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

markshiu has done a great job summing up the options discussed in this thread. It is 11 options long and it includes my proposal too. Your A-F list does not. A poll sounds nice, but people hardly ever vote for something new, always having a preference for an option they already have experience with. Voting is also very quick and easy, while reading an entire thread and truly understanding everything is not. Ultimately it's the developers' decision, not the players'.

A much better way to find out which loot systems work best from the players' experience (rather than theory) is to implement a few different ones as options and gather statistics about how often each was used.

Coming to this thread on the 156th page unfortunately has not allowed me to be completely up-to-date on all topics covered so I'm sorry if I missed stuff.

I agree that polls are not the best way to make policy, but my hope was that it could provide at least a pulse of where players leaned.

The one thing I noticed in other threads was a lot of debate over which camp was the majority. So I was just curious what the actual numbers were.

Since this has been a couple of days, I will re-post this, and try to put everyone's idea into a summary. And please continue to discuss and provide more solutions.


Summary (no change since idea #11):


Settings:
1) Global wise - across all leagues
2) League wise - different league has different looting options
3) Party wise - different party has different looting options


Looting options:
1) Need for Greed (roll between first requester and owner)
2) Extend Timer (set by developers)
3) Extend Timer (set by own player)
4) Free for All
5) Only for Me (not show to public)
6) Only for Me (show to public)
7) Class Points Earn
8) Extend Timer (keep alive in combat)
9) Need for Greed (time limit roll - time limit for requester, and only owner needs to click on need)
10) Extend Timer (set by party leader)
11) Roll between FFA requester (reasonable timer to request for item with indication on participant in roll)


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1) Need for Greed (roll between first requester and owner)
Pros:
- Respect the owner / entitle person.
- Maintain FFA, where only first person can roll with the owner
Cons:
- People keep pressing for need, even their inventory is full, and ended up dropping it?
- Take time to implement (both client and server side)
- Remember previous roll winner for points earn in a party
- Those who are far away may not able to get the roll
- Too many popup (too many good items belong to you only) may slow down the game.

2) Extend Timer (set by developers)
Pros:
- You got more time to loot
Cons:
- May still endup in an argument like this, never end.
- Slow down the game as players wait for the time to expire

3) Extend Timer (set by own player)
Pros:
- You can set your timer
Cons:
- Everyone is going to set 99 seconds, and the point is?
- Slow down the game as players wait for the time to expire

4) Free for All
Pros:
- Being more competitive and exciting
(is there more?)
Cons:
- Defeat the purpose of co-op play, reduce party chemistry
- Players stand-still just to wait for the timer, thus, slow the game
- Players looting whatever, inventory being full, then go back to town, thus, slow the game (same as above)

5) Only For Me (not show to public)
Pros:
- Secure items
- No slow down on the game, items can be picked after combat
Cons:
- Wasting items that might be useful for other party members
- Reduce party chemistry, reduce conversation

6) Only For Me (show to public)
Pros:
- Secure items
- Better party chemistry with more conversation in chat (trade, ask for item information, ...)
- No slow down on the game, items can be picked after combat
Cons:
- Other ask for items, may require to go back, and slow the game / wasting item

7) Class Points Earn
Pros:
- Make use of item for the proper class
- Fair to all classes
- Discourage farming character, encourage perfect party (all 6 classes in one party)
Cons:
- Take time to implement
- Problem with the same class on a party
- May not work for rare built

8) Extend Timer (keep alive in combat)
Pros:
- No slow down on the game, items can be picked after combat
- Players can focus on fighting, and encourage team fighting / efficiency
- Maintain FFA option
Cons:
- Requires to wait for owner / whole party to be out of combat
- Implementation time
- Items never expire due to owner wants to keep fighting (with a radius?)
- Too many items that covered the screen before combat is done

9) Need for Greed (Delay roll - roll between requester within a time period, or FFA after)
Pros:
- Everyone has a chance to roll, as you either wait for the timer to expire, or roll with other requests.
- Maintain FFA (once delay timer expired)
- Respect owner / entitle person (anyone click on the item between the timer can roll with the owner)
Cons:
- People keep pressing for need, even their inventory is full, and ended up dropping it?
- Take time to implement (both client and server side)
- Remember previous roll winner for points earn in a party
- Too many popup (too many good items belong to you only) may slow down the game.

10) Extend Timer (set by party leader)
Possibility to set it to infinite ("Only for Me") or to 0 (FFA), with different timer choices in between. Every party can adjust to their optimal balance.
Pros:
- May adjust expectation accordingly
- Add current distance timer on top of party timer
- No more complaints by users (can set according to their likes)
Cons:
-

11) Roll between FFA requester (reasonable timer to click to mark item on ground to indicate participation in dice roll, optionally influenced by previous player action)
Pros:
- no one need to click need
- no rush for the item (timer may set by party leader)
- show if you are requested for the item (and move on)
Cons:
- implementation time may be long
- abandoned entitle player


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Please let me know if I missed any points here, or mis-represent any points.

I find myself as a bow ranger getting sort of loot starved in groups, where as i actually stand my ground and kill things so that we win. One my loot more often then not is off screen and I didn't even see it before it expired and some %#* melee loots it, or by the time i run from where I'm standing and laying down fire, the timer expires and they still snag it. Does not seem conducive to team play, but more of the "loot whoring" to me in that sense. Possibly make loot have 30 second or higher timer, or just completely locked player by player (probably not gonna happen).

Clearly everyone has their own preferences and I think it's pointless to argue that one way is more "right" than another.

I can say that for myself I dislike PvP and the current loot options are a type of forced PvP. For those who like that, great, but please provide an option for those of us who do not.

I don't see why a "One for all and all for one" option is a bad idea.

"

TheSwampDog wrote:

Clearly everyone has their own preferences and I think it's pointless to argue that one way is more "right" than another.

I can say that for myself I dislike PvP and the current loot options are a type of forced PvP. For those who like that, great, but please provide an option for those of us who do not.

I don't see why a "One for all and all for one" option is a bad idea.

Beautifully, succinctly stated. My friends and I are co-op only players, and we don't like loot systems that pit us against each other.

Please, GGG, give us an option for instanced loot so we can come to Path of Exile to get away from the rat race, not suffer more of it.

"

Minioneer wrote:

Beautifully, succinctly stated. My friends and I are co-op only players, and we don't like loot systems that pit us against each other.

Please, GGG, give us an option for instanced loot so we can come to Path of Exile to get away from the rat race, not suffer more of it.

It doesn't sound like your friends are too into co-op if "opportunity for personal gain" is all it takes to bring it all down.

PoE will give you the opportunity to see how into sharing your friends really are!

"

Aixius wrote:

"

Minioneer wrote:

Beautifully, succinctly stated. My friends and I are co-op only players, and we don't like loot systems that pit us against each other.

Please, GGG, give us an option for instanced loot so we can come to Path of Exile to get away from the rat race, not suffer more of it.

It doesn't sound like your friends are too into co-op if "opportunity for personal gain" is all it takes to bring it all down.

PoE will give you the opportunity to see how into sharing your friends really are!

If you read previous conversation/this thread, there was an argument that your friend may be in another league or level.

When you die from Hardcore, your friends may stay there, and either you level again (on your own?) or you go on Softcore. Neither of the cause can blame your friends. The problem is STILL the loot system.

"

markshiu wrote:

"

Aixius wrote:

"

Minioneer wrote:

Beautifully, succinctly stated. My friends and I are co-op only players, and we don't like loot systems that pit us against each other.

Please, GGG, give us an option for instanced loot so we can come to Path of Exile to get away from the rat race, not suffer more of it.

It doesn't sound like your friends are too into co-op if "opportunity for personal gain" is all it takes to bring it all down.

PoE will give you the opportunity to see how into sharing your friends really are!

If you read previous conversation/this thread, there was an argument that your friend may be in another league or level.

When you die from Hardcore, your friends may stay there, and either you level again (on your own?) or you go on Softcore. Neither of the cause can blame your friends. The problem is STILL the loot system.

What does that have to do with what I said or what Minioneer said? He said he and his friends don't like loot systems that pit them against each other.

To be fair he didn't actually say that the loot system brought the team down. Just that the loot system tries to pit them against eachother. Generally if your with close friends I don't think the loot system should really make you fight and squabble over loot but I would complain that it slows down progression since you always have to find a "fair" way in your minds to divide up the good loot. Sometimes you might just stand there and stare at the loot to see if your buddy wants it or not. With my buddy instanced loot would make the game faster for us. The loot is already divided up and if we want to share what we find to help the other person out we can do it right then or wait until the combat is over.

Just chiming in for the heck of it.