Vault loot distrubution

[njvack]

OK -- my dirty secret: probably my favorite thing in Crawl is finding new things, especially randarts. I just want to know: what properties are possessed by this warped hammer, this distressingly-furry plate mail, this smoking amulet? I'll happily equip things I know full-well I'll never use, just to see.

But! When I find a bunch of loot at once, the joy is somewhat diminished. I don't really know why, but finding a single themed randart in a vault is almost as fun as exploring the stash at the bottom of Elf. And when I get to the end of Tomb or Vaults... it's just kind of overwhelming. And especially with Tomb, Slime and the Hells, I'm not very likely to use much of the stuff, because it's late in the game and I needed good kit to get there. IIRC, the one time I finished Slime, I left everything except the rune and maybe some permafood.

I'd actually probably find things more fun if there were less total loot (maybe even much less, counting the post-endgame stuff), spread in more places, throughout the game.

So I'm wondering: what's the ultimate strategy for loot distribution? Why are things the way they are?

[smock]

OK -- my dirty secret: probably my favorite thing in Crawl is finding new things, especially randarts.

My dirty secret is dirtier. I won't share it.

So I'm wondering: what's the ultimate strategy for loot distribution? Why are things the way they are?

I have no idea what devs are thinking. But I do think that Crawl's wonderfully balanced, so whatever they are thinking is working pretty well.

My thoughts on loot:

I like vaults a lot. Trunk has more and I think more still would be fun. Having fewer items in more vaults would be nice.

As for loot laying around on the dungeon floor, I've never really understood this. What silly creatures are leaving potions of healing laying around? I'd be in favor of having creatures carrying more loot.