FFXIV Looting Etiquette Explained

In the 6th Astral Era, the methods for looting  proved quite cumbersome at times. Items would drop to an individual, and in order to  steer clear of looting mis-communications, parties would have to have previously made arrangements in regard to who should get what in case it should drop.  You could roll for an item using /random, but it had no bearing on the actual looting system and you would just have to hope that your party members either lived up to the initial agreement, or that time didn’t run out before they found the menu where it allowed them to give the item to the appropriate member, and cross your fingers that they didn’t accidentally (or even not-so-accidentally) select the wrong option from the screen.

We’ve been told through multiple accounts, that when our realm is reborn, so to will be the looting system. Since I myself, have only really played a few games that even had Need/Greed systems in place, I thought I would write this up in case there were others that were unsure about the best way to use this new system when the game launches. Here is what we know about need vs greed systems.

When treasure loot is found, all party members will be presented with an option to Need / Greed / or Pass on an item.

That’s great and all, but how do you know which one you should do and what does that all really mean?  Well what it means is that the system weighs NEED rolls as priority over greed rolls. If someone does a NEED roll of 34, and another party member does a GREED roll of 87, the item will actually go to the party member who did the NEED roll of 34 because they actually can use the item. This makes this system incredibly easy and pretty fool proof to use – as long as you only NEED when its appropriate, you can GREED on most other items without upsetting party members, and minimize the times you may feel guilty.

NOTE: If by chance your party has set up some prior agreement regarding the handling of loot,   you should always adhere to that special directive, rather than following the normal guidelines shown below. If you don’t like their plans for loot handling, you should simply not join that group. Strive to be a good sport and a positive community and party member!

NEED on an item if ALL of the following apply:

• The item can be used by the class you are currently playing on.
• The item is an actual upgrade stat wise to whatever you currently have.

GREED on an item if ANY of the following applies:

• The item can be used by the class you are currently playing but the item is not an upgrade.
• The item is usable by another class/job that you are leveling or planning on leveling in the near future.
• You desire to use the item as a “vanity piece” or “town gear” later.
• The item is able to be sold for gil

PASS on an item if ANY of the following applies:

• You do not have the inventory space to acquire the item in the first place.
• You do not desire the item, and don’t want to sell it either.
• You want to ensure that someone else in the party acquires the specific item – This would be like if your group did “X” content with the desire to help a party member acquire a certain item, or if you know that one of the other party members are GREEDing on an item that they really could use on one of their other classes/jobs.