Loot Still Too Thin, Unbalanced on Console

Last season's loot pool felt much more consistent, fair, and fun. This season's just... sucks.

TL;DR: Easy fix: On console, equip level-one barrel mods and stocks by default, remove from loot pool. Do the same with the quick-draw holster. Remove white shields entirely, add more blue body armor. Adjust the loot distribution to be more uniform.

Anecdotally, the loot pool is still abysmally thin, and the variance is much too high. While it's not bad to keep the loot thin enough to discourage hot-dropping (and encourage Loba play), the current state is painful and meticulous. I spend most of my game time either looting or dying, and that just sucks.

It's not uncommon to find no shields, even in mid and high-tier POIs such as Skyhook and Elysium. There is definitely an over-abundance of shotguns and bows, and extreme clumping in the ground loot draws. Duplicate items tend to spawn in the same bin or building, and I'm seeing a lot of empty slots (three or fewer items in a bin) as well.

On long drops my squad ends up spending most matches looking for blue shields and basic weapon attachments, avoiding fights as a result. I've been watching my death reports closely in hot-drops, and squads lucky enough to find armor win most fights. Either of these scenarios suck: hot-drop and play AL roulette, or long-drop and be bored and vulnerable.

This core loot issue is closely tied to weapon balance and viability relative to platform. Consider the PK and Bocek, which most console players [that I know] hate. Both the Bocek and PK are brutally unforgiving of input latency and jitter, so take longer to master. These control problems encourage console players to either avoid or specialize in specific precision weapons such as the Sentinel, Wingman, and Hemlock.

So, a fair loot pool on PC wouldn't necessarily work on console, because there are a wider range of viable weapons on PC where high-res control is the norm. Likewise, distribution issues such as excessive loot clumping force specialists to loot more, practice more, and play less.

As a quick fix, I'd further increase the incidence of blue shields, and cut white entirely from the pool. If you're mid-fight, shield-swapping to a white is generally a losing proposition. Likewise, forcing the gun-du-jeur down everyone's throat is a recipe for player and platform polarization. There doesn't need to be three or more Boceks and PKs in every POI. That glut biases gameplay, distorts the loot pool, and weakens the novelty and prestige of the new weapons.

For some time, AL has been crying out for a more uniform loot distribution and fewer hop-ups. There's too much clumping, compounded by too many useless modifiers and duplicate items. Every game my squad finds entire buildings and bin-sets devoid of guns; instead full of hop-ups, syringes, empty slots, and white shields.

For an equitable long-term fix, I'd look long and hard at the overall weapons balance on console. The supply problem is much easier when demand is more diverse. Console and PC are different mediums, and toning down the notoriously difficult AL recoil patterns on console will help even the playing field and take heat off standouts such as the Spitfire. To similar effect, it'd be reasonable to equip level-1 attachments by default, and only offer hop-ups that work with three or more weapons.

- Neb