I know I will most likely get a lot of hate for making this topic, since I seem to be in the minority with regards to this "issue", but I have noticed a very alarming trend over the past few weeks with the Aquapolis. Specifically, with the loot "rules" people have been enforcing for this new piece of content.

For roughly the first week most groups I joined were all too happy to let everyone roll need on anything that dropped inside the Aquapolis. Often map owners, myself included, were so excited to be doing worthwhile treasure map content with a group that the thought of ownership was not even on the radar. This made the Polis runs exciting for everyone involved since we all had a fair chance at any drops regardless of whose map just so happened to proc the portal.

Then about during the second week there was a shift from "everyone gets a fair chance" to "map owner sets rules" or" map owner gets priority" when it comes to loot. My first encounter with this was a bit... perplexing compared to the previous free-for-all but most of the time the map owners were still very generous. Typically, they would only roll Need on something they truly wanted or needed (rare crafting material they can use, a minion/music sheet they don't have ect...). However, if it was simply something they would only try to sell then usually the map owner would let everyone roll on it. This still felt fair and running the Aquapolis remained an exciting experience for everyone involved.

Then we get to the third week where I once again see a shift in the etiquette from "map owner preference" to "map owner gets ALL the loot." Everyone single thing that drops in the chest goes to the map owner alone, most of which they simply sell on the MB. The rest of the group gets whatever is directly deposited into our inventory... and even then I've heard of some groups where that is no longer being allowed and every item AND single cent of gil people get inside the Polis is being demanded by the map owner.

Not surprisingly this flagrantly selfish behavior by a map owner appalls me and completely kills the excitement I used to have running the Aquapolis with someone else’s map. Instead of praying we would get to the next floor I am instead hoping to see us get thrown out so we can get to my map instead. Of course that is assuming we even get to my map...

Which leads me to one of the biggest problems I've encountered with this shift in the loot etiquette. People have become completely self-serving and more often than not once their maps are done they leave the group, sometimes not even bothering to make some excuse about how their FC needs them ect...

As an example last night I joined a party of people from a LS I have been a member of for a long time. While I was not close with these group of friends they were also not total strangers either. Very quickly they established the rule that the map owner gets all the loot. I was not happy but I kept my objection to myself and helped them with their maps. We even had a 7th floor clear on one map and, of course, the map owner took everyone that was not nailed down. Once they finished their maps they immediately disbanded the party without helping me do mine and did not even bother to respond when I asked them to stick around for a few minutes longer. Why should they? The scraps of items and gil they would get from a Polis run on my map is pocket change compared to what they could earn with their own map. They also did not care at all if their actions happened to upset me since I was not one of their buddies.

Now I get it... I understand the side of the argument that map owners should get some added benefit for supplying the map. My only gathering class is fisher and I know the pain of leveling and gearing that along with taking the time to fish up a dragonskin map each day. However not once did I ever think that I deserve EVERYTHING that drops because it is MY map. I've always viewed group maps as a group effort and the people who are taking the time to ASSIST me should have a fair chance at being rewarded for it.

Still like I said in the beginning I seem to be in the minority and most people view ME as greedy for wanting to roll on THEIR loot Regardless I find my desire to do dragonskin maps and the Aquapolis by extension is all but gone. I'm pretty much limited to just doing it with a small handful of friends and FC members, most of whom don't have gatherers at 60 so we are only able to run my map. Still I have no issue letting them roll Need on anything that happens to drop.

Anyway I just needed to voice my opinion on this trend and I’m curious to see what others think on the direction that Aquapolis loot etiquette has taken.