My thoughts on Grumpy Elf's LFR Loot design

The Grumpy Elf always has such thought provoking topics - well, to me anyway.  This time he was talking about LFR Loot design.

People have forgotten how horrible loot was when LFR first out, I think.  Items would drop, people would roll need on things that they didn't want and then try to sell it back to other people.  Or they would roll need for their friends - hell, even I was guilty of that, trying to help my friends out when there were a whole bunch of other people out there needing for no other reason but to shard items, the money or just because they could do it to troll others.


Now, with the individualised loot system and with the gamble rolls that come with it, the loot complaints seemed to have disappeared.  Or have they?

I know a lot of people whinge about getting the same item 4 times (including me - I got tier pants 4 times from Ji-Kun when all I wanted was a staff) or even getting items that weren't perfect for their specialisation. But you know, that's the way the cookie crumbles and loot has always been a gamble in the game.  I recall all those complaints of no Sha-touched weapons after goodness knows how many runs of LFR, and though it was a bummer, I know, I still remember wearing a blue helm for almost all of T11 because I didn't get a goddamn drop from bosses and I was raiding then.  But I just thought that was my bad luck.

TGE suggested an interesting idea - kill tokens.  A boss has a chance to drop a kill token and if you roll you could get another.  Then you can just hand in your tokens to a vendor and buy whatever it is you want, like 20 for a weapon, 10 for tier - you get the idea.  He didn't like the failbag, and thought we should do away with it.  However, I disagree, I quite like the failbag, because there is no other way to get gold from bosses since it's individualised loot.  I suppose they could make everyone get a sum of gold after the kill automatically.  And also the chance to get interesting items in the bags also adds to the excitement.

The reason that I think that this idea has great merit is because it has a "working towards a goal" mindset to it.  I hate random luck sometimes.  It's great when it goes your way but you know the saying... "The house always wins."  Like dailies, it's grinding towards a reward, and gear is a bit like that too.  People feel disillusioned when they work towards something but gain no reward from it.  And it would at least have a feeling of achievement, or "I earned this" feeling when they get it.

However, as part of game design, there has to be that little carrot attached to it.  The addictive part of the games is being rewarded for your investments and gambles, and I think that if the designers were making it, they would make every boss drop a partial fragment - maybe something like a mote (can you have a mote of a token?? LMAO) - and then you also get a bag as well, and the bag has the possibility of containing a full token as well as some other goody reward. And then you have your roll to use as well.

I know with 5.4 there are no valour items to be bought anymore, and it's for upgrading gear, which is all well and good IF YOU GET GEAR.  Knowing my luck, I will be sitting on valour cap for a very LONG LONG time.

Comments

  1. Like a bunch of people have said over on TGE (who I am amused to see hasn't gotten any more reasonable since I stopped reading him) there already is a guaranteed-improvement mechanism, which is Valor Points.

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    1. He has to live up to his name I guess! Valour points do get you up to a point which is wonderful for non raiders but that shatouched weapon misery was something I remember reading lots about. I don't really care about loot much, its like a bonus for playing, which is why I never get worked up about it. Hilariously, the only loot I really wanted was the lfr version of the jikun healing staff because of transmog and I wouldn't be able to get it ever again once I outgear that lfr.

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  2. Valor points are useful for more than non-raiders though - the constant improvement from upgrades is a way of getting stronger and progressing - looking at your armory you've about 16 upgrades to go - that will be constant progression even if luck isn't in your favour over the next 13 weeks.

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    1. For 5.4? Yeah at least valour is there for upgrades which is great. Are you looking at my armoury? Oh don't look at that - none of my offspec guardian gear is very good or upgraded but my resto stuff is fully upgraded. I'm just lazy and don't bother wasting valour on my offspec that I only use for dailies. Thanks for visiting and the comments btw :)

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