View source for Group Mechanics 4 (Source)

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Group Friendly Looting
	

Group Friendly Looting

In November 2004 a focus thread was created asking your opinions for group looting and how it should work. Based upon your feedback we have incorporated some of these changes and posted what changes we were going to make. We then took the design internally once again to make more requested changes and now feel comfortable that you will enjoy the new group looting changes.  Click here to read all about "Group Looting"

Overview

Group Looting in Star Wars is a variety of methods for how players in Star Wars Galaxies can distribute loot.   These systems will allow the group leader to determine what type of looting system his group will use.

Terminology 

    * Looting Rights - determines which player(s) can loot an item
    * Loot Distribution - determines the method by which looting rights are determined
    * Party - a non-persistent group of players usually formed for relatively short periods of time and with a set purpose such as adventuring, resource gathering, etc.

Loot Distribution Settings 

Once a creature or NPC is killed the loot is assigned based on the loot distribution settings. These settings are determined by the group leader.  There are 4 settings for Group Looting that the group leader can choose from:

    Free-for-All

        * In a free-for-all loot distribution setting, the loot is available for anyone to take off of the corpse. This is no different then what you are using today in Star Wars Galaxies. 

    Random Roll

        * In Random Roll setting the game randomly determines from all the group members preset who gets any given looted object.  For example, when someone uses loot all on a corpse with multiple items the items will go to different party members (even though only one person clicked on the corpse).

    Master Looter

        * In the master Looter setting only the master looter is allowed to loot from the corpse.

    Lottery

        * In a Lottery setting each player is given an opportunity to decide whether they are interested in the loot items presented or not.
              o Players will have a window that shows up with the items on the corpse. (see picture below). They will choose the ones they are interested in, and ignore the ones they don't want.
              o If a player chooses an item his name is added to the list of players vying for the item.
              o In order to keep any of the players in a group from griefing the rest of the group there will be a 30 second timer and any player who hasn't chosen the items he wants within the time frame is marked as Pass. If the window closes with the timer, it will automatically request any items that you've already selected to the server as opposed to nothing.
        * Once all the players are finished marking their items the game will randomly pick from the people who wants the item and give the items to the appropriate player. 

Lottery Loot Example

The following explains how the Lottery distribution system works

    * The party consists of four characters
          o 1- Han (Leader)
          o 2- Luke
          o 3- Leia
          o 4- Chewie
    * The party kills One of Jabba's Thugs who has a pistol and a pair of boots.  Each player gets a UI window that shows the items.
          o Han doesn't care about the pistol and he likes his boots so he selects pass all from the bottom of the UI.
          o Luke wants the Boots but doesn't need a pistol so he selects the boots and ignores the pistol.
          o Leia wants the pistol because hers is broken, but she doesn't want the boots because she has good shoes already.  She selects the pistol and ignores the boots.
          o Chewie has fallen asleep at his keyboard so after 30 seconds the game marks him as having chosen pass all.
                + Since there are no conflicts the game gives Luke the boots and Leia the pistol.
    * After a while the party kills a Stormtrooper.  The Stormtrooper has a communicator and a rifle.
          o Han decides he wants the rifle since it does more damage than his pistol.  He chooses the rifle and ignores the communicator.
          o Luke wants the communicator but not the rifle.  He chooses the communicator and ignores the rifle.
          o Leia wants the communicator and the rifle so she selects both.
          o Chewie wants the rifle as well but not the communicator so he selects the rifle.
                + Since Han, Chewie, and Leia all want the rifle the game selects a random number between 1 and 3 and gives the winner the rifle.  In this case it selects 2 and gives the rifle to Leia.
                + Since Luke and Leia both want the communicator the game selects a random number between 1 and 2 and gives the winner the communicator.  The game selects 2 and gives the communicator to Leia as well.
    * A little later the party is attacked by a crazed Jawa.  The Jawa has a broken pair of binoculars.
          o Han selects pass all.
          o Luke selects pass all.
          o Leia selects pass all.
          o Chewie selects pass all.
                + Since no one wants the broken binoculars they stay on the corpse.  At this point the looting rights are removed from the corpse and anyone can loot the item. This has changed as well.  At this point, if everyone passes, the item just gets cleared with the corpse when it cleans up.
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