Loot - too much, too little?

[gislason82]

Loot once every half hour?? LOL..that isn't an rpg I'd like to play.

I should specify that I mean loot in the form of treasure chests and barrels. Looting animals and fallen enemies is necessary for realism. Other than that a treasure chest every half an hour seems reasonable.

I really don't associate Geralt and most role playing leads as being scavengers who look in every barrel they walk by. Sure the gamer can choose not to loot everything, but in a game with a large variety of crafting items a majority of gamers will be nervous about missing the opportunity to accumulate much needed crafting items.

Also who plays a role playing game to accumulate dolls and broken rakes. I would prefer a role playing game that had more boss fights with weapons that are unique. Witcher 3 is an amazing game, but should of choose quality over quantity in regards to loot.

 

[Ravici]

I should specify that I mean loot in the form of treasure chests and barrels. Looting animals and fallen enemies is necessary for realism. Other than that a treasure chest every half an hour seems reasonable.

I really don't associate Geralt and most role playing leads as being scavengers who look in every barrel they walk by. Sure the gamer can choose not to loot everything, but in a game with a large variety of crafting items a majority of gamers will be nervous about missing the opportunity to accumulate much needed crafting items.

Also who plays a role playing game to accumulate dolls and broken rakes. I would prefer a role playing game that had more boss fights with weapons that are unique. Witcher 3 is an amazing game, but should of choose quality over quantity in regards to loot.

Hmm I think the idea of breaking down items you collect to get matts to make other items is quite a good approach. It just fell flat on it's face when it came to implementation. It is what it is, but you can't deny it could have been cool

 

[Tuco]

You don't even know what a straw man is if you claim what I have been saying is a straw man. You should stop using terms you don't understand.

From Wiki:

"A straw man is a common form of argument and is an informal fallacy based on false representation of an opponent's argument. To be successful, a straw man argument requires that the audience be ignorant or uninformed of the original argument.

The so-called typical "attacking a straw man" argument creates the illusion of having completely refuted or defeated an opponent's proposition by covertly replacing it with a different proposition (i.e., "stand up a straw man") and then to refute or defeat that false argument ("knock down a straw man") instead of the original proposition."

It fits your arguments to a T.
You are not refuting a single point I made. You just keep creating fictional scenarios (allegedly consequences of the changes I'm suggesting) and pointing how bad they would be. Except none of the scenarios you are appealing to fit to any degree as a believable consequence of the changes I'd love to see introduced.

Asking for better pacing, more meaningful itemisation and less bloat does NOT equate to ask for an empty world.
Arguing against the downsides of having an empty world as an alleged proof that my suggestions are bad is almost textbook straw-manning.

 

[Azlinthelich]

This never was about "what I loot", it's about making loot rewarding, useful and enjoyable rather than busywork.

Reducing the loot drop would INCREASE the busy work. It would turn into a grind farming materials and loot. The way it is now i don't have to go out of my way to get materials.

 

[Tuco]

Reducing the loot drop would INCREASE the busy work. It would turn into a grind farming materials and loot. The way it is now i don't have to go out of my way to get materials.

I... I... I'm baffled. I don't think you understood *any* point of this discussion, if that's your take on it.

No one here ever argued about "reducing loot drop".

We are talking more in general about having less lootable spots in each area. And more diversified loot at that. For instance, unless story would call otherwise, there's no reason for peasants' house to be literally filled with alchemical reagents, Witcher potions diagrams and so on.
A peasant's home should contain more often than not little more than food, flour, common work tools and so on.

Beside, even if that wasn't the case, your argument would be false anyway. Since reducing the drop rate for items (and reducing the amount of lootable containers in general) wouldn't be a change existing in an isolate bubble, but it should obviously come with an extensive rework on the value/usefulness of individual drops.
"More farming and/or grinding" is something that wouldn't even come into play at all; if anything, the opposite.

 

[Ravici]

IWe are talking more in general about having less lootable spots in each area. And more diversified loot at that. For instance, unless story would call otherwise, there's no reason for peasants' house to be literally filled with alchemical reagents, Witcher potions diagrams and so on.
A peasant's home should contain more often than not little more than food, flour, common work tools and so on.

So in essence, exactly what it already does. The issue I seem to be seeing is that rare loot, such as recipes, appear in chests in 'incorrect' places. Yet you say "more often than not" which is kind of what 'rare' means.

Do we also need to point out that family heirlooms irl are often found in atics that people don't even know they have. hence those awful tv shows *shudders*

 

[byghostlight]

NOPE completely disagree with the OP for me loot is almost the carrot on the stick for exploration. Even if its for small unimportant things that I could easily buy elsewhere because every now and again I go "wow yay, i didn't know I can get X", now true I dont really need a carrot to explore, its one of my favourite things in game but its nice to get things out of it. Compare this to in GTA V where there is absolutely zero reason to explore at all, beyond papers and UFO parts etc. True they are both very different games, but there is something nice about finding something in a darkened corner of the map.

The only thing I dont like about the loot is the fact you can steal from poor people, without a mechanism where they have a go at you or something. I mean you get in trouble if you steal something from soldiers why not from the poor? I let this slide though given how complex the game world is already, so just find myself policing my own roleplaying in that aspect.

 

[DukeAlmighty]

At first I was looting everything and stooping by every herb. Soon I learned that there is no point to loot some poor peasants hut, because you won't find anyhing useful, just waste of time.
You have to be selective what you loot and it won't feel like busywork, loot caves, dungeons and other POI places and it will be rewarding enough.

 

[byghostlight]

From Wiki:

"A straw man is a common form of argument and is an informal fallacy based on false representation of an opponent's argument. To be successful, a straw man argument requires that the audience be ignorant or uninformed of the original argument.

The so-called typical "attacking a straw man" argument creates the illusion of having completely refuted or defeated an opponent's proposition by covertly replacing it with a different proposition (i.e., "stand up a straw man") and then to refute or defeat that false argument ("knock down a straw man") instead of the original proposition."

It fits your arguments to a T.
You are not refuting a single point I made. You just keep creating fictional scenarios (allegedly consequences of the changes I'm suggesting) and pointing how bad they would be. Except none of the scenarios you are appealing to fit to any degree as a believable consequence of the changes I'd love to see introduced.

Asking for better pacing, more meaningful itemisation and less bloat does NOT equate to ask for an empty world.
Arguing against the downsides of having an empty world as an alleged proof that my suggestions are bad is almost textbook straw-manning.

or the more simple definitive: Strawman... one of most overused words/term on the internet. Right up their with Tropes, Deus ex Machina, plot holes and Mary Sue(s). Equally overused and little understood, appearing on seemingly every single forum thread everywhere. Mainly used by people want to cut another person down to size instead of just saying "no I don't agree with your point and instead of going into great detail about why just through in one word in an attempt to demoralise you by using a word that sounds more impressive than it actually is"

Im sorry I just can the use of the word seriously anymore. Seen it on like five different threads in 30mins

 

[Tuco]

or the more simple definitive: Strawman... one of most overused words/term on the internet.

That's not a definition, that's your social commentary.

 

[dragonbird]

@byghostlight @Tuco - maybe you could both get back on-topic? If you want to discuss how to conduct arguments, please take it to PM.

 

[ArchangelMike.245]

Personally I agree that here is just way too much loot, to the point that food items, alcohets, Dwarven spirit etc become comepletely devalued. You sell so much stuff that it breaks the economy of the game.

Not only that, but becasue the merchants store all your stuff, when I come back to - say a herbalist in the back end of Velen, I see that he's still got the 50 swords and armours that I sold him 20hrs ago. It seems that they also need an inventory management system

 

[Bubby82102]

The loot system is really broken, and that's not a matter of opinions.

I'm far from the end of the first act, and I have something like 70k novigrad crowns (and i don't even know what to do with them, they are too much).

Most of it i made trough selling the over-abundant loot of the game.

There are simply far too much crafting components: houses and streets are litterally filled with them, and not just the cheap ones, but also the rarest (emerald powder? pearl powder? Dimeritium? Black Steel? Silver? Meteoric ore?).

And autolevelling loot it's just harmfull in this case, because after sometimes common swords you find are worth 50 or 60 caps.
If you kill a bunch of bandits when you have a middle to high level character you'll became a moghul in no time.
Gold built uppon cheap iron.

It needs a fix, seriously.

Well, I unplugged the internet from my ps-4. I like it as is, and I'm not allowing them to pull a Blizzard and start nerfing things. Once the nerfs start, they don't stop.

 

[Tuco]

Well, I unplugged the internet from my ps-4. I like it as is, and I'm not allowing them to pull a Blizzard and start nerfing things. Once the nerfs start, they don't stop.

...What on Earth are you even talking about?

 

[Killyox]

Don't loot. Simple. You have the power to "fix" this yourself. They don't need to fix anything. Why do you feel you need to loot everything ?

I don't pick 99% of stuff. Only pick the stuff I need. Checking containers in certain places for diagrams but that's about it. Am at a point that I can sell all I have and still be perfectly fine

Around lvl 10 I stopped picking everything. Stopped robbing houses ~lvl 3

 

[Septerra_Core]

It is true, to keep searching all these sacks just in case you find something good, really draws your attention somewhere it shouldn't be.
I mean, I must have spent over 2 hours just looting...

 

[Rocquito]

I will post here the same thing I posted in a thread opened by someone who is happy with the current looting system (I am not, by the way):

I think our best hope (if any) to have this sorted out in the near future (if ever) is trying to give a VERY SHORT list of improvements that could be EASY to implement, that help a lot, and that make most of us happy (even the ones happy with the current system). I have two ideas. If we perfect them and can make a short list of good suggestions, we can create a poll later on.

My suggestions:

- Far less number of crates/bags that are just IN THE WAY in the cities, outside houses. I don't mind if there are lots of loot in a couple of crates outside houses in a city, but 5 crates for every house just in the door makes you stop to loot at least 30 times when you arrive in a city + the interiors of houses.

- Logical and rewarding position of loot. No expensive ingredients/items in a bag just at the door of a poor peasant's house.

- In case some people prefer to have the items appearing in random places and loot 8 boxes for every house, maybe there could be an option to choose loot available in the game.

I have the feeling my suggestions are close to impossible to implement at this stage, so I would ask trying to keep them as realistic as possible (implementing an improved theft system at this stage is probably impossible or too much work). What else would you guys suggest?

 

[moonknightgog]

Don't loot. Simple.

Ehm, no.
You know, I'm really sick of this "you aren't forced to do that" kind of answers.
If something is broken, the fact that you don't use it doesn't automatically fix it.

And you can't choose to not loot, because among the junk items, there is always a scheme, or a formula. You are forced to loot, in order to not miss anything interesting.

---------- Updated at 02:50 PM ----------

I will post here the same thing I posted in a thread opened by someone who is happy with the current looting system (I am not, by the way):

I think our best hope (if any) to have this sorted out in the near future (if ever) is trying to give a VERY SHORT list of improvements that could be EASY to implement, that help a lot, and that make most of us happy (even the ones happy with the current system). I have two ideas. If we perfect them and can make a short list of good suggestions, we can create a poll later on.

My suggestions:

- Far less number of crates/bags that are just IN THE WAY in the cities, outside houses. I don't mind if there are lots of loot in a couple of crates outside houses in a city, but 5 crates for every house just in the door makes you stop to loot at least 30 times when you arrive in a city + the interiors of houses.

- Logical and rewarding position of loot. No expensive ingredients/items in a bag just at the door of a poor peasant's house.

- In case some people prefer to have the items appearing in random places and loot 8 boxes for every house, maybe there could be an option to choose loot available in the game.

I have the feeling my suggestions are close to impossible to implement at this stage, so I would ask trying to keep them as realistic as possible (implementing an improved theft system at this stage is probably impossible or too much work). What else would you guys suggest?

Your suggestions are the best one, I think.
The real problem is in fact the quantity and the placement of the loot.

But I don't know it this can be fixed.
Is the same thing as the quest markers.
A really bad design which has its roots in the early stage of development. I can only hope for the exapnsion and Cyberpunk 2077.

 

[Killyox]

Ehm, no.
You know, I'm really sick of this "you aren't forced to do that" kind of answers.
If something is broken, the fact that you don't use it doesn't automatically fix it.

And you can't choose to not loot, because among the junk items, there is always a scheme, or a formula. You are forced to loot, in order to not miss anything interesting.

---------- Updated at 02:50 PM ----------



Your suggestions are the best one, I think.
The real problem is in fact the quantity and the placement of the loot.

But I don't know it this can be fixed.
Is the same thing as the quest markers.
A really bad design which has its roots in the early stage of development. I can only hope for the exapnsion and Cyberpunk 2077.

But it's not broken. That's the thing! You DON'T need everything there is out in the world. Not materials or anything. You need just a little bit. Just because you're a pack rat does not mean it's a problem. It's for those people who want to have a lot of stuff to pick up. I didn't feel forced to do it all and I still have pretty much 99% alchemy done/unlocked along with game finished and etc.

Formulas are in many places. It's not like formula for X is ONLY in place Y. No. They are in various places. I have already found a couple of times same formulas.

And no you are not forced to loot everything. Like I said I got 99% of alchemy. The only things I miss are 3 things I need Ekimmara skin for because there were like 2 possible skins to get them when you need 5 to have all you need.

 

[Genoscythe]

I feel the same as OP, kinda feels like diablo. Another thing I noticed is also that you never getrelic weapons on your level but about 3-5 levels below if you play a quest matchign your level. However relic items become obsolete anyway because witcher gear is way better and easy to create.