Barrels, to smash or not to smash

[Urzuxo]

After our statistic guru Varquynne posted that guest article about loot drops it got me thinking: I often run around in dungeons and impatiently skip all the loose rocks, barrels and coffins. Unfortunately I also feel like I'm missing out of shiny gold when I do so. This lead me to ask the question: Are smashing barrels, loose rocks and coffins (etc) worth the time gold-wise?

After a quick mail to Varq it turns out he already has the data (keep in mind that the sample is limited so these aren't 100.00% accurate but it gives you an idea). This was his answer:

"It ends up averaging to ~1.9 gold per barrel/urn, ~3 gold per normal monster you kill, and ~13 gold per clickable/destructible (for levels 1 to 9 of the beta). Seems like it generally pays to bust open logs, coffins, loose stones, etc."

Yes. Smash everything in sight, it pays off.

Although gold has no real purpose in the beta it will be of utmost importance in retail. Players quickly destroying barrels and clickables will gain a very significant advantage in gold. Thank you Varq for the info!

PS: People in the official forums claimed to have gotten items, even a rare item once, from barrels and loose rocks. Fyi

[MoUsE_WiZ]

PS: People in the official forums claimed to have gotten items, even a rare item once, from barrels and loose rocks. Fyi

I got a rare from an urn in the week I rented the beta. Of course, I also got a Bonesnap from a rock in A3 right outside the spider cavern on my very first trip to A3 in D2, and haven't seen another unique from a destructible since then, so who knows.

[ElementEight]

I probably will when hell/inferno comes around, but beforehand? I'd rather try to maximize leveling. Gold you make early on probably won't be comparable to how much you will make later on.

My old wow friends often asked me how to make gold while they were at a lower level. My answer was: Go level. While I'm sure there will be some opportunities to make a decent amount during the lower D3 levels, it probably won't be, on average, comparable to high.

Unless it's shown that they have really really good drop rates.

[Apocalypse]

I have always smashed everything I see while playing the beta. I assume this will continue in the full game for a rather long time before I start to skip them. My main reason is I like to break things, its fun to me. I also like seeing the bonus xp (like what 4 or 5 xp lol) display pop up for busting objects. So I will continue to smash everything in sight because I enjoy doing it but having the added incentive does not hurt

[Urzuxo]

I probably will when hell/inferno comes around, but beforehand? I'd rather try to maximize leveling. Gold you make early on probably won't be comparable to how much you will make later on.

Good point. The first char however will be doing lotsa smashing.

[HardRock]

I'm constantly broke (damn you crafting), so I always smash everything I can. I want moar gold.

[z00t]

I smash EVERYTHING on my first playthrough .

Subsequent playthroughs, not so much, but I'll make a point to smash things in the later difficulty levels for the monies ^____^.

[Flux]

I don't go out of my way to do barrels and urns at this point, especially if my char doesn't have some real quick/easy barrel smashing AoE skill. But that's somewhat due to this being the beta, where I don't really care about gold or building up wealth of items and materials, since there's nothing really worth spending them on. Full game I'm sure I'll be more conscientious, as I'll be building wealth for the long term.

Skills that are useful for destructibles are surprisingly important. I pointed this out several times early in the beta, when most people hadn't yet played and didn't realize what a big part of the game were destructibles. The DH's Fan of Knives was one great example when it was beta available early on, before Rapid Fire was available. Better yet was the Wiz's Electrocute, which was about my favorite skill in D3, at least partially since it owns destructibles. DH's Strafe was even more so, capable of breaking every destructible on the entire screen, providing you didn't have monsters in the way.

My point here is that the beta isn't real representative of the full game, as we've only got a few limited utility skills. Come full game I think every char will have at least 1 or 2 skills that are great for clearing out destructibles, plus we'll have much more +radius pick up stuff, making the gold easier/quicker to collect.

[marshmallow]

In the crypt areas it seems like coffins always drop a lot of gold. But I could be wrong.

[snowieken]

I must admit that it actually surprises me that people can leave destructibles unopened.

I never could leave them alone in Diablo II, I am pretty sure I won't be able to in Diablo III. The small chance that something worthwhile drops from a destructible is too luring for me. I can't bear leaving destructibles behind, I'm just a little autistic about it, and for some reason I go out of my way to smash them. Leveling speed also isn't that important for me, nor is flying through the acts. Besides, as Apoc says, it's fun.