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This Is Why We Can’t Have Timely Content Updates
July 31, 2007 5:21 pm
Buried away in an article on Zul’Aman, an aside to resurrect an old topic:
We were also told about a philosophical change at Blizzard, namely logical loot. Previously, the loot tables were somewhat random. They’re not going back and fixing years of content, but now, players can expect creatures to drop things that one would expect. If that bad guy is holding a big, shiny axe, then odds are his loot is a big shiny axe. This is a general goal and a monumental exercise in inter-departmental organization* (they need to make sure the artists and loot guys play nice with each other), but one they seem rather committed to. It’s a small touch, but it sure beats wolves coughing up fishing poles!
I’m crying on the inside. I bet the content guys are crying on the outside. I would.
* hahahahaha.
srand wrote:
I had very much the same reaction. At least they didn’t commit to fixing old content.
Posted on 31-Jul-07 at 6:26 pm | Permalink
NateE wrote:
Oh Wow. I always liked games where mobs dropped at least semi-logical loot (FFXI for example) but this is just crazy. Designing your loot tables from the start to do this.. ok, complicated sure, but ok. Going back and doing it ad hoc after 3 years and a full expansion (and another imminent)… damn.
The content guys should turn it into a fun drinking game. Fix a mob’s table, take a drink. Fix a mob’s table and it breaks another’s table, 2 drinks… might not be enough liquor in Irvine though…
Posted on 01-Aug-07 at 10:28 am | Permalink
josh g. wrote:
Nate, maybe you misread it? I think it’s saying that they’re NOT going back and changing old loot tables. They’re just trying to use this approach in their new content patches.
Posted on 01-Aug-07 at 11:23 am | Permalink
NateE wrote:
Ack! Apparently I can’t read
Move along, nothing to see here 
Eitherway should be interesting to see how this evolves; it’s certainly not going to expediate content as Sara mentions - especially since its shiny and new to them.
I really hope they don’t go to a mob-by-mob-basis and go with mob families instead.
Posted on 01-Aug-07 at 12:09 pm | Permalink
isildur wrote:
These kinds of art-drives-design shenanigans cause me headaches almost every day. Literal headaches, not figurative ones.
Posted on 01-Aug-07 at 7:22 pm | Permalink
Dan wrote:
Maybe they get it right this time, but One Token to Rule them All seems like a simple solution that doesn’t require much work. It could even be not BoE, but PERMA_CURSE seems all the rage.
One Token to rule them all, One Token to find them,
One Token to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Northrend where the Lich-King lies.
Posted on 06-Aug-07 at 7:23 pm | Permalink
Psychochild wrote:
It’s logical that this happens given the size of the team. And, as games launch and people leave, you get new blood working on the game; they often want to do things in different ways. Just surprised it’s taken this long for these types of problems to rear their ugly heads.
Posted on 07-Aug-07 at 2:59 pm | Permalink
Aufero wrote:
Just thinking about the the number meetings implied by the phrase “monumental exercise in inter-departmental organization” makes me cringe.
Posted on 08-Aug-07 at 12:36 am | Permalink
Aufero wrote:
OF. Of meetings. Dammit.
Posted on 08-Aug-07 at 12:36 am | Permalink
Dan wrote:
Pyschochild:
I think this is more a case of Blizzard (finally) realizing that players farming an instance for one specific item and sharding loot until the RNG cooperates is poor design.
That said, there’s ample evidence that players don’t like “Do XYZ exactly n times and get your shiny bauble”, but the randomness is a bit out of hand in the game.
The best example of recent changes that keeps randomness, but doesn’t make players a slave to it is the ability to purchase Primal Nethers with Badges of Justice. You can either run the instance over and over until you win the /random on the drop or you can turn in boss kill credits at a specified rate to ensure it. Any change to reduce the randomness in drops likely should be something like that. Bosses that drop random crafting materials (Skin of Ebonroc say, multiple drops per mob, different craft options per drop, but reduced variability over randomized items, think tokens with better theming) that can then be taken to “quest crafters” that make items out of the material alongside 100% kill credit drops that can be amassed for the same items, just a bit slower (ie most people will get most their items with “quest crafters”, but a few items where the mob drop was rare will be bought with the kill credits)
Posted on 11-Aug-07 at 10:35 am | Permalink
Merusk wrote:
Kind of a pity, imo. One of the nice features about WoW was always that you didn’t have to grind specific types of mobs to get random loot. - And please note that’s what they’re referring to here, not boss drops. - You could be killing whelplings or wolves and *bam* purple sword and some change.
Now it sounds like they’re moving more towards a “Organized Humanoids will be the only ones to drop items/ cloth/ cash” system. That’ll leave a lot less room for differentiation of mob types. Or, you’ll start seeing whole areas of mobs left alone because ‘they just don’t drop anything.’ a-la Runnyeye Gorge in EQ1.
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