Do Loot Drops time out? And if so what is a good 'rule?'
So if I push an enemy mob off a cliff to it's doom. Will the loot drops be there an hour later? Will it's state change after an hour, making it free for anyone to loot? Will it stay till logging.? Will it be visible to all?
I ask because I really want to push a wraith off a cliff, but I don't want to then spend 20 minutes trudging down some canyon, only to pick up a Dirty Cloth, then climb back up.
Don't get me wrong: I'll still push that bugger, but just curious.
The only consistent reality I've encountered in the limited selection of games I've played is that after some period of time the restriction on who can loot expires and anyone can take it. Eventually the corpse evaporates but right up to that point all the loot is still there. The time span of those 2 intervals seems to be the least consistent. I think it varied sometimes within a game or even between zones. i.e. busier server (or zone) meant shorter lifespan of corpses.
But as mentioned, anything could happen. Hopefully this is a simple enough choice that whatever we find in Beta (if not Alpha) will be what we get at release.
Some games allow others to loot after a while - some games never do and the loot just goes bye-bye.
Not a significant issue for me and I see reasonable arguments in favor of almost any solution. Including the loot just poofing fairly fast to reduce demand on the server/cleint.