A New Way of Loot Distribution for EQ2
stargrace 
When GU52 went live, a new method of loot drops also happened to make its way into a few instances in loping plains – drops from the final named in each of the instances. When I saw these linked on 70-79 I was drooling along with every other person out there.
No matter what day it is I always seem to hear about people clamouring for smart loot. How what they wanted never dropped. How they would love to have a selection of loot to choose from, so that at least SOMEONE would get something.
Now we have that choice (at least in three encounters).
These lock-boxes give players a choice of fabled items that were previously dropped from the named. I’m sure it’s still exceptionally rare, BUT it’s nice to beat an encounter, see a fabled chest drop – and NOT have to see the loot get transmuted or sold to a vendor.
One of my biggest pet peeves is the equipment grind we all have to do. I don’t mind when some random loot from some random zone doesn’t drop but I do dislike it a great deal when we work REALLY hard on an encounter (and in fact a zone) and nothing at all drops that anyone can use, and the one bit of fabled gear that did drop was already owned so we spent all that time for nothing. I realize that these grinds are just a part of the game, and if we didn’t have to wait forever for certain pieces of gear we’d all be utterly bored and have nothing to do – but I love this idea of giving us a choice of gear.
I’m hoping that this new method of loot distribution continues through future encounters, or maybe some form of smart loot gets implimented. I understand that without the grind we’re all left uber and with the feeling that we’ve ‘beaten’ the game, so it may be best to hold off until an expansion has been out for a few months, but it would also be exceptionally nice to have the option NOT to have something rot if and when it finally drops.
I don’t mind if I personally don’t get an upgrade, but I really want the items to be useful for someone at least. My turn will come. Some day.