“RNG is RNG” is the typical braindead defense that people use to describe bad luck in Diablo 3. The truth is that RNG is not exactly RNG and that there is a rule system behind loot, which was partly described in numerous panels that the developers had given us. The roll system used to determine whether a person gets a legendary is fairly well documented. Most people describe the part after determining whether a legendary is useful or not as the “RNG is RNG” part, but again there is a fairly sophisticated mechanism in place to prevent outright nonsensical outcomes in what is known as Loot 2.0. That all said, the mechanism still is frustrating and needs further examination to improve upon how it works.
The first outright improvement that needs to occur is the randseed mechanism. What is a randseed? Random number generation is not always random. It takes some component, usually something like system time to choose an appropriate number. Depending on the range/gap desired for the random number, you can produce fairly consistent numbers, especially if something as simple as the system clock is being used.
I suspect that randseed utilizes for simplicity’s sake the system clock on the server side to determine the numbers. Part of my reasoning is that I have witnessed fairly similar outcomes in receiving loot. For instance, I recall one night where a bunch of us in the Clan received the same legendary belt around 5 times within a minute. You cannot call that a coincidence if RNG is truly RNG. Also, in looting there is a fairly consistent pattern when legendaries start surfacing for your runs and the type of legendaries that pop up. I might get into a run where all I find are 1-H crossbows. In reading the forums, this seems to be a fairly consistent pattern.
If, indeed, this is a consistent pattern, then I will argue that RNG is definitely not RNG but a broken, undependable system that hasn’t been thoroughly tested. Or perhaps it has and that the tests themselves and what constitutes acceptable outcomes are flawed. But let’s say for argument that we have a truly RNG based system. The outcome would be far worse and we would once again see things like strength and intelligence attributes on gear made for Demon Hunters. Clearly, neither scenarios are acceptable in the realm of things.
However, we do have two models that I think provide fairly acceptable outcomes both from World of Warcraft. First, with Mist of Pandaria, we started to see how classes can specify specialization oriented drops. So even if a person were to play a Druid, that person could choose feral, guardian, balance or restoration and would receive the appropriate gear if he/she rolled on it.
In Diablo 3, on the other hand, we do not have a strict notion of specializations for our classes. But we do have, for starts, the notion of account bound loot and classes. Using these two ideas, we can first have a selector, similar to World of Warcraft’s loot specialization mechanism, to choose which class we want to have items drop for. So if we intend to play alts, we can run our main toons and still receive the appropriate drops with the correct class stats.
Yet another aspect that is incredibly frustrating for many players is the inability to control the core stats on an item. So what can we do to improve the chances of loot such that the stats are more in line with what people want? While enchanting does allow us to continuously reroll a single stat, that alone at times just isn’t enough. What is needed are hints for the loot to gravitate towards the necessary stats. Enchanting can still allow us to improve upon the stat (and maybe experiment a little) but the rarity of some items like a good Stone of Jordon can make the item hunt feel pointless at times.
Some ideas I have in this are to use the paragon distributed point system to hint to the game which stats are favored. Another way is to use a person’s talents and runes to determine the stats. For instance, if the character uses holy damage, then bracers, amulets and other items that roll elemental damage can have a higher chance towards this attribute. Perhaps, an interface can be exposed to provide a checkbox style grid for preferred attributes on a per gear slot basis.
Another option is to introduce an item similar to Gift of Silaria which can add a new random attribute to an item. Maybe this attribute can be rerolled if it proves unsatisfactory. Or it can be an attribute specific item like one for critical hit, another for cooldown reduction. Or perhaps it allows you to eliminate the reroll mark on a statistic and give a new opportunity to reroll another statistic.
If such an item were introduced into the game, maybe it can be found off certain uniques or Greater Rift bosses or even completing all 5 act bounties. This would be a great incentive for new item hunts or pushing the completion of bounties beyond cache only legendary and Rift key farming.
Another idea for improving the loot system is to redo Kadala a bit. Again, we have World of Warcraft as a good model for this direction with the older Justice/Valor point system and Honor/Conquest points. A lot of people complain about spending anywhere between 2-5k worth of Blood Shards to obtain the item that they want. So why not just cut to the chance and remove randomization altogether by implementing a surefire system? So Kadala 2.0 would pretty much allow a deep access into the game’s gear inventory and spend a fair amount of shards for certain items. Let’s say 3k for a good 2H weapon or 2k for set items. The stats still will be randomized but the item would be guaranteed.
You might ask, “Well, what’s the point of farming?” You can already ask yourself that rhetorical question because the answer is the same. You still can “gamble” for randoms using the current prices but with a higher risk:reward ration. The difference here is more on guarantees and general time commitment. I think in both cases the time commitment more or less will be the same but the penchant for one or the other would depend on the individual.
I know Blizzard would probably hate revisiting this aspect when they already got rid of the Valor Point loot currency system for Siege of Orgrimmar. Yet it’s the only way (outside of Celestial Bosses) that a PVP oriented player can gear so you can say it’s still acceptable. I think the argument of a planned schedule for gearing isn’t a poor one either; in either case, everything boils down to time commitment to the game. One method simply gives you a self-managed schedule bar while the other becomes hair pulling for the vast majority of people.
Now, mind you that 2-5k Blood Shards is still a lot. T6 yields between 90-100 Blood Shards per run with an average run (for my fairly well geared Demon Hunter) anywhere between 10-15 minutes, depending on Mob Density. So 2k shards will take a well geared player on T6 4 hours with reasonable RNG and efficiency. That isn’t to say you won’t get your dream drops along the way neither, but you are receiving the item you want the most with a sense of progress that targets your own schedule. Also, 8-10 hours is still a fair amount of time to commit to going after a single item.
There are people who will argue that scheduling the game removes the impact of the gear chase. Not really. It’s still a gear chase but it’s more self managed and controlled, allowing each player to deal with the situation according to their own play style. With seasons and ladders this can make the difference for exceptionally committed players. A good player might end up hindered in the game from uncontrolled RNG so this idea helps level the playing field on various sides by narrowing the RNG element.
Also, you have to ask what is the end goal of the game? This really depends on the individual and to Blizzard. Blizzard’s always will try to create a meta end game like ladders and Greater Rifts so that they can see players use tactics and skills over gear. If Blizzard truly wants people to bring the player not the character/gear, then eliminating RNG and focusing on making the correct resources available should be the absolute priority.
I think most people though end up not caring about the ladder aspect, even though some people might participate just to check out the hype surrounding a new gimmick. But I figure what is important to a lot of people is feeling satisfied with being able to build and enjoy the content in short, controlled bursts. RNG only made the Auction House aspect relevant, but since the game doesn’t earn anymore money from the Auction House nor a subscription based system like World of Warcraft, then RNG should be minimized, especially if the game’s priorities from this point on will be ladders.
Some people might contest that finding that uber item is the ultimate satisfaction. I think it’s like anything in life; once you receive it, there’s no reason to really care about it anymore. So the RNG gear hunt really isn’t fun in a longtail manner. The real satisfaction psychologically is the continual self-progress of one’s character in being able to try different things out through available mechanisms that unlock based on time commitment. But that self-progress requires a sense of greater control in terms of the time spent because in the current state, the time spent over a long period feels worthless as the improvements one sees diminishes rapidly.
I’m going to go off on a slight tangent but I think it’s important to supply some anecdotal to support myself here. Prior to going to Japan, having a girlfriend and sex meant the world to me. The first time I had sex it wasn’t what I expected but after I spent time with more women, I started to realize that just having a hot girl wasn’t enough (and I had a few out there). My first girlfriend was probably more about lust than love and over time it became increasingly apparent that we had little in common. After breaking up, I was actually really happy because the relationship was somewhat stifling on me.
But the other thing I found out about myself was that sex and just having someone weren’t important to me. What was important was the person behind the relationship. The drive for sex over a single person diminishes over time for a man (this is somewhat proven through psychobiology) and eventually you start seeking something else if the relationship is simply based around sex. I wanted something more in a relationship than just sex; you really need that emotional impetus to make sex good. All the different attributes that grow with you in a solid relationship improve sex and your emotional investment in that other person and that’s what you really want.
Now, let me bring this back to itemization in the game. Finding that item in the game is like finding the sexiest girl that you think you can get at the time. Once you take her out a few times and get to play with that item, the fun slowly diminishes because that’s it. There’s no growth beyond that initial stage. The item just as sex are simply tools to get to the next stage. But in the scheme of things, it’s not continuously satisfying and you grow tired of each other, until finally you find that next item (or girl).
Instead, what you really want is a solid item/girl that you can grow with over time so that you no longer are looking for that imaginary perfect girl (simply because she doesn’t exist). (And on that note, you can replace girl for guy for straight women and all the other variations for people into whatever gender they’re into just to be fair). So to me Loot 3.0 needs to that item that you help nurture and blossom into that idea of the perfect girl (or guy) over time that make the psychological satiation come to fruition.
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