Adventure Reward Distribution
This was just an idea that came through several discussions on various in-game channels, and is not meant to be an indicator of any known game change. I am only presenting this to get opinions on how it would change game play and how people would react to the idea.
The current system of distributing treasure, or loot, at the end of a multi-person adventure is based on all participants receiving a fixed distribution based on a probability-based table. Each player has the same potential loot, regardless of the amount of effort made for the adventure. Although many of the two or three person adventures can be done by a single person, this has created what are commonly known as "loot spots", where people join the adventure and do a minimal amount of work, for the purpose of getting the full treasure reward. These spots are traded between players, technically outside the normal in-game trading mechanism as there is no current way to directly trade an invitation for something else. The value of the loot spot is loosely determined by the value of the potential reward that the non-completing player will receive. Of course, since the treasure tables are based on random generation, the actual gain by the loot spot player can vary.
One potential change in the system could be as follows. Currently, the game already tracks the amount of damage done by each player, providing experience points to each participating player based on their kills. Since this information is already collected, potentially a similar system could be used to distribute treasure rewards. Rather than each person getting their own complete treasure table reward, the reward would also be based on the proportion of enemies killed in the adventure. Obviously, to maintain balance, the total award possible should be multiplied at least by the number of player for which the adventure is rated.
There are several obvious issues with this, that I will bring up now. This would eliminate the sale of loot spots, as there would no longer be any benefit in someone joining an adventure and not participating fully. Conversely, there is no reason to sell the spot, as there is no "wasted" loot that would have gone to someone else if they had been invited. It should not penalize the person who would sell under the current system, as they would receive at least twice the previous reward, and under a fair market, the value of the additional reward should be greater than the value received through selling the spot. As a secondary effect, it could anticipated that it would increase the total volume traded through the trade office, as the people who were selling loot spots for gold previously would then be selling the resources obtained in the adventure. It would greatly reduce the ability of people to falsely sell the invitations to adventures, as outside of completing an outstanding quest, there is no reason to join someone else's adventure except to share in the fighting. However, there is no change in the ability to work together to complete an adventure.
I would invite thoughtful comments on this idea. I have attached a poll for those who just wish to weigh in.
