The Misadventures of the Lords of Loot.
Episode
#23: The Lost Art of Looting in Trammel
This episode took place several weeks before the announcement of the looting changes in Publish 16. At the time I didn’t realize these would be some of my last loots. Some of you will be reading this after it is impossible to loot in Trammel. Unfortunately for me this style of play is no longer an option.
Two different loots take place in the following episode. Can you spot the differences?
Loot
#1
Checking dungeon Deceit for chests and corpses Bubbler stumbled upon a corpse. How fortunate for this poor soul that I arrived!
Ah! A ghost!
Sorry my friend but I can’t help you.
It’s good advice! You should heed my words before the looters take your things!
BONES!!!!
LOOT!!!
Ah! A silver weapon, these always fetch a fine price!
Ah, he followed me through the gate. Too bad you didn’t make it back before you were looted.
Who is holding it?
I am being nice. You shall receive your goods back for a small price.
He was holding 5k. For the amount of stuff he was holding it was more then fair.
Yup. Only 5K.
You’re welcome.
Simple. No arguments, no whining, no insults, and no GM calls.
That’s the way they should all go.
Lesson 1: Cooperate with your looter and you’ll get your things back.
Loot
#2
Setup: Later that same day Bubbler was making the rounds in Deceit for chests and bodies when he stumbled upon a pile of gold on the ground. It was quickly snatched up (missed shot).
Not much but it’s mine.
I’m glad you find it amusing.
At this point I made my rounds and upon my return…
…death was in the air.
SIR BLAXICAN was back within a few minutes of dying.
He would do well to avoid that Ogre Lord.
You want me to invis?
Ok.
*Turns invisible*
I see I’ve confused him.
It’s called looting my friend.
Ack! That Ogre Lord caught you I see.
Don’t worry! I’ll rescue your goods!
Here you go, direct to
What’s this?
‘Tis my lucky day!
Days like this are gone forever.
They shall be missed. :/
Upon my return to
It’s a very well dressed SIR BLAXICAN; glacial staff, dragon armor, and a dragon mount. This spells a good profit.
He starts off well, polite and concise.
My standard line.
Oh! And he lies!
Aye, and considering that it had just come out a few days before it was VERY expensive.
Lies! More lies!
Er… perhaps a check?
I still don’t believe you.
FYI: I offered to let him give me that glacial staff in exchange for his goods.
He said “No.”
He didn’t believe I had his boat.
It’s not very honorable but I too need money.
Yes it is and you should learn the rules.
And in said game I’m a bad man.
Ouch! Below the belt!
The gentleman that just walked up said “selling what back?”
A potential buyer!
I quickly review of the situation for the new bidder.
You should not have spent all your money on such fine equipment.
I shall not reward you for your stupidity.
It seems he’s an intelligent new buyer… this doth bode well for my pocketbook.
Hey waitasecond!
Barding costs a fortune!
“no money” indeed.
ARG! Learn the rules!
I’m no thief!
A GM must have been listening to me and thought “Hey, what a great idea! Let’s incorporate that into the next publish!”
I was NOT looting before you came back. I was just waiting for it to be LEGAL for me to pick up the goods.
Nay friend, twas all the banksitting.
I never once said I’d invis you. And YOU let yourself die by running into a dungeon unprepared.
Responsibility is a beautiful thing. Find some.
Ugh! It’s just getting silly!
It appears our friend was also fed up with the argument and wanted this loot!
There you are sir. A fine batch it is.
Lesson #2: When you don’t abide by the policies of your local looter you probably won’t get anything back.
It’s unfortunate that this playstyle was canned by OSI with the advent of publish 16. I imagine it was done due to excessive number of GM calls generated by people in my profession. Don’t get me wrong, some of the GM calls were legitimate and needed to be addressed. However, not everyone in this profession lured or otherwise “encouraged” the death of our lootees. Most often the best and quickest way to find death was a quick tour of the dungeon hot spots and a 7 minute wait.
Based on my conversations and experience with my lootees I can already tell that in all likelihood this will not lower the number of stupid and pointless GM calls. It seems that the vast majority of people are unwilling to take responsibility for their mistakes. They will still get tones of “soandso is luring on me!” calls along with a new “Me and my buddies couldn’t get back to our bodies in time so we lost all our stuff” type of call.
What will these calls lead to? Perhaps in Publish 17 we’ll see the advent of the “die in a Trammel dungeon and get teleported to town with all your items” type of stuff.
Only time will tell.