The party leader can designate the party loot distribution setting with "Free For All", "Party Order", or "Party Leader". Free For All allows anyone in the party to loot any item. It's very useful for when you are adventuring with trusted friends or don't mind the competition for loot. Party Order is the most even distribution method. It uses the order in which party members were added to the party. As long as the party stays relatively stable, it ensures that everyone in the party gets loot. This is probably the loot distribution setting most players will use. Party Leader allows the party leader to designate who gets the loot. Right now this basically means only the party leader can loot items and afterwards give out the loot to whomever s/he wants. Party Leader loot is good for guild leaders and as a way for a party leader to reward characters based on their participation. Again, generally good for trusted friends. Gold is always distributed evenly.

Party members can view the loot distrubition setting at any time in the party interface. They will also be notified whenver the loot setting is changed.

Once the loot is created, it is assigned based on the party loot setting. If the party leader changes the loot distribution setting, any loot already created will not have it's assignment changed. In other words, if the loot setting is set to Party Order, the party leader can't switch it to Party Leader to grab something the system already assigned to someone else.

We spent a lot of time with the loot system to make sure it is user friendly and grief-resistant. Stuff like showing you who looted an item (when an item is looted it doesn't disappear from the loot chest...instead it is grayed out and the looter's name is displayed in the mouse over text) and giving you indications when loot was created based on your luck.

We've got quite a few more features in the loot system that we'll be discussing in time. Hope that gives you the basics though!

-Jonathan "Calandryll" Hanna
Lead Designer