I’ve been deep in the bowels of Epic Slant Press headquarters working on a yet to be named project and the discussion of loot came up again. I know that the way I look at loot and how I teach others about it is probably pretty different from the rest of the MMORPG community. I would really like to test my assumptions! I’ve devised a few questions for anyone willing to answer and would love it if you explained your reasoning. You can also just ignore the questions and freehand an answer if you prefer. Let me know how you see loot and its value in an MMORPG. This is slightly geared towards raiding but I’m interested in your opinion even if you don’t raid!
1. When you are awarded a piece of gear do you feel it is a reward or something you have won? Why or why not?
2. What purpose does loot serve in your MMORPG experience? How important is it to your play style? Why?
3. Is it fair if you paid ten points for an item that someone else paid five points for two months later? Why or why not?
4. When you make a decision to roll or spend points on loot is it an impulse or have you carefully planned what you wanted?
5. Do you trust other players to award loot fairly or do you need to see some sort of tracking metric?
6. Do you form a (meta)physical attachment to a particular item or will you part with it easily? Why or why not?
All characters are © 2007 - 2012
1. When you are awarded a piece of gear do you feel it is a reward or something you have won? Why or why not?
***It depends if I rolled against others in the raid or if it ws awarded to me due to best upgrade etc… Usually i feel like i’ve earned it and won it at the same time, but sometimes I feel like I’ve lost because my upgrade might have been better than the person who won it due to a roll. Overall, loot from a raid is a cool experience, because even if I do not win that drop, the idea that I might win a future drop keeps me intrigued.***
2. What purpose does loot serve in your MMORPG experience? How important is it to your play style? Why?
***The upgrade of gear, what other purpose is there? I do not measure e-peen, but if my gear is upgraded, my toon will function better and thus help the raid more and more each time.***
3. Is it fair if you paid ten points for an item that someone else paid five points for two months later? Why or why not?
***I never understood point assignment to gear, but that is why I am not in a leadership position. If the gear was thought to be “uber” at the time I won it and then 2 months down the road, better gear was discovered, then it would make sense that the first “uber” drop would decrease in it’s value. So I view that as fair.***
4. When you make a decision to roll or spend points on loot is it an impulse or have you carefully planned what you wanted?
***I plan carefully because I’ve never been one to have 100% attendance on raids and my points are precious to me. I’d rather wait out and see what there is to drop before i roll on a particular item…. that is unless it’s just super duper fantastic! Then i’m all about the impulse =P***
5. Do you trust other players to award loot fairly or do you need to see some sort of tracking metric?
***I like the tracking metric, but I do trust some people to award loot fairly. When there are alot of people constantly getting loot because of points…. the tracking metric can serve to show this but also to piss people off that have consistantly lost loot to the same person. Ehhh… it’s a double edged sword i think.***
6. Do you form a (meta)physical attachment to a particular item or will you part with it easily? Why or why not?
***i’m attached to all my gear until a suitable replacement comes along. The items with cool procs and/or graphics are always nice to keep for costume slots. Since alot of games have those now, you don’t have to feel attached to your BP just because it looks awesome. You can upgrade it and keep the look!***
I’m just going to freestyle this and use the questions as a guideline.
Before I joined up with the Iniquity crew, I didn’t seriously raid or group, so gearing up wasn’t a factor for me in my gameplay. Now that I am raiding 2-3 times a week as one of the main tanks it is pretty important for me to appreciate loot! However, I have a tendency to want to ‘play nice’ and let another tank have it if they’re around and they have fewer points than me. “They don’t get to play much, I should let them have it” is my usual rationale for why I try to bow out of tank loot when it does magically drop.
That mindset doesn’t fly with the Iniquity crew so it’s pretty much been beaten into me (almost literally – breastplates hurt when thrown at you) to see loot how it really is. Loot, when an upgrade, is a reward for everyone that I’ve earned! If I show up, I get the points to buy the loot. If they don’t show up, they don’t get the points to compete with me. I made it to vote tier A by spending the time and the effort – it’d be unfair to me and a waste of said time and effort if I bowed out. One thing that has helped me see things that way was when I did try to bow out of an item and I was told that by trying to not be selfish, I am actually being more selfish. By letting the other tank that isn’t there as often get the good loot, I am not advancing and will not be as well-equipped to tank bigger, better mobs with bigger, better loot for the guild. If I can’t do that and no other tanks are on, I’m holding the guild back. Yikes!
It’s an interesting adjustment, I will say. I used to never understand the hype about gear. +10 to a stat? Does that really make that much of a difference? Apparently it does! That’s the one thing that has affected my opinion of loot the most: understanding that +10 str or block or dex can really make a difference.
As far as how many points I spend vs. how many points another person spends when two months have gone by… I assume in those two months we have all gotten better and the same mob is now not as tough and there is now better gear to attain. So from a logical standpoint, the gear just isn’t worth 10 points anymore. Personally, I don’t care if it’s two months or two days. How many points another person spends, even if it’s for the same item, doesn’t bother me. That’s just the way life goes – let’s say I paid $4 for a sandwich and they drop the price so now people only have to pay $2. I’m not going to go to the restaurant or deli or what have you and ask for my $2 back. Maybe some people might!
Regarding the last three questions:
4. When you make a decision to roll or spend points on loot is it an impulse or have you carefully planned what you wanted?
I do however peruse item databases and have an idea of what uber loot drops where from whom, but I don’t really keep track of it since if I did, I’d just set myself up for sad faces when that fantastic shield doesn’t drop for the nth time
Tank gear drops so infrequently it’s not an impulse buy… It’s a necessity buy!
5. Do you trust other players to award loot fairly or do you need to see some sort of tracking metric?
Well, I trust the players with whom I raid, so I don’t need to see it. If they tell me I’m in vote tier D then I’m in vote tier D. Now if I were in some sort of alliance of raid guilds using a centralized system and I didn’t really know the people in charge of the loot system, yes I would want to see how the heck I am in tier D when I’m almost always present and rarely buy anything!
6. Do you form a (meta)physical attachment to a particular item or will you part with it easily? Why or why not?
(I’m a girl, what can I say?)
Only if it’s pretty/aesthetically pleasing to see on my character… but that’s what the Wardrobe slots are for!
I should caveat my answers by saying that I run in a pretty tight-knit 10-man, and we just /roll for gear. We used to keep track, but we felt like the work versus reward ratio was skewing too far toward work. So we /roll for main spec, then /roll for offspec. (The unspoken rule is also that we behave nicely. If that new belt is a huge upgrade for priest 1 and a minor upgrade for priest 2, Priest 2 passes it to Priest 1.) I haven’t heard a loot distribution complaint or concern since we stopped using DKP and started /rolling, three years ago.
1. When you are awarded a piece of gear do you feel it is a reward or something you have won? Why or why not?
Usually, I look at it as something we’ve earned as a team, and that whoever gets it, it helps contribute to the whole team doing better.
2. What purpose does loot serve in your MMORPG experience? How important is it to your play style? Why?
I enjoy the feeling that we’ve put in time and effort, and can see the difference it’s made. I think it’s fun to go back and do last tier’s raid, breeze through something that used to be a challenge, and know that it’s the work we’ve done in the current tier that makes us stronger/better/faster/whatever. Also, I like seeing my character in a new look. Looking the same gets old after a few months.
3. Is it fair if you paid ten points for an item that someone else paid five points for two months later? Why or why not?
It’s absolutely fair. The further along in a tier, the more groups have experience with the fights, the more accessible they become, the easier it is to find BOEs … all of these things contribute to the “market” price. That’s just how it works. It’s been a long time since I raided with that system, but I thought it was fair when I did.
4. When you make a decision to roll or spend points on loot is it an impulse or have you carefully planned what you wanted?
I do some very basic planning. Like, “Hm, I want the staff from Boss A, so I won’t roll against our hunter on the polearm from Boss B.”
5. Do you trust other players to award loot fairly or do you need to see some sort of tracking metric?
I trust my teammates to be fair.
6. Do you form a (meta)physical attachment to a particular item or will you part with it easily? Why or why not?
I’m not very leet, so by the time I get an upgrade, I’m usually happy to see it go.
1. When you are awarded a piece of gear do you feel it is a reward or something you have won? Why or why not?
When loot is awarded I feel that it is something that I have earned, it’s not necessarily a reward, or something I have won. For example, right now I have my sights set on a specific item in which I know where it drops and which boss drops it so I’m biding my time, accumulating points so that I can get it. Some people may say that this would be considered point hoarding, but all in all the item I am waiting for is my weakest spot so I don’t consider it that way.
2. What purpose does loot serve in your MMORPG experience? How important is it to your play style? Why?
In an MMORPG loot serves two major purposes, the first is to help you achieve more in the game or to experience the game in new ways. The second for some people loot can be a cash flow for the game. I myself am a mixture of the two, if I am doing a dungeon with a P.U.G. and then something drops that I “need” then I roll need on it. If everyone else rolls greed then I roll greed and may the highest roll win.
3. Is it fair if you paid ten points for an item that someone else paid five points for two months later? Why or why not?
Absolutely, when a zone is first explored then the loot is usually far much better than you have seen before so you’re charged ten points. Then two months later more content is added and even better gear has been added with it, most guilds will still do the old content along with the new content so that everyone can get geared up, when that happens if the same item that you got 2 months earlier drops again, and better loot has already been found, then the older loot should be dropped.
4. When you make a decision to roll or spend points on loot is it an impulse or have you carefully planned what you wanted?
I plan my loot decisions most of the time, I will occasionally go on a “ooh I want that” spree. I have been more conscientious toward my guild mates to make sure that anything I roll on is an upgrade and not a “side” grade.
5. Do you trust other players to award loot fairly or do you need to see some sort of tracking metric?
When it comes to guild raiding I trust the officers to make the right call, I have no doubts that they will not cheat or fudge to show favoritism toward any individual. Outside of the guild, I would prefer to see some sort of tracking, simply because I do not know them like I know the people in my guild.
6. Do you form a (meta)physical attachment to a particular item or will you part with it easily? Why or why not?
Most items are just that, items. They have stats on them which are the most anticipated things that I look at, however I do like the asthetic feel to some gear over others but we have a wardrobe for that so that I can keep the gear that “looks better” and hide the hideous but great stat gear.
1. When you are awarded a piece of gear do you feel it is a reward or something you have won? Why or why not?
I feel it’s a reward for the effort that I put into the zone. I don’t really ever feel it’s something I deserve or have won…I know that eventually I will be rewarded with a piece if I put in the time. It’s a bonus not a necessity since I do not raid for loot.
2. What purpose does loot serve in your MMORPG experience? How important is it to your play style? Why?
This is a tricky question for me. If loot wasn’t important there would not be any, and you have to have loot to be able to progress through the game. That being said though, Loot is not that important to my experience. I really hate gear grinds, and really I get gear to do the next content with my friends. I have always had the view that I will take a good player with crappy gear over a so-so player who is geared out. For me gear does not affect play style, it only enhances it.
3. Is it fair if you paid ten points for an item that someone else paid five points for two months later? Why or why not?
I think it’s fair. Because you got the item first, you got to use it for 2 months, other people have gotten other things, and now the item is cheeper. Suck it up, if it wasn’t important to you, you wouldn’t have spent the points.
4. When you make a decision to roll or spend points on loot is it an impulse or have you carefully planned what you wanted?
I tend to plan out what I want, but I’m the raid leader so my nose is in the zones and gear lists all the time. However, if something unexpected drops, and its an upgrade, I will roll on it. I feel that even small upgrades help the raid/guild as a whole.
5. Do you trust other players to award loot fairly or do you need to see some sort of tracking metric?
In my guild I trust my players to award loot fairly, we are a DKP guild, however for the last 5 months we have been doing NBG rolling just using the in game window, and there has not been an instance of someone needing on loot. Tracking methods to me are always more fair, such as dkp, just because IF someone has a complaint you can point and say “here is the track record”. However, if you know your guild well, and everyone is honest you shouldn’t have to prove that your fair cause everyone already knows.
6. Do you form a (meta)physical attachment to a particular item or will you part with it easily? Why or why not?
I’m a pack rat. I get sentimental about things. Things that I work very hard to get, such as long quest items (the mana vial thing in eq2 from living tombs for instance) I am hesitant to give up since I worked so hard to get it. Epics, and gear that took me hours and hours, and weeks and months to get. In some ways its why I hate the gear upgrading in eq2, you work hard to get an item for 6 months only to have it replaces a few months later.
1. When you are awarded a piece of gear do you feel it is a reward or something you have won? Why or why not? Loot rewarded from a drop always feels like something I’ve won. The way I’ve always felt about loot as a reward is that getting a drop is winning a raffle while buying loot with badges/plaques/whatever currency is a reward since it is something that I’ve worked toward.
2. What purpose does loot serve in your MMORPG experience? How important is it to your play style? Why? In PvP loot is something required to keep up with my competition, something I don’t like and a big part of the reason I’m playing WoT a lot right now, while in PvE loot is used to meet the requirements of the content I want to run.
3. Is it fair if you paid ten points for an item that someone else paid five points for two months later? Why or why not? Yes, as time goes by gear becomes out of date and must be achievable easier then it was before. If I paid more because I got it sooner (and when it was more relevant) then that’s fine, it’s part of life in an ever-evolving game environment.
4. When you make a decision to roll or spend points on loot is it an impulse or have you carefully planned what you wanted? I always plan out what I want to spend my points on.
5. Do you trust other players to award loot fairly or do you need to see some sort of tracking metric? I trust other players to award loot fairly. At the end of the day it’s a game I play inorder to play a game: I’m here for the fun, not the loot. Getting “screwed” by unfair loot distribution is no different then getting “screwed” by the RNG.
6. Do you form a (meta)physical attachment to a particular item or will you part with it easily? Why or why not? Only if said item has aesthetic value. I’m into the art and design of the games I play and appreciate a well designed piece of loot when I see it.
Great answers so far everyone! Keep them coming!
1. When you are awarded a piece of gear do you feel it is a reward or something you have won?
I feel that the item I got shows status of what I have killed so when people inspect my character they go “hey you killed soandso good job!”. so that in itself is rewarding to have people admire your pixils.
2. What purpose does loot serve in your MMORPG experience? How important is it to your play style? Why?
Depends on the game but mostly because I need to expand my characters power if its a tank character i want to take less damage, if its a healer I want to heal less but still be as effective, if i am dps (as in rift) i want my name to be numero uno the parse, why?, because everybody has a goal and competition is healthy if nobody competed then there would be hardly any advancment.
3. Is it fair if you paid ten points for an item that someone else paid five points for two months later? Why or why not?
Not really a fair question when you are missing the variable of why did the item decrease in value and is the loot system designed to handle devaluing of loot without screwing people over. If the system is auctioned then yes by all means its fair because the players deside how much the item is worth to them. If the items are a set price and there is a devalue system setup then its fair but that is uber complicated and could be abused or looked at as favortism in order to thwart that one would need to have a list of every item that can drop and its price with a max price at the top and as new items are added that are deemed greater then the other items drop. Otherwise no its not fair to willynilly change an item price or give it away when other have paid out the nose for it thus keeping those core players who spent points lower then the others who wait around.
4. When you make a decision to roll or spend points on loot is it an impulse or have you carefully planned what you wanted?
Both, I make a list of what I have, and want. I also have a goal and then work back from that goal (the goal is in line with the guild or group of players I am with) if the guild is currently killing GSB I wont consider HK loot in my list thats how i deside. The impulse comes when I see something that is not on my list but has something that might help out in another fight such as losing 8 spell power to gain +10 focus even though I am waiting for a ring that is +12sp and +20focus, the increase in the focus would help me gear for HK but seeing thats not the goal at the moment then I am not going to waste points on the item.
5. Do you trust other players to award loot fairly or do you need to see some sort of tracking metric?
You have to have trust, if you dont trust the people you are playing with then you might as well go play in traffic. However my first instinct is if I feel like something isnt right I do the due dilligance myself then present the issue.
6. Do you form a (meta)physical attachment to a particular item or will you part with it easily? Why or why not?
depends on the item, in EQ1 I still have my cleric gear from the Plane of Fear (yes, fear before they had Hate) and I still keep my ranger in Tolan Darkwood armor why because rangers wear plate! even though hes been to the plane of time and slaughter gods I formed an attachment to those specific items.
however in rift its a different beast, I keep some items that have compareable stats if the item replacing something is far greater were I know I wont use it again (eg a item that increases all the current stats that I am replacing) then I will simply breakdown or sale the item replaced even if the item was from Green Scale and it was awared to me on the first kill. (exception is an item that looks cool for appearance reasons)
-Q
Told you I had to cogitate a reasonable response to these questions!
1. When you are awarded a piece of gear do you feel it is a reward or something you have won? Why or why not?
While raiding Ice Crown in WoW, as the main tank, raid leader, and GM’s wife, most of my tank loot was a given. I only took dps or healing plate if no one else needed it, and we were going to melt it. Ok, the healing gear got melted. I had no desire to reacquaint myself with paladin healing. Gear was more of a “take this, because it will help us get further.” If I was in the raid on an alt, then I generally let everyone else have a shot at the loot before I’d take any.
2. What purpose does loot serve in your MMORPG experience? How important is it to your play style? Why?
To me, the loot is a means to an end. Loot distribution across the raid means that as a whole, we have an easier time with content. I was fortunate in that we were a small guild, and we could all pretty much say Nalf gets that or give that piece to Shams. I think that our main goal was killing bosses, and the loot was just a side effect. Because, let’s face it, some of that stuff was just damned ugly. There were moments of joking around when something that basically refused to drop for us actually did (we had the weirdest luck with some loot). An occasional Vent “I HATE YOU SO MUCH RIGHT NOW.” Followed immediately by “it will drop again.” Followed by “you mean like Marrowgar’s choker?” That thing dropped for me and dropped once after that (in 26 weeks) the week the normal OT was not there.
To me, personally, I make lists of best in slots, know I won’t get most of it, and continue to go have a blast with my friends. Loot helps me do my job better. But really? Shinies are cool…until the next tier comes out. The friendships? They last much longer.
3. Is it fair if you paid ten points for an item that someone else paid five points for two months later? Why or why not?
Sure. I wanted it that badly, I paid more. If I wasn’t all fired up about it, I could wait till it drops in “price.” Maybe my friend had a real life involving getting her master’s degree and couldn’t raid with us as we were opening up the tier. Maybe someone was very sick, and spent a lot of time in and out of the hospital. Either way, I already have my loot. I’m happy to see them get theirs.
4. When you make a decision to roll or spend points on loot is it an impulse or have you carefully planned what you wanted?
Most of the time, I’ve planned out my gear strategy for my main role. However, there are times when my guild needs me to do something other than my primary role. As such, I role on offset pieces. That’s usually impulsive. However, if something drops that is a clear upgrade, I will roll on it even if it isn’t what I may want ultimately. That being said, if I win that roll, it is 99% sure that the piece I DO want drops next boss, and I either can’t (due to rules) or won’t (personal honor system) roll on it.
5. Do you trust other players to award loot fairly or do you need to see some sort of tracking metric?
Meh. Loot drops. If I’m in a guild where I don’t trust the distribution system, then I’m in the wrong guild.
6. Do you form a (meta)physical attachment to a particular item or will you part with it easily? Why or why not?
If I worked hard for something (Shadowmourne–I didn’t, but you get the idea), then I’m more likely to hoard it. If I waited 20 weeks for a drop (oh shield of Lootship Lollypop), then I may hang on to it. Otherwise, I’m fairly easy going about getting rid of stuff.
1. When you are awarded a piece of gear do you feel it is a reward or something you have won? Why or why not?
To me honestly, I consider it a badge. A Badge to be viewed by other people outside of our wonderful guild. Not a week goes by when I am standing at the auctioner and I get a tell, “Where did you get your Helmet, Gloves” etc. etc” and I reply, “It drops off of the Prince” etc. etc. This speaks volumes for your guild (INIQUITY in my case). That little piece of armor, regardless of which guild member is wearing it, represents the guild as a whole. It is a tangible advertisment that states, This guild really has their act together! Frankly, I LOVE IT.
2. What purpose does loot serve in your MMORPG experience? How important is it to your play style? Why?
It goes without saying that the more your raid group is properly geared up, the higher the chance for success. Enough said! Even more important than gear though is precision and follow through. Gear is secondary to a group that is well lead and works as a unit. For me, gear plays a significant role in my play style. Since I pretty much only Raid, I want any advantage I can get in the hopes of guild progression.
3. Is it fair if you paid ten points for an item that someone else paid five points for two months later? Why or why not?
I’ll keep this simple…..Of course it is fair! As in real life, items do not stay the same price forever. It is all about timing. Learn to get over it! Next question….
4. When you make a decision to roll or spend points on loot is it an impulse or have you carefully planned what you wanted?
Honestly, I already know what piece I need to concentrate on that is due for an upgrade. It is as simple as that. I bring both of them up on my screen and compare side by side, examining the pros and cons. After I indicate that I would like to roll/bid on the item, I usually see who else is bidding and try to inspect them quickly to see if the said piece is a bigger upgrade. You kind of have to be quick with this thought process but honestly, it makes the most sense in a guild as tight as mine.
5. Do you trust other players to award loot fairly or do you need to see some sort of tracking metric?
I honestly consider it a favor that they are looking up points etc. to determine loot distribution. More credit should be given to these people. Sure some mistakes are made here and there bit in the grand scheme of things, it is the most efficient process in my view. Trust and fairness is rarely questioned in my guild. LOL, at times…..our guildmates ask that another person receive the drop because they are most deserving or have the most need. It is a beautiful thing!
6. Do you form a (meta)physical attachment to a particular item or will you part with it easily? Why or why not?
I’d be lying if I did not admire the look of an item so in that sense, yes I guess there is a bit of an attachment there. Then reality of a clear upgrade sets in which trumps my inner feminine side for shiny things
I am late to the party but here we go:
1. When you are awarded a piece of gear do you feel it is a reward or something you have won? Why or why not?
I feel a sense of accomplishment and reward, even though I don’t think loot is an end in itself. However, you can’t underestimate the human desire for shiny things.
2. What purpose does loot serve in your MMORPG experience? How important is it to your play style? Why?
Loot is there to allow me access to more content, plain and simple. It has no affect on how I play other than making my character better/able to progress. Sometimes I have been known to like appearance gear, especially hats
3. Is it fair if you paid ten points for an item that someone else paid five points for two months later? Why or why not?
Two months later, seems fair to me. I have had more use out of the item. However, a smaller time frame could make me jealous and/or frustrated.
4. When you make a decision to roll or spend points on loot is it an impulse or have you carefully planned what you wanted?
I usually plan out what I want so I know what to buy and what to avoid. This is especially true in a game with alot of information on the net or with gear that is obtainable from Marks/armor molds. I like to know and plan what I will use in each slot.
5. Do you trust other players to award loot fairly or do you need to see some sort of tracking metric?
I trust my friends and guild mates to award loot fairly. However, in a game where I am new to a guild I massively prefer a tracking system. From my experience, there are much fewer people who see loot as good for the guild than those who are just out for themselves.
6. Do you form a (meta)physical attachment to a particular item or will you part with it easily? Why or why not?
Yes, I have had items that I have formed attachments to quite frequently. Usually these are items that came from a long quest, are really cool looking/cool lore, I spent a ton of raid points on, or something I have been eyeing for a very long time. I have even been known to wear them longer than I should have, or use them over a small upgrade, because they are precious to me!
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Here are my survey responses – note that I don’t raid anything anymore, and I was on the less-hardcore side of things when I did.
1. Regardless of how you’re dividing the loot, what passes for the game in MMORPG is ultimately about getting more stuff as you spend more time playing. As a result, I’d say that in general loot is earned, though the way in which it is obtained and/or distributed may have room for improvement.
2. Loot serves as an incentive in its own right (i.e. tells you to go do X because that’s how you continue to progres), and also as a means of gating your ability to complete content. The latter matters to me since I like to see what I can. Ironically, mudflation can even reverse-gate content in that it ceases to be interesting to do because the player/party is now too powerful.
3. I would say that any system is fair as long as it is well communicated and evenly enforced – the question is whether the resulting loot distribution is desirable. There are good reasons to lower prices over time (e.g. to keep players from passing on loot that’s much less impressive than the drops from more recent bosses), but also dangers (e.g. creating incentives for players to game the system by waiting for prices to drop). Two months sounds a bit fast for a 50% price drop based on the rates of progress in the guild I raided with, but the specifics will depend on what that price difference means in your loot system and how fast you are progressing.
4. Because of my schedule constraints back when I did raid, I needed to have a deliberate strategy to ensure that I was obtaining enough gear to contribute to progression. The person collecting the bids probably thought I was making impulse decisions because I never focused in on specific pieces of loot, but rather on the stuff I was able to obtain.
5. I turned my response to this one into a blog post, rather than derail the survey.
http://playervsdeveloper.blogspot.com/2011/08/transparency-in-loot.html
6. I don’t think I have ever continued to equip an item that I had “outgrown” because of a sentimental attachment. That said, there are certain items that I have a sentimental attachment to – generally because of the significance of how I obtained them – which I will save in my bank or equip in cosmetic slots if available.
Lots of really awesome responses here! I am very grateful to see them too. They’ve been very helpful to my non-scientific study!
Here’s my non-raider perspective. Closest I got to raiding was a tight-knit, frequently run group that knocked out every non-raid instance we could get our hands on in EQ2 (all the heroic stuff) and we steadily upgraded our characters. So we had plenty of loot discussions and a little drama, but not in a raiding context. Anyway, I’ve been away and am catching up, so let’s see if I can add anything here.
1. When you are awarded a piece of gear do you feel it is a reward or something you have won? Why or why not?
>>As a non-raider, I had to read everyone’s opinion to understand what you meant here. You mean sometimes the guild gives members loot to gear them up for a certain role or raid, right? This virtually never happened in our group after a few formative weeks… once we had our core group set up we grew together so it wasn’t like we had to gear somebody up months down the road. Or, are you asking whether I feel entitled to loot based on my participation vs. just being grateful when I get any at all? If you’re asking that, I’d say I start out being grateful and slide towards entitlement the longer I go without getting any.
2. What purpose does loot serve in your MMORPG experience? How important is it to your play style? Why?
>>I was pretty casual for about 5 years in EQ2 so I didn’t much care about loot unless it helped my RP look. The value I placed on loot increased immensely once I took a personal interest in becoming the best group member I could be. Skill took me very far and so did endless tinkering with AA builds, but eventually I hit a place where I simply needed better loot to get better. Once loot became the only thing left, I got a little loot crazy and had to step back. It was all new to me, really, these endeavors, efforts, and the joys and dangers of loot mongering.
3. Is it fair if you paid ten points for an item that someone else paid five points for two months later? Why or why not?
>> We did not have nor did I ever experience a point system. However, I certainly did experience running somebody through an instance later (outside of the pod) were somebody got something I’d worked for forever with relative ease, especially since I was there making it much easier… the whole “get to greatness quicker on our backs” thing. Whether or not it bugged me depended entirely on the humility or hubris of the recipient. Regardless, I always lamented that they could not experience a challenging difficulty curve when all of the players were of the same relative power level vs. the instance.
4. When you make a decision to roll or spend points on loot is it an impulse or have you carefully planned what you wanted?
>>Early on, it was all impulse after a nod to the veterans and whatever they wanted. Loot wasn’t worth rocking the boat over when I didn’t care about it. Later on, I rather carefully planned out what I needed and ran instances constantly until I got it. I also experienced the quintessential loot nightmare – I was the only CC class in my guild who was good enough to take us through an instance that required me and I’d been in there so many times I could scream. I only wanted one drop and I saw it after maybe the 40th time. It pops, and before I could say anything a first-timer to the instance Need rolls it, I lost my Need role, and she popped it on and attuned it (it was even Tradeable!). The icing on the cake? It was the guild leader’s wife. I never saw the drop again (and that STILL makes me grumpy).
5. Do you trust other players to award loot fairly or do you need to see some sort of tracking metric?
>>The story I related above was a huge anomaly in our group and pretty much just the worst luck ever. Otherwise, I only played with people I trusted to be fair about things, and I expected a few disagreements to come up but really nothing major (besides my story above) happend. I also assumed a personal quest to uncover and work on my own loot issues as they came up. I really had no idea what they would be since I’d never cared about loot before then.
6. Do you form a (meta)physical attachment to a particular item or will you part with it easily? Why or why not?
>>Sometimes. When I had a particularly emotional experience in getting it then it means more. Maybe it was a crazy hard fight, or maybe it was from an instance we’d tried to beat over and again and finally succeeded. Maybe it was from a rare mob we’d never seen before. Of course, later one I also developed “pre-attached” to loot I’d run instances over and over again while looking for one drop. That turned out to be a recipe for unhappiness, really.