A More Intelligent Loot System

[Someguy]

Random loot increases the amount of times you need to run an instance, which in turn increases the amount of time you play the game, which in turn increases the amount of subscriptions, which in turn increases the amount of money made. It's really that simple.

[Synovius]

Random loot increases the amount of times you need to run an instance, which in turn increases the amount of time you play the game, which in turn increases the amount of subscriptions, which in turn increases the amount of money made. It's really that simple.

I'm familiar with this argument but I don't buy the result. I don't feel that chain of logic is always correct:

Random loot ==> More time in game ==> More subscriptions ==> More money made

or is it:

Random loot ==> Player frustration ==> Subscription cancelled or allowed to end ==> Money lost

I would argue the latter is just as valid a case as the prior. I've seen it first hand across 12 years of MMO gaming. Instead, why can't we have the following:

Non-random loot ==> Less time focusing on particular area of the game ==> Player satisfaction increased ==> More/retained subscriptions ==> More money made.

The "more time spent in game" argument falls flat not just due to the above but based on the following as well:

1) Regardless of whether it's random or non-random loot, the "raid week" will still remain a constant - Tuesday night for a few hours and then we're done with that aspect for a week.

2) Sometimes the loot actually never drops. For example, our Paladin went into FCoB without his 115 sword across some obscene amount of weeks farming T9. It simply never dropped.