Super loot - add excitement!

I was thinking to myself what would be my most memorable and exciting game to-date should Guild Wars cease to exist.
When i answered that question the answer wasn't Guild Wars, even though i have played this game more than any other game for the past 20 years.

I then asked myself why...why wouldn't it be the most exciting and memorable?

My most memorable was a game which used a real world currency system. You could put money in and take money out. Withdrawls depended upon being successful.

No, i am in no way suggesting such a scheme.

Basically, the loot system in that game was different. Most creatures would drop some skin, paint, degraded armour, weapons, furniture (on larger creatures) and small amounts of money but would only be worth very little.
Some creatures would drop slightly better things or a larger amount of money (around three times a week i would find one and these would be comparable to a rare drop in GW) but it was the search for that "super-drop" which provided the excitement and the drive to continue playing.
Players could get along fine without finding one of these super-drops.

They were so rare, i killed literally hundreds of thousands of creatures before i found one of these drops. (i'm sure there was some coding behind my probability of finding one...like "spend X amount on ammunition, armour/weapon decay" and the chances would be greater, but who knows?
Anyway, when it did happen, it was amazing. There would be a global message telling everyone of my success and my character would be engulfed in a magical swirling of stars to the sound of trumpets and cheers.
I had messages coming in from all my firends asking what was in my find and if i had got X weapon and if they could buy it off me.
I still have all my screenshots of my finds, even though i haven't played that game for over six months! They are still held in my mind as some of my most exciting times in front of my computer!

So here is my suggestion.
Add super-rare but amazing and fantastic drops to the loot system.

The lower level creatures would be harder to get a super loot from. The odds would be so small, it wouldn't be worth hoping for it. If it did happen, it's contents wouldn't be 5000 golds worth of 8-10 crappy shortbows... but max-damage golds , runes, dyes, animal parts and huge piles of gold instead.
Getting a super loot from a high-end creature would be more likely but still extremely rare (equivalent to three times the rarity of black dye would be a safe assumption).
These high end super loots would be comparable to any other super loot but may contain max gold versions of the "best/rarest" items in the game aswell.
Some loots would contain "near-unique" items.

When a super-loot occurs, each person would get a copy or near copy of the loot and this would promote team-playing since your chance of finding one would be increased.

Now, ArenaNet, you know what unique means.... None like it, one-off, "i'm the only player with this" etc.
Where are they? Greens are not unique at all.

I know you have to keep a balance but where is the harm in one or two people having a 16-23 sword or a 6:1 vampiric bow or a 17 armour shield? (OK, extra damage on weapons isn't the focus of this suggestion but it's worth considering at least).
Where is the harm in people running around with weapons which they can rename to whatever they like? This i would definitely like to see.

"I am wielding a beast master archers pwning bow"

Unique should mean unique and a super-loot system would give you the "opportunity" to reflect upon new items and ideas to keep people interested, as well as shortcomings with the overrated green items.

When a super-loot occurs, each person would get a copy or near copy of the loot (at least in terms of value) and this would promote team-playing since your chance of finding one would be increased. A side option to this would be to have one "massive super loot" which is equally distributed between the players in that team. So if there are 8 players, it would be equivalent to 8 super loots and then equally distributed.

There is still very little in the PvE perspective once the game is completed but adding this to the loot system would make people carry on playing i'm sure.
Perhaps you could add a hall of fame for the PvE side? If you found a loot of X value, you would go into the hall of fame if your loot superceded the previous position holders.
There could be a 24 hour hall of fame (which would change fairly often) and there would be an "all-time-high" board which probaby most people wouldn't get to be on.

When one of these moments happen, you are presented with a special loot window for screenshot opportunities.



It is in everyones interest to keep people in the game and keep Guild Wars exciting which is why i am trying to make these suggestions. Some people may not like them but i can't really see any problems.
All ideas that are ever implemented give everyone the same opportunities anyway.


Summary:

Add super rare drops to monsters which have a base value of no less than 5000 gold and the cap would be unlimited.

These drops "could" contain a truly unique item if found on a monster of high level. Perhaps a new colour for "unique" items?

Super loots can happen at any time and at any place...on a level 4 devourer or on Coventina the matron...wherever, and this has no effect on the item quality or amount but is more likely on high end monsters.

A PvE hall of fame system for the lucky people.

A global announcment telling everyone on ALL the guild wars servers/districts if you reach the all time high board.
A continental announcement if you reach the 24 hour hall of fame board or obtain a super loot that doesn't quite make it to the hall of fame but is still classed as a super loot.

Magical stars, sounds, trumpets and cheers surrounds your character upon getting a super loot...to make that moment memorable and exciting.

Dude, that's some ghetto ass photoshop! I like. Nevertheless, I'm not sure I really get the point of all this?

I'm not familiar with that lingo but the picture took longer than the post, lol.
Blame MSPaint if it's tacky

The point...excitement, an achievement in PvE, something to aspire to. something to make you go "OMG WOW!"...something that every player would want to get.

Sounds pretty cool. I like the global message and the trumpets.

Holy crap. what a great idea ... id love to get a super drop THINGIE in this game... give me more reason to randomly kill things.

I like it!!

Sid-Ney

xD .. wow .. Nice pic

Agreed, it could be announced like hall of hero wins.

While bumping this post i can also add another idea which could be fun....

Remember the game Golden Axe? It had little pixie things run accross the screen every round. Wouldn't it be fun if in certain areas, some of these spawn randomly?
Imagine running through a tough zone with your party and you spot a little guy with a bag of goodies...he runs so fast that the only way to get his loot is too hamstring, pindown or burden him.
Non-offensive, fast and weak armour but lots of goodies on a rare chance that he shows.

OK, wacky but fun idea anyway.

I hate anything excessively rare provided it is good, I ran UBRS 4 times a day for two months straight, if not more than 4 times in a single day, that is about 60 days, average 4.5 times per day probably since I know one time I did 8, and never say Deathstriker drop, when people talk of going on a random pick up group, notice I was in a guild and I had the option to take it first, and their first time in UBRS getting it.

If the guy drops mugs of dwarven ale which you can hold in your hand, or frog helmets, then sure be my guest, I just do not want them to be amazing and fantastic, this is utterly stupid, it does not add excitement, it adds grind and annoyance, the current loot does that enough to me, running SF twenty times with 8 henchmen killing 5 bosses and getting one green out of the deal, annoying as hell, but livable, killing 5000 creatures since this is implemented and getting no super rare item, or facing off against someone who does have that amazing and fantastic weapon while you've been unable to get it, that is exactly the kind of gameplay ANet wishes to avoid.

But as I said, feel free to suggest giving them completely aesthetic crap, I pay insane amounts for such things in other games, I'm a lover of them, I just do not, as often as I tend to get the high level gear, wish to see this seperate people from playing a game that is based around skill.

Since Anet is so balance oriented, I don't think we'll ever see this idea impemented.
That said, however, I still like the 'Big-Carrot' incentive for some reason.

I would love to see synergy bonuses for armor-suit pieces/sets. Yeah, maybe lame, but something like the Diablo II sets that got more powerful as you got more pieces.

More grindage? Sure.. but ask yourself; why do we grind in the first place?

Infernal

i'm curious as to what game this is that you're referencing in your initial post

Ive got a game life of 400+ hours and I havent seen a superior rune of vigor or black dye yet.
To me, these are "super rare" drops.
I dont count on ever getting one, EVER.
But I can by them, thank god.

i think this idea would benefit all if it was implemented.

the drops should occur only when the HoH is taken


the weapons collected would be perfect with max damage etc. just like any other gold weapon (yes they should still be gold, dont go making more colours) however like a max damage gold sickle is very rare, they should be weapons where the only possible way is to get them from a super loot. e.g. a sacred hammer or machette. how cool would it be to run around with a machette. The other members of your team should get exactly the same stuff as you apart from the uber cool weapon

Project Entropia.

Here is one of my old screenshots which i still treasure to this day



You can see the hall of fame box too, with my name on it.

Sorry for small size btw.

apperently none of you read the interviews they post every week.

Thes issue of unique items has already been addressed.
This is a "PvP" based game and is geared toward the "PvPers" and thus they said they will not be introducing these uber rare items.

In case you havent noticed they have made it easier and easier to get the leetsest items in the game by making green items. And no, a gold max fellblade with max mods is not any more leet than a tribal blade with the same stats, its just a skin. Green Items= collectors items with max mods.
Ya they claim to be "unique" because they are named oowwww but hell they dont even have a different look to them lol.

and I'm a recovering PE addict.
Man, I spent ALOT of time and ALOT of money in that game.

Never made a profit...always broke even.
Was a real love/hate relationship.

GW is so much less like a real job.
and there is no sweating.

/not signed.

You add uber-items, you add uber-imbalance.

They need to add the Super Drop to Lower lvl Monsters that most people dont go after. Since most people dont want to mess around in old ascalon just random Mobsters out there might be nice. Specailly for Noobs that dont have anything as is.

i like it the stats would be perfect not over perfect so that they match a pvp character weapon but get a new skin or maybe make it so that on recieving this weapon u get to scroll through all the diferent pars of skins so u could have the air staff top (the little electrical bit) and a dif staff handle from a dif staff that sorta blends into each otha

Quoted for sheer truth.

And then I looked down and said "Oh, that's the reason. Paint." *falls off of chair*

But anyways. Personally, I think it should be implemented. It wouldn't "super leet teh uber imba oneoneeleven!!oneone11!!" the game like people said. If it's SO RARE, there wouldn't be that many people with one. It would be as much of a status symbol as Fissure armor, if not more so. Besides, it wouldn't be imbalanced really if you just consider adding 1 more damage point. It's not really that big of a difference. That explains my weapon-buying philosophy - only buy near-max, it's WAY cheaper.

One of the things that I really like about Guild Wars is how the PvErs depend on the PvPers to keep up favour and keep areas unlocked. Maybe this ultra-rare item idea might be a way of getting PvPers to appreciate PvErs?
Like, maybe this mega-drop would include some crystal, scroll, book, etc. that unlocks a feature in the various PvP arenas. For example, perhaps Priests of Balthazar can only unlock elite skills or superior runes once the mega-drop has been found in your region. After a few hours, it must be found again. The Priests can thank the gods that Player Name was able to find more of this rare and valuable material whenever you talk to them. I'm sure other people can think of better ways than taking away elite unlocks, but you know what I mean. :P