Looking for Loot

by: Tony "RadarX" Jones

Gear is the game for many players, and even those who place less emphasis on loot are hard pressed to say it doesn't matter. So what happens when you spend an hour clearing Crypt of Valdoon only to find wrist armor no one can use? While it's nice someone will go home 18gp richer, its little consolation to those who spend day after day praying for that 8% chance to see something for their class. No group of players feels this frustration like raiders who spend hours completing content just to find another pair of Illusionist gloves for the third week in a row.

SOE to the rescue! The Test Notes from GU34 listed the following:

EoF Fabled and Legendary set piece distribution will now be based on the makeup of those who participate in the encounter.

The statement is fairly clear, but how will it affect us?

The Ups

A guarantee of loot a player can use sounds like a step in the right direction to me. No more Fury boots dropping in the Obelisk of Blight when you have an Inquisitor healing, or trips to kill the Butler with nothing to show for it. Waea from the raid guild Defiant on Befallen says "Thanks to the SOE gods (personally, I think it was Tunare's doing), that the worthless monk loot will stop dropping in raids. I mean honestly, how many monks out there don't have their Fabled Gi of Happy Rainbows by now?"

While a few monks may not appreciate her sentiment, many raiders share the frustration and sympathize.

This may also curb some of the loot right auctioning you see almost nightly in 60-69 chat. While it's mildly amusing to watch people frustrated by statements of "You can't sell no-trade!" it seems the community might be better off well geared versus rich.

The Downs

While gear will drop for people in the encounter, what if a member has it already? Someone is 18gp richer? These changes don't address what can already be a problem with useless gear being merchant fodder or a sacrifice to Tunare.

Another issue has been brought up by people in raid guilds who “sit.” Sitting is not participating in a raid because it's full but essentially participating. If a piece of useful gear is dropped, and no one else can use it, they zone in and loot. I know this will affect a small portion of raiders, but a wide sweeping change like this has to be done in the interest of everyone.

When you add it all together, it's hard in my opinion to argue this makes things worse. An increase in the chance for something useful to drop seems to far exceed the one or two negatives. Like any other massive change, there is no way to tell how things will pan out until it's been used and abused by the average player. Look for more useful Echoes of Faydwer gear drops sometime next week in Game Update 34.