LE Item Loot That Doesn't Suck?

[osmosys]

Being able to grab glass/dwemmer/ebony gear at level 1 really sucks. Especially from chests that aren't even locked, and with no guards watching! Vanilla made it waaay too easy to get super items. Oblivion was even worse, but let's not go there.

 

Mods like Requiem and Morrowloot seem to handle this one pretty well, but I still see flaws in both of them. In Requiem I found a couple chests with no guards that had immersion breaking items in them (this is due to Vanilla, but I think Requem should lock these). I haven't tried Morrowloot, but I doubt it works with Requiem (my main mod) so it's out. It also suffers from a few things like:

 

1. The same items are always everywhere. You get one play through kid. When you start again you'll know where to look... doh

2. It turns off being able to craft higher level items. I like this and I don't like this (I'll explain why).

 

What I do like about Morrowloot:

 

1. There is one set of Daedric, and you gotta hunt it down. Just like Morrowind.

2. It adds some of the old nostalgia uniques to the game from Morrowind (seeing a pattern yet?)

3. Loot is gained logically. So Orc gear from Orcs. Dwemmer gear from Dwemmer ruins. Coherency! :-)

 

In my head this is what the perfect item mod would be:

 

1. An item mod with some statically placed items that "rotate" or "move" to different positions when the game starts. Just so it isn't crazy to manage you could have eight or so presets, and one is chosen randomly when the game starts. This would have to be done with very careful attention to detail.

 

2. An item mod that still has chests that randomly give out loot, but a bit tighter with more guards etc (or guards that will follow you if you are sneaking around which another mod covers). So you can get static items, but sometimes you get a nice random item also.

 

3. An item mod that has one to three sets of daedric in the entire game. One is scattered everywhere, and the other could be worn by an incredibly difficult to kill NPC - thus breaking the main questline (so don't kill him you greedy jerk). The last set could be given out by an INCREDIBLY difficult quest (or not).

 

4. An item mod that still allows you to craft daedric gear, but requires more than just leveling up smithing. A compromise. Maybe a level check requirement? Or maybe you need to assemble the book by finding different pages scattered all over the map? This would make it as difficult - even more difficult - as finding the scattered suit of daedric armor.

 

5. An item mod that has a patch that works with Requiem ;-)

 

6. Lastly make an installer with options like:

• Change creature level lists, or disable this change (allowing another mod to take precedence like *cough* Requiem *cough* )
• Lock chests found in easily accessible places? (with a spoiler list included so people can track this easily)
• Add additional guards that work shifts over certain areas? (again with a list)
• Choose your scatter preset 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or Random. (again list it)
• Turn on / off craftable daedric gear? Craftable ebony? Etc
• Require difficult to obtain items to be able to craft daedric?
• Remove Daedric from all NPCs except one? (with list)
• Only one set of Daedric scattered? Only three sets of Ebony?
• Install lore friendly unique items from Morrowind? (spoiler list)
• Find lore friendly Morrowind uniques from random preset placements, or from quest objectives? (very optional)

That would be killer!

 

 

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I foresee if this mod would have problems like:

 

1. Conflicts with any kind of guard overhauls (maybe)

2. The scatter presets sucking. Like one preset is so much more lucky than the other or has bad locations. This takes a lot of patience and hard work to pull off.

3. Players complaining about not being able to find all the daedric on their own. Ha! Keep looking loser!

4. The lore friendly uniques sucking or not lining up with other mods like Requiem.

5. A lock of thoroughness. Some chests with uber gear not being locked or watched. Allowing the player to rush there at the start of the game.

6. The scatter presets leaving items hanging in the air. So one item rotates for another but it's smaller and doesn't place right :/

7. The scatter presets could also break coherency. You can't have a piece of daedric scatter to a dwemmer ruin. You have to have different discrete layers. "Scatter channels."

 

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Go make it guys! :-)

 

I can help with testing/qa/design/communication/project mangement/writing.

 

LOL

Edited January 10, 2014 by osmosys

[osmosys]

For reference this was partially achieved in Morrowind with:

 

http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=5666