The Dev Shack #01 – Improvements to Loot Distribution

What is “The Dev Shack”?

Hello rangers 🙂 We know that many of you are interested in what updates we are working on for Dino Storm, and how these will affect the game. Well, we have begun working on a big update that will change quite a few things—mostly fix some of what was not working as good as we had intended. We would like to show you the biggest of the upcoming changes up front, and we would like to hear your opinion on our ideas!

At the end of this article, you will find a link to join the discussion. Thank you for commenting, and thank you for playing!

WORK IN PROGRESS

Please note that the changes outlined below will be released as part of a bigger game update in the future. While the described core concepts will probably resemble the final implementation closely, this is a work in progress and thus subject to change.

This is How We Are Going to Improve Loot Distribution

The Current State: A Flawed Competition for Loot

As of now, enemy units in Dino Storm are separated into level groups with a multiple of five (i.e. level 5 units, level 10 units, level 15 units and so on). Ranger levels however advance one by one (i.e. level 5 rangers, level 6 rangers, level 7 rangers and so on), so rangers of five different levels are expected to hunt the same group of enemies. Loot item types are clearly separated between enemy groups; this means that while level 9 rangers can certainly overcome level 10 enemies, the upgrade items these units will drop are only interesting for rangers of levels 10-14.

This setup can lead to situations in which less power-ful rangers who are hunting together with stronger rangers may find themselves at a disadvantage—while every ranger who contributes to a kill can get loot, the one that did more damage has a greater chance of receiving better loot. So in turn, the ranger that did less damage will very likely receive less great loot. This means that each time rangers level up to match the next group of enemies, their progress can slow down because they are forced to compete against stronger rangers.

Rangers of different levels compete for the same group of enemies

In the Future: Equal Opportunities for Every Ranger

What we are planning to do is this: Enemy unit levels should advance in the same way as ranger levels do! Also, we want to redistribute loot in a way that it corresponds to rangers of the same level as the unit that drops it, and a few levels below. Take a look at the image: A level 7 ranger will get useful loot from killing level 7 enemies, but also from defeating those at levels 8 and 9.

Basically, each ranger level is matched with a corres-ponding enemy unit level, and there is the added opportunity of looting higher level enemies. This also means that no ranger will want to hunt enemies below his or her level any more; the problem we outlined above—namely that rangers of different levels are competing for the same group of enemies—would be solved!

Rangers hunt enemies of corresponding level (and above)

Forum Discussion

We think that these changes will lead to a lot less frustration when rangers meet in the field hunting for loot—but what do you think? Let’s hear it!

Questions? Want to comment on this? Click here to join the discussion!