The future of AL "improved looting system"

[Psykopathic]

Ok let me start off by saying that recently I've heard alot of talk all around AL about "the new elites are too hard" and "I can't get good gear, this sucks". Alot of talk of "nerfing" the new elite maps going around. I don't know exactly what you have in mind STS but here's my side of this particular issue.
If all the new map gets nerfed that means all gear becomes easily available and the market crashes. That leaves very few items to make players stand out. Basically left with mythic and arcane which have extremely low drop rates (which I agree with) but that only pleases the BIG spenders which I realize you have to do. Gotta support the servers right? :). But there's a group you seem to be forgetting about. The group I fall into. The consumer who likes to drop $10-$20 here and there but doesn't go crazy with it, and there are alot of us. If you have the arcane gear and mythic gear only available to big spenders and us mid level spenders with nothing to farm to acquire it. Why are we gonna spend our $$$.


This is the basic idea that I with a little help from Alizhera came up with. The idea is to basically have an asjusted loot system. For example, you have your maps like "Brackenridge" short and easy and good for the "pugs" the idea would be to make all maps in that area about the same difficulty as Brackenridge with really low drop rates. Only lvl 25 gear like you have now and great for the average player with less time. Then you have the next set of maps. Like arcanum grounds and tower of mardrom. Make them a good bit harder than brackenridge but not insanely hard. It needs to have a decent much better loot and at a somewhat higher drop rate. Finally, maps like grog beach and skull cove. These maps should be like skull cove started. Very long and very hard. 45 minutes + to complete with the same loot as previous level ( maybe a few special extras tossed in , maybe mythic at a rare rate? With a much higher drop rate than the previous difficulty maps. After we spend a solid hour to complete an extreme difficulty map then every1 should at least walk away with something. A chest of some kind, a mid grade pink, maybe even like random drops of like 5 plat?? Be creative with it ya know. The locked crates r still great. Gives those BIG spenders a way to set themselves apart. A little too expensive to get me to open more than like 10 every few weeks but that's all good.

Ok next I wanna guess what some people are saying. Then how are us weaker players gonna get to play the new elite maps?? Well the regular maps would be the same way. A few different degrees of difficulty with the newest maps being a good bit harder, almost as hard as elite brackenridge, with specialized somewhat decent loot that can still make it worth their time and allow them to eventually move up to harder maps.

I know that if these changes were ever made or even considered that it wouldn't be soon. Probably a few months in the making, but I honestly believe it is the best system to please all types of players and keep the game alive and growing. There's no chance to make every1 in the game happy but you can try to come close :) I hope every1 has enjoyed the long read and that I got some people thinking. But there's prolly gonna need to be tweaks here and there and prolly a good week of lousy play fixing stuff. But in the end I bet all would be happier and the game would continue to thrive. Keep up the great work STS !!!! and I really hope this game can reach its potential. It has tons of it for a mobile game!!!

Show some support if you agree with the idea!!

[Psykopathic]

P.S. I'm still begging for an octopus pet this update!!!!!!!

[Jackyll]

I love this idea!! Everything about a scalable loot system/map system. I would also throw in adding the item drop system to AL like in other sts games. Having that in conjunction with the crate drop/chest drop system would add more to the game. Like Psyko suggested, on a 45+ min map everyone walks away with something, in this scenario some get chests/crates some get a mid to high level pink drop. Maybe make the pink drop rate a little higher than the chests/crate drop rate. Also with these 45+ maps the chests obtained should be somewhat like the crates (2 epics on Legendary) but agian rates on good pinks lower than mid level when opening chests.

All in all great post, I really agree 100% with these suggestions.

[Psykopathic]

Yeah you get the idea for the most part. Don't start making amazing gear super available but don't make the average gear just as hard to get. Gotta balance it out a lil so people can stay motivated and rise through the ranks to really make the market thrive. Also I love the idea of a different pink armor drop on every map in a section STS. Will work even better with this idea where all maps in a section are balanced so no classes gear is much harder than the others. And better loots for each harder section.

[Jaytee12]

This is a good advice for justification, as far as I concern. People who spend much time with less $$$ should get rewarded by a slight better drop rate of loots, perhaps. So I couldn't agree more with what's written above. Good game !!

[Wowsome]

Kudos! This right here is why lots of players i know have lost interest in AL.

I too don't like the idea of nerfing elite (well maybe except skull cove). I do enjoy finding and forming a good party and working with them to run maps. Personally it has improved my game.

Everything else I would like to say is basically covered in the first post .. I am just hoping this would not go unnoticed. Again, kudos.

[Vystirch]

.... Ill read this latter. Not feeling like reading a long post......

-Vys

[Psykopathic]

Lol vys.

[Vystirch]

Lol vys.

This is the only post I've read so far in this thread....

ok guess Ill. Read it now....

-Vys

[Vystirch]

Very nice simple idea, just grade the lvls that way people can farm there way to greatness.

-Vys

[Psykopathic]

Yeah. The way the game is now is like that to an extent. Gets a lil harder as you go. But loot doesn't progress at same rare is difficulty and alot if the difficult maps are placed so randomly that it kinda throws things off. Having the maps and loot kind of like a level system as I mentioned balances thing while creating a wider variety of players and loot as well as game experience and play time progressing through the maps. I shouldn't be lvl 26 with all elite maps beat by day 2 or 3. I know it's only a mobile game, but we still got some serious gamers who need a good challenge with likewise reward. So yeah I'm not saying give us handouts. I'm saying throw those hard levels at us and let us earn the loot and take out just a small portion of the chance in this double random system (which I actually do somewhat like despite alot of complaints about it as well.

[Vystirch]

Yeah. The way the game is now is like that to an extent. Gets a lil harder as you go. But loot doesn't progress at same rare is difficulty and alot if the difficult maps are placed so randomly that it kinda throws things off. Having the maps and loot kind of like a level system as I mentioned balances thing while creating a wider variety of players and loot as well as game experience and play time progressing through the maps. I shouldn't be lvl 26 with all elite maps beat by day 2 or 3. I know it's only a mobile game, but we still got some serious gamers who need a good challenge with likewise reward. So yeah I'm not saying give us handouts. I'm saying throw those hard levels at us and let us earn the loot and take out just a small portion of the chance in this double random system (which I actually do somewhat like despite alot of complaints about it as well.

Well said and quality idea, I solute u two AFers. :) gj

-Vys

[Raxin]

I been lobbying for a "level clear incentive" for a long time brack elite chests cant be sold so thats thier drawback. Skull takes a bit long but its also last avail.level currently. The difficulty is good atm but full of selfish skill builds (pvp/only damage output) im curious to see strategy vs full assault strategy. Each class has a skill that compliments others ( rally cry, curse, veil) just a thought. It wont speed it up but it might make it funner with some strategy

[Drizzt Lee]

This is a very good idea imo. In a earlier post of mine, I did highlighted that it's kinda absurd to invest all the time and effort fighting through a elite map to get a crappy common, green or epic items.

There's no point comparing the loot system in arcane legends with WOW (though I see the similarities between AL's latest loot distribution of having pink gear drops from certain bosses), but I believed that Devs can bridge the gap by adopting the 3 tier map difficulty system suggested by Psy and most importantly change all the bosses' loot tables to have only chests.

Example
Tier 1 dungeons - high chance of copper chest, mid chance of silver chest, low chance of gold chest
Tier 2 dungeons - low chance of copper chest, high chance of silver chest, mid chance of gold chest
Tier 3 dungeons - no chance of copper chest, low chance if silver chest, high chance of gold chest, low chance of pink gear drops.

AL is already designed in the manner that all drops are like lottery, it's a lottery whether u get a good chest from a boss kill, it's another lottery whether u get good drops from opening the chests. Tbh, that's a tad too much. It will be more ideal to let the common mobs drop those crappy white and greens with a occasional epic, but every boss kill should give the player a better reward amounting to at least a copper chest imo.

What we get from the chests is our luck, but let's face the fact: every decent player are mostly geared in pinks from head to toe in order to achieve the decent stats to do the elite maps. So the idea of a player going through all the effort to clad himself in pink to get into elite maps, fighting all the way to kill the boss and get a crappy green or even purple which they definitely do not need is a waste of the player's time and effort. But no player can complain if they still get a copper chest (aka gold / lottery) for their effort.

Just my two cents.

[digitalbot]

i agree with most parts of this,

but sts why didnt fix windmill glitch? why weaken their armor? once u fix wind glitch we will be back to where we were.....
cmon sts...
if u only shot up our taunts there would be absolutely no problems. give us warrors maybe 1600 armor? why are mages and rouges always becoming stronger and us warriors slight increase?

here an idea, drop rouges and mages 30dmg and add warriors plus 60 how bout that? re-edit all the weapons, its even numbers..should be quick...

[Spicy1]

Heres a better idea: just add hardcore mode on top of elite mode in the game. Revamp the loot system to adjust to this change. Also revamp characters that they wont be so potion dependant. It just doesn't take much skill to spam pots. All in all good post psyko and i support the idea with larger spectrum of difficulties and loot.

-Alizhera

[Bless]

Really like the ideas :D that makes it possible to play in short bursts

[GoodSyntax]

Rather than a pure tiered maps, with tiered loot, I would rather see something different.

An idea I posted in another thread was to have "live" odds (like the shifting odds of horse betting, or nearly any Vegas bookie).

A shifting drop rate (aka odds) would entice players to run maps that no one plays in and, for lack of a better word, discourage players from farming the same maps over and over and over. This would initially seed maps like Elite Skull Cove with very high odds and Elite Brackenridge with low odds. As players flock to different maps, chasing good odds, the probabilities shift so that eventually all maps are being farmed and good loot is dropping at places that fewer people are willing to venture into. This would probably mean that some maps like Elite Aquaduct, Elite Skull Cove, Elite Dead City would have better odds because I never see anyone there.

[Ruejade]

i agree with most parts of this,

but sts why didnt fix windmill glitch? why weaken their armor? once u fix wind glitch we will be back to where we were.....
cmon sts...
if u only shot up our taunts there would be absolutely no problems. give us warrors maybe 1600 armor? why are mages and rouges always becoming stronger and us warriors slight increase?

here an idea, drop rouges and mages 30dmg and add warriors plus 60 how bout that? re-edit all the weapons, its even numbers..should be quick...

Huh? (=.=)

If warriors get all the damage......what are other classes for? Lol...

[Jackyll]

i agree with most parts of this,

but sts why didnt fix windmill glitch? why weaken their armor? once u fix wind glitch we will be back to where we were.....
cmon sts...
if u only shot up our taunts there would be absolutely no problems. give us warrors maybe 1600 armor? why are mages and rouges always becoming stronger and us warriors slight increase?

here an idea, drop rouges and mages 30dmg and add warriors plus 60 how bout that? re-edit all the weapons, its even numbers..should be quick...

We're not discussing this here, please keep the thread on topic.

[digitalbot]

We're not discussing this here, please keep the thread on topic.

its got everything to do with the loot system.

[SouLBlizzard]

Supporting this...

[Zanpakuto]

Yeah I agree. I mean I could do the hauntlet 250 times and make money every time rather than maybe a drop in elite with hundreds of potions lost a round with nothing to show. That's why I'm only doing quests and stuff with guaranteed money right now.

[Energizeric]

This all sounds so familiar..... oh wait, here it is:

http://www.spacetimestudios.com/showthread.php?80774-Idea-for-Elite-Dungon-with-great-rewards

(BTW, I posted this before the locked watch crates existed)

[CosmoxKramer]

Rather than a pure tiered maps, with tiered loot, I would rather see something different.

An idea I posted in another thread was to have "live" odds (like the shifting odds of horse betting, or nearly any Vegas bookie).

A shifting drop rate (aka odds) would entice players to run maps that no one plays in and, for lack of a better word, discourage players from farming the same maps over and over and over. This would initially seed maps like Elite Skull Cove with very high odds and Elite Brackenridge with low odds. As players flock to different maps, chasing good odds, the probabilities shift so that eventually all maps are being farmed and good loot is dropping at places that fewer people are willing to venture into. This would probably mean that some maps like Elite Aquaduct, Elite Skull Cove, Elite Dead City would have better odds because I never see anyone there.

This is the best idea in the thread. keeps people trying different instances vs. just doing Jarl or all the easy ones. Maybe Show bonus odds% per zone and change them once a day (so they don't change on you often mid-run). So some zones may be the 'hot' zones for the day and should be the ones to easily find a group in.

[Alhuntrazeck]

Great idea. Oh, uh, Psykopath, that u?? lol

[GoodSyntax]

This is the best idea in the thread. keeps people trying different instances vs. just doing Jarl or all the easy ones. Maybe Show bonus odds% per zone and change them once a day (so they don't change on you often mid-run). So some zones may be the 'hot' zones for the day and should be the ones to easily find a group in.

I knew you would understand what I was trying to say Cosmo!

That's exactly my point, try to get people to farm maps OTHER than just Brackenridge and Tower.

Good thought on displaying Bonus % - I really like that a lot. Gives me a chance to better allocate my time and precious pots :-)

I mean, if I know that there is a 25% Bonus chance on Elite Skull Cove, I would probably buy a 60 min combo elixir (for the extra re-roll) and endure that hour long trudge for what could effectively be a 1-in-2 odds of a Pink or a Golden Chest.

[Shun]

I just hope, STS is reading ur suggestion or else its just a waste...

Nice Idea!