I've got to second the "roll what you're wearing" is crap idea. That will work about .0001% of the time, and make sense about never.
Sure. If everyone's low level and running around in patchwork, then giving up that cheapo item to get an upgrade makes sense I guess (but really, how valuable is the patchwork to anyone else?). As you get higher level and the loot gets more diverse, the idea of giving up an item to get an upgrade is just silly. You worked hard for the gear you have (in one way or another). In some cases, the gear I'd be giving up might have taken me more time to earn then the gear I'm getting. That's silly.
Also. Once you get past the "I'm just getting an armor piece with more AC" level of gear, you'll find that most gear pieces are "side grades". Maybe I want that drop because it's got nice resists on it? Maybe it's got some stats that I might want for tradeskilling? Maybe it's got an effect on it that I'll want/need some of the time, but the piece I'm wearing will still be needed as well?
This is doubly silly in LDoN, where most of what drops in those dungeons that's worth looting (as opposed to just vendoring), is augmentations and "rare" loot. How exactly do I give you the aug I have to get the new aug? How will I ever gain augments if I always have to give one up to get one? As to the rares, maybe that piece of gear isn't as good as what I've got, but it's got 3 times as many aug slots (and slots that my armor doesn't have). That makes it potentially more valuable, but not actually as valuable.
There are just far too many variables in gear to do that. This is not a guild group (presumably). I have no obligation towards improving your gear. The "give up what you replaced" idea is fundamentally geared towards ensuring that folks that have really crappy gear get more upgrades (since no one else would be willing to use the system). If this was a guild group, I'd certainly look at how significant an upgrade an item was when determining who should get it. Also, it's not uncommon at all for us to have folks hand down their previous raid gear for the upgrade (but it's never a requirement, more of a consideration. If someone says: "Hey. Award me that cloak of flames, and I'll toss my RBG into the pot for someone else", that's usually a good deal for everyone involved. For a guild, that is. Where the overall strength of the whole is important. On a pickup group in LDoN? That's just not an issue.
I tend towards "class appropirateness" when awarding augs, as well as "rare" loot in LDoN. Everything else gets vendored (unless someone really wants something cheap in which case they can have it as far as I'm concerned). Melee stat augs go to melee characters. int/wis augs go to the appropriate caster classes. Cha augs go to whoever wants them for tradeskilling (or chanters/bards if they wish). Resist augs go to anyone who wants them. Most of the stuff in LDoN is pretty obvious, honestly. However, I always think that first consideration should be the class that's present. Rolling for an item because you have an alt that can use it is bogus. Umm... Take that alt on an adventure and get the item. For the most part though, I haven't found that item drops in LDoN have been that big of an issue.
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King Nobby wrote:
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