Changes to Voidwatch loot system?

[Runespider]

Looking at the Voidwatch loot system I have to think it was done this way to stop the rather blooming merc business FFXI has, as in selling R/E gear.

I understand why Square would want to try kerb the selling of r/e gear, not only due to making gear a lot more common than intended but also because it's a rather obvious route for RMT (real players that sell gil now instead of the old RMT players) to flourish. I know one person that came back to the game purely to supplement his college income selling aby drops lol

I think Square need to keep in mind that although they might want to tackle mercing of drops they should never ruin the content for normal players in the process. Something Square have a habit of doing.

Voidwatch will never be very popular with the current system, the loot system really does need to be changed. I know it's difficult to come up with a loot system to fix the problems but the current one is terrible and offputting to everyone.

So yeah, are there planned changes with the upcoming update to change the loot districution system for Voidwatch?

[SpankWustler]

I hope they change the system item allocation system somehow, but it's already been said that there are no plans for change.

So, I expect a lot of people will soon be wondering if they should level Samurai just to use a Great Katana that just dropped to them.

[Cair]

While it's not the most flawless of loot systems, I'd say it could work out to be more fair than how end game used to be. Instead of a single alliance having a chance at one drop for one person once a day, an endless amount of people have a chance at all items every day.

Now, this can lead into some annoying situations where you end up with something you don't want or need, and someone else is unable to attain it for a long period of time, but it also bypasses the whole, "Well, I have to wait for Person1, Person2, Person3 to obtain this item before I do." To those who always obtain gear first, always get claims, whatnot, it can be a bit of the kick in the face, but if anything I'd say it's one of the more fair systems they devised.

You seem to be stuck in a classic case of, "Give me the gear I want now." It has never worked that way. It will never work that way.

The only reasonable implementation they could look to without throwing off everything is something like the addition of a special sort of Voidwatch currency awarded in small amounts after every fight that can be used to purchase gear for a large expense (then you have the classic case of, 'I could get this through luck or very hard work over a long period of time,' each with their own benefits). Throw in a prereq. like requiring the abyssite from the tier mob you want to purchase the gear from and it would probably work out quite nicely.

[detlef]

If you have something in your loot pool you don't want, you should be given the option to put it in the common loot pool after you've taken anything you want (exact same mechanic as gold boxes in Abyssea). As it is, I'm having trouble getting people into voidwatch because they keep getting nothing repeatedly. I would love to be able to transfer something I already have into the treasure pool so that some of the less fortunate could get something for their time.

If this is still too much to ask for, then allow players to transfer rare or rare/ex items into the loot pool only if they have the item already. This would still allow players to have the first shot at an item without being "forced" to put their items into the loot pool.

It's one thing for the random number generator to be unforgiving. It's quite another for it to be unforgiving and then essentially autosort the treasure.

[Cair]

That's a horrible idea given how it would upset the balance. They'd have to do a single drop pool. Eighteen potential drop pools for one alliance is a horrible idea, and it would render content near-useless after just a few fights.

[hiko]

add a npc who buy drop with special currencies ( Ex, or point system) and can sell them for higher value
(ex he buy armors for 1k point but sell em 5k point)

[Runespider]

add a npc who buy drop with special currencies ( Ex, or point system) and can sell them for higher value

Thats not a bad idea, assuming they will stick with the current drop system anyway.

[Xellith]

I hope they change the system item allocation system somehow, but it's already been said that there are no plans for change.

they better make some plans quickly then eh?

[Kaisha]

Instead of a single alliance having a chance at one drop for one person once a day, an endless amount of people have a chance at all items every day.

Except the current system does not work that way. It's completely random for each individual aside from the influence of the light alignment helping with the better stuff dropping.

You can get multiple of the one item (ra/ex or not) across the alliance. The only real problem is that the drop-rate on the ra/ex gear (especially bodies) is stupid low compared to the rest of the content.


I don't expect SE to change the loot system for quite some time given their recent statements on it, so the most I could see in an update or two is just bumping up the drop rate a little so you could at least expect a 1:10 chance of getting a body.


Haven't there been GMs or a post here in the past that says they're indifferent towards mercing btw? I don't feel they designed this system out of spite for them, but rather taking the quality drops out of the hands of LS control, regardless of whether the system they use (DKP, /random, favouritism, etc) to determine who should receive the loot.

[SpankWustler]

Another possible improvement, without drastically changing the current system, would be drops that can be traded for equipment.

For example, instead of Tex-Mex Harness, Hahava would drop "Hahava's Horrifically Haunted Head-bits" which could be traded to some deranged NPC who collects NM body-parts for any of the three bodies. The other tier IV's would drop similar items that could be traded for any body. I'm not sure how all of the EX accessories would work in a system like this, though.

Cair raises a good point about the drop rates effectively being old-school low. There's no way it's like that on accident, so it's pretty presumptuous to assume the development team would be gung-ho about making the drops more attainable.