Items And Loot Archive

Let me begin by saying that no, I am not a Dev and thus do not understand the nature nor structure of their code and script language. However, there are so many issues with the Loot system that I feel an in-depth post is warranted within which we can explore the vast number of viable alternatives to the current norm (which we unfortunately have had to deal with for quite some time, with only moderate changes with each "loot revision" we are forced to endure).

Please bear with me. This is written at work, amid piles of paperwork that showed up during the writing Slacker, yes. But in any case any incomplete thoughts here , feel free to flesh out. Mostly I want ideas , feedback. Just something to toss in the Devs faces like a fistful of sulpheric acid...make it burn a mark in theirbrains , so to speak.

This can take many possible forms. I have done a few mods in my day on a few games, including emulation of a UO server (among other various worldbuilding projects).Scripting and rewriting the rulebase from scratch and balancing everything really IS a difficult task and in that regard I give respect to the Dev team. However, some of the decisions about what creature drops Item X needs to be re-evaluated.

This post, for the record, will likely be long.

Example: Krayt Dragon drops its own specialty loot. This is fine. Why on earth, though, does it carry around armor segments or enhancers on its person? There should be nothing of the sort on it...unlesss.......(see below)

Scout Change: Make items like this that could be on the creature HARVESTABLE. After all, if a Krayt is carrying Armor Segments I would say its a rather safe bet that they are within its stomache. Furthermore, this suddenly increases the viability of scout skills (and therefore, ranger as well)

In a previous worldbuilding experience I was forced to balance the all-powerful Dragon and the loot it carried. Using common logic I deduced that a) dragons dont have purses, and thus would not CARRY the gold on them. b)dragons have little need to use magick weapons or armor. Thus, anything of the sort also would not be on its person. Instead, players could SLAY the dragon. Then, using their blade, gut it. Sometimes something lovely was inside (albeit a tad gooey and slimy) and sometimes all they got was the scales of the dragon (which were a reward in and of themselves).

Implementing a similar formula to loot would certainly add to the interests of almost everyone on the server.

Think of it this way: You want Krayt Scales and Pearls. You know those big buggers have them, seeing as they are always firmly attached to their bodies or within their gullets. Sometimes the pearls are good. Sometimes the scales are. Sometimes they are garbage. You take down the Krayt. Rather than looting, you harvest it. The radial pops up with a few options:

the options are generally straightforward...with a minor change.

This would require a little headway on the part of the devs... they would have to essentially re-write the loot tables. But only for non-sentient species. Any "bipedal intelligent" race would be unchanged in this regard. Where am I going with this? Let me enlighten you.

All creature-type loot is re-written. Now, species that have special hides, teeth, etc give them regularly (almost every single time, seeing as every single rancor has teeth and every single krayt has scales, etc). However, not all of them are very good quality. In fact, the ramp here could be extreme.

So now, we have Krayts almost dropping scales, and sometimes pearls(50/50).

About 75% of the scales and pearls will be below or roughly "good" quality. The rest will be in the upper echelons, with roughly 2-5% being in the high percentiles and "flawless" quality being about 0.05% of the time. How do we work these percentages into the "foraging" of the animal?

Non-Scout

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Canforage creature, but with greater chance for poorer materials (25%)

Scout

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Canforage creature, but with no penalties.

Master Scout

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Canforage creature, and gets +5 % chance to pull greater quality materials.

Ranger

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Canforage creature, and gets +10% chance to pull greater quality materials.

Master Ranger

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An additional +10% chance (total is +25%) to pull greater quality materials.

Increase in rewards for the time spent hunting.

Contributing to the suffering economy by increase influx of crafting items.

Promote grouping of other professions when hunting.

Give Rangers more of a place in the economy.

Increase in amount of items useable in crafting.

Lowering cost of production.

Increase in total producable good quality arms and armor.

The low drop rates of a vast majority of the in-game loot is "working as intended". There is a small issue however, and that is that what is intended is exactly the opposite of what most of the player base desires. There is a very fine line between balance and imbalance in a game of this nature, but to not cater at least 70% to the player base is a problem.

Take for instance, RIS and Mandalorian armor. We all know how bluddy expensive a suit of armor is. Especially these ones. Now, I , along with most of you will agree that rarity is a good thing in most cases. However, to have things TOO rare and therefore only attainable by the very rich(IG) players who spend most of their lives online (school kids, etc) results in a rigid class divide and only promotes the sort of negative behavior most of us loathe.

The upper class can go and dump 60 million credits in an hour onto a single piece of loot. Johnny Regular who has been playing since Beta but can only put in a few hours a day at most (usually 10 hours a week maximum, we'll assume) meanwhile has only a few million in the bank. That is, to him, way more than he has ever had. He cannot afford to dump out a ton of cash...since just buying a suit of armor and a decent weapon will take half if not more than that from his carefully saved 3 million in savings.

Aside from the social situation and resentment that can build from this sort of thing we have the already all too common staples of MMO....the Camper and the Griefer/Kill Thief. These people also have a greater chance to have such loot, and half of this group isnt even at the keyboard when they GET the components for it. Meanwhile Johnny is slaving away the entire time he is online for his short daily session. I won't even get into griefers. Not worth it.

So this brings up an interesting dilemma: Who is really eligible for the loot we all salivate after? The hardcore gamers (even the Campers) deserve it because they pay to play. Likewise so does the casual player. So how do we regulate loot and keep it fair? Thousands of viable solutions exist, but few can be implemented. For the majority of loot I think this should be kept as is.

But when we get to loot liek Mandalorian Armor and its ilk, there the balance stops. No player, I dont care how often they play, should have to sit in a dungeon for 100 or more hours to aquire a single item (and to do it ten times at that) for ANY reason. This is rarely fun, social gathering or not. Furthermore, they should likewise not have to spend 300 million credits on a suit of amazing armor. Stressful, agitating and annoying sound a little more apprapos than "fun" in most cases such as this. The solution? Very, very veeeeeeeery simple:

Why? So many reasons it isn't even funny. Firstly, if we make it quest driven we can also limit it to one per person, thus enforcing the rarity. Second, we can make the quest ABSURDLY difficult, but also still allow casual players to attempt it and eventually defeat the quest through trial and error (and a lot of cursing aloud).Obviously a quest of this calibre should both be involving and immensely challenging.

Currently (again using Mando as an example) players must locate the 10 parts of the armor via blacksun npcs. Then they must find the components (glue etc). Then they must take them all to the DWB, and somehow get craftsmen into a specific location alive in order to craft the armor. This is just bluddy retarded(pardon the terminology, no slight meant to the mentally challenged).

For something like this we might instead see: Find the 10 pieces of armor (drop rate is decent here), Find the components (via quest instead of absurdly low drop rate on insanely tough NPCs), THEN travel to the DWB (in a quest) to meet a specific NPC. This NPC will give them the SCHEMATICS in exchange for the parts or the armor itself (I say schematics for the crafters sakes).

Now, everyone has the same chance to obtain the uber armor. They can only do it one time, and never again. Its far from easy, and thus will require a multi-class group cooperating to complete. A mission of this sort im thinking shoudl take at LEAST a couple weeks. Use the village as a template here, a multi-step mission the eventually leads to the reward.

Equality, and quite fair. Prevents the campers from camping since it would be utterly pointless, adds content and storyline and removes an intensely monotonous and unrewarding experience of grinding and hoping for a loot drop.

As for other loot (SEAs, Crystals etc): Leave em be. Their drop rates are not absurd. However, do make sure they appear on logical NPCs. Not animals, but people.

Unique to SWG is keeping the balance with crafters and other players in regard to loot. To reward loot that upsets the crafters income potential impacts the economy and screws everyone else in the longrun...at least that is what we are told. And it does make sense, especially if you take a look at the robbery-like prices being set on goods at vendors nowadays.

So how do we balance it? Well, my previous suggestion is one obvious possibility. Creature-correct loot in varying strengths and weaknesses. Perhaps we can even take it a step further, and make it more than simply "Poor, Average, Good, Excellent, Amazing, Premium, Flawless" and even incorporate unique differences on every single item.

ie: Amazing Krayt Scales +30 Health, +2 Encumbrance, -5 Mind

Amazing Krayt Scales +32 Health, --Encubrance, -10 Mind

Essentially add bell curves in for some variety. This would thus lead to many different TYPES of product on the market. Armor suits for pistoleers. Armor suits for medics. Armor suits for creature handlers. And so on and so forth.

However, there are numerous other possibilities. First and foremost, make it so ONLY crafters can repair weapons and armor. That will get them a small influx of clientelle who will be back very regularly. OR allow players to repair armor at a larger condition penalty. Armorsmith and weaponsmiths can do so without lowering condition. The higher their skill the less maximum condition is lost.

Furthermore, add more loot specific to them. Specialty crafting tools which add stats to their creations or give them special capabilities. A few ideas?

Super Crafting kit: +10 Experimentation (even OVER the cap of +25 thus allowing +1 more point) with limited uses.

Unique Dye: An item that can be used ONLY by a crafter. The item is used up after (X) uses, and can dye any weapon or armor a unique color. These would go over HUGE with just about everyone. Just a matter of making more interesting hues.

Specialist Kit: A rare, single use item. A crafter can only get this item and use it once, ever, like an ADK. It allows them to specialize in a certain piece of equipment. This equipment, everytime they make it , will be 5% to 10% higher than its normal "CAP" amounts.

Just a couple ideas I made up just now...but in any case, it should be rather simple to implement crafters being required for many types of loot. More unique single use schematics is another possibility of course, or making loot kits like the rugs which can only be assembled by master artisans...and so on.

As for weapons and the like, I really dont see how these affect crafter balance. Sure, they may not normally be craftable. So what? Sure, some are really good weapons. Some quest armor is good too. That doesnt make all crafter gear into garbage. A few weapons wont do anything to the economy, nor a few pieces of neat armor. In the end, it is up to the character/player and sooner or later they will come back to a crafter for goods.Especially if you limit serious quest items to single-reward only. Besides, 90% of the time these goods are sold as soon as they are aquired anyhow for the profit. And that contributes DIRECTLY to the economy.

If Bob the Hardcore wants his Uber Sword, give it to him. But you had better make him WORK for it. (see Issue #2).

These are just a couple ideas. I have many more, but this paperwork must be dealt with. Tata for now.