Do You Break Barrels?

[Bissrok]

When you're running through a game like Torchlight, do you stop to break the barrels or crates?

I use to be really strict about breaking everything and exploring every last corner but, after playing Fate, I just stopped bothering. There's never anything more than a few pieces of gold, and it's a trap eighty percent of the time. And that seems to be true for every game in the genre. Mythos was the only game that ever really rewarded players for breaking everything and going down every last corridor, since you could find a Master Key on occasion.

And, yet, you can still find about fifty of these things laying around, in every game you play. Just waitin' to blow up in your face. And that's the worst part of it. Not only is there never any real reward, but it's always exploding or bursting into a poisonous gas cloud. Does anyone still bother?

[Webbstre]

Yes, because in Mythos it gave you enchantments, and because sometimes there is the chance a decent item will unexpectedly pop out. I love it when that happens.

More barrels should hold loot though.

[prestige]

I think it's fun on a very basic level to bust open barrels, which is why it's become a staple of these games. It appeals to some instinct inside us that makes us love clearing things from a board. And yeah, if there's a chance a good item will pop out, then barrels become a more minor form of the "loot pinata."

I agree though that Fate generated too many barrels and crates. You don't want so many that it becomes tedious to open all of them. Although I believe area/splash damage will pop barrels in Torchlight, so it might not be that bad.

Another thing I noticed in Fate was (and correct me if I'm wrong) that barrels generated in a "treasure room" always contained gold or items, unlike normal barrels. So it was always fun to bust those open.

[Webbstre]

*rambles on*

Seriously, why have empty barrels? Or crates? Or jars/pots/etc? Logically you would at least expect some rotten apples or something inside. I mean, I can understand some wine or water or other liquid that could have evaporated or leaked out over centuries, but so many? In D2 that seems to point towards all craftsmen in the entire game world being extremely bad at their jobs and/or completely drunk from emptying all the wine containers.

Buncha Horadric drunks

[Shagsbeard]

I'd think the best thing here would be a toggle to auto-open these items or to not. Then passing by a chest would pop it... or not. To me, with aging fingers, the extra clicks all come at a cost. I don't like the games where you click even though the game must know you're going to click anyway. It should be a toggle though, because many get satisfaction out of clicking on stuff.

[Bissrok]

Wasn't it Hellgate that had exploding barrels/crates that didn't hurt you? Those were great since you could kill off whole groups of enemies at once with them.

[Jaknet]

Yep. I'm a break everything I can possibly find player....

It was Hellgate with the exploding barrels that didn't hurt you.... as you say a very handy trap for close up mobs

[hawkn]

In fate i used bows to open all barrels. but after a while there were better ways to get gold and artifact weapons. so i just quit breaking them, because it was too tedious for too little a reward.

[ombra]

Wasn't it Hellgate that had exploding barrels/crates that didn't hurt you? Those were great since you could kill off whole groups of enemies at once with them.

The wooden ones did not explode, but the oil barrels did. But i liked that feature too.

btw., i am a barrel breaker, because i like it from the deep inside, but i don't know why. I think it is because of the chance of dropping something special...

[Needlehawk]

Yep, I loved that mechanic in HG with the exploding barrels. It was also kind of cool that you got an achievement award for breaking X number of barrels (was it 1000?). It gave you a fun little goal to work towards.

I also tend to like to break barrels. One of the best low level weapons I ever found was in a barrel in HG. However, I stop after awhile in games where there is just no reward for it.

[Haze]

Yepp, I break anykind of destructible thing laying around that can drop stuff, not just barrels, until I feel that it's unrewarding.

[Zolyx]

Barrels exist purely to be broken. They're also a health and safety hazard. I mean, come on - the dungeon isn't exactly a very well lit place, and if you trip over a barrel you could take your eye out with your own sword... so, I consider it my public duty to ensure that all barrels are permanently dealt with.

[Bissrok]

I love destruction as much as the next guy, but when 99.5% of the time you get nothing but a fireball in your face or a pile of gold so small you would have passed it by at level 5, it gets harder to care as you go on. If you're a ranged/magic user and they get blown up in the crossfire, that's one thing, but since I usually play a slow melee character, it becomes a lot more of an investment. An investment that continually blows up in your face.

[Raxi]

I obsessively break all barrels. In Hellgate the oil drums did not contain items ever, but I blew them all up anyway, even without monsters around...it just seems like the right thing to do. as much as I love the chance at random treasure dropping from barrels(as little as it mat be) I would probably still smash them all even if they only contained traps

[hawkn]

I will probably break barrels the first 5 or so levels, but after that, it just becomes pointless. (unless runic does something really cool with them)

[CustodianV131]

Usually I try and strike up a deal with the local wine merchant and bring the barrels up carefully. Seems they are great to let wine age fast and give it a adventurous taste for those silly stuck up rich twits for whom a adventure is a horse ride accompanied by body guards. Still some decent coin in it, so who am I to complain right?

[OveMelaa]

Well, i cant remember wich ARPG it was but when it was as simple as clicking on a barrel and then you had a few seconds where you could run through the surrounding barrels to detroy them i destroyed almost all of them. But when you have to click each barrel i dont bother....

So this is something for the developers... could we have a easy way to wreck the barrels? Maybe like i said above... When you click a barrel you can somhow run into the surrounding barrles to destroy them...

[OveMelaa]

Now i remember... it was Silverfall.... they had a nice solution to breaking barrels and not making it tedious

[Jerich]

I ignore barrels in most games because they are not a time efficient way to make money. The exception would be Ironman, where you need every little help you can grab. Here is an idea for barrels that may make them more interesting:

Sell a scroll to players or give them a quest that automatically hides one unique item in one of the barrels of the dungeon. Then the player would scour the dungeon breaking all the barrels.

- Jerich

For the MMO, this could be accomplished by the Moonlighting Expedition Job. Offline players could spawn as NPCs and give the player access to a dungeon where one of the barrels in the level was guaranteed to have a level appropriate unique in it.

[Kardiophylax]

Always destroy, click on, interact with anything that drops/contains loot.

I've gotten more unique and set items out of opening up tombs then I can count. Often times on boss loot runs I'd end up pulling up an extra surprise from one of those before the fight. As long as they have a chance at dropping decent, appropriately leveled gear, I'm all about clicking on them as I pass.