Guild Wars: What's up with the loot rules?
Josh Mayfield
played solo a couple of times previously, but hadn't really gotten into
it.) Anyway, we're both enjoying the game pretty much, but something
happened last night that we don't understand.
Before last night, when we killed mobs, loot was distributed evenly in
the same fashion as "Group Loot" in World of Warcraft: Every other
piece of loot that dropped was mine and every other one from that was
hers- regardless of who hit the mob first, or who made the killing
blow.
Well when we logged in last night, Guild Wars downloaded and installed
two patches. (Presumably the September 20 and September 16 ones? Is
Guild Wars like WoW, where you can't play the game unless you're fully
patched?) As soon as we partied up and started killing stuff we
discovered that loot was now being distributed based on who made the
first hit on a mob- just as if we weren't partied (which we definitely
were). This was reproducible throughout the evening.
So, I looked in the patch notes, and I saw the following listed for the
September 16 patch:
"Fixed a bug introduced in the Sorrow's Furnace Update that was causing
unequal loot distribution among party members."
Interestingly, the patches we got last night seem to have had the
opposite effect- from our perspective anyway.
So, here's the question: How is loot distribution supposed to work in
Guild Wars?
Thanks.
By the way, I am Gavin Parke in GW.
Andrew
<ultibloo...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>So, here's the question: How is loot distribution supposed to work in
>Guild Wars?
It is supposed to be randomly assigned among the human players, it
sounds like they screwed up the latest patch.
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Josh Mayfield
> >So, here's the question: How is loot distribution supposed to work in
> >Guild Wars?
>
> It is supposed to be randomly assigned among the human players, it
> sounds like they screwed up the latest patch.
Do you mean it was literally distributed randomly, because that's not
what we were experiencing last week either? Last week it was
predictable round-robin behavior, and last NIGHT it was predictable
first-to-engage-gets-the-loot behavior.
Now I'm more confused than ever!
Also, does the game offer different loot distribution options (I
couldn't find any way to change it), or is the default behavior set in
stone?
Thanks.
BombayMix
>couldn't find any way to change it), or is the default behavior set in
>stone?
Yep, its meant to me random. People often try to read patterns into it.
It can seem odd at times. ie some games I get nothing and others I seem
to get it all but both can be explained using the random theory.
The "first-to-engage-gets-the-loot" rule is extremely biased towards
warriors and not monks. As I monk I would never get anything as I
rarely attack let alone be the first to attack.
John Massey
NWN, ROE etc. What is the difrence in amonk in GW that he would rarely
attack?.......
Regards, John
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"BombayMix" <bomb...@altavista.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1127469979.6...@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
BombayMix
>attack?.......
GW is very role based and being a jack-of-all-trades doesn't really
work. You need to put all you points into a few skills. The only role
people want monks for is healing. Combine that with the limit of 8
skills and my monk tends to be 100% heal with no meaningful attacks.
How much attacking I do depends on the opponents. In PvP I hardly ever
attack, only when we've nearly won and are mobbing up the last few
people. There's more opportunity for a monks to attack in PvE. Some
areas a good team can waltz through with no real threat but there are
numerous set pieces where the monks will be constantly healing and the
group lives or dies due the effectiveness of the monks.
Of course if you are soloing of duo-ing you can do what you want. There
are henchmen (NPCs) to fill your group up but I wouldn't rely on them
to be the main healer in a group. You still need a good human monk and
use the henchies as backup.
mike_no...@yahoo.co.uk
BombayMix wrote:
> >Question my wife & I are thinking of getting GW, and I play a monk in EQ,
> >NWN, ROE etc. What is the difference in a monk in GW that he would rarely
> >attack?.......
>
> GW is very role based and being a jack-of-all-trades doesn't really
> work. You need to put all you points into a few skills. The only role
> people want monks for is healing. Combine that with the limit of 8
> skills and my monk tends to be 100% heal with no meaningful attacks.
That is not entirely true. You can spec your avatar for
smiting/protection, and then you do almost as much damage as an
elementalist fire-nuker _and_ can tank better than a warrior.
Smite/protection monks are among the most powerful classes in PvE, and
one of few which can solo (without help from teammates or npc henchmen)
reasonably even in the hardest areas of the game.
But you're right that the cliché is that monks heal, and you're also
right that you can't be BOTH a good healer and a good smiter/protector
- it's either/or.
Josh Mayfield
> >Also, does the game offer different loot distribution options (I
> >couldn't find any way to change it), or is the default behavior set in
> >stone?
>
> Yep, its meant to me random. People often try to read patterns into it.
> It can seem odd at times. ie some games I get nothing and others I seem
> to get it all but both can be explained using the random theory.
Yeah, that must be what happened... it must have just appeared to be
following the first-hit-gets-loot pattern, because LAST night, the loot
was definitely being distributed randomly.
Thanks for clearing that up. My wife's not too happy about it, but oh
well.
Xocyll
entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
say:
>>Question my wife & I are thinking of getting GW, and I play a monk in EQ,
>>NWN, ROE etc. What is the difference in a monk in GW that he would rarely
>>attack?.......
>
>GW is very role based and being a jack-of-all-trades doesn't really
>work. You need to put all you points into a few skills. The only role
>people want monks for is healing. Combine that with the limit of 8
>skills and my monk tends to be 100% heal with no meaningful attacks.
Er no.
People want _healers_ for healing, they're just too stupid to actually
say so.
Just as in CoH the ex-EQ types asked for a Defender, and made the
assumption that all defenders were empathy, because they were used to a
class that healed and did nothing but.
Monks aren't just healers, especially so since you are always going to
have 2 professions.
The one monk I have is a monk/warrior, who hits things with an axe and
the only healing done is mending, healing breeze, remove conditions and
resurrection.
There are also smite and protection based monks that do very little (if
any) healing - hell one of the henchmen (Lina) is speced this way.
Xocyll
--
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Xocyll
entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
say:
>>Also, does the game offer different loot distribution options (I
I'd think it would be biased _against_ warriors, since warriors have to
run up to the mob, while other classes can/will nail it first from
range.
John Massey
expert, not a healer etc. The smite monk sounds more like a real monk vs the
healer monk described here who sounds like a cleric.
RogerM
> ok thx all. I am used to monk class as defined in D&D who is a martial arts
> expert, not a healer etc. The smite monk sounds more like a real monk vs the
> healer monk described here who sounds like a cleric.
>
Yup, they are GW's clerics. No cleric class as such in GW.
Nostromo
Domini:
Is there are good guide online to a smiter? I have my tank W/M in the weekly
game & I'm wonderin if a smiter might be possible...? Isn't smiting all
long-distance? :-/
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Nostromo
09:41:59 -0700, Anno Domini:
Don't be a stingy bastard - give her some of that loot you grabbed up front
;-p
Xocyll
of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs say:
>Thus spake mike_no...@yahoo.co.uk, 23 Sep 2005 05:13:34 -0700, Anno
For the most part, although there are some smiting spells that are PBAOE
like Symbol of Wrath, or touch like Holy Strike.
The biggest advantage of smiting is that holy damage totally ignores
armor, so while the damages look smaller on paper compared to
elementalist spells, you do 100% of that damage every time (200% to
undead.)
My monk was originally going to be a smiter, unfortunately since the
spells are spread out across the whole game I quickly found I didn't
have enough spells to actually be one.
Might have to look at this again.
Highlandish
88uaj19tdefvrilgf...@4ax.com
> The biggest advantage of smiting is that holy damage totally ignores
> armor, so while the damages look smaller on paper compared to
> elementalist spells, you do 100% of that damage every time (200% to
> undead.)
that might explain my necros performance against monks in PvP last
night, 1 hit deaths as soon as I entered the arena.
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Nostromo
Anno Domini:
>For the most part, although there are some smiting spells that are PBAOE
>like Symbol of Wrath, or touch like Holy Strike.
>
>The biggest advantage of smiting is that holy damage totally ignores
>armor, so while the damages look smaller on paper compared to
>elementalist spells, you do 100% of that damage every time (200% to
>undead.)
>
>My monk was originally going to be a smiter, unfortunately since the
>spells are spread out across the whole game I quickly found I didn't
>have enough spells to actually be one.
>
>Might have to look at this again.
>
>Xocyll
Cool, tx X. Been toyin with playin the weekly W/M as a smiter, but not sure
it would work + we'd lose me as a tank (kinda). Might go find some guides ;)
Mean_Chlorine
>Is there are good guide online to a smiter? I have my tank W/M in the weekly
>game & I'm wonderin if a smiter might be possible...? Isn't smiting all
>long-distance? :-/
Yes, but... it's not that hard to figure out. To be a top-notch smiter
you really need to be primary caster, preferrably monk or
elementalist, as warriors have poor energy regeneration (only two pips
of energy renewal vs the casters four).
Smiting is almost exclusively PBAoE spells like Zealots Fire and
Balthazars Aura; the ranged spells (like Smite) are single-target and
usually not as good value for energy (although Holy Strike is good for
hammer knockdown warriors).
You can of course use all these spells to quite a bit of effect with
your warrior, but you'll find that a zealous (=energy stealing) axe or
sword really helps because of your warriors slow energy gain. I've
used this in 4x4 random arena, and it's quite effective there, but
will not fly in team arena.
Far more effective, and presently very popular, is to have an E/Mo
(with the elementalists massive energy reserves & energy management
tools like Ether Renewal) maintain smiting PBAoE & damage reduction
enchants on several axe or hammer warriors - the warriors basically
acts as an armored mobile "weapons delivery platform" for the E/Mo
spells.
If you do a search for "smite build" on e.g. guildwarsguru you'll find
more details, but it's really not hard to figure out.
--
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-- Condoleezza Rice, at the time National Security Adviser, on how to deal
with european opposition to the war in Iraq. 2003.
Nostromo
2005 12:06:24 +0200, Anno Domini:
>If you do a search for "smite build" on e.g. guildwarsguru you'll find
>more details, but it's really not hard to figure out.
Tx MC - will do.
patrick...@standardregister.com
John Massey wrote:
> ok thx all. I am used to monk class as defined in D&D who is a martial arts
> expert, not a healer etc. The smite monk sounds more like a real monk vs the
> healer monk described here who sounds like a cleric.
>
> Regards, John
Actually, the smite monk in GW isn't anything like the EQ monk either.
The smiting that a smite monk does is not with his hands and feet, it
is with spells. A smite monk in GW is just a monk who takes the
offensive spells.
The monk in GW is really closest to the WoW priest I would say.
Totally not influenced by the mace wielding plate armored defensive
magic using cleric archetype. Monks are cloth armored spellcasters who
can either do offensive or defensive spells depending on how they spend
their skill points. They are more of a robe wearing cloistered western
type monk than either the fighting eastern monk or the D&D-esque
armored cleric.
There is no light armored DPS fighter in GW. You could choose make
something like that, maybe with a ranger/warrior or some such thing.
But there's no established archetype in GW to support an offtank/low
defense/high dps melee class.
Xocyll
of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs say:
>
Uh, that sounds a whole lot like a Monk/Warrior.
Monk armor sure equals low defense, and warrior weapons sure equals high
dps melee.
Not as effective overall as a Warrior/Monk, that gets the warrior level
armor, but can be highly effective and even more than a W/Mo in a few
situations.
I have one, and it was always a front line melee fighter, relying on the
health regen of Mending to compensate for the lack of armor, sometimes
with another one or two spells kept up like "live vicariously" for life
leeching.
It also has the advantage of having a mana regen of 4, vs the warrrior
primary's regen of 2, so it was possible to also put a mending on a
critical NPC you had to keep alive, and still have mana for attacks if
necessary.
Christian Seitz
> something like that, maybe with a ranger/warrior or some such thing.
A ranger isn't light armored. E/W , Me/W & , Mo/W can be very
effective close range fighter archtypes with very high DPS.
A Me/W with illusionary weapons , some defensive stances & some
anti melee spells is very effective. A E/W with earthquake ,
aftershock & crystal wave & some protections spell & stances
is able to kill very fast too. Mo/W - underworld farming
anyone...
Christian Seitz