Vvin:
Basic economics here.
Your economic understanding is off. Even if the total drops are constant between FFA and instance loot multiplayer games, there will be less good items entering the economy due to personal loot.
There is no difference in the number of items that could enter the trade economy in these two systems.
Furthermore, functionally personal loot leads to less items entering into the trade economy and slow down how quickly players can gear up.
In an 8 player game, lets say there are A-tier and B-tier items that are worth picking up. Advanced players may not pickup B-tier items because they have better gear. However, the less advanced players will pick up the B-tier item. In a personal loot game, there is a certain probability that the B-tier item would drop for the advanced player. That player does not pick it up and therefore that item will not be collected by anyone. That less advanced player does not get that B-tier item, meaning there is less items to potentially trade and will have a harder time gearing up.
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