Larian Studios Forums Divinity 2 - Ego Draconis (English) Divinity 2 - Ego Draconis What do you think of the random loot?

Hello everyone,

as the topic says, what do you think of the loot being random? For me it is probably the only bad thing in the game. It makes you save and reload after every quest, as you almost always get some crappy reward (at least in my case).

I think a permanent, set loot is better as the game isn't based so much on luck.

What do you think?

The random loot is annoying but most RPG's are starting to use leveled loot lists instead of set treasure. The problem isn't random loot because I've played games like Oblivion and FF12 and the loot was fine. The problem with this game is that the loot isn't grouped well. By that I mean you can get almost anything out of a chest; equipment, gold, potions, formulas, ingredients and that all out of the same chest. Go to a site like the Elder Scrolls wiki and they will have loot lists showing what types a chest can be and what loot you may get. Next time Larian should have chest types that way you'll have some kind of idea of what will be in the chest. Also locked chests don't always have better loot than normal ones.

For example, when I was clearing out stone's fortress I got an ultimate formula(I think it was ultimate magic protection) out of a barrel. Then about 100 gold out of a locked chest. Hopefully Divinity 3/Episode 2 will do a better job with loot.

I'm fine with random loot (helps with replayability), though it would be nice if the minimum quality was a little more consistent (especially for quest rewards and special chests). I don't think you would necessarily need to group items (though that happens for some containers in D2:ED), but if you can get a fairly nice piece of equipment from a chest, the next reload shouldn't be a lesser healing potion.

However, I've found that I tend to get better loot if I have not loaded the game for awhile. A couple times I've saved and then opened a chest to get something pretty good, but not as good as expected, reloaded and got worse stuff, then became annoyed at myself for not saving after the first try, and reload for 5 or 10 minutes to get something as good. Except for the beginning of the game, though, I only reload for quests or some chests (that need passwords or were well hidden), and usually only a couple times.

Interesting reading guys:-)

I don't say that random loot isn't good.

As you have said, 30johner, it helps in replayability, as you can find different items each time... however ! What if you plan to play a full mage for example and you only keep finding some warrior / ranger stuff? You know what I mean? This can ruin the game completely for you.

The thing with the locked chests is true as well. I put 5 points in lockpicking, quite in vain.




And one last thing, but the most important I'd like to point out.
Several times in the game I have mind readed a guy, found his secret key etc., found his secret stash only to find... apples... or something as useful... you know what I mean? At least the "treasure-like" chests could be set by default, so that you find something you will use, as a reward for you effort. And not to climb a dragon statuete head and then get an apple

If loot is truly random, then any particular category of character builds should get the same amount of suitable equipment generated as any other, with the remainder sellable. Due to design choices or balancing issues there may be a bias towards or against certain attributes, but that should not effect general equipment classes (I have not seen any complaints in the forum about that, anyway).
Part of the problem is perception. Good stuff that you can not use stands out in your memory more than good stuff you could use but it isn't quite as good as what you have already. That, and if a game allows multiple character types, there is always going to more stuff in a game that does not suit your playstyle than does.

Playing a warrior, I've noticed that mana bonuses are higher and more common on equipment than hit point bonuses. A couple levels ago I got a +60 mana bonus on a ring from a jewelry chest. Since one of the rings I had was getting a little outdated, I decided to reload for a better one (since that particular chest obviously could have good quality items for that point in the game). I didn't get quite that high on mana again (came close), but there was a clear bias (likely for balancing) and the best hit point bonus I got on a ring was +39.
I certainly have not been hard up for usable equipment, though.


I boosted Lockpick early, and have gotten almost all of my equipment from random loot. Sometimes random loot is crappy, but the more loot you have access to, the more good stuff you are going to find. Also, I don't like leaving stuff behind.


It does kind of suck to mindread someone only to find a stash of a couple hundred gold, or something. On average though, mindreading is a benefit, as you can get good loot as well as stat and skill points that way. If every mindread was guaranteed to pay off, then it wouldn't be much of a choice.
The treasure in the bandit temple was quite disappointing, though, especially since I missed seeing the key the first time through and reloaded, thinking I may have skipped mindreading what's-his-name (it wasn't all bad, though, as I used 4 or 5 healing potions the first time though, and only 1 the second).

I love random loot, somttimes I spend hours just fishing in chests to see what kind of loot I can get.To me it is a big part of game.Better then playing the slots in Vegas,And here you sometimes come up with a winner, Alot more offten then in Vegas.

For me random loot is a must for replayability! I love random loot! Maybe because I'm a very curious person

I never reload my game after finding disappointing loot: I take what I can get and I accept it like it is, always.
I upgrade lockpick as soon as possible for finding all the loot (because I'm curious) I can get and sell all loot I don't wish to use. On this way I make much money I can use later in the game if I have my Battle Tower!
I wearing all my equipment from loot and the game is simply to easy now (on easy level)... I don't buy anything, except some healing potions.

But it is also right:
sometimes I'm a little bit disappointed when I must open a chest with lockpick 4 or 5 and find only 1 great potion or something ... and some "open" chests or barrels have very nice loot comparing with locked chests.
The points I spend in lockpick I can't give them to a spell or other fighting skill.... so I hope to find strong gear in locked chests with lockpick level 4 or 5 .

i'm with joram, i also take loot as it comes. what i do find though,at least it seems this way, is that a lot of the loot is more ranger then anything else. bows, equipment, etc. being warrior i don't use that stuff, but again, like joram i just sell the stuff off.

The random loot is a great idea and wish more games would implement this. The game does have "certain events" with designated items so everyone will surely find something for each class guaranteed.

However, I would also suggest designating certain chest or boss loot to be tied to the percentage for that particular skill tree. For example if you are all caster than you should have 80% chance of getting something that is "ideal" for caster and 20% other.

If you are half melee and half ranger than 40%/40%/20% respectively.

As far as locked chest is concern, I don't think it is a waste to put 5 points into it. I have found some pretty good stuff in them in comparison to some other games like Dragon Age, in which lock chest mostly have useless or obsolete items.

Yes semi-random loot is good but 100% random is bad though, how would you like it if you could get one of the best random-able item in game from the chest in Farglow and an apple with the same chance of both, and the same for every other chest & item in game?

You need to put weightings on the chests etc so you dont end up with a lvl 2 with a full set of uber equipment that he/she cant use.

I think chests should to a certain point be randomized.

They could even throw in a routine into the game that checks to see how many times you reloaded to get a better item. For example, you reload for 10 minutes trying to get a better item, but a great item was offered that you passed up. Unlucky for you, you begin receiving apples over and over! xD

I didn't like how 2 handed swords were forced upon me. I wanted to use 2 1h swords, but I always seemed to get good 2 handed swords as quest rewards. Even upon reloads this occurred, I got the same item, over and over. So I guess some of the items were static/hard coded?

Chests could be limited and still be dynamic. For instance, you clear a dungeon for the first time and get nice items, but upon return you have to clear it again (minus the boss/bosses) but don't get the same nice gear you did before when you cleared it, just random 'helper' items and experience.
I understand that leveling like this could be exploited, but this could be prevented by placing a level cap on the player UNTIL they reach a certain point in the game. So it would just be killing sometimes and no experience reward, which could even be rewarded there again with great items depending on how hard the player played without receiving any experience. Just some ideas!

There is already a check for how long the game has been running since the last reload. I've noticed I tend to get better items if I just take loot as it comes. Several times I've reloaded for a chest that gave a good quality item that I could not use (ie a shield or two handed weapon for my dual wielding warrior), only to get mostly poor quality items. Loading the save and letting it sit for awhile before confirming the loading dialog seems to count as well, so I have done that in certain circumstances in-between doing something else (ie reloading for the Gregory chest while watching something on TV; I mindread 3 times for the damn thing, and I was determined to get something usable, even if it did keep offering me very mage-centric stuff).

I didn't notice a lot of 2 handed swords as quest rewards, though I don't recall getting many good 1 handed weapons from quests. I used some armour and jewelry from quest rewards, but don't recall upgrading any weapons from the actual rewards (I used Barnabus' hammer for awhile). Some items are hard coded in, though (or are mostly set but some attributes are random).
But speaking of stuff forced on you, I'm practically swimming in nightbringer class equipment I can not use; trying to get upgrades in Aleroth they were very predominant, and the weapons were heavily biased towards magic and balanced (even normal weapons were more likely to have a magic damage bonus on them than normal / ranged).

They could've put in another routine to see what weapon/s the player used the most and setup a loot pool based upon that information for him/her to pick items from.
I also noticed the engine, too obviously I might add, when I would opened a main chest or receive a quest reward it would give me armor or a weapon with identical stat attributes plus 1 in a certain stat or whatever. It didn't happen all of the time, but it did happen quite frequently. It could have been due to all of the the reloading I did to get an item worth the efforts. xD
Ya, my final thoughts on this one is that they could've done a better job with the loot system.
I'd find myself trying to figure something out, running all over hell and back to get necessary quest items only to receive a belt or something with no special properties. I mean that was what made us all start the 'reloading' in the first place is it not? The rewards sucked sometimes.