GW2 uses a ‘hit it’ method for deciding if you get loot. When traveling with a group I would switch to an AoE weapon so I could tag as many things as possible. When 10 people are all tagging it, everything drops quickly. I also would avoid groups when playing with a class that didn’t have a good AoE skill. the need to tag things didn’t help my desire to play with others.
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Yeah you are not being super honest here 
You should still see all items dropping in Ploot.
So you would see the exact same items as in FFA.
Which is a huge difference. Group play is much easier than solo. It should not reward the same.
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I wrote an entire paragraph discussing the problem with the ploot version you want. Read the first bolded paragraph. Maybe you missed it.
If a boss drops 6 items. 2 people would see no loot dropped and 6 people would see baal drop 1 item. Why do you think in ploot that everyone would see loot?
Are you saying everyone would see the 6 items but only be able to click 1 item (if they were one of the 6 people)? So 2 of 8 players would see everything but not be able to collect a single item because the dropped loot is allocated to the other 6 players?
Ploot is just a term meaning that what you see on your screen is what you can pickup. Also other people cant pick it up. I think a lot of people are mistaken against the merits of Ploot and its actual implementation. There is no set definition of how Ploot could be implemented.
I’ll use this example. If 4 people did 1 baal run each solo. They each get the normal Baal drops, good or bad. Most players farm alone with standard builds because that’s the optimized way to get good items.
Ploot could be implemented in a way that those four people can play in a single game. The drops the recieved in the solo run is identical more or less to the ones the drops they have in the group run. The main difference is instead of four seperate games they just farmed as a group.
This is why I am in favor of it. I want group farming to be encouraged. We hardly see support main characters in Diablo 2. An SOJ will take roughly 1000 andy runs to get that item. That can get really repetitive solo. If you farm in a group then you get interesting variations in each run. One run you could have a shout bard, another you can have a Pally with passive auras. Maybe you cant afford enigma yet so the sorc finds the boss and makes the TP for everyone. Thats the core of my post. Ploot doesn’t mean the drops have to be equally split. It just needs to encourage group farming. How Ploot is implemented doesn’t have to be set in stone and it could just be identical to doing a solo run in one game just with 4 people.
No. Do not want the drop rates to be increased like that. That would mean everyone chooses personal loot over FFA instead of it being an option.
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If it was RNG, at least two players would get nothing. It could be possible that 1 player gets more than 1 item and more than two players get nothing.
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I have to point out I never mentioned a drop rate increase. Let me explain.
Its not a drop rate increase. In normal diablo 2 LoD If two people were going to run baal solo. Baal dies twice. Therefore he rolls items for two deaths. Those items from those two Baal runs now exist in the servers.
Now with Ploot. Two players are in the same game. Baal dies once and each of the two players sees and can only pick up items from a single baal kill.
Its no different than two people soloing baal. No drop rate increase is made. If one person disconnects without picking up items from baal and the first player kills baal and picks up items. Its still the same drop rate as a solo run. Additionally they wouldnt get anymore items if the player was afk when baal died. The only change is that the loot seen is what you are seeing vs what the other player is seeing. The idea is those two players are going to do Baal reguardless. In D2 as it is they are most likely going to do Baal Solo.
It’s kind of a wasted opportunity to have an online game with 90% of the game being farming and farming is largely done solo.
Like I said I dont want this thread to be about specific implementations of Ploot. But I see a lot of people making assumptions on how it could be. That’s not productive. The core of this thread is Ploot being a change that could encourage group farming in diablo 2. I believe that is achievable.
Why even implement an RMG factor where more people could get 0 loot? Doesn’t make much sense to add that variable. Sure it would be possible to get more than one piece if less than 8 people were present.
Yes. And if you compare that to current multiplayer FFA, multiplayer FFA has less items.
If we were designing the game today, I would agree with that. But we’re not.
My worry is if everyone is too resistant to change the game will have a big boom in players. Then fizzle out in the coming months. If you go on steam charts and search any game you’ll see this. There is a big bell curve in the beginning, then it declines and plateaus at a very low number. One game I love reached 70k players peak in the first few months then reduced down to maybe 10% of the total player base.
The thing about Diablo 2 is its 20 years old. Yes now with Much need QoL improvements, and MUCH needed bug fixes. Its still just diablo 2 though. Most returning players have played so much of it already. After the influx of players see the fresh coat of paint many will be put off by the grind it will take to gear up their characters. Not always because the grind isn’t fun, but they have done it already. This could mean a sharper decline in players after release. The players who are willing to grind will largely be doing it solo. All I want is for farming in groups to be encouraged. Ploot is probably the best solution for that. This will change diablo 2 without changing much. Ploot is actually not a huge change. The biggest change is farming in groups would be worth it. We have seen SO many hammerdins, SO many cold sorc and SO many javazons. I can’t recall ever seeing support mains in diablo 2 LoD. Beyond fresh paint Group farming would add so much variation to farming that it would keep old and new players more interested.
I think people are getting too caught up in the actual implementation of that. Everyone should also remember, almost all blizzard games have a PTR server where things can be ironed out and tested without assumptions on what it would be like. Personally, Ploot and FFA being optional would be a win for every player here.
i agree, i’d be more inclined to play with randos if there was some sort of a fair form of personal loot. but as of such with FFA, the only times i will group is to do cbaals and that’s it. i probably won’t even play with people i know either just to avoid loot drama that ALWAYS comes up in games like these (it did in the past so it’ll happen in d2r too). so with the current FFA rules, i will play 99% solo. d2 is such a great MP game for sure. nothing like fighting with friends about loot instead of, you know, playing the game. 10/10 ign.
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Yes!
People need to see everything so they can loot stuff that turns FFA, and potentially trade with each other for the items that dropped.
Rng is more exciting.
A tiny chance to win everything etc.
Feels more fitting for D2 as well.
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That is why you do solo MF runs in order to find what you are looking for. Solo Mf spped runs are for finding loot. Sure they can be boring to do. But so are GR for paragon in D3.
Now if you want to do things in a team then run enough public games when it launches that will allow you to find enough friends to play with that would be willing to share the loot with you.
Next you could post in the forums threads where you would be looking for ones that would help you out in that way. You even have places like Reddit, along with other places that would no doubt help you find the friends you would need to get the job done.
You would have to have the willpower and determination to do so.