this came up in a thread along time ago but i figured id throw it out again for the devs to see and hopefully implement.

there were flaws in how both morrowind and oblivion approached loot. morrowind had static items but they were always in the same place so after a few playthroughs you knew where everything was. oblivion just had random crap.......not much to add to that.

i suggest that at the beginning of every new game in skyrim there is a list of say 200 items to choose from. the game then picks 150 of them randomly and puts them in random locations in the game world. someone posted that they could be held in visually identifiable shrines or boxes or something so that you arent forced to look through every single barrel and crate in game. obviously areas around cities and towns would not make sense since someone would have found it long before you were poking your nose around their village.

its important that all of the selections are made at the beginning of the game otherwise you will have "borderlands reload syndrome" trying to find loot that just a bit better than your last attempt.......ive wasted hours on games doing that and id rather not have to go through that again. :facepalm:

as for the items themselves they would spawn at the current level of the player but as the player increases in level they can pay a mage or shopkeeper to upgrade it for them to match their level. this gets rid of that issue in oblivion where you didnt want the really good weapons early on cause they were permanently stuck at that level

I love this idea. Dev's please take note and implement this now! Between Oblivion and Morrowind, I would definitely prefer Morrowind's style of loot. I usually put 100-200 hours in one play through in the ES games, and with my busy life, multiple play throughs isn't even an option. It did lead to the potential for unbalancing the game when you found high level stuff early though. I think your idea strikes the perfect balance though. In Oblivion, I stopped bothering to even loot most places, as I already knew there was nothing more than average crap there. If there was potential to find unique items everywhere, it would make the adventuring that much more exciting. Great idea!

I would want them all to be at difficult to reach/dangerous areas but they would have to be balanced so one tomb doesn't spawn three legendary relics.

Why not have ALL 300 items and just randomize the locations ?

i loved finding the random body parts in that troll in the mountains of Oblivion. Still in a display case in my house!

I agree completely. There's nothing quite like treasure hunting and stumbling upon something amazing. Actually, the only thing i'd add is for the Dev's to place a greater portion of those unique items in "secret" or hard to find places...ones that you would have to go out of your way to discover. (i.e bottom of a waterfall, mountain peak or secret passages)

No. I don't want to lose out on 50 items in your example. And as I've stated in other threads I like being able to find hidden stuff and share that with my friends "Go here, that where X is" for example. I want my unique items hand placed in the game world.

This actually seems like a reasonable compromise. As long as you can get the items you find at a scaled down level (at least the magic artifacty ones ) upgraded it should work out fine. Maybe have random treasure maps spawn with a location or maybe two for an armor set etc. Could all work with that Radiant Story bit they've been talking about. (at least from my amatuer point of view)

I didn't think Morrowind was that unbalanced. I mean, all of the artifacts were well guarded by powerful enemies. Like, try to get the Lord's Mail at level one, with no exploits. Or Chrysamere. Or Umbra. Or The Fang of Haynekhtnamet. Or the Fists of Randagulf. You will not have an easy time.

I Second OP's notion. Oblivion's loot system blew.
Personally I liked Morrowind's system, since it rewarded the player if they had much knowledge of the game world, but I would settle for a compromise as long as it's an improvement over Oblivion


This is also quite true

there isnt any reason why you couldnt. it just adds an extra layer of uniqueness to each game. on one playthrough you might find the ultimate sword of fatigue loss but its not guaranteed to be in every game. if you did find a weapon that was just super awesome then you would always focus on just that skill assuming that at some point you would find the ultimate sword of fatigue loss. since its not guaranteed to be in the game you are more free to use other skills without deliberately nerfing yourself. oblivion had the problem of most of the really good weapons were bladed weapons. only a few of the blunt weapons were useful. umbra was in every game so if you are one of those people that designs their characters around the best gear you always picked swords over blunt. with limited selection way you dont have that restriction.

@broken-scale.....its been awhile since ive played morrowind but i remember that you could get a powerful silver sword in a guard tower in balmor (i think) and you could get glass weapons right away at ghost gate (i think) someone can correct me if im wrong but thats how i remember using the exploits.

@arseth......that kind of ruins the game for me if i know where everything is right away. thats no different to me than reading a walkthrough. i want to be surprised and even sometimes disappointed if i dont find a particular weapon i like. i want every game to be as new and fresh as possible.

That's sorta lame, where's the fun and mystery in that? if you dont know what your gonna find or where you will find it then you can have fun searching, i think there would have to be some things that are specifically placed because not everyone wants to go wandering everywhere but most of it should be scattered randomly. this'll add a lot more replay value because you wont know which area will have what so you cant just only go to the areas you know ahve good stuff but have to look around and explore.

p.s. i agree with your first point though, i'd like to be able to find everything, dont want to lose out on any.

Or just hand place the other fifty in static locations so you're always sure to get some good phat loot of some sort.

i loved the murder request that you can find in oblivion that gave you your first person to murder for the brotherhood initiation

To choose between one or the other, I would definitely go with MW's system. I think they should have the items randomly scattered around, for replayabiliy's sake, but have each item at a static level - no change. It shouldn't be considered 'unbalancing' if you find the sword of smiting at level one - you've got a kickass sword. Enjoy it. I hate finding a weapon that isn't that much better than the weapon I've been using. What they should do is put a very strong 'guard' at each artefact. That way, you shouldn't be able to get the level 10 sword when you're 1 unless you defeat the level 8 troll first - which should be quite difficult.
That's how I see the world.

Eh I would rather they just go with a static loot system, I can understand what the OP is saying however with such a system you arent really hunting for specific items but relying on dumb luck to randomly stumble upon something big. Of course you could use a system like Fable 3 where the location you find these items are fixed however the item that you get isnt but then you still know where to find the items so you still wont be surprised when you find a legendary, just this time you have a chance to roll something that you really diddnt want.

I would much rather that rare and powerful items were placed in static locations and appear no matter your level, Bethesda could scatter clues around the world as to their location so that you can actually go hunting for these items rather than stumble upon them by blind luck.

Townsperson 1: "Hey did you hear? Antus sixtus in Winter Hold has an impressive collection of Dwemer artifacts, I heard he recently added a very valuable longsword to his collection"

Townsperson 2: "I saw a mudcrab the other day, dreadful creatures"

I'd say have them keep it how it is for regular loot, throw in this idea for some random special items (maybe not quite unique like new models and textures, just a range of gear that can be anything from a weak pair of boots to an awesome amulet) thrown in certain locations so you know something special will be there, just not what. Then for the final cherry on top put a few unique items that get special attention in predetermined spots.

:foodndrink:

I don't see the replay value in having artifacts randomly placed throughout the game world. :shrug: Then again, I'm not a play for loot kind of person. E,g. I'm not a fan of Diablo. I like being able to remember kinda where X thing is and going to find it.

I want the Umbra to be where Umbra is supposed to be. Not in some random place. I will always choose, less but unique over more but randomly generated.

Also, let me point out that the argument that on your second playthrough knowing where stuff is, is just like reading a walkthrough. :facepalm: What do you expect? The entire game, quests and all to be randomly generated? No sir. Not fun.

Yeah, I definitely missed the sense of discovery and accomplishment in Oblivion when every enemy after a certain level had glass armor and weapons. In Morrowind it could be argued that finding items was too much of a chore, but items mattered more as a result. So I think this would be a great compromise. I would like to see it extended to the highest level armors, too (Elven, Glass, Daedric, etc.) I don't want to see them randomly appearing on high level enemies (unless it's much more rare than it was in Oblivion; that would work, too.)

quests arent an issue for me cause i play heavily modded games. i usually do a few playthroughs with different archetypes usually a mage a rogue and a warrior. after that i ignore the main questline and play lots of mods. if they put in random quests that would go along way to helping the gameplay if say you had to kill random npcs as part of the dark brotherhood or steal random artifacts as a thieves guild member.

you seem to be misunderstanding the main point of the concept. umbra would still be in the game..........it just wouldnt be in the same cave as your last game. i honestly dont see how knowing everything ahead of time is good for gameplay. i got sick of doing x y and then z in every game because i knew where the goodies were. it literally is no different than have a strategy guide next to you. maybe you like that but it bores the hell out of me. as for the "just ignore it" argument that some people will undoubtably bring up..........when exactly do you go after a killer sword like umbra....when you almost done with the game or at middle levels or early levels when you know exactly where it is. its like king arthur not using excalibur cause it made fights to easy for him..........what warrior is going to NOT use umbra right away. its very unrealistic.