Loot

Archives: Loot/Weapons Pre2012, Loot/Tier 7 Pre2013

Related topics: Game Mechanics, Items

Loot is the term formally used to refer to any item generated by AC's random treasure system or "loot-o-matic". However, it is also used as a general term to describe any item dropped by a creature or found inside a chest.

The Loot System

Profiles

Loot items generated by creatures and chests are controlled by treasure profiles.

There are three general profiles types that are distributed among the creatures and chests in the game. Each profile has general parameters that control treasure generation including: number of items, item type, occurance and the Loot Tier.

• Generic Items - Basic items that do not mutate at all such as scarab peas and mana stones.
• Mundane Items - Items that do not have magical spells but can still mutate with different properties such as armor level, color or wield requirement and damage for example.
• Magic Items - Items that can mutate with varying spells and cantrips in addition to the mundane item properties.

Loot profiles can be assigned to and shared by multiple creatures.

Loot Tiers

The loot tier of a profile is used in two distinct ways during treasure generation. First, it is used in selection to select the exact item that is going to be generated; and secondly it is used in mutation to determine how that item is going to be changed by the treasure system.

For example, a generic item such as a Peerless Healing Kit cannot be mutated as one type of healing kit is always the same. However, an item such as a sword can be selected from the treasure tables and then mutated with other properties such as:

• Material Type
• Burden
• Value
• Description
• Wield Requirement, Damage, Modifier and Speed
• Armor Level (plus wield req. if high AL/unenchantable)
• Color

If the Magic Item profile is doing the mutating then the item can have even further properties including:

• Spells (see also: Spell Distribution)
• Cantrips
• Attribute Set
• Spellcraft
• Mana
• Mana Cost

Mutations get higher and more powerful with each tier but some items are not available at all until higher tier levels. For example, a chainmail girth is available from tier 1 right up to tier 8 (with much better mutations) but a piece of Lorica Armor will not appear in loot until tier 5.

Loot Tiers by Creature Level

Loot tiers are generally linked with a target level range of creature and sometimes location as is the case with the highest tier 8 creatures, which are found in high level hunting grounds.

Tier	Creature Level Found On*
Tier 1	8, 15
Tier 2	20, 30
Tier 3	40, 50
Tier 4	60, 80
Tier 5	100, 115
Tier 6	135, 160
Tier 7	185, 190, 200, 205, 210, 215, 220, 225, 235, 240, 250, 265
Tier 8	Hoshino Fortress Graveyard Mhoire Castle Tou-Tou Inner Neftet

* Creature levels and corresponding loot tiers are part of an ongoing creature rebalance. Some creatures may not currently be dropping the correct loot for their level.

Additional Properties

There are also other special properties that can affect the quality and/or amount of items that are generated.

"Luck"

Some creatures and chests appear to have better luck than others when it comes to dropping higher quality items. This is because they have an additional property that increases the chances of a higher level mutation being chosen from the tables. This property has also been called a Quality Flag.

"Group"

A creature or item with the group property will always drop a larger quantity of loot than normal. Many boss creatures as well as Gold creatures on Vissidal have this property in addition to the luck property.

Trivia

• Loot tiers have been referred to as "Loot Levels" and "Wealth Ratings" by past developers.
• Prior to the Ancient Powers event, Asheron’s Call had only six wealth ratings. When the game first shipped, only the first five were commonly available to players. The lowest wealth ratings were assigned to the low level creatures; wealth rating 4 was assigned to the high level creatures; and wealth rating 5 was assigned only to very special creatures like Olthoi Nobles.
• There are currently 8 loot tiers and although not really seen, there is technically an 9th tier as many creatues do not generate any loot at all (tier 0). They may, however, still drop trophies.
• In the first 3 years of AC, when a creature was killed and loot was left inside the corpse, the body decayed immediately leaving the leftover loot on the floor. This feature was removed in The Iron Coast event to increase server performance. See Item Decay for a list of other similar changes made.

Non-Loot Generated Items

Trophies

Trophies are separate from the loot system which generates largely random items using profiles and loot tiers.

Trophies are determined as soon as a creature spawns, with loot being generated on the creature's death. This is why trophies always appear in the first slots of a creature's corpse.

Random trophies can also appear inside chests in addition to creature corpses. An early example of this is with Steel Chests that spawn wall and ring spells using the trophy system, while the bolts and arc spells are handled by the treasure system. This is because for a scroll to be generated as loot it needs to exist for all spell levels which wall and ring spells do not. A "new trophy drop method" was also tested with the introduction of Black Marrow Reliquaries which can drop a number of different items in addition to tier 6 loot.

Every creature of the same type shares the same treasure profile and trophy drop information. Exceptions to this exist when a creature needs to drop a fixed quest trophy which are dropped by unique creatures or by a common creature in a specific location.

Trophy lists can be found on every creature and creature class page.

Commonly found trophies
		Currency		Keys and Picks		Portal Gems		Stamps
		Body Parts		Quest Items

File:Trophies Live.jpg An Ancient Empyrean Trinket and some treasure.

Rares

Main article: Rares

Rares are powerful items that can appear with loot on a defeated creature greater in level than the player character who killed it - or on any creature over level 100.

There are six tiers of rares ranging from the most common tier 1 rares, which consist of volatile skill buff gems, to the least common tier 6 rares consisting of weapons for each class. Rare armor and weapons can also be levelled up to cast more powerful spells on the wielder.

File:Rares Live.jpg A Berzerker's Crystal and some treasure.

Update History

The Changing of the Ways

• Metal armors now weigh 1/3rd less, have 1/3rd less value, and have had their elemental protections increased.

Flesh and Blood

• Cantrips added for weapons and armor.
• High level jewelry can now generate multiple spells (with increased Arcane Lore).

Persuasion

• Damage and variance bonuses added to weapons.
• Weapons with these bonuses have a wield requirement of 250.
• Shields no longer generate useless spells (bow, crossbow, magic skills).
• Gauntlets and sollerets can now generate with bow, crossbow, and thrown weapons masteries.
• The chance for various spells and weapon types to generate have been adjusted.

Hidden Vein

• All players can now appraise items regardless of their skill levels.
• The rate at which dual and treble-spell jewelry drops have been doubled again.
• Dual-spell clothing added.

Repercussions

• Royal Atlatls added to loot.
• New max damages and variances for melee weapons added.
• Weapons with these new values will have a wield requirement of 325.
• Armor now has the potential to have higher AL for each type of armor.

Atonement

• Covenant Armor introduced.
• Tassets introduced.
• Intermediate wield tier of 300 added to melee weapons.
• Missile weapon wields of 270 and 290 added for high damage mod weapons.
• Armor and clothing now states exactly what body parts are protected in the ID panel.
• Armor protection caps (can no longer be increased through bane spells) added for the seven protection modifiers added:
  • Poor: 0.1 -- 0.4
  • Below Average: 0.4 -- 0.8
  • Average: 0.8 -- 1.2
  • Above Average: 1.2 -- 1.6
  • Excellent: 1.6 -- 2.0
  • Unparalleled: 2.0

Verdict

• Certain thrown weapons--such as throwing axes, clubs, daggers, djarids, darts, javelins, and shokens--will no longer appear as treasure (now found at town Bowyers).
• SIK chests should now provide slightly better treasure.

Festivus

• Mana Conversion modifiers introduced for casting devices.

The Iron Coast

• Loot no longer appears on the floor when a corpse decays. Monster corpses now remain for five minutes--a much longer period than they currently do--but when they decay, any unclaimed loot that remains on the corpse will also decay.

The Hall of the Tusker King

• Parchment no longer drops as loot.
• Creatures no longer drop their pitiful unmutated weapons.
• Missile weapon ammunition (i.e., arrows, crossbow bolts, and atlatl darts) no longer drops as loot.
• Foods now only drop at low treasure levels. At higher levels, food has been replaced with potions. This does not affect special food drops, like fire auroch meat or spices.
• More types of scarabs (e.g., lead, iron, copper) drop at lower levels of loot. At higher levels of loot, scarabs have been replaced with scarab peas.
• Weapon damage, variance, offense and defense modifiers, and speed now mutate more often. In addition, weapon burden can now mutate as well.
• The armor level and burden on armor mutates more often. In addition, the elemental protection of shields can mutate.
• Jewelry now has a chance to be generated with heritage requirements.

Discoveries

• The highest profile of loot, such as that found in Singularity Troves, has been upgraded in several small ways.

A Swelling Tide

• The Golden Chests at the casinos now give better treasure.

Reign of Terror

• Sturdy Steel Chests should provide slightly more loot.

Waking from the Abyss

• New types of leather armor can now be found in loot, such as leather long gauntlets and leather pants.

The Madness of Men

• Phase 1 of the major treasure revisions.

Across the Vast Divide

• Phase 2 of the major treasure revisions.

A New Threat

• Phase 3 of the major treasure revisions.

Mired Hearts

• Phase 4 of the major treasure revisions.

Assault

• Higher wield-req weapons added (Each additional tier of weapons has an average damage-over-time increase of 5% when compared to the preceding tier.)
  • Melee weapons with a 350 wield requirement.
  • Missile weapons with a 315 wield requirement.
  • Magic casters with 290 and 310 War Magic.
• Elemental damage bonuses introduced for missile and magic weapons with 315+ and 290+ wield requirements.

Infiltration

• Tier 6 wield-req weapons added:
  • Melee weapons with wield requirements of 370 and 400.
  • Missile weapons with wield requirements of 335 and 360.
  • Casters with wield requirements of 330 and 355.

Friend and Foe

• New loot weapon styles added:
  • Baton
  • Board with Nail
  • Claw
  • Compound Bow
  • Compound Crossbow
  • Dericost Blade
  • Glaive
  • Lancet
  • Lugian Hammer
  • Slingshot
  • Stick

Under Cover of Night

• Crowns, Hats, Shoes, and Gloves spawn with much higher Armor Level can now be found.
• Improved elemental protections on Leather, Studded Leather and Scalemail armor and clothing.
• Elemental wands can now be tinkered to increase their elemental damage multiplier.
• Loot can now generate with level 7 spells.
• Cantrip spells can now be found on jewelry and clothing in addition to armor and weapons.

Ancient Powers

• Loot Tier 7 introduced.

Shifting Tactics

• Weapons with new tier stats in 420 and 400 wield should be far more common.
• Armor sets now have a higher chance of dropping.
• All armor sets now have an equal chance of dropping instead of favoring some over others.

Old Ghosts

• Loot in the 7th tier expanded to creatures that also drop Pristine Mana Shards.
• Min AL increase on Covenant type (unenchantable) armor.
• Staff damage variance for tier 7 corrected.
• Increased number of items in weapon mana forge chests by 1.
• Significantly reduced chances of pulling bane cantrips in highest loot tiers.
• Hiltable Daggers and Swords now drop from tier 7 creatures.
• Allegiance Rank requirements should no longer show up in Mana Forge Chests or on the Creatures dropping the high tier of loot.

Picking up the Pieces

• New multi-strike weapons should now be able to be hilted after being tinked and hilting should no longer make the item attuned and bonded.

Shedding Skin

• Loot should no longer spawn with Racial Requirements. Pieces that would have racial requirements are instead generated as "exceptional" pieces that have lower Arcane Lore requirements.

Celebration

• Haebrean Armor added to tier 6 and up loot.

Filling in the Blanks

• Knorr Academy Armor added to tier 6 and up loot.

Hidden In Shadows

• Sedgemail Leather Armor added to tier 6 and up loot.

Cloak of Darkness

• Cloaks added to all tiers of loot.

Master of Design

• Lightning proof sets will no longer appear more often than other sets from Casino chests.

Road to Revenge

• Spear two-handed weapons now have the same possible variances as cleaving two-handed weapons.
• Small maximum damage increase for light axes.

Balance of Power

• Loot Tier 8 introduced.
• Armor/Damage/Elemental Damage/Percent Damage can drop at new higher level in all loot tiers.
• Minors can now drop from the lowest loot tier. Majors can now be found one tier earlier than before.
• The rate of cantrips in tiers 1-6 has been increased.
• Creatures that drop tier 7 loot (mana forge level of loot) have been adjusted to drop better loot more often.
• Mana Forge chests have had luck applied to them.
• All types of non-covenant armor can now drop with the top AL as opposed to only certain types of armor as it has been in the past.
• There is now a max damage(elemental damage/percent damage) difference between the top and second to top wield on all weapon types.
• Epic loot with sets will now drop with a level restriction of 150 instead of 180.
• Broken Mana Forge Keys now have a 24 hr lifespan that is removed upon fixing the key.
• Epic Spirit Drinker is now more effective.
• Epic skills/attributes are now more effective.
• Epic Hermetic Link now exists.
• Summoning skill boost has been added to the Wise set.
• Pristine Mana Shards will no longer drop in loot. Existing shards can still be turned in for keys. All creatures that previously dropped shards now have a chance of dropping a broken key.
• Loot tiers and creature levels standardized (part of an on-going creature rebalance)
  • 1-15 - Tier 1
  • 20-30 - Tier 2
  • 40-50 - Tier 3
  • 60-80 - Tier 4
  • 100-115 -Tier 5
  • 135-160 - Tier 6
  • 185+ - Tier 7