Loot tables, raid bosses...

Darkmoon,

Especially if its your own item!

 

Sounds like fun. I like it!

 

It's meant to simulate a player purchasing an item then losing it to said raid boss.

 

Well maybe that's not what he meant with the term "boss". To me boss mobs already exist in the game. The powerful unique-named liches at the bottom of the sewers or Ravensmoor I consider "bosses". The same way Destard in UO had the Ancient Wyrm on level 3. This is an example of a mob that isn't even a named mob and what I would still consider a boss monster. I am with you though. I really hope his use of the term boss is more in-line with this description than a WoW style boss.

Also, maybe that sword the boss monster has of l337mastercool was due to the fact someone bought the sword from the merchant before adventuring and then got killed by said boss?

Actually, come to think of it that might not be a bad idea. A boss monster can only drop a specific crafted weapon or gear piece IF that boss has at some point previously killed a player wielding/wearing that piece of gear.

Or you could take it a step further towards hardcore and let boss mobs loot players?

*Rummages through corpse and takes an item* lol

 

Well what if for the player who prefers to play offline that the patcher synchs loot table data at a set interval with the current online data, such as once a month? The offline preferred players would then have access to the same loot as the online preferred players, albeit at a slower rate.

 

I think the OP misunderstood what Richard said.

If I remember correctly, he said that if a player character DIES to a mob, that mob may randomly steal an item, and if that item happens to be a weapon or piece of armor, "then" it may appear on the mob as loot the next time it was killed by someone else.

Also, if a player sells an item to a NPC merchant, the merchant may turn around and sell it to another player. I feel the OP had confused the 2 issues.

The above is how "I" understood it at least.

 

I think folks read way too much into articles written by people that aren't following development.

When Starr and Richard are interviewed, they're trying to briefly describe the game using terms the public may be familiar with.
One has to look at the broader picture. People following development should know better, and not let external articles throw them into a panic.

Loot tables and the way they work are not new. They've been discussed in several videos.
I think the devs have a good grip on how player crafted items can filter through the game.

 

When you want the finest steel in the game, accept no substitutes. Insist on l337mastercool. Crafter Yolo420MasterG-MoneySwagz just can't compete.

 

perhaps Reebdoog the NPC merchant who bought your axe has malevolent intentions and is an arms dealer for <insert boss species> and funneled your equipment to them.

heck, maybe they can implement a karma scale for players, so if you get enough bad karma, you can interact with the typically hostile creatures and sell them stuff

 

But l337mastercool's items always end up on the boss mobs, because the guy using that weapon tried and clearly failed to bring that mob down.

This can't indicate good quality

 

From the adventurer (real or imagined) that bought the item, then died trying to defeat it. Or insert your own random RP.

 

Actually, RG did say somewhere that things sold to an NPC can end up on mobs. Not sure why this is an issue now though, it's always been this way, or at least as long as I've been around. I remember seeing that while I was first looking into the game.

I've always just looked at it the same as I looked at the troll cave in the Hobbit having the really cool uber swords, or the barrow downs. You have to use your imagination as to how they actually acquired them. It doesn't bother me, but I can understand how the time factor could be a little immersion breaking for some. I think the mechanic itself is pretty cool and helps promote a more player-based economy and they've said it won't affect the offline mode at all.

Not sure how much trouble it would be, but maybe they could add a time factor, like maybe a week later it can show up on a mob. That way, it wouldn't be a problem for those who would notice things like that.

 

I think by bosses, they mean boss in the traditional RPG sense. Bosses exist in almost every genre and I think Ultima single-player had them as well: these are the monsters at the end of a dungeon or a mission revolves around them. They're generally more difficult to kill, have more experience to give, and hand out better loot.

 

If your avatar can travel the distance to get to the boss, kill it, and get the loot in one day then why can't the loot?

 

Well yes and no. That's not necessarily the case.

For example, the objective might be to kill the leader of the thieves den, but the leader might just be the mastermind and have very little combat abilities -- which is why he gets thugs and brutes to do his dirty work for him. Killing his guards might be harder than killing him.

Or, the objective might be to recover some item from a cave, where there's no predictable pattern to the monsters appearing in the cave. The monsters closer to the beginning might be harder than the monsters close to the end.

Sometimes, yes, it might mean a tough monster at the end.

It all depends -- on the storytelling.

The idea of "a boss at the end of every dungeon" as a rule IMO throws out storytelling and treats the dungeon like a level in a video game. Its even worse when right after you defeat a boss, there's a secret exit to the beginning of the dungeon, with no explanation for why its there, except to end the "level." (Hello, Skyrim)

 

I imagine then the boss wouldn't be the elvish leader but his right hand man or a bodyguard. Or there is no real boss.

I imagine the second story with the recovering an item doesn't require a boss and one wouldn't be made.

Don't mistake assuming that just because a game has bosses means everything will be built around beating a boss.

Although I'm not entirely sure I get the "treats the level like a video game" bit. Not to break your heart, but SOTA is a video game.

 

Specifically talking about platformer type games where you just beat one level after another and the storytelling is secondary in importance.

 

Very true. And like I said, it wouldn't bother me at all. But since it's obvious it would bother some people, I don't think there would be any harm in adding a delay if possible, for those it would bother. It wouldn't change anything for anyone else, and in fact I doubt most would even notice.

 

I like to see it from an entirely different point of view:
What is this game about?
a) Playing 40-60hrs, having seen the complete storyline, fufilled every quest, grabbed the most epic ubersword ( that was seeded with the SinglePlayer installation version), then deinstalling it until EP.2 has launched
or
b) play the story as above to see all the plotand scenes and then continue this game for what is really is - a sandbox multiplayer online game? Because, hey, be honest - that is what it will be and was designed to be right from the start. Who would pledge *insert-what-you-pledged-here* for 40+hrs of gameplay? You and me, we ain´t totally nuts are we?We paid for RG and team to deliver us a player-driven, sandbox where we can find friends, form allegiances, make enemies, wage war, sit in the tub, have a virtual world where we can have a (excuse the term second life, or didn´t we? All this talking ( I know RG started it!) about a single player game is just simply not what this is all about, is it?

If you can comply with the above ( obviously you don´t have to, but it is why I came here for): Where is the problem with having the biggest monster in the dungeon having a sword made by ... whats his name? leetepiccrafterBob23? Of course it isn´t logical if the boss ( excuse the word) has the item as soon as it´s crafted. But hey, this world is meant to be ages old. So spare me the " He can never have acquired that sword SO FAST". Just tell yourself player XYZ died in the dungeon some days ( weeks / centuries ago and that´s how the item ended in this foul cavern. AND it is the kickstart to getting a player driven economy. Build eight swords and just two will be for sale from the vendor. The other ones are going out into the wild to be found. PERFECT scheme in my point of view.

Lord_Darkmoon: My PERSONAL view regarding your opening post in this thread and many others is [not meant to offend you, but the sentiment I get from your posts in general ]:
You are done with this game. You don´t like any of it. You search for the hair in the soup. You don´t like MMO´s. You promote other games where ever possible. Maybe it is about time to get your pledges sold and play something else?
I hope this will not get me banned - I just feel the need to express my personal point of view.

Honesty Compassion Valor Justice Sacrifice Honor Spirituality Humility - the eight virtues.
Trying to comply, failing, trying harder.... that´s where I met the Avatar the first time, back in the eighties. Let´s at least try to follow them

 

I don't think calling into question what people backed for our what it was really meant to be is required here.

What if we backed it for both?

Seems a bit short sighted/ self serving to type out that long rant.

lord dark on adds a ton on these forums, and never have I thought he was done with it. What highly insulting post.