Will the looting system be rebuilt?

[Pua]

I think every single one of us has seen a loot complaint over our time on these forums. In fact, I think we’ve seen hundreds; I’ve even complained about the system a couple of times myself. Essentially, I find it awkward that we’re still lumbered with a looting system that simply wasn’t designed for the game we play today.

Let me explain that statement quickly.

Original loot tables were large, deep and had a raft of itemization held in them. This worked originally, largely because very little ever went to waste in a 40-man raid (save the hilarious paladin drops in Horde raids). The attitude was also different then when it came to loot, mainly in the regard that players didn’t complain bitterly about itemization and simply took an upgrade if it was going to help them in their primary role.

A plate chestpiece with spirit on it? Not fantastic, but a warrior might take it if it had more strength or stamina than his current one did. Nowadays, that type of practice would see someone kicked from a group almost on the spot. In fact, I did see a warlock using a healing trinket get kicked from the Forgotten Depths recently despite the fact said trinket had intellect on it – thus, not useless by any stretch.

Nowadays, itemization causes untold frustration when it’s not what a player wants. If you prioritize critical strike (as warriors do), pieces that lack it are viewed as “garbage” rather than simply an upgrade that’ll be fine in the meantime. We could argue that secondary stat inflation is to blame for this priority, but I’m more inclined to think it’s the community that have driven this attitude.

Compounding all of this, of course, is the Unholy Trinity of looting:

- It’s the biggest cause of guild drama by quite some considerable distance.
- Random looting is random; you might never get what you need.
- Certain slots are rare or exclusive (intellect plate or mail).

As a background accompaniment to all this, we also have to remember that Ghostcrawler himself has recently commented on how reforging just didn’t work out the way the designers intended. What was specifically put in the game to stop quite the same level of sharding, has turned into an optimization race that has forced a lot of people toward external tools in order to get the numbers right.

Essentially, getting a drop in a raid isn’t as exciting as it once was because you can’t just enchant and equip it for the next pull; you need to get back to town, relog, and then punch yourself into Mr. Robot or use some other such tool to perfectly balance every piece of gear you own.

With all that said, my next question is simple: what’s next?

Since Cataclysm’s launch, we’ve seen a lot of things fall off of gear in favour of what is essentially homogenization. Armour penetration, spell penetration and defence rating have all gone the way of the dodo, and there’s every chance that dodge and parry will be next. Resilience is also no more in the vast majority of cases, while PvP Power doesn’t form part of an item’s level budget. Mastery was brought in for Cataclysm, but it’s a generic implementation that works for everyone by effectively boosting the way they do something.

Now naturally, there are many players who don’t want the system to change. That’s perfectly valid, and not something I want to argue about. Other people reckon only a few tweaks are needed, something like letting you see what you’re rolling for with a bonus roll before deciding to have a go, or an extra item dropping from every boss and the raid leader chooses which to discard. For my money, the system is largely knackered and really needs an entire overhaul in order to sort it out.

But how does Blizzard view this?

I honestly think the sheer randomness of reward in Mists of Pandaria is a contributor to the subscription fall. LFR looting woes are well documented, but things like the daily scenario/challenge mode quest are equally frustrating; it’s luck if you get an item in it, and it’s luck if you get an item you actually need. When people want to gear up and develop their character, are fulfilling the criteria to do so, but don’t because they’re just not lucky, the game becomes old extremely quickly. Valor point upgrades are a stop gap, just as world bosses are when you’re behind, and finding a guild to run through old content with you is nigh-on impossible.

This brings me neatly to what I think we’re going to see more of; Latent Kor’kron pieces.

For those possibly unaware, the Latent Kor’kron pieces came in with the weekly quest Battlefield: Barrens. They’re items that any class can pick up, but can be turned into a spec-specific item for your character by combining one with a Radical Mojo. The pieces themselves are a random drop, but they can also be bought via currency if you don’t get the right one and they can only be turned into an item once a week.

Are we going to see more of this?

Blizzard doesn’t want players to gear up too fast. We can argue about why that is, but it’s accepted that they don’t. The Latent Kor’kron sets allowed them to actively control how quickly you could acquire a full set, while also not subjecting people to a standstill if they weren’t lucky – if you didn’t get the piece you wanted to drop, you could purchase it with a slightly higher time investment. In short, it was a very successful catch up mechanic (if a little low on item level) which I’ve seen precious few people complaining about.

Could this be implemented during a progression curve and at the same level, assuming the currency was raid-related? Could this replace the badge grind that Blizzard have been trying to rein in for four years now? Could it possibly make the entire system more bloated?

If you don’t like this notion, what would you like to see in place of it?

Or, lastly, are you happy with the system as it is?

Answers on a postcard.

[Deleted]

I honestly think the sheer randomness of reward in Mists of Pandaria is a contributor to the subscription fall. LFR looting woes are well documented, but things like the daily scenario/challenge mode quest are equally frustrating; it’s luck if you get an item in it, and it’s luck if you get an item you actually need. When people want to gear up and develop their character, are fulfilling the criteria to do so, but don’t because they’re just not lucky, the game becomes old extremely quickly. Valor point upgrades are a stop gap, just as world bosses are when you’re behind, and finding a guild to run through old content with you is nigh-on impossible.

How is this any different from the previous 4 expansions ? Random loot is random ?
The subs fall in my eyes is due to the game closing in on 10 years, really, its such an amazing feat for a game its easily overlooked.
As usual during all summers and expansion i've played, the player base dwindles, come fall/winter and new tier, i wouldn't be surprised to see us above 8 million again.

That said, im bit unsure what you mean with looting system rebuilt. Will this apply to raids, dungeons, heroic scenarios etc ?
Or just a pure catchup mechanic ?
The sole way of gearing ?

I really dont like the barrens grind, it feels endless, where i know i'll get x item in x amount of time.

Shame on me, but i actually like the current system, its flawed, for the reasons you point out.
Unlucky streaks sucks, but i'd rather they tweak coins to help with the unlucky streaks issue.
That and making tier items a universal token, we've seen 2 pala tokens over 3-4 months lol...(10man)

[Pua]

How is this any different from the previous 4 expansions ? Random loot is random ?

Because the issue has been exasperated since WotLK; we're not talking about a single change in a vacuum.

In Wrath, we had separate lockouts with seperate loot tables. Badge gear was more plentiful, tier pieces could be purchased and there were more dungeons and available raid bosses throughout. Cataclysm removed the additional options from separate lockouts, gutted the number of bosses, deepened the loot tables unnecessarily and limited currency grinding while putting BiS on vendors. Mists decimated the number of dungeons, shoved LFR into the gearing curve for the vast majority of its players, and made catch up a series of random rewards with this "chance of a chance" nonsense.

Random rewards are fine when there are plenty of ways to play the odds. Once a week you do LFR, which is reviled by those using it solely to gear up, and players rightly ask what they're doing it for if not for some reward. When the only alternative is getting a chest that might have an item in it, and then you only might want it, it's no surprise folks are wondering why they're bothering.

The subs fall in my eyes is due to the game closing in on 10 years, really, its such an amazing feat for a game its easily overlooked.
As usual during all summers and expansion i've played, the player base dwindles, come fall/winter and new tier, i wouldn't be surprised to see us above 8 million again.

There's no doubt those are also contributors, but it'd be naive to assume they're the only ones.

That said, im bit unsure what you mean with looting system rebuilt. Will this apply to raids, dungeons, heroic scenarios etc ?
Or just a pure catchup mechanic ?
The sole way of gearing ?

I mean the entire system should be overhauled, so it'd provide multiple ways of gearing up for players to do it in the way they want to the most; it'd affect everything, but in different ways.

Shame on me, but i actually like the current system, its flawed, for the reasons you point out.
Unlucky streaks sucks, but i'd rather they tweak coins to help with the unlucky streaks issue.
That and making tier items a universal token, we've seen 2 pala tokens over 3-4 months lol...(10man)

That's fine!

If you only think it needs tweaked (like you mention), then that's totally understandable and valid. I think the majority of people would probably agree with you.