Talk:Loot

Loot assignment
I watched a lot of Luxon Outcasts fighting with some Rockhide Dragons. When a Outcast Deathhand got killed, he dropped a Jug (Energy +11 (req. 7 Soul Reaping)). I didn't attack any of them, I just watched them fighting.

It mentions that EoE reduces the loot dropped, as it is not considered party damage, but my question is do minions and/or spirits reduce the amount of loot? The game does keep track of "ownership" on spirits and minions, so I would guess not, but I play almost exclusively with these, so I wouldn't really notice a loot drop...Cyrogenic 14:26, 18 December 2006 (CST)

EoE is owned as well (although the damage could conceivably be dealt differently, intended or not) - I would suspect that EoE was mentioned for when it is from a source other than the party (?) --Bob III 12:19, 21 December 2006 (CST)

What happens if all of your party is dead and then the monster dies? like if you use fire storm on a monster then die and after that the monster dies (while your corpse is still in the agro bubble of the monster), is it possible to get any loot? and what about if you ressurect first and then the monster die? -BurnEmDown- 02:45, 27 January 2007 (CST)
 * You still get assigned loot when you are dead. It's frustrating to die in UW when a random 55 monk fails and then see an ecto drop from an Aatxe which I had cast degen on. --[[Image:Gem-icon-sm.png]] (talk) 02:52, 27 January 2007 (CST)
 * Same with soloing Tombs. Gragh. --Armond Warblade (talk) 01:17, 28 January 2007 (CST)

This may seem trivial, but how does the remainder of the gold get divided up? (e.g. party of 8 and drop of 87). How about gold dropped in amounts less than party (eg. party of 8 and drop of 4)?
 * For a party larger than the amount of gold available, I've noticed that everyone gets at least one gold. I haven't done any experiments, but if the other case is anything to go by, I suspect that it does something along the lines of, iGoldPerMember = ceil(iGold/(float)iPartySize); Infinity 07:05, 22 March 2007 (CDT)
 * Ugh. Switch... brain... out... of... work... mode... :) that means it divides it evenly and rounds the remainder up :P Infinity 07:08, 22 March 2007 (CDT)

Loot and monster professions
I was going over my loot notes and noticed that caster mobs only drop caster weapons tied to their own profession's attributes, while non-caster mobs only drop variable attribute caster weapons, which can be tied to any profession's attributes. The only exception I've noticed is Flame Djinn, who drop like elementalists even though they only use warrior skills. -- Gordon Ecker 02:40, 8 October 2006 (CDT)
 * Okay, it turns out casters can drop variable attribute wands tied to any profession's attributes, which I didn't notice because earlier on I was only keeping track of weapon names, not weapon attributes. There's still the question of variable attribute staves dropped by casters. -- Gordon Ecker 20:13, 9 October 2006 (CDT)
 * And it turns out casters can drop variable attribute staves tied to any profession's attributes too. -- Gordon Ecker 19:03, 10 October 2006 (CDT)

that is incorrect any amount is aceved at random nothing changes &mdash;The preceding unsigned comment was added by 142.32.230.251 (contribs).

DC + loot
Just ten seconds ago, my partner DC'd, I killed something, and he got the loot. Should this be mentioned somewhere? --Armond Warblade (talk) 11:06, 26 January 2007 (CST)
 * Just now, same person, same DC, he got two drops in a row. --Armond Warblade (talk) 11:08, 26 January 2007 (CST)
 * Didn't the reconnect feature allow the character to stay logged in for up to 10 minutes after a disconnect? So long as it's within those 10 minutes, that character exists for the purposes of loot and spell effects, targeting etc. --220.233.103.77 01:26, 28 January 2007 (CST)
 * Would make sense. Would not like to have that happen in GvG. 69.109.162.141 20:20, 30 January 2007 (CST)

Loot Sharing
I've notice that when watching very closely with the mouse on the spot on the ground where the foe dies, loot assigned to Henchmen and Heros appears for a flicker of a second. That's not worth anything, but I find it curious. Oye 00:08, 3 February 2007 (CST)
 * hurray, now i can scream when my henchies get greens :) -divinechancellor


 * I noticed it will "pop" out of the monster, like normal, but the second it hits the ground, the model won't be there. --15:21, 18 February 2007 (CST)


 * I have also noticed that people with lower level appear to gain more loot than the people with a higher level, this may just be coincidence or my paranoia (as I like to be a high level and grind monsters and quests b4 moving on). 195.172.185.165 11:26, 19 February 2007 (CST)


 * Isn't it "Corpse of..." that you see instead of a loot? -- Fexghadi 11:49, 28 March 2007 (CDT)

Heroes and Loot
The one thing the article doesn't address is whether Heroes effect loot sharing. Do they get loot like Henchies, or it all goes to you because of the "shared inventory?" Or something in between. Anyone know? --EbeneezerSquid 20:10, 15 April 2007 (CDT)
 * They count as a player, so yes they will get drops. You just won't be able to benefit from them. --Kale Ironfist 22:31, 15 April 2007 (CDT)
 * Which is too bad, since the player has to fork up money for the hero's runes, insignias, weapons, etc. It would be nice to get the hero's loot too.  Shadowlance 21:09, 1 May 2007 (CDT)
 * That makes sense 'logically' but think about the arguments when forming a party, everyone will want to bring all their Heroes in order to get the most loot. LLandale 15:49, 26 July 2008 (UTC)


 * You don't have to equip em. It's a choice you make. I just give 'em any runes I happen to find, and that's it. Oh, and an Hourglass Staff for everyone, lol. And I agree with Llandale, probably won't be a good idea... --- [[Image:VipermagiSig.JPG|Ohaider!]]-- (s)talkpage  15:56, 26 July 2008 (UTC)

Lol
I just figured out how to combat loot scaling update that came with hard mode... Just put henchies in... then tell them to stay at begginning of map. All the drops of 8 party, with only YOU in radar range? Does it work?Dark0805 11:54, 20 April 2007 (CDT)
 * I've just thought about the same thing Matek  [[Image:D2lod.gif]] 13:15, 20 April 2007 (CDT)
 * I thought being out of radar range only prevented you from gaining XP, not drops? So your henchmen would still be getting a portion of your drops. Valdres 13:19, 20 April 2007 (CDT)
 * Yeah, a quick solo vermin farm vs vermin farm with 7 henchmen held back doesn't seem to be giving me any higher drop rates. Though this wasn't a scientific test, but any means. Valdres 13:29, 20 April 2007 (CDT)
 * Players (including henchmen) out of radar range don't get drops. If you weren't getting better drops with 7 henchies off-radar, then Anet scales the loot based on how many "close" players there are. I'll test this later too. BigAstro 14:38, 20 April 2007 (CDT)
 * Dammit dammit dammit!Dark0805 [[Image:Kinetic_Armor.jpg|19px]] 17:20, 20 April 2007 (CDT)
 * I've entered UW with 3 heroes in party, flagged em out of radar range and Smites seemed to drop like two times more frequent than solo Matek  [[Image:D2lod.gif]] 17:55, 20 April 2007 (CDT)

Doesn't work.--Swift Thief 18:07, 20 April 2007 (CDT)
 * What proof do you have of that swift...
 * my gf used to do this when farming totem axes. she'd use hench as meat shields through the run, then just flag them really far back. Upon the introduction of loot scaling, i immediately tried this in several locations (in both normal and hard modes) including, but not limited to, Gloom, Veil, slave spirit dead sword farming, vermin, a few areas in the Kaineng area, GoK, kepkhet, several minotaur locations, and Nolani. After the first few areas, i kinda gave up hope on it working but figured i'd try it elsewhere as well. :-/ --SLeeVe 15:07, 2 May 2007 (CDT)
 * It works. Even if you're not getting the rare drops, the number of drops that you DO get shows that all the drops are for you.

I just did killroy stonekin's quest twice, both times with henchmen. the first time i opened the three chests and didnt get anything and the henchies were right next to me. the next time i flagged them far away (name's greyed out) and opened the chests and got 1-2 items per chest.

Loot Scaling
In areas that cannot be accessed with 8 players (e.g. Plains of Jarin, party size is 4 in all neighboring outposts), is loot scaled to 8 players or to the number that can (normally) access the area? &mdash;Khudzlin 22:19, 24 April 2007 (CDT)
 * The number that can normaly enter the group, as said in the initial update information (it only used 8 as an example)

Still confused. Article seems to say that farming solo, I can expect about as many white and blue as I would in a full group, which means when farming solo the foes should drop these things for me at about a rate of 1/n, n being the max group size for that area. This is definately not my experience, when farming easy areas solo just about every foe (after the first several) drops something for me. Oye 15:36, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

Farming
Shouldn't this section be changed to reflect the change that came with hard mode that there is no longer the anti-farm code in place?

Loot assigned to NPCs : either heroes or henchmen
If loot turns apply to NPCs as well does that mean that after 10 minutes their loot appears for anyone to take?
 * hencies and heroes instantly pick up. some random conditions cause the items to appear for a short second, then disapper. please don't ask for a screeny, i just remember seeing it. --Honorable Sarah [[image:Honorable_Icon.gif]] 21:43, 2 May 2007 (CDT)
 * i saw it too --77.223.248.74 21:40, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Suppose not considering their loot doesn't actually appear in the world. lol should have known that.

Mistake?
According to the last paragraph of loot sharing henchmen can never get Skill Tomes, Scrolls, Dye, rare crafting materials, Gemstones from the Domain of Anguish, rare (gold) items, green (unique) items, and special event items. That's what it is saying right? Is this old or faulty information because it seems like everyone in guildwars does not agree with this. If it is indeed true, which I believe it is I really do think the word should be spread, we need to post it everywhere to let people know.--Raps4life 22:42, 23 July 2007 (CDT)
 * The note is referring to loot scaling, not loot sharing. I'll edit the article to make that more clear. BigAstro 23:53, 23 July 2007 (CDT)

I came to guildwiki to find a definition on loot scaling. What I found confuses me because the definition contradicts itself. First it says "The only items exempt from this rule are: Skill Tomes, scrolls, dye.......". The next sentence says "Thus, the size of a farming party, with respect to loot, only affects the distribution of the exempt items and...." So if those items are exempt from loot scaling, how is it that the size of a farming party affects the distribution of exempt items? Anonymous User, Aug 2, 2007


 * The exempt items means that they will always drop at the same rate. For example, if you kill 30 monsters, the chance of a skill tome dropping is the same whether you are solo or have 8 ppl in party. But if you solo, you will always get the skill tome whereas 8 ppl will each have 1/8 chance of getting that skill tome. The size of the farming party affects distribution, NOT the drop rate. Loot scaling is only in regard to drop rates, not drop assignment.--Vortexsam 14:39, 2 August 2007 (CDT)

Monsters and weapons
For lack of a better place to put this...

I was farming cursed lands and killed a bowmaster. Almost immediately afterwards, the arrow he had just shot at me hit me, and I took life steal damage. His bow turned out to be 5:1 vamp. I wasn't fast enough in connecting the dots to take a screenie, unfortunately... If someone knows where to put this, that'd be nice. :D --Armond Warblade (talk) 12:53, 30 July 2007 (CDT)


 * Second time I've run into this - but I was taking life steal damage while the guy was still alive! Now have screenies, which are available on request. --Armond Warblade (talk) 10:09, 31 July 2007 (CDT)
 * Monsters have always dropped the items they use. Vampiric is the easiest to see. --Kale Ironfist 10:13, 31 July 2007 (CDT)
 * But have they always used the items they dropped? For example, I don't believe I've ever seen Josinq the Whisperer shrug off daze early. --Armond Warblade (talk) 13:52, 31 July 2007 (CDT)
 * Probably not, but it's almost impossible to tell. --Kale Ironfist 20:16, 31 July 2007 (CDT)

Killing Large Groups
I've noticed that killing large mobs at the same time yields significantly less loot while solo farming than killing smaller groups. How exactly does this work?24.186.207.198 16:22, 9 August 2007 (CDT)

Drop Nerf Unnerfed???
Well, for fun, I went and tried a new spirit bond build with my monk on trolls. Every single one of them dropped something. Then again, they all dropped. The third time, all but one of the 12 trolls dropped. A friend and fellow guild member, has just been out killing trolls. He has just taken out spawn-fulls and each time they ALL dropped something. Are we lucky or has the loot-scaling been undone? Link   talk contribs 17:45, 23 November 2007 (UTC)


 * HM or NM? --- [[Image:VipermagiSig.JPG]] -- (s)talkpage 17:46, 23 November 2007 (UTC)


 * I'm his "friend and fellow guild member" :) and it was NM. I was using dervish 130HP which doesn't kill them all at the same time so I think maybe it's to do with that. I tried with ele and nothing dropped out of 10 trolls. Now with derv it's about half of them that drop something each time... 81.151.132.9 18:37, 23 November 2007 (UTC) Pthoms T


 * Then you're in luck. Doubt they would remove loot scaling... --- [[Image:VipermagiSig.JPG]] -- (s)talkpage 20:27, 23 November 2007 (UTC)


 * It was normal mode. And I have just noticed the post above mine about killing large groups. If you take smaller groups you get soooo much more loot than say killing 12 trolls at once. Can't realise say how it works, apart from that it DOES work.  Link   [[image:Stoneflesh_Aura.jpg|19px]] talk contribs 11:50, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
 * I've noticed the same too. I used to farm the large groups of insects in Plains of Jarin with VwK Rit. I'd get 2 or 3, sometimes just one drop per group. Then I took my Assassin with a individual spike (recharged by moebius for continuous killing) to quickily kill them one by one and I'd almost always get a drop from each insect. There's something about mass killing that reduces drop rate. There's also one thing that I've noticed. By farming one map a lot, it would seem like you get less and less gold drops from it. I used to get so many golds at Plains of Jarin and now I get one, if I'm lucky. Any other maps I get a ok amount of drops, so it makes me wonder if there's a thing somewhere that reduces the quality of your drops as you farm that place. If you think about it, if it does exists it would help against the bots that are programmed to farm one place. 201.150.67.84 03:17, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

Loot used to work like that, but it isn't supposed to anymoreEntrea Sumatae  [Talk]  03:21, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

Loot Scaling
it is really hard to understsnd what you're saying. I don't get it. What does it mean?--68.3.18.11 16:57, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

Profession?
Hi, I'm playing with a Mesmer for the first time and I've noticed that I get a lot more Mesmer drops (wands, staves, focus) then before when I played with other profs. Coincidence, or sound familiar? 82.169.112.106 21:43, 17 June 2008 (UTC)

Yeah. Did notice the same. My Ele is my main char and picks up most of the Ele stave's, wands and off-hands. Noticeable change when I switch professions and same thing happens where drops seem weighted towards that profession. Be nice to test this.

H/H Loot Scaling
What if I filled up my party with heroes and henches, send them out of radar range (so their names turn gray on the party menu) and then start killing stuff, would that get me more loot? (the white and blue stuff) Because what I get out of this text, is that drops increase slightley (due to the 8 man team) and when the names of your party members are grey, they can't get drops. Wich means I would get their drops, and thus receive more? Am I correct? Tnx in advance. Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 21:20, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
 * I know that this is a viable strategy when farming for greens and opening unlocked chests (eg at end of Kilroy Stonekin (quest). I have no idea if it works for scalable drops, though. [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 22:47, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Well I was wondering if this would creagte more loot. Like for Raptor farming. (and with the up coming Haloween, a bit more loot might just trun very profitable... Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 07:01, 24 October 2008 (UTC)


 * H/H Boss farming goes a little different; you use the H/Hs to get to the boss and kill everything around it, then flag em off-radar. This leaves your loot-scaled party size as 1. If the party size were bigger, there'd be a chance for the H/Hs to get the loot. However, people are dim enough to take along 7 leechers for Raptor Farming, for whatever unknown reason. It doesn't help at all, except the leechers get miniscule amounts of Asuran points. --- [[Image:VipermagiSig.JPG|Ohaider!]]-- (s)talkpage  12:36, 24 October 2008 (UTC)
 * I was helping a friend get rank 5 Asura one day, so I farmed raptors while he "leeched". I noticed I got way better drops when he was in my party then when it was just me. However, I didn't seem to get more drops, just better ones. Of course, I could have just been really lucky that day. I don't normally have leechers in my party when I raptor farm. Btw, has anyone else noticed that they are called "leechers" instead of "leeches", which is technically the correct term? And Arnout, I had the same plans for this Halloween :P --Macros 12:46, 24 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Singular from is leecher in GW terms, thus, leechers is the plural form. --- [[Image:VipermagiSig.JPG|Ohaider!]]-- (s)talkpage  12:53, 24 October 2008 (UTC)


 * So it doesn't make a difference in the number of drops, but it will make the drops better? /sigh. Alrighty, But I'm planning on taking a full party (either "Leeches" or H/H) and test, for average and quality. Any1 knows how to do that? Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 17:29, 24 October 2008 (UTC)


 * I herd the opposite, Viper - that having leechers just increases the number of white/blue/grapes. This is because the other important things are exempt from loot scaling, and in that case you actually are better off alone. Special drops like event items are exempt from loot scaling, if I remember correctly. [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 19:54, 24 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Now I'm lost. I hope my testing will make it more clear for myself. Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 20:10, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Results
The meaning of my farming test, was to see weather taking H/H had any, (and which) benefits. The test was limited, as my time was limited. The test area is the Raptor Nestling cave, and Rekoff Broodmother with a Perma SF Sliver Armor Build. The Tests where performed during the Halloween 2008 event.

I did three tests (each consisting of 45 runs):
 * 1st (default) Test: A full party in radar range, killing the raptors.
 * 2nd Test: A full party out of radar range, and then kill the raptors.
 * 3rd Test: Solo, and then kill the raptor raptors.
 * A full party is either Heroes and Henchmen (H/H), or human players (from now on leechers).

I checked for greens, golds, purples, blues, whites, gold pieces, collectibles, festival items, dye, lock picks, blue scrolls, gold scrolls, tome and elite tomes. I checked for numbers, not the quality (max damage, max mods, color of the dye, etc.) of the items themselves or the mods on the items.

My results:

Farming with party members in range is for fools. No more discussion possible.

Using leechers, (or leeches) has its advantages. For example, if you would be using leechers, the drop rate for gold items increases. (0.47 with L against 0.38 without L) Also, with leechers, you will have much greater chance of getting a green. (my results show a 8 fold increase, namely 1 green without L, and 8 with L)

But, using leechers also has its down sides. Of course is there are the gold pieces. They will be spread. If you would get a 110 gold drop in a 8 man team, that would leave you with 13 or 14 gold. If you would be soloing, you would receive the full 110 gold. Also, the chance of getting event drops is lower with leechers then without them (3.4 to 4.2, respectively). The chance of lockpick (0.08889 without L, 0.04444 with L) and normal tome (0.244 without L, 0.222 with L) drops also increase if you farm solo.

The chance of getting a collectable drop is slightly lower without leechers. (2.35 without L against 2.6 with L). The dye drop rate is also lower without leechers, 0.2 without L against 0.3 with L. Elite tomes, gold scrolls and blue scrolls don’t show a big enough difference to allow anything to be said about their drop rates.

My conclusions:

Depending on the situation, I can see the benefits of using leechers. For example while farming for greens, gold items or collectibles, I would take leechers, (or H/H). But farming for event drops, or tomes, or just for general riches, I wouldn’t take leechers.

However, I would like to conclude this post with the following warnings:
 * These test were done during the Halloween 2008 event, and the respective drop rates might differ from those of other events.
 * Because these test were done during a event, the drop rates do not apply to regular farming outside events that cause something to drop. (or cause an increased drop rate)
 * The results of these test are not solid. They are (almost) purely based on chance. If someone else was to perform these tests they could get completely different results. The only way to safely say something about drop rates is to do hundreds (or even thousands) of runs, and the conditions have to be identical every single time. (the speed at which the raptors were killed, the amount of raptors killed, the way they were killed, you name it)

If any here are interested in the actual results, they should leave a post on my talkpage. I would be happy to share my (life’s)work with them.

Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 12:18, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

Loot Scaling compared to EXP?
I have heard from some of my guildies that apparently, the more EXP you have, the better your drops are (The percentage of you, a virtual lvl 230, getting a goldie is higher than a lvl 1 party member), is this true? --82.101.232.218 16:11, 3 November 2008 (UTC)


 * I bet you that's just a rumour. And if anything, it would be vice versa O_o" --- [[Image:VipermagiSig.JPG|Ohaider!]]-- (s)talkpage  16:18, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

I'm sure I (and many others) would notice a huge difference between my sub 100,000 new chars and my 18+ million main. 76.84.34.210 15:26, 7 November 2008 (UTC)


 * I don't think that's the case, because my assasin should have gotten increasingly better drops due to farming UW and Raptors. And I can't say I notice anything. Then again, she has only 2.1 Mil exp. but she started with just over 500.000. Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 19:04, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

Question on Group Size
I have heard this being mentioned over and over again and I have heard people both support it and disagree with the claim. Therefore, I want to ask, is it true that when you kill a large group of enemies at once, you get less loot/worse loot than if you kill many few small groups one after another? Is there a game mechanic that affects that or is it simply another myth? So say I kill four groups consisting of a total of 16 Smite Crawlers at once, would I theoretically have a less chance of getting good loot than if I kill the 4 individual groups of Smites? 76.100.249.38 20:19, 21 January 2009 (UTC)Razaac
 * Empirical results from people who do Secret Lair of the Snowmen says that killing big groups all at once reduces your chances for drops. [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 03:36, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

Unique Item drops (Greens)

 * &quot;The chance of dropping a rare item is greater at higher difficulty levels as well.&quot;

Can anyone confirm this? I read somewhere on this wiki that the chance of a green dropping for a solo farmer was around 12.5% and there is no difference between NM and HM. Still trying to remember where I read that Cyberhythm 13:41, 30 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Well, I know that there is no set chance for all greens to drop; some greens, like kephket's refuge are much more common than others. But I'm not sure what happens to the drop rates in HM.--[[Image:El Nazgir sig.png|Talkpage]]El_Nazgir 14:14, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Found it here Talk:Index_of_unique_item_lists, a comment from Manassas. Yes it's not a fixed percent (I did say around 12.5%). His info based on 1,000 boss kills suggests there is no difference between NM and HM though, which is contrary to what it says on the loot page.
 * The truth is, we just don't know. It was never clarified by A-Net, and it would take an enormous project to determin what, why and how of the drop mecanisms. Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 17:43, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

"Rare" gold amounts
"However, sometimes foes will drop the double ("uncommon") or even the quadruple ("rare") amount of gold." Is there any proof/confirmation of quadruple gold drop? I don't think I've ever seen a monster drop the supposed ~560 gold (presuming level 24) in four years of playing. 68.112.253.41 00:10, 16 April 2009 (UTC)
 * I once had a boss drop 360 gold for me (level 28).--Łô√ë [[Image:Gigathrash_sig_G.jpg|Roar.]]îğá†ħŕášħ 00:15, 16 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Wouldn't that be an approximate double of the gold expected of a level 28, though? 68.112.253.41 00:25, 16 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Highest I've ever seen was a 412g drop from a lvl 24 boss. I screencapped it, but that was on my old copmuter.--[[Image:Marcopolo47 signature new.jpg]] (Talk) (Contr.) 00:02, 2 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Copmuter= one who makes police officers shut up.--[[Image:Marcopolo47 signature new.jpg]] (Talk) (Contr.) 00:02, 2 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Wish I had a copmuter. [[Image:Felix_Omni_Signature.png]] 00:03, 2 June 2009 (UTC)
 * If I had my old one, I'd give it to you.--[[Image:Marcopolo47 signature new.jpg]] (Talk) (Contr.) 00:04, 2 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Either the part about how much gold mobs drop was obsolete a couple of years ago or else whoever wrote it hasn't the slightest clue what he's talking about. Under normal circumstances (which includes a full party), most mobs have one drop.  If that one drop is gold, then everyone in the party can see it and pick it up.  Otherwise, the drop is assigned to a party member at random, and only displayed if it is assigned to a player.  The amount of gold that is dropped depends on the mob level, probably a bit of randomness, and may have light dependence on some other factors.  In hard mode, if a mob drops gold, it's usually a little over 100g.  If the drop is crafting materials, the "one" drop may be, for example, 13 tanned hide squares.
 * The big exception is that bosses have more than one drop. In easy mode, most bosses have three drops, and in hard mode, most bosses have four drops.  As is usual, if a boss drops something that is assigned to a henchman or hero, it doesn't display it for you.  Thus, if a hard mode boss drops four things, three of which are assigned to henchmen or heroes, then it will only show you the other drop.
 * The three or four drops are probably chosen independently, so the same thing can be chosen more than once. If they're items that will stack together and are assigned to the same player, then the game will stack them.  Most of the time that this happens, it is with gold, as that displays to everyone, rather than being assigned to a particular player.  If you kill a level 24 boss and it drops, say, 213 gold, then two of that boss's drops were gold, not just one.  The really big gold amounts that a boss can drop come from a single boss dropping gold as 3 or 4 of its drops.  Quizzical 01:41, 2 June 2009 (UTC)