Group Looting, and Items at the end.

[Guardian 452]

I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about Looting and all that fun stuff that comes at the end when the loot is gone over by the group.

1. Definatly assign a looter in your group... and contrary to popular beleive it DOES NOT have to be the rogue or the scout's job every time. The group should assign whom they trust with that role (would your character really trust that shady person dressed in all black stabbing everything in the back with the role of keeping hold of the money and items you might find?)

2. If you are not the looter, dont look at dead corpses. If the looter sees you do that and move on.. they may assume that body has nothing on it and leave it go as well. We have a system in place that announced EVERYTHING that is looted. So you really have no reason to look.

3. Set some rules at the start... be they IC or OOC... do it at the begenning so there is no grumbles at the end.
I would reccomend trying a Need Before Greed for loot drops.

What that does is, if the item in question your character wants and will use personally. They have dibs over say someone who wants it because they know they can make money selling it, they know a friend who wants it etc....
This IMO is only fair to those who wish to use it and helped earn it. Versus those who wont use it directly.

If no one Needs the item to use on the toon they are playing... the item then falls to Greed. Basically anyone who wants it, for whatever purpose can then roll for the item or take it at this point if no one else ask for it.

If anyone else has sugestions they wish to add please do!!

G-452

[EdTheKet]

There's a big group of players that have adopted their own "policy".

http://forums.layonara.com/roleplaying/131142-looting-policy.html

If you go on a trip, you can agree to have that apply.

[Dorax Windsmith]

I definately think that a quick discussion at the start of a party outing is appropriate for laying ground rules and I agree with most of G 452's points, but I've always thought it faster for everyone to do some looting.  

If there's a dedicated looter, often that character is lagging the party since he/she has to run around and check all the dead bodies while the rest of the party usually continues on.  

Completely agree with the need before greed approach.  

I don't agree with having a standard policy that everyone on the server must follow.  I think this attitude restricts players who want to explore being more shifty and even unscrupulous.  The current system allows members of the party to "see" the item as it's picked up and I think it could lead to some interesting RP situations if a characters tries to stick something away from him/herself.  How would your character handle the situation?

Just some of my thoughts on the topic.

[Gulnyr]

If there's a dedicated looter, often that character is lagging the party since he/she has to run around and check all the dead bodies while the rest of the party usually continues on.

[LIST=1]

• Bring Monk
• Let Monk loot bodies
• Monk catches up

hehe

That might actually work.  It's a functional joke!

[Guardian 452]

I dont think multiple looters is a problem and it will speed thigns up if your taking out waves of enemies. What I find annoying is when the mob is dead and half the party runs around "window shopping" all the corpses and if its an item the grab it... if its coin they leave it.

I understand people wanting to RP a character that would in fact tuck an item away and try to keep it for themselves. However I also beleive that in a game community many people feel robbed (no pun intended) when this takes place. Especialy if Shifty McStickyfingers.... decided to tuck away a nice item that he couldnt even use, or didnt benefit him as much as it would someone in the group. If it were a rare item and I never even got a chance to roll for it... yeah id be cheesed. If He tucked away some healing potions, or more common items. I dont see the harm one bit. If people would be mature about it... I'd say it would definatly add another level to playing. But we all want better gear and items. Every one here is looking to improve there character by levels and items. If they werent.. we wouldnt need a level system.. or all this fancy loot.. and we could all just sit around and RP with one another.

G-452

[Dorganath]

You know, one of the reasons (besides a lack of any real time to devote to such things) I haven't gone on dungeon raids in a very long time is the very fact that I've had some experiences that have left a very sour taste in my mouth.  These experiences can be boiled down to one or more of the following:

• Some "ambitious" (I used that word because the other is less kind) player who due to a lack of thought gets the party suddenly assaulted by an overwhelming force leading to deaths that didn't have to happen
• People who are in such a big hurry that they a) leave the looter in the dust and/or b) trip spawns that catch those in the back of the group as the group is trying to exit (again, causing deaths that don't need to happen)
• People who don't observe any sort of inter-player respect regarding looting and do the "every character for him/herself" method, which greatly favors the front-liners and negatively impacts those more "supporting" characters.

I used to run around with a pretty decent group.  We worked well together, there was always a nice loot split at the end, there wasn't any ultra-rushed pace and everyone was always looking out for the others in the group.  It was enjoyable, but due to various reasons, that group no longer exists. The last "raid" I went on, at least two of the above things happened, leaving me rather disappointed at the end of it all.

I understand and realize that especially for people who go on raids regularly, they fall into a pattern.  Any newcomers to the group don't know these patterns and they're often enough left behind in a literal or figurative sense.

So what's the point?

The whole issue of looting (and sharing at the end), for all the justifications of RP and character personality and such that people use to justify getting their own characters just that much further ahead, it's really about respect for the other players.

So sure, your character might be greedy, and you can still RP that, but then out of respect for the other players (and to avoid any IC/OOC animosity slipping through), you can just as easily relent give over whatever you've collected, grumbling about it the whole time....or emote that a whole lot of coins broke through an over-full pouch...something!

Point is...there doesn't need to be any standard, uniform world policy or rule on looting, but players need to respect other players in this matter, because for me...any of those things I listed above takes the fun right out of any adventure, and fun is why we're here.

[Hellblazer]

I think it takes some time for a group to actually get to know each other players style and form an homogeneous pattern.

If you take the Gorm/Tray/Vreb/Feh (of tyillaan)/Trent/Talia/darthy/Torroc or flynn when either two can, group. There is very seldomly any rush going, the group sticks pretty much together, and they watch for one an other. but that happened over a month or so period of them going around hunting together. I could easily say the first few times it was pretty harsh, but now we have settled in a groove that is a good pace, but very protective of each others.

It just needs good communication in between characters to characters and player to player. Pretty sure that if you had more time Dorg you'd like it

[Dorganath]

Oh I did, when I had a good, reliable group that worked well together and had a good understanding. That's not the problem and never was.

It's when people are just hanging out, maybe some of them group regularly, some don't, and someone gets the idea to go raid The Dungeon of This-or-That, you can get some situations when some have a "routine" and others don't.

My gut says it's the lack of these sorts of courtesies between players (communication, respect, etc...) whether intentional or no, that leads to anxiety over things like looting and people keeping up a fast pace and leaving others behind and so forth.

[miltonyorkcastle]

I'm pretty sure one of those last "raids" was with me and Abiorn, heh. And admittedly, we move(d) fast. Very fast. Bordering on frantic. When people couldn't keep up with the pace, bad things usually happened. The pace added to our strength, our ability to survive, and more importantly our mental focus. If we slowed even a little, we lost place, everything took six times longer, and invariably something would catch us off guard, or we'd forget to do something important, like cast shadow shield, heh. I tried to warn people through tells that we moved fast, would be going fast, be ready for full throttle, etc, but not everyone can or is willing to do that, and it usually took once around the rosy with us to really understand what I was trying to say by, "We move really fast." The people that liked the pace came back for more, and the people that didn't like it, didn't come back. Which is just fine.

IC and OOC I think people have different motivations for "raiding" or "dungeon delving," and if those motivations don't jive, not only is it harder to mesh the group, but you get misunderstandings about loot, PC death, and other things generally not as fun.

Me, personally (as a player), I dungeon delve to get something specific (like CNR), or to "beat" the dangers of the dungeon. I'm extremely competitive, so I'm more interested in the challenge than the neat-looking tiles and the ominous statue in the corner which poses no obvious threat, but, you know, it's "ominous." I want to get in, get down to business, and get out. I'm not generally interested in sight-seeing, lots of casual chatting, or sitting around. I have a mission, and I want to complete it before four hours have passed, and preferably, under two. This is especially true if the place is of a particular challenge to my character.

That said, every once in a while my "mission" is to simply hang out with the other PCs. This is usually the case when I do something with lower level PCs, or with guilds, and 99% of the time I'm going someplace not terribly dangerous for my character. In these cases, I play whatever role they want me to play, and often take no loot. And yeah, it's a mission because my character has something to gain by maintaining or adding to the relationships of those with whom he travels.

This is just how I as a player prefer to adventure outside of quests. And my characters have personalities that suit that playstyle. PCs that have similar "strike-force mission" oriented attitudes mesh really well with me for "raids." (This mentality is also why I get bored really fast with an area; once I've "beaten" the dungeon, I lose interest in it for a month or two.) Those players that prefer to be a bit more laid back, or want to side-track a lot, look down every pit and up every beholder's nose.... well, let's just say it would be better for both of us if my mission is simply to get to know your character better and we go to an "easy" dungeon.

Knowing your motivations and expressing them up front (as Dorg and others have mentioned) can save you from having a sour ending adventure. It also may mean you don't go "hard-core" adventuring (again, like Dorg), because you can't find a group you mesh with. But hey, there are other things to do. Like make deals with dragons.

[Hellblazer]

I personally like a good balance. I like seeing new places, and taking the time to look around. Even more so with the new cam mod I have been trying out. Like to RP with those my chars are close with. I guess when I don't emote or talk is because I'm getting to tired and either need to log or take a break, cause after a time, the brain just doesn't want to think and it gets on automatic drive.

Of course I don't go repetitively in dungeon just for the sake of bashing. Need something to do there, like gathering cnr. Or doing a quest, or exploring something new, rping, and spending time with IC and OOC friends. I'm not the sit at the fire and just talk for 8 RL hour kind of guy. Need to mix it up, do most of my rp on the road actually. There are those occasion though, when the person I'm RPing with is able to captivate me, then I can stay a long time in one place and just RP. Not many people has been able to do that, but they made my rp time so great, that I just wanted to stay there and keep going.. even after 8 hours. But then.. you know.. there is the whole overrated notion of eating and sleeping and seeing the family

[Makashi]

'Need before greed' enough said.