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

Yeah, basically, you cannot always veto drop, if you click it to veto the drop and finally you dont get to it or die, it become a FFA loot without timer veto... OR, something I thought, if you party with pick-up group, can you decide when entering dongeons to have to veto item that drop with timer or FFA.

Its for sure with friends I know it will always be FFA

Hi All,

So I was reading about how they have a free for all loot type system in place by user demand.

I'm fine with FFA but I really think that separate loot drops for each is a better system. For those that don't know what that is when a group kills a mob each player gets their own loot drops that are only visible and lootable by that player.

There are several reasons I like this system:

1) Less time wasted while players argue over who should loot a particular item
2) No Ninja looting
3) Ranged characters don't get shafted
4) Each person roll their own loot against the mobs loot table.

Right now there are 4 games that use this type of system: Hellgate, Mythos, Torchlight and SWOTR.

I'm not say we should replace FFA with this system but it should an option that the "host" (not sure how MP games are created) chooses.

"

Maledon wrote:

Hi All,

So I was reading about how they have a free for all loot type system in place by user demand.

I'm fine with FFA but I really think that separate loot drops for each is a better system. For those that don't know what that is when a group kills a mob each player gets their own loot drops that are only visible and lootable by that player.

There are several reasons I like this system:

1) Less time wasted while players argue over who should loot a particular item
2) No Ninja looting
3) Ranged characters don't get shafted
4) Each person roll their own loot against the mobs loot table.

Right now there are 4 games that use this type of system: Hellgate, Mythos, Torchlight and SWOTR.

I'm not say we should replace FFA with this system but it should an option that the "host" (not sure how MP games are created) chooses.

Diablo 3 also uses that system.

"

Maledon wrote:

For those that don't know what that is when a group kills a mob each player gets their own loot drops that are only visible and lootable by that player

The main problem with this type of system is that you get 4 times the loot (with 4 players). It's unfair for people who prefer to solo. Say you're farming this boss or that area for a certain type of drop. If you go there with a group of 4, each time you kill the boss or clear the area you'll get 4 rolls on the item you want (assuming not everyone in the group wants the same item of course).

I think that a grace period where items get rolled out to players and if they're not picked up within that time they become FFA. It makes it a lot less annoying than constantly having to trade when there's something an ally/party member is interested in.

Having the option to change looting types would be nice as well of course.

"

Maledon wrote:

Hi All,

So I was reading about how they have a free for all loot type system in place by user demand.

I'm fine with FFA but I really think that separate loot drops for each is a better system. For those that don't know what that is when a group kills a mob each player gets their own loot drops that are only visible and lootable by that player.

There are several reasons I like this system:

1) Less time wasted while players argue over who should loot a particular item
2) No Ninja looting
3) Ranged characters don't get shafted
4) Each person roll their own loot against the mobs loot table.

Right now there are 4 games that use this type of system: Hellgate, Mythos, Torchlight and SWOTR.

I'm not say we should replace FFA with this system but it should an option that the "host" (not sure how MP games are created) chooses.

Honestly I think this is the better loot system. I pretty much never played with other people in Diablo 2 except for 8 player experience runs or games with friends because the loot frustration was too much otherwise. I don't want to worry about trying to compete with other people as well as the monsters in a co-op game.

"

dopefish wrote:

"

Maledon wrote:

For those that don't know what that is when a group kills a mob each player gets their own loot drops that are only visible and lootable by that player

The main problem with this type of system is that you get 4 times the loot (with 4 players). It's unfair for people who prefer to solo. Say you're farming this boss or that area for a certain type of drop. If you go there with a group of 4, each time you kill the boss or clear the area you'll get 4 rolls on the item you want (assuming not everyone in the group wants the same item of course).

I think that a grace period where items get rolled out to players and if they're not picked up within that time they become FFA. It makes it a lot less annoying than constantly having to trade when there's something an ally/party member is interested in.

Having the option to change looting types would be nice as well of course.

Hi dopefish,

Yes there is 4x the loot but there is four times the players and the mob is four times as powerful (I don't know the actual scaleing).

I don't think this hurts solo players (I solo a lot as well) since they are going to get the same amount of loot as they would solo.

As I said I think both types should be options that way both sides get the loot system that makes them happy.

i've got a few suggestions

the first is, instead of using the time based factor to compensate for rangers/anyone else that may use long range combat (i dont know since i havent played the game, just reading forums) why not say give them the ability to have a ranged pick up? eg add a crow doodad for rangers and the crow would pounce on the item or if spellcasters are ranged, make them able to use their spells to pick things up long range. The range of the pick would be modified accordingly so they dont have to run all the way up to the item but wont be able to pick things up at a ridiculous range. This eliminates the whole "holy crap i gotta run to this item now" panic and i guess it puts them on equal grounds.
This could also be done so that all classes have ranged pick up. Of course the range of the melee classes will be much less than that of the ranged, but this may get rid of the whole i have to walk to this place just to pick something up as well as of setting any imbalances a rangers may get from their ranged pickup. You could just add doodads for every class like crow for ranger, spell for caster, dog for melee etc and this will also save time if for any reason, you get stuck on the terrain or something in the game is just randomly blocking you for unknown reasons.

Second thing is since you'll probably want a few seconds to make a decision of whether or not you want to pick up an item based on their rareness, class, type of item etc, would it be possible to make a system where the more the item suits you, the more likely it is that only you can pick it up and the longer the timer lasts? eg if ur a ranger and a really rare 1h sword drops, you get like a default 2 second timer for rares, but a marauder may get 3-4 seconds because of its a weapon it might use. This way, you still get the items you want without other people pointlessly picking up an item they cant use, but that extra 1-2 second bonus isnt really that much as to make it seem like you can just take your time. This would also retain the cut throat feel if you have an item that is suitable for multiple classes without say a ranger looting all the swords and all the marauders looting all the bows. This could also be developed further to link also what you were wearing at the time of the drop so you sorta automatically "claim" the item because it suits you so much and get an extra 1 second or something.
Furthermore, it may be interesting to have gems/skills etc where it will increase the timer by another second. This would apply to a very specific type of item eg 1h sword or plate armour and you can only have 1 type of item selected at a max of 1 second bonus timer time. Since everyone will want different stuff, even among the same classes, a marauder that is looking for better armour may then not have to compete so much with a marauder who wants weapons, but still limiting the decision time to a few seconds.
so ultimately if i was a marauder and i was looking for a two h sword and i have one equipped, the chance a rare 2h sword will be allocated to me is slightly large and ill have saw 1 second time for rares, 1 second for the fact i have one equipped and 1 second due to that gem/skill which i placed to look for 2h weapons. This gives me 3 seconds to decide (of course this time would have to be tested for fairness) whether or not i want to keep this weapon that chances are, will suit me and i dont have to go "wait is that a spear or a club or what."
It may also make sense that the item that is allocated to you is shown that it is allocated to you by it shining or something. 3 seconds isnt very fast (or it may even be like 2.5 seconds etc) to make a decision but it should be enough for most people to at least train their reflexes on. It'll be a steep learning curve, but one that i think makes it feel like you've beaten the pack when you finally get something you really want.

"

Isobar wrote:

"

ghuenwera wrote:

so this alloc time, what happens if the looter which got the item doesnt loot it is:

rest of the party goes free4all and again u have the situation which u fought in the first place ?

Yeah, basically if an item drops you have 1-2 seconds to pick it up. If you don't get to it, it becomes FFa loot.

yeah dude but then u get the situation that made the system needed in the first place.

@zerosasbor

Please, make some space in your text, that wall is hurting my eyes and I want to read it

Maybe in the cutthroat league it would be more satisfying for those users to have an all out looting war, but you should have leagues where i can only see and loot my items he can only see and loot his for absolute fairness.