Warp Spider and Boss/Mini Boss Type Loot

Loot on mobs like this is a huge disappointment and a waste of time. I do not see why decent loot is not adjusted to new creatures when they first are put in game, especially boss type mobs.

Missing something as simple as new loot for a new mob/boss just seems lazy and is really becoming inexcusable. Please fix this issue going forward.

 

+1

 

I don't think loot in this game (as it currently exists) will ever be good. The only good gear is artifacts, or crafted gear made by very high level crafters. Neither of these is ever going to drop in large quantities off of bosses.

I think the only way I might be proven wrong is if there is a new type of loot created, somehow. Something useful enough and that can drop frequently enough to feel killing the boss is worth the effort, but quickly become worthless because everybody has a ton of it. Maybe a complete revamp of/addition to the crafting system, such that a good portion of new high level materials only drop from bosses, and are needed in large enough quantities for crafting that the drop rate can be cranked up.

 

In all this time I can't recall seeing anyone actually try to define what they feel is "good" loot.

It might be better if the devs think of this in terms of "reward" rather than "loot". It ultimately comes down to fun factor. What players really want boils down to fun. Hard work should equal reward. Loot is fun but it's not the only fun. I feel like the constant complaint regarding loot is an indicator that other 'smaller' things are missing. Things that improve the overall combat experience such as visuals and sfx which are rewards in of themselves.

You can't really 'fix' loot for all players. The 'fix' for me would involve a complete reworking of the economy.

 

Its an indicator the game is grindy IMO and killing and looting is all there is.

I don't think visuals and sfx would really rescue things. Doing the same thing 100x is doing the same thing 100x even if the visuals and sfx are better.

Loot would naturally be better if there were less farming because items would have more value, but the game is oriented around farming mobs like every MMO. It's one of the reasons I've always felt they needed to look more to SP RPGs more for inspiration. Building a game around farming mobs is a dead end IMO and path to boredom and always was.

 

I agree that it's hard to define exactly what good loot looks like, but in that particular fight, you have to kill two 9k hp spiders, two 27k hp spiders, a 28k hp spider, and continuous waves of smaller spiders, and for that, you get a few spider legs and venom sacks. It really sucks.

 

Now THERE'S ^^^^ the REALITY of it ! ^^^^

 

Was just one example. The point is you want to feel satisfied with the experience at the end. If the experience itself is more fun, the overall desire for loot isn't quite as significant is what I'm getting at.

From a design and development angle, visuals and sfx are rewards. So are cool animations. Some of my favorite games made combat fun to the point you didn't care so much that you didn't get 20 uber items at the end of every encounter. Stuff like slow-mo fx and cut-scene kills you can't really do for multi-player but I really enjoyed that stuff in games like Skryim and Fable I-III. I think back at these games what I can't scarcely remember what any of the special loot was, but I sure remember the experience.

Come to think of it, I've never been terribly impressed with combat in any online game.

I'm quite weary of focusing on 'more loot' and 'better loot' as you're risking power creep and bloating the economy if you're not very careful.

 

Yea I understand, but I still don't think you want to do the same thing 100x with no reward.

I think the main way they can shake it up within that formula is to make combat feel more tactical, so it isn't just about spamming hits on a loot bag. They would need to focus on things like subterfuge skills and the like which are less about spamming hits, as well as model monster disadvantages after player disadvantages.

I still think loot would be helped greatly by simply just adding new artifacts every release, even if they're not so good. The bigger the artifact loot table, the smaller chance you have to get a single one. Then they could increase the drop rate on high end mobs.

 

Making 'chaff' loot more useful would be good too. I don't just want a bunch of junk to dump on the nearest merchant and I don't want to feel like I have to take stuff I don't really want. Perhaps more little collectables like golden goblets.. but those you should be able to melt down etc.

 

I do think the <mob> essence loot was a the right way to go. Easy to get, as it drops quite a lot, therefore easy to get the low level version, but then the combining means you need to ALOT of them to get the high level.

But as they drop frequently you "feel" progression to your goal throughout the process as you see the stack of essence increase then you get the step increase when you get enough for the next level. Then the process of seeing the stack of essence increase continues for the next step, each step taking longer, BUT with you seeing the progression rather than it being all on a one lottery win.


Regards
Spung

 

Also I haven't seen the warp spider yet, but it seems to me it should have some special warp spider venom or eyes or other body parts?

 

I have made quite a few posts about this. There should be a mechanism in the game that demands ALL loot, probably based on the NPC value, that gives some benefit that is not in game gold.

This economy and game does not necessary have a over supply problem, but more a consumption/demand problem.


Regards
Spung

 

Speaking in terms of long terms it's not bad. However, they really seem to only have one purpose to use in dungeons. So if you don't own a dungeon they're more of less worthless yes? Now, if they did something like.. say.. and this is just off the top of my head mind you.. added new gear or vanity items that required essence so that they can be valuable to everyone. That I think would be pretty cool. Otherwise for the average players essence is nothing more than chaff loot.

 

I've brought it up a few times myself. I think it's a popular idea. Even if it's just making everything salvageable.

 

I don't think the loot tables work that way from what I have seen and heard from Chris on streams.
I think every item that could drops it rolled individually to see if it drops, so more artifacts in the loot table just means more artifiacts drop unless you adjust all the percentages down. It is why you can sometimes get multiple artifiacts in a single drop.

Or at least that was my understanding.


Regards
Spung

 

Oh I was not saying use essence, but more saying essence, at least for me, was a good example of a way to do loot. You could have parts of artifacts, or parts of deco etc. So reusing the how essence work, not necessary reusing essence.


Regards
Spung

 

I imagine there are % odds governing the overall amount of loot in general. IE for X Tier mobs there's Y number of rolls per item with a decreasing % chance per item.. then additional rolls to see what those items are. Would explain why not all loot drops are the same size. But ultimately that means there's an upper soft limit to how much you can get in a single drop.

 

Still seems to work that way in practice... there are mobs where you only get one artifact at once, yet have a chance to get many kinds of artifacts, and a lower chance to get the rarer ones. ie I used to farm imps for artifacts, potions, and recipes.

Either way, it's how it should work. If you have a mob that can drop 10 artifacts and the loot chance is 1%, you could then potentially increase it to 100 artifacts and increase the loot chance to 10% without making the individual artifacts less valuable. Or if its at 10%, you could increase it to 100%.

 

Poison made from warp spider venom could randomly blink the victim around the room and induce torpid torment. Assuming the warp spider warps, you could potentially use some component like the eyes to make a magic item to boost the Blink spell & Chaos magic. Or something like that. (Is Spider Soup really the only use of spider eyes?)