Loot

[WCG]

I love the game, but sorting and collecting the loot at the end of battles is very tedious. My characters can't carry everything, and "Longsword" could be many different things (masterwork or not, different materials, etc.). So I have to right-click on every single item to see the description. But then, I can't do anything at that point - I can't even go back to the other items in the pile - but only return to the game and bring up the treasure window again, to either pick up the item or look at something else.

This is a bigger pain than you might expect. Because the "back" command doesn't work there - and after large battles there are a LOT of items to sort through - I get into a routine of clicking the "return to game" command. So then, I keep doing that when I'm in a character's inventory (when I really did want to go back to the previous page). It's frustrating.

If my characters' inventory is nearly empty, I can pick up everything and then destroy the cheap gear. The advantage is that the "back" command DOES work there, so it's quicker to examine the items in inventory. But usually, their inventory is full or nearly full, so I can't do that. In fact, I have to look at everything, then decide what is more valuable than the items they're already carrying, destroy the correct number of cheaper items in inventory, then go back and pick up the better items (which means, of course, that I have to look at them again, since I can't remember which few of the dozen longswords were masterwork).

Then, in addition to all this, I'll try to pick up an item but discover that the only character with room in inventory isn't close enough (they have to be REALLY close, apparently). As I say, the whole process is rather tedious. It's not a problem at the start of the game, but I'm getting into much larger battles now - and into areas like the orc fort, where it was a long time before I could get back to sell my loot (so my characters' inventory is always full, and I have to destroy an item to make room for something else).

Several things would help, including just requiring that ONE person in the party be close enough to the loot in order for any of them to pick it up. After all, they always stay together, don't they?

Better yet would be allowing the "back" command when looking at loot AND letting us collect an item with a single left click, rather than dragging it to a character (that way, the loot window could stay open until we'd either picked up everything or closed it manually).

Even better would be the loot window and the inventory window side-by-side, so that we could replace items in inventory (rather than destroying them in a separate action). And although you could leave the individual treasure boxes as they are on the main screen, when we click on one, you could combine all of the loot that's close enough for any character to pick up. At this point, you just need to be aiming at efficiency, don't you think?

Finally, it would also help if we could easily tell whenever an item was different (meaning, generally, valuable), WITHOUT looking at the description. You could do this in a couple of different ways. One would be to change the color of the lettering, if it was made of a different material ("Longsword" would be a steel longsword, "Longsword" would be a cold iron longsword, etc.). And you could just add an asterisk to designate a masterwork item.

Alternately, you could simply show the cash value of the item alongside the name in the loot screen (or combine this with the previous suggestion). In most cases, I just want to keep the most valuable items. And that would be a clue to look at an item more closely, anyway.

Don't get me wrong, this is a minor flaw in a great game. You've done a superb job here!

[BlueSalamander]

just requiring that ONE person in the party be close enough to the loot in order for any of them to pick it up. After all, they always stay together, don't they?

Use SPACE to let the closest character pick up. (Mouse over the item's icon then push space)

Better yet would be allowing the "back" command when looking at loot AND letting us collect an item with a single left click, rather than dragging it to a character (that way, the loot window could stay open until we'd either picked up everything or closed it manually).

I could replace the "go back" button with a "Pick Item" button in that circumstance. Maybe another button for "Next item in the pile" too...

Finally, it would also help if we could easily tell whenever an item was different (meaning, generally, valuable), WITHOUT looking at the description. You could do this in a couple of different ways. One would be to change the color of the lettering, if it was made of a different material ("Longsword" would be a steel longsword, "Longsword" would be a cold iron longsword, etc.). And you could just add an asterisk to designate a masterwork item. Alternately, you could simply show the cash value of the item alongside the name in the loot screen (or combine this with the previous suggestion). In most cases, I just want to keep the most valuable items. And that would be a clue to look at an item more closely, anyway.

Great ideas, thanks. Colour for the material and * for Masterwork items sounds like the best solution. I'll print the price in small characters below the item name, too.

[xalles]

One thing I've been doing to cut down the loot I have to sort through is to save and reload after a battle. This gets rid of all the truly mundane stuff on the ground, leaving magic/masterwork equips, scrolls, quest items, etc. The downside to this is that it also gets rid of pretty expensive stuff like (mundane) full plate and half-plate, IIRC.

The stuff I generally want to loot where I'm at in the game (either to sell or to use) is either non-mundane items or expensive mundane items.

The best solution I can think of to help the player sort through all the stuff would be to allow him to set up two constraints (on the inventory screen?):
1) mundane vs. masterwork (and special materials) vs. magical,
2) and item value.

My idea here is that the player would choose the lowest/cheapest forms of items he wants to see and then:
---either items that don't meet his requirements simply don't drop,
---or he could hold a key down (ALT is common in ARPGS) while looking at loot piles on the ground and items that don't meet his requirements wouldn't show in the list. (better IMO)
Edit: To clarify, in this system stuff like gold, gems, scrolls/wands, and quest items would always drop/show.

A simpler alternative might be to bind what saving/reloading does (destroy the mundane stuff) to a key.

All in all I feel the game allows me to pick through the loot pretty easily as it is (with the spacebar), but without the save-and-destroy feature, looting after large battles would be a little tedious.

[WCG]

Use SPACE to let the closest character pick up. (Mouse over the item's icon then push space)

I didn't know that. Thanks! That will be useful sometimes, although much of the time, their inventory is pretty full (or completely full). If the inventory of the closest character is full, will it go to the next closest?

I could replace the "go back" button with a "Pick Item" button in that circumstance. Maybe another button for "Next item in the pile" too...

Oh, yes, both of those would be very handy! Especially if the first button placed the item in the first available inventory slot,... and then returned us to the loot window (unless that was the last item there).

Great ideas, thanks. Colour for the material and * for Masterwork items sounds like the best solution. I'll print the price in small characters below the item name, too.

Great!

Another option that might help, especially for those times when my characters' inventory is full, would be to drop items from inventory, rather than destroy them. Right now, I have to look at everything and count how many things are more valuable than what they're already carrying. Then I have to go to their inventory and destroy that many cheaper items, before returning to the loot screen and pick up the stuff that's more valuable.

If I could just drop a bunch of lesser items, and then maybe pick up some of them again later, after I'd got all I wanted from the new loot, that might help. I'd still prefer to compare and switch items directly, but this might be easier to implement.

[BlueSalamander]

A simpler alternative might be to bind what saving/reloading does (destroy the mundane stuff) to a key.

Doable, though saving and reloading isn't too much of an annoyance no?

If the inventory of the closest character is full, will it go to the next closest?

Yes it will. You can also use it on "all these items".

I don't like the idea of dropping items much, logically all your stuff would then get picked up by monsters and carried away... And it's good to have to choose what you want to keep.

[xalles]

A simpler alternative might be to bind what saving/reloading does (destroy the mundane stuff) to a key.

Doable, though saving and reloading isn't too much of an annoyance no?

You're right, it's not, although saving/reloading is not an obvious way to filter items (for players who don't know about it). Also, I did just notice some magic loot (*spoilers* +1 prot rings, +1 full plate, etc.) dropped by some random guys in Taneriz were not saved with the game.

[Pod]

Yuo can right click when in the item description screen to exit. Minor speed improvment....but every little helps

[WCG]

I don't like the idea of dropping items much, logically all your stuff would then get picked up by monsters and carried away... And it's good to have to choose what you want to keep.

I don't mean that the stuff should stay where you dropped it permanently, just that it should form another one of those little treasure piles, that disappear whenever you rest or leave the area.

After all, if you found valuable treasure that you couldn't fit into your inventory, wouldn't you want to dig everything out and repack it, keeping just the best? What's the point of destroying everything, when it's going to disappear quickly, anyway. (And in game terms, you can consider it destroyed anyway - just not before you rearrange your pack to see whether or not it will fit.)

Besides, IMHO, when it comes to inventory management, efficiency is everything!