Profile: WolfClaws
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As the 4th entry for this whole "I had a Dream" thing... I plan on talking about items and collections and how they will affect the characters.  And yeah, while it wasn't a "dream" per se, I couldn't sleep and could only think about this stuff. 

In the housing peice I did, I talked about how the bed and fridge would increase your health and "mind" regen for lack of  better terms...

Here I'll go deeper in how that will work. 

Why do players like to collect thigs?  Seems all trivial at first glance.  EQ2 had collections of sorts, but really didn't do much other than giving you a special move against certain things.  Which was cool.
Star Wars Galaxies put in collections (a lot of them) and gave xp and items.  Mostly it was kill X and find Y and collect Z, but it was a cool start.
Warhammer has collections in the form of their codex thing, and is much more difficult to fill up, as it needs you to do different things, and nets you xp and a new title some of the time.

Why do players like that though?  Well, while I am not a "loot whore" by nature, I think it is cool, as it shows that player is actually progressing.  While they are obtaining levels, yes, showing little "mini dings" as it were while they are working to level up, it shows a sense of accomplishment.. "Oooh I just killed 100 wolves" or "Ahhh, I clicked on myself 1000 times."  Just stuff that... doesn't really mean much since you are doing it anyways, but it helps and gives that "I'm the man and I'm doing well" feeling.

What is the point of Collections? 
I just went over the why players like it... now let's give it purpose. 

In this MMO of ShadowRun that exists only in my mind, items collected would have purpose.  There wouldn't be junk loot, as all that you collect will matter.  If a mob is used an Ares Predator, he may drop that Predator, and it may or may not be damaged.  It might or might not have ammo in it.  He may have ammo on him, or a credstick, or maybe you rip out his cybereyes (graphic yes,,, but come on, he won't need em anymore) using certain skills of course.  And for each item obtained, NPC killed, location wandered into, or even skills used, etc you will go towards a certain... collection.  Once collections are completed for that stage, they may yeild a special item.

This item will not make you superman, but it can be placed in your home (provided you haven't exceeded your allowed "space". 

Examples of what collection items can do when place in your home:
Give new hair styles
New colors and jewelry
Dance moves
Emotes
Fame/Infamy (just in the context of how NPCs react to you)

Basically it will give the "cool factor" stuff.  You can manage them, store them, use em however you see fit.  None of them will affect gameplay.  Only because, why?  Collections are done automatically, and those who strive to do them as hard as they can will get rewarded, and the more collections you obtain, the better the rewards.

Boss Trophies
So you fight your way through the mission and you are lucky enough that you loot a boss that has a gold plated predator.  What do you do with it?  Well, you can do a couple of things.  First off... equip it.  Show it off, have the ooh ahh factor go in and even though it has great damage, you aren't trained to use a pistol.  So what now?
Easy, you put it up as a trophy in your home.  And you find that you get a small bonus to a particular skill.  Something that does enhance your combat abilities.  Nothing outstandly huge of course, but it will help.

The other boss drops some body armor that is an antique, and you may get bonuses to resist a type of damage... again, nothing large, but every little bit will help. 

Some items can be used to give you the ability to modify certain weapons.  Remember that gold plated Predator?  Well not only does it give you increased accuracy with one handed weapons, it gives you the chance to modify a single weapon to give it a gold plated appearance. 

Choose carefully Runner.

Eventually, you will have a giant home that you hang your guns at, and have enough space to fit a herd of elephants, but until then, you will need to pick and choose what you have on display in your home as your "space" is limited.  Some items will require more space than others, and collection items won't have as much impact, but will have some so you will have the chance to customize your looks and everyone who sees you will know that you worked hard.

Also, story arc items will grant you abilities to do certain things.  And will upgrade as you complete different arcs. 

Rolling for loot
A thing of the past chummer.  How? Well by having each corpse drop something for each team member.  And only that person will see what they got, and while it may or may not be suitable for him, he will then have the option to trade it to someone else in a quick fashion by doing the drag and drop in the chat box and all the item's stats are shown when clicked.... Then the group member says "yeah I want it", then you can either do the trade, or right click the item and do a quick trade in the group where it passes the item to your teammate, and he will get a popup stating the item (with link) and a yes, no, ignore feature.

More will come, but I must go for now.  This is a VERY touchy subject and I get it...it is all a work in progress as this has never been made into a MMO before :D