D2 Home

THE BASIN

ITEM DROPS
Tips for New Basin Community Members

Hello Basiners,

What you are about to read is a modification of a post I made in the Community Discussion forum in March 2003. My forum name is Zerathorn and you may know me as the host of the East Realm New Basiner Chat Sessions. I made this post originally in response to some questions raised in one of my chat sessions. Now that we're playing ladder games, we need to revisit this topic once more.

The subject is Item Drops and how we here in the Amazon Basin handle the distribution of these drops during the game. This is a very critical part of Basin gameplay which could lead to new Community Members getting in trouble with more established Basin Members. So I offer the following guidelines with regard to Item Drops in AB games and what a new Community Member may need to know to make a good first impression on his potentially more AB experienced playing partners.

I will start by reviewing two fundamental principles and possibly clear up some misconceptions about how items are handled during a Basin game.

Principles and Misconceptions:

Principle 1: ANYTHING you pick up while playing with a party, except health or mana potions or gold, belongs to the party and MUST be dropped in town.

Principle 2: Do not sell anything without permission from the party.

I often see these two rules being violated and causing problems in games due to the following misconceptions.

MISCONCEPTION 1: I'll just take this Item X 'cause I REALLY need it - heck how can anyone mind since it is really not very valuable.

It really makes no difference what your estimation of the value of an item is - if you pick it up and take it to town - drop it.

MISCONCEPTION 2: It really isn't valuable as a keeper, so how can anyone mind if I sell it.

Maybe not;but once it is liberated from its monster host, it belongs to the party and if sold the gold MUST be distributed to all party members.

MISCONCEPTION 3: AB members really don't care about items.

WHAT?!? In my opinion, new community members, when they join The Amazon Basin, generally believe that the existing membership of the community they are joining have a lessened interest in high level items than public Bnet players.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

This is evidenced by the fact that we have a published policy outlining how items are to be distributed. The fact is, everyone playing this game has a desire to have the finest equipment (except maybe Candlelight - n00dist extraordinaire). What distinguishes AB games from the pubbies is that we place a higher value on playing the game. Our item drop policy ensures that we don't have to worry about item drops during game play because we know that the most interesting items will make it back to town for all to see. The policy allows the players to concentrate on their role in the party without distraction.

Make no mistake guys - ALL ITEMS ACQUIRED BY THE PARTY BELONG TO THE PARTY - until distributed BY PERMISSION FROM THE PARTY.

CM Item Distribution Anxiety

I think that new CMs, playing in their first games, have a level of anxiety at speaking up and asking for items they may have an interest in. I think there are probably several reasons for this: "new kid on the block" syndrome, unsure about the process of distribution, or perhaps a self - created AB hierarchy that they believe may govern item distribution. I can tell you I was very nervous about asking for items in my first several games, until I developed an awareness of the unwritten rules through careful observation of the process.

OK OK Zera - you said you were going to give us some guidelines to help us during Item Distribution - so what are they???

Guidelines

You're right; I am going to give you some guidelines. I hope that they are some help to our newest Community Members. The following is a personal list of dos and don'ts during item distribution time that I follow in games.

Don'ts

NEVER ask another player for equipment, UNLESS he is a gaming friend you have played with several times, and you know this will be acceptable to him/her. Even then, you should do it with a whisper. Others in the game are not necessarily privy to your friendship and might be offended by your apparent "begging." Begging is highly frowned upon here in the Basin - avoid it at all costs.
Never pick anything up off the ground in town and hold it for longer than it takes to read the stats without announcing to the group.
Never assume an item is so trivial that no one wants it - ALWAYS ASK!
If you enter a game in progress, you have no claim to anything that was found prior to you entering. Do not ask - wait to be offered something or invited to share in the drops (this has rarely been an issue in games I have joined). However, if you are NOT invited to share - forget it, move on, no big deal.
Avoid leaving combat to collect a drop - it will be noticed. This is especially true in HC where other party members are really counting on you for support and survival. Don't play the game with your thumb on the ALT button.
Avoid entering a lotto for an item you know you have little or no immediate use for on one of your characters. This is a personal honor type of thing. No one will know except you if you do this, but by winning the lotto, you may have kept someone that really could use the item from having it. If you enter a lotto and win an item, and then transfer it to a mule for some - future - need, well....
Never complain about losing an equipment lotto; congratulate the winner then forget it, move on, no big deal. Be careful here - jokes can be misconstrued.

Do's

BE GENEROUS. If you have one already - give an extra away. If you have one you're not using, and someone mentions during the game they could use it - give it to them. I can tell you from experience - generosity within the AB is rampant, noticed, appreciated, and most of all remembered.
Do ask for items you are interested in when found while partied. Don't be afraid to ask for any items that drop that you need and can use. Don't be afraid to ask for items you may want (for muling) as long as you are reasonably sure they are unwanted. You will find that many nice items will go unclaimed in games. You will `know' when an item is unwanted. Give it some time, then ask. Chances are no one wants it.
- Feel free to ask for items on the ground if you leave the game before the party is finished. However, make sure you ask for permission ONLY for those items you need and that you gain permission from the group.
- Do ask in game if it is okay to have items that can immediately benefit your character. If you have low resists, it is okay to ask if you can have that 15% lightning resist amulet on the ground.
Do pick up items AFTER combat. ID them when you get back to town and drop them on the ground. Avoid making a special trip to town to ID items. The party makes periodic trips back to town for repairs and pots, try to use this time to ID items in town.
If the pace of play is too fast to allow for the thorough inspection and collection of everything valuable, grab what you can during the brief break after combat, and when the party moves on - you move on with it. It is not classy to ask for the party to slow down JUST because you want to pick up items (if the game play is too fast for you for other reasons, well, that's another story). The team plays together, and given the increased difficulty of 1.10, this principal is more important because of both experience sharing and (if you play hardcore) safety.
Embrace the following philosophy :"Items drop in every game - I'll get one eventually. I've played this long without this particular item - a little longer won't hurt me" - I say this because there will undoubtedly be times when something VERY nice drops and you will not get it. It's happened to me, it's happened to others, it will happen to you. If more than one person wants a very nice item, then hold a lottery (lotto).
Do enter lottos for very nice items that drop, BUT if you have been fortunate enough to win a particularly nice item in a lotto, avoid entering any other lottos in that game. You got your Uber; give others a better chance. This is an extension of the Be Generous rule.
Do make sure - when you ask and are granted permission to take a nice item from the drops - to ask one more time "sure?" or "everyone OK with this?" or something like that. Then WAIT a reasonable time to get an affirmation from ALL players before picking up and stashing the item.
ALWAYS SAY THANK YOU. This is usually the biggest peeve for me and others as well. Thank your party for their generosity - common courtesy here, but I see it unsaid much too frequently in games.

Again - the guidelines listed above are MY personal dos and don'ts when it comes time to divvy up the spoils of an adventure. I offer them to help the inexperienced CM through their first AB games. It won't be long before you develop your own awareness of the process and become comfortable during this phase of AB game play. Developing a group of regular playing partners, as I have, helps as well. You know them and they know you, but remember, friends need and expect courtesy too.

HAPPY GAMING EVERYONE!!

The Amazon Basin Community