This is an attempt to summarize and consolidate many posts about Destiny's loot system. It'd be really awesome if Deej would finally just acknowledge the constant player feedback on the loot system at some point. [b][u]How Does The Loot System Work Right Now?[/u][/b] Essentially loot is distributed the same way that a prize is distributed in a slot machine. Just like putting in money will give you a spin of the slots, killing a mob (Dreg, boss, etc.) or completing an event (strike, crucible, etc.) will give you spin of Destiny's RNG loot system. The important thing to keep in mind is that [b]the percent drop chance values for each item never change[/b]. So, you have the same chance to get a Black Hammer (example) regardless of how many times you have killed Crota, or how many Black Hammers you have been awarded previously for that boss. [u][b]Why Are People SO Upset About Destiny's Loot System?[/b][/u] [i]It isn't just "He got something I didn't get, waaah!"[/i] The root cause of the frustration lies in the fact that [b]most times a player is not rewarded for completing an event[/b]. In this context, "rewarded" means receiving something the player feels they need. If you kill Crota and only get 3 energies for it, unless you actually need radiant energy, you were not rewarded for your efforts. If you killed Crota 10 times and never got anything you needed, then from a loot perspective you may as well have just never done the Crota portion of the raid at all. There are of course other reasons as well, but I believe that resolving this issue would mitigate nearly all of the frustration we all see every day on the forums (and in practically every published review of Destiny as well). [u][b]Why Do Some People LIKE the Loot System?[/b][/u] 1) They like the feeling of excitement one gets when that one piece of loot they want [i]finally[/i] drops - I agree that this is a good feeling, and one that should be kept. However, I don't think a random loot system is the best way to achieve this. If it is important, then surely you wouldn't want the feeling of excitement to be random right? 2) They do not want everybody to get loot - The concern here is that literally every single player they see will be running around with the exact same weapons and gear, so they won't feel unique. It would be like every guardian was a clone. While the concept of everyone being a Stormtrooper would be cool for a little while, yes I agree that this would be a bad thing. Again though, I don't think a random loot system is the best way to achieve the goal. Since it is random, everybody COULD end up with the exact same stuff. You really don't know. In addition, since there is no "one best weapon for every single scenario" even if we all did have the same stuff, you wouldn't see everyone always equipping the same items. Lastly...Xur 3) They do not want loot to just be "handed out" - People shouldn't just get all of the loot in the game just because they bought the game ( I agree). The feeling is that a random loot system is a control system. This assertion is just incorrect. Because of the random loot system, many players are already "just handed loot". Here is an example of someone with 37 hours played asking about his new Hawkmoon: [url]http://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/90784927/0/0[/url] (Yes, he really has one). That is just a single example. Imagine how many others with less than 100 hours played already had a Ghorn, Icebreaker, or any other "power weapon" already. 4) "This is how all MMOs handle loot" - Destiny is not an MMO. It is a cooperative FPS with MMO-like components - If you haven't played WoW (or other MMOs still online), you may not know this but they no longer use a random luck loot system with static percent drop chance values. They have changed based on community feedback, Bungie needs to catch up. 5) "Bungie could change the loot system, but they never will because it helps hide the lack of content in Destiny" - I just really hope this isn't the case, that is all. That being said, [b]Deej: Many people assume this because you will not speak to the community about Bungie's future plans about Destiny's loot system.[/b] 6) "If I got all of the loot I need, I'd have nothing to do" - I don't believe this is true for most people. But even if it was, the control in place to prevent this is totally random today. If it is so important to cap every player from getting all the loot, do we really want to handle it randomly? - There is plenty to do after getting all of the loot one wants. Without the pressure to keep on spinning the slot machine, one can do some more PvP, just go to earth and tag along with random people they come across, help others out with raids, etc, etc, etc.. [u][b]So What Can Be Done About It?[/b][/u] A solution needs to be implemented that mitigates player frustration from not getting any loot they need, while also respecting items 1, 2, and 3 above. We need a system that removes player loot frustrations, while also not just handing out free loot, and not removing the excitement one gets when some loot they have been looking for finally drops. Solution: Change the percent drop values from [i]static[/i] to being [i]fluid[/i]. How it would work: Using Crota as an example, let's say you kill Crota and your loot is a Swordbreaker (plus radiant stuff, which seems to always drop). The percent drop chances on your personal loot table adjust. The next time you kill Crota, the chances of you getting a Swordbreaker decrease, while every other weapon in the table gets a drop chance increase. The drop chance would keep on increasing until you finally got the weapon you want. It could still take many, many Crota kills to get that weapon, but you would know that eventually it would drop. The same logic could be applied to Crucible and Strikes as well, with just adjusting the increases. Since Strikes/Crucible can be run constantly for loot, the increases would be very, very small compared to things that can't be run (for loot) more than once a week like raids and Nightfall. [u][b]A Great Solution, Reasons Why[/b][/u] 1) Frustration is removed, because even if nothing drops for you, something was still gained. [b]You gained an increase to drop percentage for the next time you kill Crota[/b]. 2) It wouldn't make it easy to get loot. Bungie would need to determine the exact percent chance changes, but something like needing to kill Crota 20 times (on one character) before a certain item was basically guaranteed to drop would be fair. 3) "Everybody" still won't get every item from the loot table. Sticking with Crota as the example, not everyone would be able to get a group together and kill Crota 20 times so you're not going to see thousands of people a day running around with Hunger of Crota. 4) Feeling of excitement is still there, is getting a lucky drop is still much much faster than having to grind out kill after kill to get what you're looking for. 5) Xur exotic sales wouldn't actually be necessary anymore. Currently the purpose of Xur exotic sales is to make up for (somewhat anyway) the random loot system. With the above solution, Xur selling exotics wouldn't be needed anymore. People could just continue to work their way towards the exotics they want with strikes and/or crucible. Xur could sell cool shaders and other cosmetic stuff for strange coins instead. Not saying they HAVE TO change Xur, just that he wouldn't be as necessary as he is now anymore.