Loot Distribution Systems for Parties

[Fi]

With the upcoming updates encouraging players to seek each other out to test their mettle against the more challenging content Fractured has to offer—essentially emphasizing the "MMO" in "MMO"RPG, there should be options for distributing loot amongst players in parties.

Here are the most common and staple forms of list distribution:

Need Before Greed

• Whenever certain items or item rarities, typically tweakable in the party interface, prompts appear for every present member of a party to "greed" (lower priority request for the item) or "need" (higher priority request for the item). If a player does not care for the item but would not mind possessing it, they would select "greed". If a player truly desires the item, they will select "need". If a player does not care for nor wants the item, they can "pass".
  • If no one needs the item, everyone within the party who selected "greed" will roll for the item. The highest roller of the greed poll will win the item.
    • If no one selected "need" but one player selected "greed", the one player who selected "greed" will automatically win the item.
  • If there are players who selected "greed" but there are players who selected "need", the greed pool's rolls will be skipped—meaning they automatically loss the roll—to perform a need roll. The highest roller of the need pool will win the item.
    • If there are players who selected "greed" but there is one player who selected "need", the greed pool's rolls will be skipped and the one player who selected "need" will automatically win the item.

Round-robin

• Each player within a party will have a corpse assigned to them with permission to loot everything on it on a turn-basis per kill.

Master Looter

• Only a designated member of a party by the party leader can loot corpses
  • This could also be tweaked to optionally allow more than one player or role, such as "Officer", to loot corpses.

Free-For-All

• This is self-explanatory as loot distribution in Fractured is set to this by default since it is currently the only way to loot.

As the loot distribution system—or the lack thereof—is now, I don't bother with trying group up with others nor loot anything while in a group since human nature tends to unfortunately compel people to think more about themselves than others despite working with those others, who are putting in just as much effort as they are, to ensure success.

[Xandrathii]

pitty to hear that, groups i am in we designate a gold looter and then it all gets pooled and evenly split at the end or when someone has to leave. We also tend to split up crafting mats in very "need" before greed ways. If someone uses gear that takes that type of crafting mat to make more they tend to get priority on the stuff... and of course this is all an honor system.

the hard coded loot system your talking about has been abused too.. people don't get anything because someone is always hitting need when they dont need the items.. or master looter that does not split the loot at the end. I know the competitive nature of the current system is not great but it will not change things for those of us already to polite in a party to gain loot in an even manner..

I think this is a socially complex problem with no really good solution. Just make sure the people your running with are all likeminded about splitting loot..?

[Fi]

@Xandrathii said in Loot Distribution Systems for Parties:

pitty to hear that, groups i am in we designate a gold looter and then it all gets pooled and evenly split at the end or when someone has to leave. We also tend to split up crafting mats in very "need" before greed ways. If someone uses gear that takes that type of crafting mat to make more they tend to get priority on the stuff... and of course this is all an honor system.

It's good to know that there are some decent people out there, who respect other members of their group enough to ensure that they are attributed what they put forth their time and effort to earn, but they are the minority and always have been the minority—especially in these games of this nature where you greet someone one moment and you see them run up to a camp you're in the middle of clearing the next moment to steal the chest right in front of you.

the hard coded loot system your talking about has been abused too.. people don't get anything because someone is always hitting need when they dont need the items.. or master looter that does not split the loot at the end. I know the competitive nature of the current system is not great but it will not change things for those of us already to polite in a party to gain loot in an even manner..

It has more precautionary measures that the players can use to their advantage to avoid abuse or avaricious behaviors of selfish players:

• Round-robin having the most precautions since it can't be abused in the first place as it the system regulates the loot.
• Need Before Greed having the second most because everyone will see who selected "greed", "need", or "pass", all of the rolls, and rolled the highest/won the item.
• Master Looter having the least because this one relies on trusting in the party leader or whomever is designated as the looter(s).

While people can try to abuse this, they will be noticed and are usually dealt with by the leader of the party, or the members of the party if it is the leader. The fact you brought this up is even more proof of why we need these systems.

I think this is a socially complex problem with no really good solution. Just make sure the people your running with are all likeminded about splitting loot..?

It's a problem that can be more easily resolved with systems in place for regulating loot. If we see someone snatching all of the loot, we will see it logged in the chat and can call them out for it or boot them from the party accordingly for being selfish.

Please keep in mind that your experiences do not invalidate the experiences of the whole. This has been an ongoing problem since the previous tests where many players who formed groups with others—randoms in particular (and this should not be discouraged since MMORPGs are also all about meeting and grouping up with random players)—struggled to get loot.

Those who are closer to corpses, typically those with melee builds or those who have mobility to cover the distance, tend to snatch what they want while the ranged players such as archers, casters, or healers, have to hope there is something left for them or have to repeatedly remind members of their party to share the loot.

This should not have to be repeatedly done hence why be need loot distribution systems, other than Free-For-All, to make grouping up with other random players less of a detrimental disadvantage and a "mini game" of trust.