by: Tony "RadarX" Jones

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Treasure, booty (stop giggling), loot. Whether players like to admit it or not this is one of the most important mechanics MMO's provide. The ability to progress through gear or provide income for upgrades, means every time a wolf paw drops that is money in your pocket. In a recent Dev chat with the Stratics network, the question of a Need before Greed loot system came up. Community Manager Patience had this to say:

"Need/Greed/Pass rolls will go live in the Shores of Evendim update. We wanted them too. A lot. ;)"

Well that sounds pretty freaking cut and dry. What is a Need/Greed/Pass system? If you played World of Warcraft you might be familiar with this already. When a rare item drops you have three choices: Need, Greed, or Pass. Everyone who clicks need rolls against one other superseding those who selected greed. If everyone clicks greed, it's a free for all or what we like to call "only one beer left in the fridge."

The new system is inevitable and fast approaching but it comes as a bit of a double edged sword.

Convenience is King

I'll admit it was nice in World of Warcraft with friends and something nice dropped to have this system in place. There is no "Who needs this?" and "Can you use? I need" or my favorite "Radar stop rolling on everything just to taunt us." If I don't need it, I click greed and someone else can snatch it up. That way they can only complain about me sneaking around picking pockets instead of fighting.

This is a time saving, easy way for groups to decide what happens with valuable gear. If it is designed similar to WoW it will have option levels designating when loot will be rolled on and can be turned off entirely. Not comfortable with your fellowship members or they don't like NBG? You can always roll greed on everything bypassing it entirely.

For players that believe need before greed is not only civilized but a way of life I can see this being hailed as a much needed improvement. It's simple, fair, and provides a concise way to make what would ordinarily be difficult loot decisions.

Kings get Headaches

With the new system however also come a whole different set of problems. The largest of these is you are imposing a mechanic on people that isn't pivotal. Many would view this as taking away of certain freedoms normally enjoyed in MMO's and forcing a certain playstyle. Some players are not fond of the system, some are. When those two forces butt heads, you've got a Justice League worthy battle on your hands.

Another issue I can forsee is what happens when you have more than one person that can use an item? A Champion can use armor just like a Guardian so who gets it? That's right! The Minstrel! There are debates of primary class items versus secondary class items in numerous places on the official forums. Does the Guardian get the bow he can use or does the Hunter because he uses it more? You don't need a magic eightball to see the angry futures of some fellowships.

Finally, there will be some players who want loot and could care less if you need it or not. Some people will also claim they need income to afford things in the game. This is a fair playstyle but as a personal side note, I don't care about your personal issues. You want to be a Guardian? Awesome! Your repair bills aren't my problem though. If there needs to be an adjustment to your class, then so be it, but let's stick to the issue.

As you can see there are always two sides to every coin and I'm glad I didn't have to make the decision about putting this in the game. The feedback has been both positive and negative so Turbine has plenty of feedback on the subject. The new looting system will hit Live servers with the Shores of Evendim update sometime in June.