Ifrit reward system seriously needs tweaking

[Crica]

how come gearing you faster makes dev,s lose money?

Because you unsubscribe once you are fully geared from current content until new content is able to be released...

Current content has to "last" until the new content can be released...

RNG is a reliable way to make it last...

[Sinnerslazer]

BG did an interview with Yoshi-P about this issue:

Sonomaa (BG): How are you planning on addressing the current loot distribution quagmire that seems to plague the game right now? Ifrit drops weapons that people can't use because they don't have the jobs leveled, nor do they want to level those classes. Loot cannot be master looted, needed, or greeded, and there is no random number roll. In 2.0 how are you addressing this lack of attention in the loot table and loot distribution department?

Square-Enix: First of all, we want to make adjustments to this before 2.0. It comes down to whether or not a Need/Greed system is the best way to go? Where the player's current class dictates if they can accept the loot? There are a lot of different options. But with the Armory system being the way it is - being able to take abilities from other classes and attach them to the class you're playing - currently the game may favor this one class with a certain combination. But in future battles maybe it will be other jobs (once implemented), with different abilities, will become more popular and so players will want items that they can use in the future. So it comes down to which is the best type of system that corresponds with the unique Armory system. And so designing a system that meets that is very difficult. Actually, he (Yoshida) has a question for you - what would you think be the most optimal loot system for the current FFXIV?

BG: There honestly isn't a question of that. The World of Warcraft system of Need/Greed and the option of a Master Looter. If say, I'm a Warrior, and I'm on Warrior. I can Need on Warrior gear, but I can't Need on Thief gear. But I can Greed on Thief gear! So that way it can be an option - a Need before Greed. This is something that went down in FFXI. You had Black Mages spending their DKP on E Bodies (Earthen Abjuration: Body/Adaman Hauberk), when Warriors did not have E Bodies.

SE: Regarding the DKP - because it's a big issue on the forums - we hope to address this along with the Free Company issue on Lodestone really soon, so please keep an eye there. But we agree that this Need/Greed system is what we want for the game - at least a variation on this, of course. So in the coming months, this will be one of the things addressed on Lodestone, but this will be something that does not have to wait for 2.0.

[Keftenk]

Most frustrating thing is seeing dedicated members that have gone for 85%+ of the time, get nothing. Only to freak out and rage because of Yoshida's terrible decision. Could this be considered griefing the player? Haha!

[Zanfire]

im getting close to doing this fight ...but wow, random? i cant tell you how much id rage if one of my friends got the lance, or i got the mage weapon or either of us got the axe lol.

[Chardrizard]

Most frustrating thing is seeing dedicated members that have gone for 85%+ of the time, get nothing. Only to freak out and rage because of Yoshida's terrible decision. Could this be considered griefing the player? Haha!

At least he'll feel accomplished when he finally got it, something that you rarely gets these days :P

[Radav]

If they want to increase the replayability of the fight there are much better ways to do it. Having a completely assbackwards way of distributing loot is not the best option and I just wanted to add another reply to this thread to let the devs know they need to fix it.

[Kiara]

To Yoshida-san and the Final Fantasy XIV Team:

As requested by you in the interview with Gamer Escape, I hope the Community Reps pass along our suggestions to you about the horrible Loot System you have for Ifrit:

Gamer Escape: Speaking about the Ifrit battle… I haven’t beaten it yet, but I’ve heard that when players beat it, the items are dropped into their inventory instead of the loot pool where they could then be transferred to somebody. I’d hate to spend this time beating it to get a Conjurer weapon for my Lancer and then I’d feel bad if there was a Conjurer in my group that wanted it and I couldn’t give it to them. Is there a reason it was made that way? Or is this a bug?

Yoshida: Currently that is pretty much what we had in mind, so it’s not a bug. Because the hard mode can be played by everyone, it depends if you have the lamp or not. If you have the Inferno Lamp when you go in, it means you have a chance to get a drop. And If you don’t, it means you’re just helping and you won’t get that drop. So it looks at each player and checks for the lamp and if they have the lamp then it will randomly choose the drop and it’ll give it to each player, so it’s chosen by each player rather than the whole group. There was a lot of talk within the development team whether to look at the class and say OK if it’s this class then they only get this item or it doesn’t look at the class and gives the random item. They went with not basing it on the class because they felt that with the armory system and the way it’s set up now, players probably play a lot of different classes and might not be participating in the Ifrit battle on whatever they consider to be their main job. For example, you might really be a Lancer but because of what the party needs, you went as Gladiator. We didn’t want to penalize that player by not giving them a chance at what they really want. But that doesn’t mean it’s a perfect system. We know that players have started complaining about it. We are moving towards having a system that is closer to the need/greed system like WoW uses. Where players can… if they’re that class they can “need” it, or “greed” it if they want to use it for another class and the “needs” will get precedence over it. We’re finding out how we want to adjust that system and fit it towards FFXIV. Before we do that, we want the opinions of the community on what they feel would be the best type of loot system.

At the very minimum, having a Master Loot / Quartermaster System from XI (where you can designate who gets what loot) is a huge step up from having drops auto-dumped randomly into people's inventories (and them being Rare/EX (Unique / Untradeable)).


I'm not familiar with WoW's Need/Greed System but it sounds like that also helps people specify their #1 and #2 "most wanted" gear from completing a challenge?



The auto-dumping method is just baffling and seems to be a very frustrating / unfair / rage-worthy way of inducing cheap replay value (forcing players to battle Ifrit over and over to hope they randomly get their auto-dumped drop into their own inventory (since you can't trade / pass it to others)) to buy the Dev Team some time for 1.20.


Even with a Key Item involved (which is super easy to get), at the minimum, a Master Loot / Quartermaster System would make the most sense.


Or keep it like you had in Dzemael Darkhold (where it drops in someone's Loot Pool so they can Pass it to others if need be). That requires NO additional technology or new systems, and at least is fairer than what you put in for Ifrit.


Thanks.

[Crica]

The only thing that is going to be different with Need/Greed is that Tank types are going to get no loot competition while the rest of the 8man party is going to have to roll the dice and hope they win.

RNG is RNG no matter how you look at it - unless you are a Tank type.

/shrug

[EcchiMan]

MMORPG devs are not in the business of gearing you up faster then they can realistically release more content to gear you up in...

That would loose them money...

RNG = they get your money till the next gearing-up content is possible for them to release...

I bet you they loose more money from people moving on to another game, due to the frustration cause by this idiotic loot system. I'm 0/20 at the moment, on the verge of moving on myself. I don't like doing the same fight 50 times just to get 10 stacks of dark matter.

[Teakwood]

The problem with need/greed is that it only really works if you only have one job leveled. If the game prevents you from "need"ing an item for MRD, which is your main, because you're on THM because it's useful in the fight you're doing, for example, that'd also be pretty suboptimal.

Definitely suggest at -least- a quartermaster system, or make Ifrit drops behave like other drops in the system until 2.0 comes out (less optimal), or auto-drop items to people's inventories that can then be traded in for an Ifrit weapon of the person's choice.