Despawn Timer on Loot

Believe it or not during beta I actually thought about this same thing before and was going to leave feedback on it. But when I thought about how the game works mechanically I see why they haven’t tackled it yet (or ever). Two separate issues. First Server migration and changes. They happen a lot. And if you do that, you lose your loot. I don’t mean by choice. I mean by forceed migration or changing servers. Now imagine you are the player that hid a ton of loot and never gets it back. You’d be ticked.

Next notice the islands res pawn after you leave them? Guessing that is because they are completey new randomized instances. Now if you have to remember where someone hid something and not spawn stuff over top of it it would create quite a complex problem for them.

So that’s why I think they haven’t done this (although thematic and a good idea). Not worth the effort and dev time right now to solve what comes with it.

Why does loot need to despawn at all? Once an animal is caged, or a buried chest unearthed, or a pirate captain's skull falls to the ground, why not let them stay in the world (server instance) until someone hands it in to the appropriate trader guild?

The only exception might be random loot that is undiscovered (not yet picked up), such as random chests lying on islands, or trinkets twinkling on the sea floor. Pigs would die of course, too, if not fed, but the cage could remain.

@surveyorpete said in Despawn Timer on Loot:

Why does loot need to despawn at all? Once an animal is caged, or a buried chest unearthed, or a pirate captain's skull falls to the ground, why not let them stay in the world (server instance) until someone hands it in to the appropriate trader guild?

The only exception might be random loot that is undiscovered (not yet picked up), such as random chests lying on islands, or trinkets twinkling on the sea floor. Pigs would die of course, too, if not fed, but the cage could remain.

Couldn’t agree more

As someone who has hidden treasure for community events, I feel your pain. For the first multi-island riddle quest I created, I stored close to 2ok in treasure and, by the time the guy finished the riddle, there was one villainous skull left (the last item I placed.)

I’ve found that, if someone stays with the loot, it lasts longer, if you pick it up and put it down it resets the timer. So, the last time I did a riddle quest with a viewer on my channel, I only lost one skull. That time, I had a partner stay with the loot until I got to the starting point and swapped him out for the quester.

The issue is lag. Chests and skulls from voyages don’t spawn until they’re dug up or the Captain is killed. If the game had to keep track of tons of loot just sitting anywhere in addition to the other tons of loot that spawn randomly, we’d have serious server issues.

Maybe at some point they could increase the time, but currently, it’d be more trouble than it’s worth.

@bran-the-ent

If the game had to keep track of tons of loot just sitting anywhere in addition to the other tons of loot that spawn randomly, we’d have serious server issues.

Seriously? Do you think? All that needs to be remembered is item type ("Captain's Chest", or "Caged Pink Pig", etc) plus its X-Y-Z coordinates, and perhaps its orientation. The game already keeps track of every tree, rock, and other piece of set-dressing in the world. A few dozen items of abandoned loot - even a few hundred - would hardly stress it.

And someone would come along soon enough and claim each one.

@surveyorpete Yes. Seriously. Each piece of loot carries more data than a rock, tree, or any other bit of set dressing. And, the other items you mention don’t need to be constantly tracked as far as location is concerned - apart from collision, they are set and forget. Without a despawn timer or if the timer was too long, we wouldn’t be talking about a few dozen or even a few hundred - it would pile up very quickly.

@bran-the-ent had no idea this was a thing...
I have wanted to store loot at a fort and play tower defense with other ships trying to win it. It may make it easier if we stay on the same island or fort.