In The Elder Scrolls Online will soon see Update 32. This update will introduce extensive new features. One particularly interesting feature concerns the loot distribution from bosses, which promises to reduce frustration and randomness significantly.
What is this change in the upcoming update? In Autumn 2021, alongside the Deadlands DLC, the free Update 32 will also come, bringing several changes to ESO. An unassuming yet important change concerns the loot tables of the bosses.
Bossses will now specifically drop set items upon their death that you do not yet own. This is intended to reduce the frustrating grind for the last missing item in a collection.
No more endless grinding of sets
How does the new system work exactly? The innovation to the loot system is one of many entries for the upcoming Update 32 in the ESO forum.
The new system is described within: Whenever you defeat a boss in an arena, dungeon, trial, event, or world boss, the game checks the boss’s loot table and compares it to the set items you have already unlocked in your collection.
The loot that drops will be selected from the pool of items you do not have in your collection. This means you are guaranteed to receive an item that you still lack. The annoying grind of having to defeat the same boss multiple times to finally obtain the last missing item in a collection should be a thing of the past.
The loot tables of bosses will remain, and this system only applies to bosses. Trash mobs and the like will continue to drop random items.
If you have all the items that a boss can drop, the next loot drop will again be completely random. Therefore, if you want items with a specific trait, you either need to own everything and keep grinding, or use the transmutation system to change the traits of the items.
The necessary transmutation crystals can be acquired this way.
What do the fans say? In the fan community on reddit, the planned change to set drops is well received. Many players are celebrating the prospect of less stressful grinds:
- Hircyt: ‘The best change in a long time!’
- Jakegh: ‘Wow! This is an unprecedented player-friendly change. This is what an MMO can do when it is not primarily funded by subscriptions, and it doesn’t matter if you log in every day as long as you buy new content. Bravo, Zenimax.’
- GalerionTheAnnoyed: ‘[Endless] farming loot was a terrible core element in many MMOs, and this update removes it from set items. It’s remarkable!’
- Rey_: ‘I am impressed with how many good changes have been introduced recently. This, the graphic/performance update, and even the introduction of “Endeavors.” Has something changed recently? Or is Zenimax trying to fix every complaint ever made about ESO? I’m just asking… Again, I am impressed! Zenimax deserves great credit for this.’
What’s not well received? Other fans find the change less appealing and fear for the in-game economy. For if missing set items can now be farmed effortlessly, there will be little reason to buy them expensively from other players through trade markets.
Those who have previously benefited from selling set items will soon need to seek another job, as prices are likely to drop significantly when demand for certain items decreases.
The adjustment of loot drops is just one of many interesting innovations from Update 23. Fans are also celebrating an upcoming feature that has been awaited for 7 years.
