Advanced Loot and Grouping is Catastrophic for Casuals

It is not a learning curve issue, it is an incompetent implementation issue. As well as the fact that they refused to have it on test for more than a week before pushing it live; plus the fact that they further insisted on having it set to on by default when it launched. In both cases many of us told them this was a mistake and that things as described in this thread and others will be going on for the next several months because of how they just pushed out an effectively untested and buggy system.

Makes you wonder what the real point of even having a Test server if they aren't going to listen to the players actually testing it.

Um... it was on test for almost two months:

https://forums.station.sony.com/eq/index.php?threads/new-loot-system-info-and-bugs.217595/

That said... it just adds to the argument of how bad the implementation was. It had extensive testing and feedback yet still managed to go live in its current state. I'm fairly certain this is not a reflection of the Test server population though. If we've learned anything, Test simply serves as a precursor to make sure the hamsters don't spontaneously combust when something is getting pushed live.

Test server exists not to fine-tune features and abilities to the players' liking, but to ensure the next live patch doesn't spectacularly break the game.

That said, the implementation of advlooting in a group environment is horribad.

• A second (or third) button for 'Set all to:' would go a long way.
• Some integration with /hidecorpse NPC would be great too.
• 3rd option for 'auto show loot window': when_loot_assigned_to_me'

Does anyone else stop reading a post when it starts with something like this?

I learned long ago that not everything I read on the Internet is the truth. No, it doesn't stop me from reading it. I just take what follows with a grain of salt.

Played with this a bunch on Fri night. It's got piss-poor UI design. It just does. Using abstract icons that don't mean ANYTHING until AFTER you've figured out how it works is just awful. Even with this horrible UI a few simple instructional labels indicating what's going on would have gone a long way.

I write mobile apps so I'm particularly sensitive to trying to make things simple. This reminds me of an old calvin and hobbes cartoon:



I like the spirit of the new loot system, but please overhaul the UI for it. It could be make a lot simpler. EQ is already an airline control panel don't make it more so unnecessarily.

Nylrem, set your looter's name in the "Set all to:" window (which you did), next time the window pops up with loot, CLICK the "Set all to:" button (yes it's an actual button, too). You can assign loot as always need or never, if you have something set to never, it will stay in the shared loot section, but everything else will go to your looter. You can also uncheck the "group by NPCs" box, which I find helpful. Kill away and every so often, dump all the unwanted stuff by changing "set all to" to leave on corpse.

The simplest and easiest way to do loot on only one character...
It will take you a little bit to have it all set up but do the following..
When an item you want pops up in the shared loot window, click the AN button then click the box in the dice column...
It will roll one minute after the item drops every time
Do not set any checks on your other box and all loot will go to your master looter
Once the item pops into the personal loot window.. Click AN there also so you do not have to click the check each time you get an item.
After you have all items that drop set, you can then go into edit filters and turn off auto show loot window so it will not keep popping up each time something falls (this is just if the window constantly popping annoys you)..
You might have to randomly check the loot window though to see if something new drops that you do not have filtered yet.
I have a few things about it that annoy me but overall I kind of like it, but would like to figure out how to stop the personal loot window from filling the whole window when I collapse the window then reopen it. Only sure fire way I found to restore the normal look is by by reloading the UI.
Also master looter can help other people in the group if you are not boxing by right clicking on th item in shared loot window and telling it to leave on corpse if the people are not using the ALS .. the lockout on corpse is not there and they can loot right away. You can also have the master looter give items to the specific person using the right click and giving it to a name in the group.

I love the new system.

Took roughly 5 min to learn how to use it... don't have to bother looting corpses anymore. never have to clog my inventory with rogue poisons or stuff i don't want.

it's really just a prime example how some people have a really really hard time adapting to new stuff.

I mostly solo, so I think its a good thing. If I was boxing, it would be annoying, as I have to click something on both screens. But if you camp the same spot long enough, and see the same loots coming up, always ignore, always greed, etc can be a big time saver but it takes upfront config.

If you move around a lot, its less useful I imagine.

I box, and after skimming over Qulas' guide, i got a basic understanding. Yeah, initially it's a little more work than i am used to but that's because never loot unless i have to when boxing since it kills my efficiency. I actually like it even though i am far from mastering it and haven't completely automated it yet.

They won't scrap this system on account of the opinions of some players. Those players won't be pleased unless they get EXACTLY their way VERBATIM as in "do this to a T or I cancel sub" since "compromise" is a word eliminated from their vocabulary.

Is there room for improvement?

Sure. The WHOLE GAME has room for improvement depending on who you ask. Luckily features that not everyone will like have the ability to be toggled off. If the dev team has learned anything over the years, it is that players need an out, and thus some of the responsibility falls upon the player base. Otherwise the dev team ends up bent over a barrel again. Many players have not enabled anything past Velious, such as new models etc. That's fine and it doesn't take being an old fart to be resistant to change. People have their comfort zones. Just don't expect the world to stand still for you.

Why have a lockout timer on the corpses if choosing not to use the ALsystem. Seems that you can use the new system or the old one, but the lockout should NOT be there for one if not for the other.

I am a retired raider who comes back just to do some dailies for some AAs that I can no longer use, but I still enjoy a few kills every so often. The ALsystem works for solo, so I'm ok with it, but to put a lockout on people who choose to go with the old system is just saying "ours is best and if you don't use it, we will penalize you". Not good imo.

The new looting system is AWESOME for boxing a group! You can weed out all the junk in your normal haunt and just zerg away! Havent tried it in groups w/out boxed toons yet though...

Oh yeah and there is a great write up on how to use it 101 by some guy named Qulas in here somewhere. It helped me figure it out.

47.6% of all statistics are made up on the spot (including this one).

I don't box a group nor do I have a "normal haunt". I have a usually works together group with frequent guildmates joining in. And we work on progression (with all those loots that appear on your cursor in quests), hunter, etc. Basically if need, greed, and junk never changed (and it regularly does) we'd have to list every loot in The Darkened Sea to get full coverage. Should we presort our files in item numeric order?? To save us time could Daybreak publish the complete loot list????

And we don't exactly zerg so fast that the looter has to AE loot to keep up. We don't swarm at all. (and if we did we'd have to wait for repops anyway - might as well spend part of that time popping corpses and logging in alts to loot the good stuff - after waiting for the timer of course.)

Don't need it soloing. Awkward in some groups (I'll believe you if you say its awesome for a box team that's mass killing trivial tradeskill item droppers). A real pita in raids.

Sure people who had feedback while it was being developed like it - you really think those so privileged would jeopardize their access by criticizing it? And one segment of the playerbase is happy with the only part that affects them. But this is supposedly a complete soup to nuts solution and while its has part of that down pat the rest a not right.

Seriously can't we resist imposing a Rube Goldberg replacement for what used to be one of the simplest and elegant functions in the game? Or alternately make the "advanced" system equally simple and easy to apply in every environment?

The mistake that DBG made was having /advloot turned on by default. They should have added the feature and let those that wanted it turn it on. Then you wouldn't have all the moaning from the people that can't adapt to change.

I personally love the /advloot - I personally hate them turning it on by default and turning the forums, general, and /gu into the cheese and wine factory.