What are the Loot Levels Like in your POIs?
-------------------------------------------

I think they're consistent with Vanilla, but here's more on the topic:

Classic POI design includes a loot room as the final payoff at the end of the
POI's dungeon path. I don't usually subscribe to this view. Players memorize
loot room locations and engineer ways to reloot those POIs when the loot
respawns. I don't usually make dungeon paths and I tend to scatter the loot
about the place. I think this contibutes to the perception that I don't give
out as much loot because players have to work a little harder to find it all.

For the record, I use the CompoPack (CP) loot guidance. Indeed, this is the
ONLY guidance available to POI designers. There is no publicly available
TFP guidance for loot by tier. The CP's guidance comes from a study of Vanilla
loot levels. The CP's guidance gets revised each Alpha release so it stays
timely. For lower tiers, I will exercise some discretion with smaller POIs and
offer less loot than I am allowed by the guidance.

BUT THE CP GIVES OUT TOO MUCH LOOT!

I cannot explain this opinion, other than to suggest it is a historical
observation that people keep repeating as if it were still fact. I think this
deserves some exploration, so here are my thoughts:

* HISTORY

I don't have a great perspective on A18 and earlier. For A19 I know CP guidance
was in place, but that it went through several rounds of tweaking. There was
a significant effort to bring POIs into line with that specification. For A20,
the guidance got more specific and I think TFP also tightened things up in
their POIs, making it clearer to everyone what was cool, and what was not.
These days, I think CP loot is consistent with Vanilla and that whatever TFP's
standard is that it allows for a wider variance. Some TFP POIs seem heavy in
store crates.

* WHAT IS LOOT?

As somebody who has spent some time looking at loot levels, I can only guess
that it might related to the presence of loot given out by objects not normally
thought of as loot containers by designers. For instance, is a radiator loot?
Brass collectors love them; others would rather "burn Dukes." Does a large
kitchen with many cabinets count as too much loot? Aldo's Cabinets (a Vanilla
POI) gives out more food because it is full of cabinets.

Loot is generally considered to be final loot chests, munitions boxes, safes,
store crates, and piles of ammo, food, meds, and books. Beyond that, things
like medicine cabinets, kitchen cabinets, backpacks, store shelves, and so
forth are a judgement call.

* HEAVY USE OF MUNDANE LOOT

Classically, the issue has been bookshelves. Books are very popular loot items.
How do you represent a large library without giving away too many books? Some
POI designers place empty shelves, but that seemingly doesn't make any sense.
Who has a library with no books? So, some POI designers place a wooden block
and then paint it to look like a bookshelf. This upsets a lot of players
because they feel ripped off.

I've gone through all of these phases including a phase where I was willing
to make custom blocks with custom loot lists. In that way I could have full
looking bookshelves that don't give out books. That seemed to satisfy players as
they felt like they're getting a chance at a book and they usually get some
other minor reward. However, making custom objects and loot lists is not a
common POI designer practice and it led to complications with overhaul mods.
So, while I've gone back to mimicing vanilla, I urge you to go easy on POI
designers who paint wood blocks to look like shelves. They're making do with
what is available to them at the time and they spent hours making content
for you.

* BEYOND TIER 5

The CP includes POIs that push the boundaries of Vanilla POI design. Those
POIs can be massive in scale and include hundreds of Zeds. CP loot guidance
allows those POIs to have multiple loot rooms or an even bigger loot room.
This might contribute to the perception that CP POIs give out too much loot.
Honestly, some of those CP extreme challenge POIs I think should come with a
real-life beer for a reward.

* OVERHAULS CHANGING THE GAME

Some overhaul mods turn mundane objects into loot. For instance, I use a lot
of boxes to fill space. Some overhauls turn those boxes into containers with
loot. You cannot blame POI designers for that.

