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

Do what other online games do. Default to free for all, but allow changing loot rules in party/group options. You could select, for example, loot goes to:
a) Free for all
b) Chosen player allocated by leader
c) Random member
d) Largest damage contributor
e) Person who made the last hit


Surely people can consider the possibility of this. It's the best system and allows every group to decide their own rules for how they want to play.

Variation on MTG Draft rules would work very nicely when in random party:

Each player in party has currency item / rarity counter - this covers all possible drops in PoE. As soon as any player picks the drop, game checks all counters. Player with lowest count gets the drop automaticaly, and it's counter for that item goes up by 1. Example - party of 2, to make it easier to follow:

1. Party starts - all counters are on 0.
2. Monster drops 2 normal items after it's slain.
3. Player 1 picks both drops, one by one.
4. Both players end with 1 normal item at random - if there are 2 players with same count for same rarity, game selects one of them at random. Else it would be easy for melee classes to pick better drops.
5. Next normal item picked up by any of players can end in any inventory.

Difference vs classic random system is it can't happen that one player gets:

3 rare
3 magic
4 normal
3 currency items

while other ends with:

0 rare
5 magic
1 normal
1 currency items

Given same amount / types of items as mentioned above, party would end with both players getting:

1 or 2 rares
4 magic
2 or 3 normal
2 currency items

Can't go more fair than that! At that point, if some other players join party, their counters automaticaly go to:

2 rares
4 magic
3 normal
2 currency items

That would be nice Looting
Different from any game.

But then it comes down to this issue:

Will the system recognize the two players that are in the same party... but let's say are in different parts of instance? I wouldn't want to be restricted to this counter system if I'm killing stuff by myself, eventhough I'm in a party.

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bkboggy wrote:

I wouldn't want to be restricted to this counter system if I'm killing stuff by myself, eventhough I'm in a party.

Than switch to FFA.

Yeah, it would work if they implement multiple options. I hope they do. Each group wants their own loot rules. Some like free-for-all, for some that counter system would be fantastic, for some a dice roll system would work too (highest dice roll wins).

Problem, though:

Not all rare (or magical, or even normal) items are created equal, thanks to the variety of basic item types - not in trade value, and not in personal value.
Three to four magic items apiece? Great!
Three to four huge two-handed weapons you'll never use, that happen to have a few paltry enchantments? Not so much.
Especially when they
(1) take up room that could otherwise be used for items you'd actually want and
(2) might have been picked up only because your partner wanted them.

Also, what happens when one player's inventory becomes full? Do they get cut out of the tally, or does it save up until they clear out some room (or is there some other methodology entirely)? There are issues with either direction.

Dice rolling for every random piece of loot that drops? Sounds like it would ruin the pace of the game and quickly become tedious.

In my opinion, dice rolling is appropriate only in games with fixed loot tables where each player is looking for a specific item.

Keeping track of multiple counters for each player within each party so they can take turns claiming loot is a lot of extra computation and additional diplomacy after every single drop. The instanced loot style already mentioned accomplishes the same goal in a manner which does not grind the game to a halt.

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Sadinar wrote:

Dice rolling for every random piece of loot that drops? Sounds like it would ruin the pace of the game and quickly become tedious.

In my opinion, dice rolling is appropriate only in games with fixed loot tables where each player is looking for a specific item.

Keeping track of multiple counters for each player within each party so they can take turns claiming loot is a lot of extra computation and additional diplomacy after every single drop. The instanced loot style already mentioned accomplishes the same goal in a manner which does not grind the game to a halt.

If you played WoW (not sure if you did), for anything non-junk or non-white you could set the loot lures for dice roll. It works amazing, I never heard anyone complain about WoW loot system. If some people want the item, they roll for it, others don't. There were three options: Need, Greed, Pass. If no one needs the item, those who selected Greed for their option would get a dice roll. Some that have no interest in items would pass on it. If you're with someone who has no good items and they're just starting out, you can put on free-for-all and just let them loot everything without dice option ever come into play. It all comes down to finding a good party that way you don't get item ninjas who roll for everything. But that would be in every scenario, especially free-for-all.

Wow has fixed loot tables, not randomly generated items. As I already mentioned, players know ahead of time exactly what items are available and which they are looking for. Often, people agree ahead of time which items will go to which player or set of players to avoid the pile of drama that was Diablo 2-style looting.

With unidentified random items, people are far more likely to roll on every base item they can use because there is no way, initially, to tell what any given item is. With the monetary items and gems which are equally valuable to all classes, people would almost certainly roll on every single drop. This would, in effect, be the same as separate loot for each player except you now have to push an extra button to roll for the item. To me, that is a completely unnecessary layer which serves no purpose other than adding one more step before a separate loot implementation.

As for helping out someone on purpose, all items can still be traded or dropped on the ground, so you can easily give someone something to help them out without adding unneeded complexity or opening the door to griefing.

No matter the looting system, if you are playing with a group of friends who work well together, the loot will not be an issue. Looting system dynamics exist to arbitrate situations among random people who do not fully trust each other and suggesting people should not play a game without a pre-built group of friends is unrealistic. More to the point, without adequate arbitration, people will be far less likely to give each other a chance in a group and will tend not to make friends within the game.

A successful looting system should be simple and encourage group play without encouraging either griefing or cheating. To me, the ever more complicated systems being suggested do not seem to improve upon the simple ones already mentioned.