rework loot tables

[Torg]

this is a proposition to add to the player experience: rework loot tables

some mobs drop items of use (besides garbage to be sold or recycled): mutants have basic bones, weapon modifiers, hurlers, butchee and cyclops give heart implants, some prairie reptiles drop lvl 1 implants, there's a queen avalanche spell, judgement day rocket launchers and the most sought-after storm laser cannon. (and tech parts...) while lower-end mob loot will ease a runner's life, high-end loot are a valuable trade items and a source of activity, like an ongoing quest.

back in the days mutants were also dropping street rifles or nail pistols, aggressors had gatlin pistols, higher prairie reptiles had lvl 2 and 3 implants (backbones and brain chips). this was changed imho with 2.1.
re-introducing "usable loot" would greatly add to the fun of PvE and make a runner's life more interesting, if every 10th or 20th killed mob had some extra loot. examples:

mutants: nail pistol, street rifle, flamer (+bones)
acolytes: basic apu spells, basic psi armour
plants: basic drugs
hurler: knuckles, basic grenades (+hearts)
butchee: basic kevlar armour, grenade launcher
cyclops: basic rocket launcher (+hearts)
sentinel: laser pistols
mad copbot: gatlin pistol
spiderbot: basic gatlin cannon
y soldiers: hightech pistols, rifles, cannons
warbot: TL 67 rocket launcher, TL 65 freezer cannon, techparts
brutes/horrors: mid apu spells, mid and high imps, techparts
firemobs:techparts
hoverbots: TL 90 ray cannon, techparts

any ideas?

[William Antrim]

Half of me likes the idea because you COULD salvage this stuff from mobs. Possibly with a Salvage tool and the skill you could "hack" the corpse and receive something like this?

However the other half of me doesnt like it because you're basically removing the use of vendors in shops in many cases.

I am leaning towards it though.

Y soldiers need to drop techs though. We need the commanders at least to drop techs. Also more hazard worms. In the swamp areas.

Only problem is the loot would for the most part just get chucked on the floor after the first few pieces have been equipped by said runners because they cant carry more than one or two of each item without getting seriously weighed down with poor transport levels. So that again would probably limit the impact it had on the game. As most of them level with LE in now anyway and therefore don't lose anything that would also negate the benefit gained. If the server was seriously hardcore (like in UO where you lost everything when you died) this would work. As it isnt I cant see it being too impacting.

[Torg]

lets make no mistake: this isnt meant to leave constructors jobless. so the additional drop has to be rare, just so you enjoy it. as judgement day launchers and storm cannons dont distort the ingame economy too much, additional weapon/item drop should be adjusted accordingly.

[William Antrim]

Even if it was poor quality each item would only be worth anything to each runner once. After that you're just clogging up the server with stuff that weighs a lot and is not worth a lot.

[Jodo]

I like the idea, especially using the salvage tool as a poor mans hack. The points required to do it would have to start quite low though, it should be a tertiary skill.

[CMaster]

I can't say I've ever noticed any major changes in the drops of this kind of stuff since I started playing (shortly after NC2 launch). Various mobs have dropped low-level imps etc.

While in principle the idea sounds good, the reality is that it's the kind of loot players don't really want to bother with - not stackable, heavy, valuable to somebody somewhere but often not worth the hastle of getting it to them (the same thing hack boxes struggle with). On the other hand, if dropping weapons is pretty rare, then it doesn't distort the reward of hunting x mob too much, then it provides a nice alternative to having to buy the weapons from a shop before getting them tradeskilled up. Might help with some of the economy issues (along with a raft of other fixes).

[Torg]

Even if it was poor quality each item would only be worth anything to each runner once. After that you're just clogging up the server with stuff that weighs a lot and is not worth a lot.

judgements/stormcannons are just above cst quality. outstanding. for lower, starter or levelling stuff better or cool quality would do.

[William Antrim]

Low level weapons are A) Bpable and B) get levelled out of pretty fast.

The weapons mentioned are A) not bpable and B) a cheap alternative and a step down from some of the first rares.

The difference in levelling speed between one level and another at 15-20 is massive compared with going from 90 to 91.

They would only be worth something once because they are just that. Bpable and only used for a minor amount of time.

I would estimate the overall impact to be minor for the above reasons.

While in principle the idea sounds good, the reality is that it's the kind of loot players don't really want to bother with - not stackable, heavy, valuable to somebody somewhere but often not worth the hastle of getting it to them (the same thing hack boxes struggle with).

This is the point I was making.

[Haxxor]

I do miss mobs like mutants that drop weapons fair enough it might be a knuckleduster or a nailgun or an electroshocker but it added to the feel of the game.

Moving on from that something really needs to do be done with supply boxes as currently they are pretty redundant.

[Forget My Name]

I was about to agree with this idea, but then I gave it some thought, and doing so MIGHT ruin one aspect of teh game...

Non capped new players play the game always tight on money. As you level, you have to decide whether to drop cash on a weapon, then drop cash to have it BP'd and then Constructed, then you decide whether to buy armor for your level...

Having mobs drop weapons MIGHT make the tight feeling of early leveling gone as players wouldn't need to waste money buying weapons anymore.

I could be wrong, but this is my initial feelings. Dropping weapons from mobs remove money sinks.

[Dribble Joy]

Unless they are near capped then why bother, the built ones will be better.

Even if they are as good (which puts the csters out), they get one, then sell the rest. Good quality guns sell for a lot of money to a low level. Money is tight when leveling and that helps with the atmosphere of the desperate nature of the setting.

[Haxxor]

Unless they are near capped then why bother, the built ones will be better.

Even if they are as good (which puts the csters out), they get one, then sell the rest. Good quality guns sell for a lot of money to a low level. Money is tight when leveling and that helps with the atmosphere of the desperate nature of the setting.

Agreed.

If a money sink is what's needed then removing the ability to clone ammo should be implemented. Every time you look in boxes now you see masses of left over ammo.

[William Antrim]

Removing ammo cloning is an equally terrible idea!

[Haxxor]

Removing ammo cloning is an equally terrible idea!

You've got to admit though that currently it's a feature of convenience.
Ammo vendors become pretty redundant after you buy 1 ammo.

Perhaps removing the ability to clone certain types of ammo would be more viable, say High Tech ammo for example?

[Forget My Name]

Removing ammo clone will have zero effect on money sinks since ammo cloning is a mechanic to save time for the player, not money.