Originally Posted by Vhex
Only two standard counter-arguments is that "PLAYERS LIKE RANDOM!" which is complete bullshit in and of itself
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But players like random.
They just don't like random that never yields the reward.
It's basic skinnerian theory. A random reward works far better at hooking than a fixed reward... if you end up with the reward in a "reasonable" time frame. That's the clincher; after a while people stop fussing about the reward that doesn't come and turn to other activities. Be it PVP Arena farming to get a good weapon, or - gasp - stopping raiding and going to another game.
Which does suggest an hybrid system. All bosses drop random loot "as they used to". They also drop a token/badge/whatever. That token/badge yeilds ANY item from this boss table - you just require, say 2 to 3 times the number of kills in badges. If boss drops 3 items in a raid of 25 (1 chance in 8), then his drops require 20 badges from the boss to purchase. You either get lucky with the random (/cheer) or you fail and finally get it.
It can be expanded to a full zone. Early bosses loots cost 30 badges, mid-boss loots costs 60 badges, end-boss loots costs 100 badges. (I can see the outcry "but you can buy Illidan loot without killing him?"... ok, so you name the loot from badges differently, and you color it a drab color - see he purchased his loot from badges instead of getting it from the boss)
One of the thing that really causes problem with loot is the Diablo-esque set system. Without the set system, you'd probably have far less problems with loot allocation (and the randomness therein) than you'd get in an EQ-esque system where every loot stood on its own. Let's face it: the token system was invented because every "major" piece of loot had a set bonus and class restriction on it. If you removed those (and added more cross-stat usefulness), you would need less tokenization because the random would give people more chances at upgrades - even if small.