Voidwatch Drop Rates/Loot Distribution

[Manque]

To be the devil's advocate:

I for one enjoy the random loot pool generated for each player as it supposedly gives everyone an equal opportunity at receiving a reward. It's nice receiving a piece of gear you really want and not being pressured or obliged to give it to another person. If the option to add things to the loot pool becomes available then this is lost. If an item drops to me and I really want it, but the linkshell decides that another player is more worthy, they will most likely force me to add the item into the lot pool for that player to lot on. I think it's kind of neat that voidwatch prevents this, no matter how greedy it may seem. Players are rewarded for their time instead of their prestige or ranking within the linkshell circle.

Remember I am playing the devil's advocate. I think this is the kind of logic SE was working with when they created the voidwatch system.

However, problems still arise with repeated drops to the same character and things dropping to people who don't need them. Can anyone think of a way to prevent this? Perhaps a point system really is the answer.

I don't know if it's possible, but perhaps the treasure caskets could take a tally of what job each player has leveled and randomly supply loot based on that, even if it's just synth materials. This would only apply for armor/equip. For example, if I was a mage only character with only mage jobs leveled then I would not receive equip with DD jobs on it. Would this prevent unwanted drops? I'm not sure. I think everyone perhaps has a job retired or in the background nowadays that would bugger up this system. So, let's continue to brainstorm.

Maybe you could set your desired 'types' of items at a voidwatch NPC. For example, the armor NPC for Salvage asks you to commit to upgrading a certain type of armor: usu, ares, marduk, or morrigan. I know this doesn't necessarily alter much of anything (or it hasn't been proven), but the option does exist. If SE could tie the options chosen at such an NPC to what appears in chests, wouldn't that be both nifty and convenient? If I choose the 'mextli set' line then I would be eligible only for items which fall under that category from my personal chest while others could choose the 'fazheluo set' if they so wish.
This would add a timesink (which SE would be a fan of) as players would have to progress through each 'set' if they wanted gear from each.

Just some ideas. For those posting and wanting SE to simply add the loot to the pool, would you object to this sort of system.

Also, inb4 ps2 limitations.

[Defiledsickness]

how could your ls force you to give a piece of armor to someone else? they cant even see what you got unless you could put it in a pool. and then you can still just take the armor, its only so if you already got the item you can share.

the thing is many people continuously receive the same armor and no one else gets squat. now if there's some hidden system that's rewarding players for their effort thats one thing. but as far as it seems everyone gets the SAME drop chance. everyone shares light% and Treasure hunter increases. the only way to upgrade your lights is by having everyone work together (there are procs ranging from elemental magic to dragoon breath attacks, to tomahawk from warrior).

so as it stands tons of loot is just dropping to the floor. and none of this armor is NEEDED to do voidwatch or any other event/nm. so your LS being greedy and forcing you to give them the good drops has no bearing. no tank will be saved by this armor and no DD will do 10k ws's because of it. your system doesn't seem something easily implemented into FFXI either. not a horrible idea i just dont see it happening.

[DarkBass]

how could your ls force you to give a piece of armor to someone else? they cant even see what you got unless you could put it in a pool. and then you can still just take the armor, its only so if you already got the item you can share.

so as it stands tons of loot is just dropping to the floor. and none of this armor is NEEDED to do voidwatch or any other event/nm. so your LS being greedy and forcing you to give them the good drops has no bearing. no tank will be saved by this armor and no DD will do 10k ws's because of it. your system doesn't seem something easily implemented into FFXI either. not a horrible idea i just dont see it happening.

Yea... its called bidding with points you earn in your ls if you are eligible to wear it, thats how. Welcome to civilied way of working togethersville. If you just take it out of your chest instead of putting it into the proverbial lot pool, you're going to wear it eventually, and it will be found out which would lead to you being kicked, which would be bad unless said person is a hard headed/ full of themselves/ doesnt like their ls for good/bad reasons and wants to leave anyway or a "leech"(inside joke). Plus taking it and never wearing it until you officially win a bid on it is just plain stupid.

[Ravenmore]

Yea... its called bidding with points you earn in your ls if you are eligible to wear it, thats how. Welcome to civilied way of working togethersville. If you just take it out of your chest instead of putting it into the proverbial lot pool, you're going to wear it eventually, and it will be found out which would lead to you being kicked, which would be bad unless said person is a hard headed/ full of themselves/ doesnt like their ls for good/bad reasons and wants to leave anyway or a "leech"(inside joke). Plus taking it and never wearing it until you officially win a bid on it is just plain stupid.

They would have no way to tell if you got it in the LS run or a pick up. Since there is no 3 day cool downs you could had done it off the books. The only reasons LSes had the rule of you can't have other endgame LSes was a)tods b)long cool down times for events that took bodies c)you had no other way to do the content. Though if you could put it into boxs you could just wait a couple days and tell your LS you bought it. Which happen often with kitty pants and w.legs 2 of the 3 good drops from sky that 90% of your ls didn't already have or was hitting the floor.

I still prefer the assult type point system event too like the others said, best way to keep people doing the event. Better then losing your surport for not getting anything they can use while some DD only type gets everything the mages are after.

[DarkBass]

They would have no way to tell if you got it in the LS run or a pick up.

Yea... if the other 17 people involved didnt tell anyone else, shout for members, and then quit... Being sneaky about obtaining things in the gaime come back to bite you. But being sneaky/the need or desire to be sneaky about obtaining items in this manner is eliminated by the voidwatch chest system. Just the drop rates/ getting multiuples of the same r/ex item is what suck. (Phillip Defranco quote) What the f*ck SE dev type people?

[Defiledsickness]

how is taking your reward sneaky? god you have a crappy LS. you must be in one where the leader has 10 empyrean weapons and a sack has 1 and no one else gets squat.

and its hard to sell VW stuff because you cant join the party after the fight has started. and its completely random what may drop.

and as i said; this gear isnt that awesome. if a LS leader would kick you because you took this gear, tell him to get a life. i agree with the point/buy system tho. anything is better then the current system and i really feel bad for pick-up groups doing these fights.

[ThaiChi]

how is taking your reward sneaky? god you have a crappy LS. you must be in one where the leader has 10 empyrean weapons and a sack has 1 and no one else gets squat.

Blindly assume much? I'll have you know almost each and every one of us in our 32 man LS has an empyrean weapon, something we're very proud of. Points in a Linkshell are supposed to be used to denote time put in. And if you actually read what he said, he's referring to the hypothetical situation Ravenmore presented. I would doubt any pick up would be able to make it to tier IV and successfully get a full spectral alignment by today's standard of common player.

We're talking about established groups putting in time into this event and seeing less than a 1% reward among all of our members. It's great that one of our most excellent WHMs got an Anhur Robe recently, but that was 1 out of 160-something chests opened. And we're talking about one person who already has something like a Strendu Ring getting 6 more and not being able to give it to someone else who actually needs it. Most of us actually like the exclusive chests, honestly just a simple fix of not being able to see gear you already own in said chests would make it all that much less insulting for those of us who are participating in VW on a regular basis.

A great way to fix this would be to run a check to see if anyone in your alliance already has whichever item is meant to drop, let's say a Fazheluo R. Mail, then move it to someone else's chest, similar to how things will not drop from mobs if a rare item exists in each party member's inventory. It would work fine even with a low drop rate, because at some point through process of elimination everyone can get a body.

[DarkBass]

how is taking your reward sneaky? god you have a crappy LS. you must be in one where the leader has 10 empyrean weapons and a sack has 1 and no one else gets squat.

and its hard to sell VW stuff because you cant join the party after the fight has started. and its completely random what may drop.

and as i said; this gear isnt that awesome. if a LS leader would kick you because you took this gear, tell him to get a life. i agree with the point/buy system tho. anything is better then the current system and i really feel bad for pick-up groups doing these fights.

OK... wow. YOu forgot what you originaly posted so ill explain it all in full. 1, IF you could put the contents of your chest into the lot pool, there are going to be multiple people who want it/can use it. Gee, how to settle such a conundrum? Oh yea, by bidding on it using the point system you have established among yourselves in said linkshell. The being sneaky part comes in this way. If you could put it into the pool, but you dont, and there are others who can/will use and have more points than you, and you try to cover it up by saying you went with a pick up run, is sneaky. People talk. Being sneaky about stuff gets found out eventually. This would mean you dont care about your fellow members (for reasons good or bad) or the hard work they have put in. You would be removed because you couldnt be trusted. No one wants to bust their ass for something just so someone else who hasn't put in as much work as you can snatch it from up under you. Ninja lotters, and its widely known how to deal with them.

And as far as my linkshell goes, Its a very very good shell. The only people who don't have an empyrean weapon, are the people who joined a few months ago, in which we will be working on soon. Some of us even have 2. Our rules are very fair and the amount of productivity we have is wonderful. Our leader and co-leads are very good people. So no...I have the polar opposite of a crappy LS.

[Ravenmore]

Yea... if the other 17 people involved didnt tell anyone else, shout for members, and then quit... Being sneaky about obtaining things in the gaime come back to bite you. But being sneaky/the need or desire to be sneaky about obtaining items in this manner is eliminated by the voidwatch chest system. Just the drop rates/ getting multiuples of the same r/ex item is what suck. (Phillip Defranco quote) What the f*ck SE dev type people?

Still how would your LS ever know what you got in your box. Simple make it were it doesn't say what you take out. LSes though now think outside the box with all the big name LSes done and dead or shadows of thier fomor selfs. Now if your in a LS with people that would force you to give up you loot to all would find they have no members. With out ToDs to protect or pop sets to hold for the LS pick ups are more viable then ever. While most pick ups do suck doesn't mean that it can't be done and with no risk of loss. The game has changed and LSes know this if they want to keep thier members they can't do anything to upset the good ones.

[DarkBass]

Still how would your LS ever know what you got in your box. Simple make it were it doesn't say what you take out. LSes though now think outside the box with all the big name LSes done and dead or shadows of thier fomor selfs. Now if your in a LS with people that would force you to give up you loot to all would find they have no members. With out ToDs to protect or pop sets to hold for the LS pick ups are more viable then ever. While most pick ups do suck doesn't mean that it can't be done and with no risk of loss. The game has changed and LSes know this if they want to keep thier members they can't do anything to upset the good ones.

Because at least a few people pay attention and lying about how you got something gets found out. Also, this "force you to give up your loot to all" misinterpretation is called bidding on said items that go into the lot pool. Person with who bids the most points and can use= winning bidder of item in proverbial pool. But thankfully that whole process is deiscared with the individual reward system. Just getting multiple of the same type of r/ex item is dumb, as well as the incredibly low drop rate itself.