The development teams have often approached the loot tables for a new branch of content slightly differant. As I look over the differant ways in which the loot tables have been handled, I've noticed a few voices here and there of people noting that they enjoyed one above the others. So I was curious enough that I wanted a show of hands to see how we as a community actually like the loot tables for our new content to be designed. Method #1: Four Styles, one for each role. This happened at launch with Duos, Hard Alerts, and Raids, and continued as the status quo for some time. Loot tables like Medieval/Military Tech/Shaman/Kabuki, or Heartshard/Winged Fury/Rapture/Raptor Tech, or Kryptonian/Aerial Defender/Talon Lord/Oolong, have given us 4 sets of gear, one for each role. Pros: Largest number of new styles, granting the most options for feats and style outfits. Cons: Certain Styles unavailable without purchasing Power Respec Tokens to access them. Method #2: Two styles, one shared for all role specific suits and one reserved as the "DPS set". This happened with Sector Agent/Sector Incendiary, with Demonic Runes/Runes of the East, etc. Pros: Sets are completeable even should a character change powersets. Cons: Half the number of feats and styles as the prior method. Method #3: Same style, all four roles. Brainiac Invader, Engineer, Spec Ops, etc. During these content additions, four differant sets of gear drop each with the exact same style set and shared feat. Pros: DPS style is no longer more rare or contested than Role Specifics. Rare peices drop from multiple bosses, so a player has increased chance to finish a set. Cons: Only one style and feat from the set for the least possible customization provided. Method #4: One style, four roles, no feat. Amazonian. Pros: So easy to get, you're practically tripping over it. No feat, so players are more apt to pass on unwearables, making it easy to grab up as an off-suit. Cons: No feat. Little interest in loot tables. Method #5: One style, one role, no feat. League of Assassins. Pros: Always wearable by everyone. No feats so players don't get so worked up. Cons: DPS stats combined with no feats, causing disagreement as to whom should be allowed to roll. Method #6: One style, everyone rolls, feat attached. Runes of the Norseman did this by making them attuneable. Similarly, sets like Astral Alloy, Avatar Infiltrator and Hive Defender did this by only including these styles in the "DPS" role. Pros: Wearable by anyone, so dropped peices never go to waste. Cons: Always the maximum number of teammates competing for drops. Alternative Loot Table #1: (Hard Alerts, T2 Raids, FoS1) Weapons on boss loot tables. Pros: By having weapons of 10 differant types drop on the boss tables, nearly half of all drops should be weapons, making weapon upgrades easier to come by considering they are not often able to be ignored in favor of teir gear. Cons: By having half the loot table be weapons, completing the style feats becomes twice as cumbersome because style peices will often be replaced with more weapons. Alternative Loot Table #2: (FoS2, FoS3, Prime Battleground, 8-man Operations) Weapons reserved solely to certain bosses. Pros: Weapons do not block style feats by occupying the same loot table. Weapons drop in a consistant and reliable manner and number. Cons: Once you obtain your weapon, certain bosses (and in some cases, entire raids) become worthless. As weapon upgrades become obtainable, previous weapon-only encounters serve no purpose because there is no feats from the loot. Attuneables: Pros: Every drop is useable by your character. No item ever comes in a less desireable combination, such as Controller Brawlers or DPS Handblasters (these items are possible, but never forced) Cons: Every drop is contestable by every other character in the group. More desireable peices (Bow, for example) can take much longer to obtain as the item is useful for multiple roles. Looking over the various changes to the Loot Tables over the years, I notice things like how I've never felt excited to run Gates the way I did other raids, because none of the gear was upgrades for stats or feats. Or how certain peices elude me for years to the point that I feel annoyed and stop trying to get them (avatar infiltrator). With T5 content right around the corner, I was curious to hear what the playerbase hoped to see from the new loot tables.
