DnD has a random loot system.
It also encourages DM's to hand place loot.
That's quite the vague statement. You should be more specific about what D&D game you are exactly talking about.
For the record no one gives a damn if some generic trash item is randomized or not; where itemization matters is when it's time to get some serious reward.
And in all the best D&D-based videogames the loot so far has been hand-placed for a reason.
Therefore, I think a mix is better.
I don't.
I wouldn't mind a mix where the low tier crap is random and the "goodies" are hand-placed since it would still be a massive improvement over the current system, but then again it's not really a matter of liking it, it's just a more tolerable compromise.
There were plenty of games with a hybrid system that I liked (i.e. Dark Souls) and I STILL think each one of them would be even better if the randomized part was removed entirely from the game.
If you wanted 'less' random. You could do class specific enemies pull from class specific loot tables.. That would be cool
It's always the same when this topic comes up. People mostly recognizes that the current system works poorly and that randomized loot is rarely good in general, and YET they feel this urge to put in a series of "IFs and BUTs" explaining in what ways randomization "could sort-of-work" under some very complex specific conditions.
A textbook case of "a solution in search of a problem", when all this subset of complex rules and right conditions (that would eventually make the system bearable) could be sidestepped entirely by, you know, NOT HAVING RANDOMIZED LOOT in the first place.
