporarily.

I play in a party with my cousins and friends all the time. Some of us are extremely loot hungry, and the free for all looting makes the game a lot more fun for us.

It's always a competition of who gets to brag about their item pickup skills.

Seeing who is the first to run to the boss chests.. where someone sometimes cheat and try to go open it before the boss is dead, and we have to block his path with frost wall, gunning after him with the boss on our heels. :P

Hearing that 'ding!' and everyone clicks like mad to see where the gem/ring/orb dropped is a very nice feeling. :)

It would take away a lot of fun if this aspect is gone.

Is it possible to have a system that shoots up a bubble of items and you get 1 options (NEED-GREED-PASS) and you go with the honesty of the player and random dice roll...

If a 3 player team picks GREED then the item is randomly sent to a player.. if 2 say greed and one says need the need gets it... if all say need another random roll... if all choose pass then it just drops to the floor...

This system allows everyone to see the items and to see if they want them... though if the game is loot heavy then this doesn't work... maybe white items FFA but anything class specific or majorly rare could do this...

Ive played many an RPG this way, tabletop and PC and this has worked the best...