Roleplaying is just fantasy shopping for nerds. Loot is at the forefront of many a player's goals, because it is the only tangible way to build power in the endgame and because it makes you look wicked groovy awesome. If you want to plug the highest numbers into the machine, you need the best loot. So does every other person playing the game, including all your guildies. They all want your loot, and since you're the leader, every piece you get before them is a gross abuse of power.
Many players (the kind you want to play with) will be graceful and intelligent about loot. But I have seen the green-eyed monster whisper in the noblest ear, and I know that loot is the single most divisive aspect of any MMO. To be both a good looter and leader, you need to know exactly what you want ahead of time. This means math, specifically the epic feat known as addition.
Every class has oodles of theory about which stats are ideal for a role. One tanking class might stack shield block while one healing class needs mana regen. Everyone must reach certain thresholds in each stat to perform at maximum efficiency. A threshold is a total where you have enough of a certain stat to earn a clear advantage. "Hit-capped" DPS never miss, for example, and Defense-capped tanks cannot be critically hit. Once you reach your threshold, you gear for the other stats without dropping below said thresholds. A well-geared player maintains as many thresholds as he can while still piling up bonuses.
Many class communities have someone devoted enough to prefab item spreadsheets, or lists of items for best-in-slot (these lists are often rated using a "points" system that assigns certain values to stats based on usefulness.) If you can find one of these, awesome! If not, making your own spreadsheet is easy.
Open up Excel or some similar software. Along the X axis, set your stats in order of most to least important (leave out useless ones like Intellect for physical DPS.) The Y axis is the name of each item. Then fill out each item's stats. Every tier of loot only has one or two choices in each armor slot, up to five in a weapons slot. Just bold the box with the highest rating in the stat you need. Move your favorite item to another table, this one with the same stat spread, but with one entry each per armor slot, to plot out your whole outfit. The best-in-slot item is either the one with the highest stat you need for your threshold (if you haven't reached it yet) or the one with the most bold cells. To get real fancy, tally up each column in your slot-by-slot rundown and you'll know all your total stats when you've collected the whole set.
Most of the busy-work is in transcribing each item's stats, but even I, a very freaking slow copier can record an entire tier's worth of gear in about an hour and a half. If you're lucky, other players have already figured out what you need in your slots, and all you need to do is figure out what loot you want. If not, or even if so, making one's own spreadsheet is an excellent way to build personal discipline, stay abreast of new loot that comes out, and learn for oneself which stats work best.
There you have it. All the homework you'll ever need to do to plan ahead for gear. As a leader, you must plan ahead. I understand many players would rather just roll on anything they can equip, or anything that looks like an upgrade, but a leader does not get to be this haphazard in their approach to loot. You need to know exactly what to cherry-pick, to get your best possible gear as efficiently as possible, without taking gear you won't use from guildies who need it. As leader, you have no excuse to catch as catch can. Knowing what loot you will need shows organization, discipline and vision. You don't have to keep a chart, but you'd better know what loot you'll take without it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment