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

You guys refuse to see very obvious thing about NbG: desired drops are RARE, thats why they are actually desired, and when a good item drops all group will hold the run and the immersion in a battle is broken anyway. If someone wants it, he most probably WILL beg for it. It doesnt take much time to take a gliding look and choose a button on NbG panel. Statistically it wont change the pace of battle (what actually was discussed here many pages back), so please put this rotten argument back in the grave, from which you digged out the poor guy!.

P.S. In WoW pro players reap through dungs VERY fast - like a tidal wave without a breath- or mana-break - you barely have no time to loot and still NbG windows popping often are not a problem at all.

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Silver wrote:

In that situation either A. The player who disconnected should be able to re-log and get his loot or B. allocated loot should be hidden. Both of those are solutions to that supposed issue.

Regarding A, that's already assumed, and the point is that they can re-log, but will they? Anyone else who might have wanted the item is out of luck - they certainly can't trade for it if no one can pick it up.
Regarding point B, that kinda defeats the point of having items drop on the ground in the first place - it turns them into "personal character upgrades" rather than items.

And again, my point with the "pickit" program(s) isn't that one system or the other removes them entirely, but that permanent allocation makes it easier to leech.
Consider the following situation: a bot "plays" for a certain amount of time. On one version, it automatically picks up every item of a particular quality or higher (presumably "rare") until it fills its inventory. On the other, it kills everything around for that certain amount of time and then automatically picks up the best items dropped until it fills its inventory.
Obviously in the second scenario the bot will end up with more and/or better loot than in the first.

As for desired drops being rare - maybe later on, when one already has decent equipment; and in WoW, you're talking about "pro" players, which by definition is not most of the player base. And, furthermore, with random item drops, what is the threshold for "desired" the game should use?
In FFA, when a good item drops mid-battle, someone picks it up and the battle resumes; anyone else who was interested can ask about it after everything's dead.
Also, with FFA there's no new mechanic to learn to pick up items while partied - you click it and you're done. With need before greed, you click it, click 'need' or 'greed', wait for everyone else to do the same thing, and then maybe get it.

You can postpone your choice till the end of battle - if NbG UI is not nastilly overlapping the screen. At some point it is better because you can concentrate on the battle instead of rush-clicking.

WoW pro instance-running was just an example of quick pace, since someone mentioned MMORPGs and WoW as games with a completely different battle and loot dynamic. Its not average group ofc, but it's very existence is an argument.

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what is the threshold for "desired" the game should use?

Good question, sir. Well, the desire is not determined externally via the comparison of the desirometer reading with some threshold. Desire defines itself, when seeing that item makes blood go faster, heart beats stronger and hands start shaking (a little bit:P). You feel its important - its RARE.
It is not the game - it is the player who understands it mousing over an item icon. If its so-so - just greed while your char is moving. But if it is something you need - you stop, think, and press need.
Technically to avoid the abuse of NbG routine you can limit NbG to items with a rarity that drops once a five (for example) minutes during the solo game. Everything else is for FFA or AFFA.

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with FFA there's no new mechanic to learn

- There is pretty much to learn in the game anyway, so making it a bit more complex seems to be not an issue.

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Kahoder wrote:

I've thought about it and I think I came with a pretty good (and simple) compromise, but I don't know if its ressource heavy.

Here it goes :

Any picked up item that is near a hostile target(monsters, maybe other players) is randomly given to a nearby player directly in his/her inventory.

Which means:

1. when in battle, melee characters do not have an advantage
2. FFA Loot is applied when monsters are killed, and hopefully, all players will be at an equal distance from items.
3. If applied to hostile players and assuming a cut-throat environnement, the only way to get the item you want for sure is killing the other player.

It doesn't deal with latency though

Thoughts?

The above quote is actually a really good idea. It combines an equal opportunity timer with proximity distribution during battle.... solving most problems.

Need/Greed/Pass is too slow for this type of game.. I agree with the person that mentioned this.

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Skivverus wrote:

Regarding point B, that kinda defeats the point of having items drop on the ground in the first place - it turns them into "personal character upgrades" rather than items.

... "personal Updgrades"?

I think you’re trying really hard to undersell the idea.

Getting randomly allocated loot is still 'better' for co-op then FFA.

However, this game is not about co-op.

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'I' do not care what the loot distro method is , if i feel like loot whoring i will grind ALONE .

if you are teamed with loot sucking trolls then leave , remake team , and make your own instance . extremely simple solution for an as of yet unseen 'problem' in poe that people enjoy bitching about so much .


also see unwritten rule #1 - play with 'friends' .

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vahss3 wrote:

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also see unwritten rule #1 - play with 'friends' .

It's only unwritten because of the fact that it's essentially FFA Loot.

99.999% of all players will start off with no 'friends'

Exactly, so why are we making it harder to make friends.

Again... the game is not exactly... co-op.

Harder how?
Suppose an item you're really interested in drops, but is allocated to someone else. Asking for this item is less likely to get you it because they would likely feel entitled to said item, regardless of how much you might want it. After all, the game said it was theirs, didn't it?

Really, if it's an item you're looking for, it doesn't matter whether someone else picks it up because they were quicker on the draw or because it was allocated to them - either way, you can get the "aw, man! I could've used that!" feeling.