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This would need to be tested with simulations thoroughly.
In the game creation, just like we can choose item spacing, allow us to choose personal loot or shared loot (Which is what we have now).
Personal loot WILL NOT be better than shared loot.
What needs to be tested is a new system where “Players 8” using personal loot simulates a semi-nerfed players 1 loot table for each player AND Act bosses need to behave differently (You can’t have boss loot the way it is with 8 players).
If tested enough, you can come up with a drop rate that is almost the same as the loot system we have now EXCEPT it gives players the option to play multiplayer without worrying about drops. I think a system like this would further push D2 as the best co-op ARPG ever made.
------ Another change I would like to see is either:
1.) Larzuk’s Hammer (New Item/Rare drop) which acts like Larzuks Quest without having to rush a character for the quest.
2.) A corruption system similar to Path of Diablo or Project Diablo 2. (The thing is about adding power is that “Meta” builds will be meta with or without these systems BUT systems like this aid players who want to play a singular main character that isn’t meta. It also adds depth to the end game farming. A “Shako” isn’t the end for your helmet slot. A “gg corrupted Shako” would be, so it adds even more longevity to the item system.
I won’t touch the bottom two, but all they need to do to create a fair personal loot system is the following:
As mentioned, a choice between Personal Loot and Party Loot.
Party Loot Tooltip: As more players enter the game, more loot is dropped, but this loot is seen and shared amongst all players in the game.
Personal Loot Tooltip: Players each get their own loot that can be seen by only them, but more loot is not dropped as additional players enter the game. Some items may be bound to account and restricted from trading.
This makes personal loot instanced at Players 1, thus either playing solo or optional personal multiplayer would be equal in terms of loot finding chances. Annis, Torches, Uber Keys, and Uber Organs are Bound to Account in these games, and can not be stacked if they do a stack tab.
They need to test it a ton to make sure personal loot is not better than what we have now. It needs to be equal or slightly worse. If it’s better, it will create problems.
I don’t think loot should ever be soulbound in D2.
The loot just needs to be adjusted so that when receiving personal loot, the loot table is adjusted with the entire economy in mind. So if 8 players are farming baal for example, it isn’t x8 boss drops, that would make the economy flooded. Boss loot would need to be nerfed in personal loot. As for normal monsters, it needs to be calculated in a nerfed P1 way because if it was simply P1 always in a 8 player game, you are getting 5x-6x more loot into the economy. So in order to balance a personal loot, the loot needs to be heavily nerfed BUT we get to at least play multiplayer always without feeling bad.
And this is important and here is why:
Level 1-75 is multiplayer baal runs. Once you reach 75, the majority of players start to SOLO farm items. Doesn’t make any sense to farm items in a multiplayer game so in a way D2 is mostly solo for farming items. Of course groups of players/friends share the loot and it’s different but I feel out of the 500,000 players, the majority are playing without friends.
It would also be interesting in terms of the meta game. Hammerdins for example will be like “Why would I want personal loot when I can carry a P8 game?”… It would make interesting decision making strategies between different styles of players. Do you help the personal loot players or try and farm in an 8 player pub game?
If you have 10,000 players playing solo, that is 10,000 instances of loot at players 1. If half of those players play an optional multiplayer personal loot where instanced loot is at players 1, you still have 10,000 instances of players 1 loot. It -may- lead to slightly more loot in terms of if 50% of the current Baal running players decided to jump in personal loot as opposed to FFA loot, then you have a net gain of items, but with a reduced chance of getting things (player’s will see mostly 2-4 items as opposed to 5-6 at 8 player games).
While I’m sure that there is a formula that might be able to garner the probably, I’m not one that could go that deep. However, if you simply did something like allocating the current drop rates amongst players, the drop rate per player will be utter crap, and you’ll hear cries to improve drop rates.
As for Soulbound, remember, Annis and Torches started their life in D2 as restricted from trading. It wasn’t until 1.13 I believe that this restriction was removed. Account Bound in personal loot if you are guarantied it’s drop is fair (and all the above mentioned minus the keys are 100% drops). They could not account bound them if they did a system similar to how D3 handles the Uber event, where the amount of players in game affects the drop percent; something like if 1 player in game, 100% drop, 2 players in game, 50% drop per player, and so on.
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And to add, regardless of how/if they do it, MF should still be determined by who delivers the final blow, thus discouraging leechers from simply loading up on MF gear and not participating in the fighting.