If I can see it; I want it.

It occurred to my while replying to a post in crafting. Countless time's of walked up to a baddie; and thought "Wow, his gear looks really cool, I wonder if I can loot it." And despite the gear looking shiny as a whistle, in perfect health, and not fused to this poor mans flesh, It is apparently super glued to him and held together by spider silk. If I cant loot something, I want a reason WHY I cant loot something. If it looks shiny, well kept, and looks like it will fit me, it should, and I should be able to pick it up. If it cant fit me, I should be able to modify it to MAKE it fit me. That also brings me to my next subject:

Suppose one day I get brave and decide to fight a dragon; the dragon lands, we spar, and afterwards, I should LOOK like I've just been in a deadly fight with a dragon, even if I don't have to manually clean my armor, it would be cool if my armor looked charred. And suppose this is a normal dragon, in almost every single rpg I've seen with dragons, they're carrying something other then themselves, such as an epic bag or something. I should have to make this bag out of his hide; and have it look like I tore off his hide, not use the stomach of this dragon as a bag that I got without even touching his corpse. Suppose that is the case; that's fine with me, but, alas, I want it to LOOK like I tore the part away from the creature I just killed.And with the baddie with the cool gear; took his armor off; cut off his head, and then gutted him like the fish he is. If the thing I'm taking is really, REALLY big, like a dragon head; where am I going to put it? in my bag?
I'm hoping for an inventory like UO; where items take up so many squares in your inventory. If I kill a dwarf and take his chest plate, it should be smaller. If I kill a gaint and take his chest plate; it should be bigger. And if I'm an average sized human; neither of these would fit me, but I would strip materials from the smaller; get the other components I needed; and make them. Or; if the armor was larger then needed; melt it down; take what's usable; AND get excess material from it.Of course; with different races this could be an issue, but it all adds a level of depth and realism to the game that you hardly ever see, and I can name countless examples of it.

This should also be the case with weapons. If I go classic fantasy and
I'm playing as an average human; should I be able to carry a sword larger then myself and swing it with ease without an excuse for it? no. Suppose the sword was made of some mineral that is exceedingly light but can hardly hold an edge; maybe then I could swing it; up until it looses that edge, and as that edge erodes; so should the edge on my actual sword, not just it's damage output. Then; after awhile, I'll need to add more to my sword in order to make it keep an edge; or I can make an edge on the sword out of something other then the light mineral, and make it something of moderate weight that can hold an edge. That's a discussion for crafting, but it should look like I have a different edge on my sword; it should look like my armor is battered and broken; it should look like I'm actually doing what I intend to do; and can interact with the world around me and actually leave a mark on it, even if, so be it, I'm the only one who can see those marks.
It all feeds into a greater scheme of interactivity and realism.

 

I have always wanted monster/npc loots to resemble what they are wearing. You should be able to look at an orc and determine to some degree what kind of loot he will have. An orc helmet, an axe, boots, etc. which UO did to some degree.

If that npc has a magic weapon on him, it should visually be equipped whether sheathed or being used to attack you.

 

I support this 100%. The prices of equiment would have to be very low though, since MOBs would spawn with new gear every time. There would be a glut of weapons and armor in the world and it would kill the economy.

Not many ways to balance that large amount of gear, unless it was all pretty much vendor trash.

 

I would imagine a lot of the stuff humanoid monsters would wear would either be vendor trash or salvaged for their materials but I have always wondered when I found an amazing weapon on a humanoid monster, why they weren't using it on me.

Now they may not know how to use it very well but they would at least know that it looks better than what they were using.

 

Exactly; you could have the same base style of armor; such as steel or something; then have a random assortment of textures for it; based on the durability/material. Normal humanoid monsters would most likely just have vendor trash with maybe the occasional unique, but you should be able to tell who's wearing better loot by the looks of it. Of course vendor trash loot is always good for some spare coin or materials; as you could get things like rivets; padding; ect salvaged from the loot.

Economy wise; I dont think it would make much of an impact; most armors that where produced in a certain area/country where all the same, so the only things that would really need to change are a randomized assortment of durability and possibly warpaint.Though it is not a huge deal if they're all wearing the same armor; as long as you can tell the unique from the run-of the mill recruitment; possibly with paint or a tint to it.

 

^^^++;

After a short while, looting every little thing gets to be too tedious to bother so I wouldn't worry too much about the economy.. at least not if this is handled properly. I wouldn't definately have weight restrictions and possibly special restrictions so that you have to pick and chose your loot carefully. Take what's worth taking and leave behind the trash.

 

A weight system would also work; though I always hated the fact that I could be lugging around another set of armor in my pack and yet I don't have a pack on my actual character. This brings in another topic; Thieves.
It would be rather nice (for the thieves) to be able to sum up if someone is worth robbing by the size of their pack. Or if I'm carrying a dragon head, it should not fit in a hip pouch.

 

"If that npc has a magic weapon on him, it should visually be equipped whether sheathed or being used to attack you."

I recall EQ had this. If there were 4 skeletons around a graveyard and 1 had chain mail armor as loot, the armor would show on the skeleton and would drop when it was killed. I miss that in games. It would be cool if SotA had this feature. Creatures that actually use the loot they drop, and it shows up on their avatar.

 

But hardly ever on players.
In hardly any games you see players carrying actual bags or pouches to put stuff in.

 

One thing I miss about UO is standing over my own dead corpse as a helpless ghost and seeing a monster picking through my belongings.

I think it adds a level of fun in PvE that can't be found today.

It will be even more fun if they can improve on it. Imagine running back to your corpse and realizing that the orc that just killed you is wearing your GM armor and snacking on your potions

 

I also like the idea of realistic loot depending on appearance and items the NPC or player is wearing.

 

I like this idea. If there's a weight system that makes it so you can only carry 5 swords, people will pick their loot carefully.

 

I don't exactly like the thought of being able to have your entire assembelment of possessions taken because I accidental stepped a little too far to the left and fell off a cliff. Though it's understandable, I hope there is a way to bind it to your character you; possibly through magic. I couldn't bear the thought of losing full GM enchanted gear because of a mistake that I couldn't control like a temporary internet disconnect or a lag spike.

 

@Bayien: "I couldn?t bear the thought of losing full GM enchanted gear because of a mistake that I couldn?t control like a temporary internet disconnect or a lag spike."

why not play counterstrike? the reward of having a full set of GM enchanted gear is pretty dull if theres no risk associated with it. on the other hand it is 10x more fun if there is risk.

 

@Lordrex I'm the kind of person that will weigh my options and take risks from time to time. But the fact that it is something that could not have been avoided is what I don't like. Like a lag spike or my internet going down; and me being ganked without a means to defend myself, that kind of thing.

 

what if that gear only took you 5 minutes to replace?? could you still "not bear the thought of it"

 

@dweebothgeek You should make a habit of reading the entire conversation before commenting on it.
"couldn?t bear the thought of losing *full GM enchanted* gear"

 

@Bayien: I think we have to separate the issues a bit:

1: loosing stuff on death

2: worst case scenario - dying because of lag/disconnect

The sheer unfairness of lagdeath makes the unpleasantness of loosing stuff with full loot drop harder to bear. i didnt have a problem with this because of the following:

1- i had a bad connection and dying due to lag was common. we are spoiled today.
2- if you play a game with full loot drop then you dont carry gm enchanted weapons often anyway
3- you have a backup plan for death that includes lots of friends, scouting ahead, etc
4- i would gladly give up even some of the best stuff i had in the game on a rare occasion of unfair lagdeath if it meant every other encounter that i had on a daily bases was that much more fun and exciting
5- playing is more fun than hording. what u care if u loose something? so what if its the best thing you got? go get another one. if you never have real risk you will just work your way up to the elite status of "i have nothing fun left to do"
6- i got a lot more loot through fair play than i lost to unfair lag, and it would have been much less without full loot drop

 

@lordrex Sorry, I guess I should clarify. I made this post before they released the pvp plans and people just recently started commenting, so now it isn't a big issue at all if I die because I have the choice weather or not to turn myself to pvp full loot mode. Basically the point I was trying to make is that If I happen to fall off a cliff, you really think my armor would survive that? It was originally meant as a sarcastic thing; if I fell down a cliff with full gm enchanted gear; by the time I hit the bottom it's going to be broken beyond repair. Basically I'm saying in full loot pvp mode, where people are prone to losign stuff, as you said, people should not be able to loot my armor if I fall off a cliff because it would be so battered and broken, not to mention have a bloody broken me in it; that it would not be worth the effort to salvage and loot it.