Let's talk about the aesthetics of the loot system. (AKA I want some flashy colors and stuff!)

[Smoot]

This is one of the worst examples of "I want to be contrarian but don't know what I'm talking about" I've seen lately, and this forum basically runs on that so that's saying something. Cluebat: Items and their properites (including hue) are generated when the monster dies, not when you open the corpse, and the client doesn't work any harder to display a green sword (or whatever) than a plain iron colored one.

But yeah no, you're a real knowledgable player with valid concerns that we should take seriously.

C'mon spock. we just had a major publish update and change to champ spawns made to adress exactyly this type of thing which plagues UO but isnt something you have to think about in other games.

its totally realistic that another string of code on every single item on a crimson or scalis could cause issues. im just saying its something the devs would have to adress.

 

[Smoot]

well, put it in the game i guess.

i wouldnt use it, i prefer looting good stuff and making billions worth of gold. thats worth mousing over items for me whatever meaningless color they are. i guess if your too lazy to make gold or get good loot just loot the "good color" and then complain about crashes causes by the extra code.

 

[Uvtha]

well, put it in the game i guess.

i wouldnt use it, i prefer looting good stuff and making billions worth of gold. thats worth mousing over items for me whatever meaningless color they are. i guess if your too lazy to make gold or get good loot just loot the "good color" and then complain about crashes causes by the extra code.

Wouldn't a color system still help you find these uber leet trillion bagillion gold mega items with one clean property? Since they obviously won't spawn on anything but the lower tiers, a color system could help you target in on those items more quickly and ignore all the 2+ property bearing items, right?

And surely the 1-2 magic properties that those items have being highlighted or at last separated would only make the process more simple and user friendly, wouldn't it?

Also, am I the only one who doesn't crash nonstop?

 

[Smoot]

Wouldn't a color system still help you find these uber leet trillion bagillion gold mega items with one clean property? Since they obviously won't spawn on anything but the lower tiers, a color system could help you target in on those items more quickly and ignore all the 2+ property bearing items, right?

And surely the 1-2 magic properties that those items have being highlighted or at last separated would only make the process more simple and user friendly, wouldn't it?

Also, am I the only one who doesn't crash nonstop?

i mean not really, since if the mods line up with what i refer to as a single item property (the one worth gold) could be found on any of the 8 random magic item generation levels.

i just wouldnt use it, i think the vast majority of people would choose to mouse over rather than miss out.

as to the lag, if you loot a crimson dragon at an event where theres 100 people and 1000 items on the corpse. screen freezes up and you sometimes crash. thats the type of situation where im thinking the extra code might be an issue, definitely not for a regular mob, or even peerless with only 5ish people or so. Scalis with 20 people has been about the lowest amount of people / loot threshold that ive seen performance issues caused by the loot generation.

 

[Uvtha]

i mean not really, since if the mods line up with what i refer to as a single item property (the one worth gold) could be found on any of the 8 random magic item generation levels.

i just wouldnt use it, i think the vast majority of people would choose to mouse over rather than miss out.

as to the lag, try looting a crimson dragon at an event where theres 100 people and 1000 items on the corpse. screen freezes up and you sometimes crash. thats the type of situation where im thinking the extra code might be an issue, definitely not for a regular mob, or even peerless with only 5ish people or so. Scalis with 20 people has been about the lowest amount of people / loot threshold that ive seen performance issues caused by the loot generation.

I don't see how a property coloring or separating system wouldn't help. As for events, I don't go to them.

 

[Smoot]

we also saw players reactions to the change of color on the runebooks, which (thankfully) was changed back. sometimes it may come down to functionality. if the colors make the mods harder to see it may be an issue.

personally, i would also not like to see a color on the actual armor label. people like to have uniformity in their suits, which is actually why many dont like imbued, simply because it disrupts the overall look of the mouseover.

if it were to be done, it would have to be just the appearence before looted, with colors chosen very well and very carefully. not to bright to cuase eye strain (because remember many would still be mousing over looking for specific properties) but also not too dull for them to blend into each other.

im not totally opposed to the color thing also i wouldnt use it myself, but i also wouldnt want it to actually make it harder for people to sort through loot.

 

[Uvtha]

we also saw players reactions to the change of color on the runebooks, which (thankfully) was changed back. sometimes it may come down to functionality. if the colors make the mods harder to see it may be an issue.

Well I for one was hoping for something completely unreadable...

personally, i would also not like to see a color on the actual armor label. people like to have uniformity in their suits, which is actually why many dont like imbued, simply because it disrupts the overall look of the mouseover.

That is the most absurd thing I've ever heard. Putting an aesthetic so niche that it borderlines on OCD ahead of a useful system for 99% of players.

im not totally opposed to the color thing also i wouldnt use it myself, but i also wouldnt want it to actually make it harder for people to sort through loot.

I feel like you are desperately trying to imagine all of the possible ways it would disrupt your gameplay, and dismissing any that would make life easier for people.

 

[Spartan]

Keep in mind ... the property gump is a somewhat transparent thing and the colorization would need to be such that it is visible/readable against any background. Also, there are (I'm sure) some color-blind players (to some level) and some of the hues may not come through for them properly or at all. Myself I'd like to see something like ...

Standard item properties - white
... weapons: swing speed, DPS, etc
Resists and stat buffs - something in the red hue range
Skill debuff/buff - blue hue range
Luck, brittle, etc - orange hue range
Artifact typing - green hue range
All else - yellow hue range

EDIT: Make standard data and resists always visible. The rest need to be discovered by using Item ID. <shrug> And perhaps just a green hue border of the gump if it is an artifact ... let someone ID it for the level.

 

[Lord Frodo]

They people that want this are going to get it and I will bet you %100 of them are going to pancake about it when it is not done the way they think it should be. The DEVs will be damned if they do and damned if they don't.

 

[Spock's Beard]

its totally realistic that another string of code on every single item on a crimson or scalis could cause issues. im just saying its something the devs would have to adress.

This is a non-argument that could apply to literally anything. Oh noes, this game change requires code and code is where bugs live. So what?

Also, the change I propose doesn't require adding a new string to items at all. Every item already has a hue value, it's just usually set to default iron color. All that's actually required is code at item generation to the effect of IF TIER = X THEN LET HUE = Y. It's literally about the simplest change that could be made, maybe a few lines. It's actually less invasive than adding the tier quality to the item description as text the way they do already.

Hell they already have code like this in place, it just turns things grey.

You're really reaching.