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

Hello All,

Just another RANT about the item timer. (Broken IMO)

I just came back to POE after a long break. I actually enjoy the party system, but the loot timer is broken. Tonight while playing a ranged class several monsters died up front where melee characters were tanking and items dropped that was intended for me was snagged up by other players. 1. I just can't stop in a fight and decide to rush up and get my items. 2. Playing a ranged character terrain features ie: stairs, fences, and hills made it impossible for me to navigate to the item in time. 3. Also while playing with 3-4 people so many items drop ie: a chest or boss, things drop all over the place, first you need to identify what's yours, could also be multiple items before the timer goes away..The timer need to get set higher to allow players ample time to pick these items up.

Thanks for your time.

As a fan of being able to choose the loot options, I would like to say that I think the timer system needs to go. If you're going to have FFA loot, let it be FFA. The timer bugs me to no end, and I dont even like FFA loot.

"

Chris wrote:

It's important to us that Path of Exile has a cut-throat feel where players are not only competing against monsters, but also their fellow players.

I think the bolded part is a problem.
Most of the people play games for fun, for relaxation, for wanting to wash away the stress etc etc.
Don't we have the PvP aspect of the game where players DO compete against other players?
Don't we have cutthroat league for this also? And all the races?
Why players have to compete on (their) loot? A ffa system only makes people nervous, frustrated, stressed etc and in the end would drive them away, at least from partying in the best case and from the game alltogether in the worst case. Also ffa distracts the player attention from playing the game to ninja-looting!

I speak for myself but I play this game to kill monsters not to compete with other players for (my) loot. If I party with other players I want to cooperate and have fun with them not compete with them over my loot! If I want to compete with other players then I have PvP, cutthroat league, races etc. I do believe many many others feel the same as I do.
At least give people an option, FFA and/or Instanced.
I think it would be very easy to offer people some options to choose from ... or maybe make a poll and see what people say.
But I'm afraid and I feel that you are kind of "stubborn" related to this topic and would stick to this only ffa-loot option and this might be a wrong choice overall in the long run.
And it saddens me bacause an Instanced-option would probably be easy to implement. And nobody looses anything by doing that.

I understand that you want this game for the hardcore players but be careful (especially with the open beta very near) on how hardcore you want it to be ... in the end the game might die because only a very small base of "harcore" players would support it.

It's a great game so far and with great potential but I don't want it to die over some small technicality like this.

In before multiple people tell you to.....

"party with friends then", "Meet people you trust and play with them", "The FFA system shows you who you can trust and you don't get that from instanced", "Don't kill a major social aspect of this game", "No one will choose FFA anymore if theres any other option, its not a real choice!"

I think that covers most of it so you all can take the day off.

edit: Also in before "Polls aren't accurate" and "Players will always choose whats easiest, FFA is whats better for the game"

"

Chris wrote:

The idea is that there's still an adrenaline rush and that the player has to be alert and aware of what items are dropping.

So in a party of 6 players with tons of monsters fighting against the party and with tons of items laying on the floor the party members have to fight and in the same time be aware of what items are dropping? Really?

Help me understand, what kind of game do we play here? It's a game where we party to kill monsters (and have fun) or a game where we party to hunt/take/steal/ninja loot (and NOT have fun)?
The whole flow/fun of the game is disrupted when a party of 6 has to pay attention (with all that mess on the screen) to item drops WHILE keep fighting (fighting = playing).

I'm also amazed that this game has a lot of options in it (see character builds, see skills, see passives etc) ... in other words the game oozes with options ... but still fails to provide a (very important) loot option!
I'm fairly confident that if you were to make a poll regarding this the majority of players would choose instance loot! And i wonder why you don't do this. And I wonder why you don't implement this (requested) feature.
Please see this for a start: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/55340

I would most definitely prefer personalized loot. I have been in too many fights with friends over loot in D2, and one of my friends in PoE too. D3 was the first game where we actually enjoyed working together, instead of fighting over loot.

"

iamstryker wrote:

In before multiple people tell you to.....

"party with friends then", "Meet people you trust and play with them", "The FFA system shows you who you can trust and you don't get that from instanced", "Don't kill a major social aspect of this game", "No one will choose FFA anymore if theres any other option, its not a real choice!"

I think that covers most of it so you all can take the day off.

edit: Also in before "Polls aren't accurate" and "Players will always choose whats easiest, FFA is whats better for the game"

So close Stryker, but you forgot my new favorite one. What sense does it make to have instanced? Is each player fighting in their own alternate universe? Yeah, real immersive.

But on a serious note, instanced loot option, only if IIQ bonus is removed from group play. Some kind of VERY large penalty for wishing to disable a meta game mechanic.

"

ongZ wrote:

I would most definitely prefer personalized loot. I have been in too many fights with friends over loot in D2, and one of my friends in PoE too. D3 was the first game where we actually enjoyed working together, instead of fighting over loot.

Same here, no one can convince me that ffa loot and timers
are actually strengthen the cummunity - more like the other
way around. Never underestimate one's greediness.

"

SL4Y3R wrote:

"

iamstryker wrote:

In before multiple people tell you to.....

"party with friends then", "Meet people you trust and play with them", "The FFA system shows you who you can trust and you don't get that from instanced", "Don't kill a major social aspect of this game", "No one will choose FFA anymore if theres any other option, its not a real choice!"

I think that covers most of it so you all can take the day off.

edit: Also in before "Polls aren't accurate" and "Players will always choose whats easiest, FFA is whats better for the game"

So close Stryker, but you forgot my new favorite one. What sense does it make to have instanced? Is each player fighting in their own alternate universe? Yeah, real immersive.

But on a serious note, instanced loot option, only if IIQ bonus is removed from group play. Some kind of VERY large penalty for wishing to disable a meta game mechanic.

I don’t understand your logic behind wanting to punish players. It would be like GGG saying ‘Significantly improved the starting area of Templar, Templars now receive 5 less attribute points because we changed the meta game’. I feel that you are presenting a straw-man.

For the record I would not want a fully instanced loot system but a hybrid that pulls from current timer system.