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

It's interesting to observe how people will react to FFA-loot when beta goes open. I guess a lot of people have become used to the D3-system, so the current loot-system in PoE might not be well received

"

ongZ wrote:

It's interesting to observe how people will react to FFA-loot when beta goes open.

That's no rocket science. There will be rage, guaranteeed.

"

mobutu wrote:

"

ongZ wrote:

It's interesting to observe how people will react to FFA-loot when beta goes open.

That's no rocket science. There will be rage, guaranteeed.

I understand that the game was originally designed as single player; but a lot of players enjoy co-op. I may sound like a broken record but GGG need to buff the co-op difficulty while adjusting the frustratingly cheap loot system.

If co-op provided as much of a challenge as solo and loot allocation was more fair GGG would attract the social players who will pull others into this game.

I Do not like the FFA style loot at all. I feel cheap when I ninja somebody's items and I think less of the person who does it to me. I typically but NO NINJA in my party title but it is very hard to tell what is dropping and where especially when you have a guy with culling strike and 200% quantity or whatever this guy I play with has.

This has kept me away from playing with the public most of the time. I was in a game where the title said "Maps to maker" and some guy takes the map... then later on a unique pair of gloves drops and the guy is like "I'll give you the map for the gloves"... So I gave him a Unique boot... Straight out of the party. We really do need an option to say Single loot No stealing. At least make it easy to ban people from the party and make it noticeable when somebody takes your loot. All I know is I get rich playing Alone and with people I wait 30-40mins for a drop. It's awful.

FFA loot please. It creates more risk vs reward for the faster experience and more items dropped for grouping.

"

timfromgoldsgym wrote:

FFA loot please. It creates more risk vs reward for the faster experience and more items dropped for grouping.

My understanding is that less total items drop in groups than in solo play. So it's already a penalty to play as a group, inherently, loot-wise.

Thus, there is no reward. There is only risk -- the risk of other players acting like jerks in order to scrape up the few precious scraps that the game leaves behind.

Indeed, if I were so bold, I might take the logical contra-positive of your statement: since there is in fact *less* reward item-wise in group play, then it must necessarily follow that FFA loot would not be recommended or preferred.

I believe quality of gear goes up in groups though.

So melee vs range:
Melee timer is shorter because they are closer, they can click on their item and pick it up before a range gets there.
Range timer is longer, so melee have plenty of time to stand on top of it and click on it as fast as they can while the ranged has to get out of position to make a beeline to the item. This isn't funny in hardcore.

"

The answer is simple: party leader sets loot timer. Options are simple: A) What it's currently at or B) currently at + 10 seconds. You can only change the options while in town to avoid swapping around in the middle of game.

If you don't like what leader has set, don't play with him. Simple.

"

Xaxyx wrote:

"

timfromgoldsgym wrote:

FFA loot please. It creates more risk vs reward for the faster experience and more items dropped for grouping.

My understanding is that less total items drop in groups than in solo play. So it's already a penalty to play as a group, inherently, loot-wise.

Thus, there is no reward. There is only risk -- the risk of other players acting like jerks in order to scrape up the few precious scraps that the game leaves behind.

Indeed, if I were so bold, I might take the logical contra-positive of your statement: since there is in fact *less* reward item-wise in group play, then it must necessarily follow that FFA loot would not be recommended or preferred.

I thought there were more drops. Even if that is not so, the fact the drops are better quality makes it worth it.

"

Alesana wrote:

So melee vs range:
Melee timer is shorter because they are closer, they can click on their item and pick it up before a range gets there.
Range timer is longer, so melee have plenty of time to stand on top of it and click on it as fast as they can while the ranged has to get out of position to make a beeline to the item. This isn't funny in hardcore.

I agree with this one; the "added distance" time bonus shouldn't simply assume that the ranged character makes a beeline for the dropped items. In numerous, if not most, cases, the path will not be safe, the timer will expire, and tankier characters can then pick it up at leisure (they won't have to do it midcombat unless the range character starts running up).

What we don't want, however, is to add a flat % modifier to the movespeed formula. The "item hold" when you're killing the final monster in the pack is just fine as it is now. Increase it and you'll end up with the scavengers in the party holding back, waiting for items to be released from hold.

I'm using bold and underline because I think this is a really good suggestion:
An additional time extension formula should be applied. First the game should counts the total HP of monsters within a close range of where the item falls (approximately the range of Sweep or Cleave). Then, the game takes each party member's highest-DPS skill and adds them all together. Using this HP and this DPS, the game determines the approximate time needed to kill the nearby monsters and adds that to the hold time.

This wouldn't be perfect; it wouldn't factor in AOE or armor or resistances, and it assumes the entire party has their DPS trained on the nearby monsters. However, it should at least add a little time to give ranged (and melee!) some time to clear the room before having to worry about rushing into dangerous situations to pick up items.

Edit for another idea: Instead, item hold time is frozen as long as a monster is within "trap trigger radius" of that item. This hold applies to movement speed time and half of the reaction time; the other half is unfreezable. "Trap trigger radius" describes the distance, and not the actual ability; trap passives won't help anyone here.