Official response regarding loot cycling

[zipper 69]

Can we get one please? Disconnecting to avoid death was a big enough concern amongst the community that Rocket issued an official response on the topic. A lot of people have been asking about loot cycling, and there have been a lot of debates about whether this is an exploit, or if it is acceptable behavior. I don't think it needs to be discussed in detail as to why or why not people think these things, everyone will have their own opinion and there are a lot of threads discussing the issue. Any reply would be great, thanks.

[Private Poptarts 23]

Could you elaborate loot cycling for me? It seems I've missed something... :U

[zipper 69]

Loot cycling. The process of clearing a building of loot and waiting for it to respawn.

[Private Poptarts 23]

Loot cycling. The process of clearing a building of loot and waiting for it to respawn.

It kind of is like serverhopping, without disconnecting. Gray area?

I don't think there's much harm camping a house waiting for matchsticks to spawn but cycling for rare stuff on the other hand... that's kind of like farming. Though the solution of "make it rarer" and "only server restart respawns items in the category of X and Y and Z" might be a bit too harsh. Or not?

I think there is a longer respawn time for rarer items though? Or maybe that's just me imagining things.

tl;dr

It's a gray area. Duh.

[SillySil 295]

It works like that. Go to stary take everything out of the tents into a big pile, come back in 5 minutes and there will be new loot. Risky but worth it sometimes. Feels like grinding. Has good and bad things to it.

[acebane 268]

Heya...For those who don't know what loot cycling is,

The way I see it is, if you get enough people to lock down a location and survive from zombies/player attacks (especially those high military grade spots), you deserve all the loot you cycled. There's bozos logging in at ANY TIME in a building, there's guys running in from all directions to come check out the high loot spots. So if you can lock it down and cycle loot, I don't see it being an "exploit" considering you're in danger the whole time. Granted it does kind of detract from the whole "Survival" aspect when you sit there farming loot pretty much, but it's a part of the game mechanics as far as I see.

Want that super rare gun that you rarely ever see? Do you want to wait for someday you go through NW Airfield's barracks and hope you have good enough luck that you'll find it, untouched? I don't want to wait, so I cycle with my Clan mates to get me and them the best guns possible in the shortest amount of time. Only price we have to pay is our safety. Being mobile is the best way to stay alive in Day Z, so staying at the loot location is asking for trouble.

[Lady Kyrah 1110]

If anything we just need better loot spawning mechanics, there isn't much to discuss there.

If possible, one that you simply cannot game.

[zipper 69]

Heya...For those who don't know what loot cycling is,

The way I see it is, if you get enough people to lock down a location and survive from zombies/player attacks (especially those high military grade spots), you deserve all the loot you cycled. There's bozos logging in at ANY TIME in a building, there's guys running in from all directions to come check out the high loot spots. So if you can lock it down and cycle loot, I don't see it being an "exploit" considering you're in danger the whole time. Granted it does kind of detract from the whole "Survival" aspect when you sit there farming loot pretty much, but it's a part of the game mechanics as far as I see.

Want that super rare gun that you rarely ever see? Do you want to wait for someday you go through NW Airfield's barracks and hope you have good enough luck that you'll find it, untouched? I don't want to wait, so I cycle with my Clan mates to get me and them the best guns possible in the shortest amount of time. Only price we have to pay is our safety. Being mobile is the best way to stay alive in Day Z, so staying at the loot location is asking for trouble.

I agree with you Ace. But if this something that Rocket doesn't want then I don't want to become dependent upon it. I'm just hoping we can get a response from Rocket to end the discussion once and for all.

[Lady Kyrah 1110]

Personally i would go for a depletion system where a place simple cease to have loot when it is regularly farmed, shifting it's spawning potential to a zone that is never looted.

[simonbenchapongwimon_7@hotmail.com 25]

Personally i would go for a depletion system where a place simple cease to have loot when it is regularly farmed, shifting it's spawning potential to a zone that is never looted.

Sounds good.

[zipper 69]

Personally i would go for a depletion system where a place simple cease to have loot when it is regularly farmed, shifting it's spawning potential to a zone that is never looted.

There are various ways that loot can be controlled. Unfortunately, if I understood Rocket correctly in his interview yesterday, Arma 2 doesn't really handle loot very well. I'm sure if he gets his wish and DayZ becomes standalone he has some good ideas to work the loot system. But right now I am more concerned with just getting an answer regarding loot cycling. I'd like to know if this is considered an exploit or not from those creating the mod.

[Desertdog129 1]

i dont see no harm in that tbh i mean if they want to do that and other players find out they will end up dying sooner or later. I think the bigger problem is the server hopping to different servers to loot a high yeild.

Edited July 14, 2012 by Desertdog129

[Blakorr 77]

Heya...For those who don't know what loot cycling is,

The way I see it is, if you get enough people to lock down a location and survive from zombies/player attacks (especially those high military grade spots), you deserve all the loot you cycled. There's bozos logging in at ANY TIME in a building, there's guys running in from all directions to come check out the high loot spots. So if you can lock it down and cycle loot, I don't see it being an "exploit" considering you're in danger the whole time. Granted it does kind of detract from the whole "Survival" aspect when you sit there farming loot pretty much, but it's a part of the game mechanics as far as I see.

Want that super rare gun that you rarely ever see? Do you want to wait for someday you go through NW Airfield's barracks and hope you have good enough luck that you'll find it, untouched? I don't want to wait, so I cycle with my Clan mates to get me and them the best guns possible in the shortest amount of time. Only price we have to pay is our safety. Being mobile is the best way to stay alive in Day Z, so staying at the loot location is asking for trouble.

i agree with this. loot cycling isn't in the "spirit" of the game, but i'm okay with it because there is a significant risk/reward tradeoff and you aren't getting something for nothing.

[starwarsfan@gmx.de 450]

Personally i would go for a depletion system where a place simple cease to have loot when it is regularly farmed, shifting it's spawning potential to a zone that is never looted.

This.

[L0G!N (DayZ) 149]

Unfortunately, if I understood Rocket correctly in his interview yesterday,

Any chance you can provide a link ? I tried to look in announcements/information sections but no new threads with a link provided there, so if you have one please :)

On topic: I heard Rocket talk about 'tiers of loot' in some vid. and if it works as following then that would be realy good for the game, for people moving, and for 'authenticity' or 'believability': Any spawnpoint has 'tiers' linked to them, and every tier offers a slightly different loot table with somewhat increasing chances for higher quality loot in the higher tiers. Now a spawnpoint remembers when it was last looted, and based upon a timer this spawnpoint increases in tier after a certain time, and drops 1 or 2 tiers after it is looted. Which means that if a location is looted frequently the loot will likely be low quality (though still may have a small chance for medium quality), if a location is hardly ever looted, this location 'when it is looted' will have a high chance on a high quality item. For those that rather have an example:

tier0 : cans 30%, empty bottles 30%, food 15%, drink 15%, bandages 5%, painkillers 5%

tier1 : food 30%, drink 30%, bandages 15%, painkillers 15%, magazine prim. 5%, magazine off. 5%

tier2: food 20%, drink 20%, bandages 20%, painkiller 20%, full canteen 10%, map 5%, hunting knife 5%

tier3: magazine prim 20%, magazine off 20%, pistol X 10%, pistol Y 10%, pistol Z 10%, gun X 10%, gun Y 10%, gun Z 10%

Obviously the list be longer and chances smaller, but you get the idea.. Which means you will be looking for places people hardly go. And this be more 'authentic' as places where 'nobody' has been yet would likely have better stuff in it, as places where people go often, will likely have all the good stuff taken already ;)

[Private Poptarts 23]

Personally i would go for a depletion system where a place simple cease to have loot when it is regularly farmed, shifting it's spawning potential to a zone that is never looted.

This would be good. Combine it with the dynamic zombie spawn rate and it's perfect. Dynamics is good and keeps the experience interesting :P

[chrismgtis 55]

Nothing wrong with it IMO. Too much risk involved. I've spent hours in one place doing it. 1/2 the time you end up getting killed.

[3rdparty 229]

I agree with you Ace. But if this something that Rocket doesn't want then I don't want to become dependent upon it. I'm just hoping we can get a response from Rocket to end the discussion once and for all.

+3

Edited July 14, 2012 by 3rdParty

[Josh225 129]

All i can say is try to loot cycle Stary on a full server and live, S6 and other clans might be able to do it but there is definately a large amount of risk involved.

[Lady Kyrah 1110]

All i can say is try to loot cycle Stary on a full server and live, S6 and other clans might be able to do it but there is definately a large amount of risk involved.

It's beyond the scope of "is it viable or not", you simply shouldn't be able to exploit a game mechanic for personal gain like this. Hell i myself am guilty of looping a string of deer stands over and over. There should be some way to force any survivor group to simply go somewhere else once they looted a place.

That's what i personally hate in gamers today, it's this obsession in gaming the system, in understanding the mechanics of the game in order to exploit every single shortcomings in it. This focus, on seeing the game as a spreadsheet instead of immersing themselve in the experience it provide.

Edited July 15, 2012 by Lady Kyrah

[Capercaillie 16]

Just one question: Doesn't server hopping despawn all the loot?

[zipper 69]

This topic has nothing to do with server hopping. They are two completely different things.

[DemonGroover 8836]

How about this one for a Hardcore game:

Server starts - all loot spawns

Loot taken by player - doesnt respawn ever

The Loot Fairy Has Left the Building

[nikiller 122]

hi,

Heya...For those who don't know what loot cycling is,

The way I see it is, if you get enough people to lock down a location and survive from zombies/player attacks (especially those high military grade spots), you deserve all the loot you cycled. There's bozos logging in at ANY TIME in a building, there's guys running in from all directions to come check out the high loot spots. So if you can lock it down and cycle loot, I don't see it being an "exploit" considering you're in danger the whole time. Granted it does kind of detract from the whole "Survival" aspect when you sit there farming loot pretty much, but it's a part of the game mechanics as far as I see.

Want that super rare gun that you rarely ever see? Do you want to wait for someday you go through NW Airfield's barracks and hope you have good enough luck that you'll find it, untouched? I don't want to wait, so I cycle with my Clan mates to get me and them the best guns possible in the shortest amount of time. Only price we have to pay is our safety. Being mobile is the best way to stay alive in Day Z, so staying at the loot location is asking for trouble.

Agree.

cya.

Nikiller.

[mrducky (DayZ) 33]

The "loot cycling" as you say, I think is completely acceptable. It's a bit lame, yes. But it is acceptable, since it really does not count as exploit of a game bug or some other clearly unintended misfeature.

As far as I can tell, the loot respawning to empty spots is an intentional feature, the fact that some people use this to their advantage by clearing the buildings, to hasten the respawn is thus within the game mechanics. Probably not quite as was intended, but if its a big problem, why not just add a longer item respawn counter? Make it at least, I dunno, 30 minutes or so? That's long enough to render it generally non-useful to "exploit". Also, it requires you to hold that area for that period of time (otherwise others might just come in and grab the spawned gear while you're elsewhere).

At least as long as the server hopping possibility exists (which should be rooted out), using it would be much more effective to gain more stuff than to do than waiting for 30+ minutes on the same server for the new loot to appear.

Naturally, some even more elaborate loot spawning system, specifically concerning the high end loot spawns, would be preferrable. (And, for example, loot cycling the downed choppers should be made impossible, assuming it currently is... Because being able to do so is just some silly crap...)

PS. I once tested out "claiming" one of the residential house near cherno as my temporary residence. Constantly cleaning out all the trash from the house throwing it out from the doorstep, then heading off to the nearby storagehouses, cleaning them... Shooting the spawned zeds... Then repeat that over and over again. Naturally, it was mainly useless crap that spawned there, so I wasn't really doing it for the gain... Rather just for the fun of it. I think that type of gameplay is currently the closest one can get to establishing a base in the game at the moment (other than placing up tents in the woods).

Now, I naturally couldn't go to the NWA or stary to hold on such a location on my own. That's just next to impossible. So I chose a residential house instead. But a larger group of players naturally could do the same with a higher yield building/area. And if they can hold it and survive there for a long period of time, then why shouldn't they have the reward of getting the loot spawning there.