My Chars

Sunday, December 02, 2007

lootables.com

This site might be already familiar to other people, but I only recently had a chance to look at it:

http://www.lootables.com/

The main focus of the site is a searchable database of WoW loot. You can search/filter by many parameters and each item lists the name (tooltip is the item info window), iLvl+cLvl, an icon for raid/quest/etc., the name of the instance where it drops (if relevant), and link to thottbot, Allakhazam, wowhead and the Armory.

There is also a nifty feature, an item comparison. Each item has in the last (right most) column 4 colored bars. Click on one and the item will appear to the right of the main table. There are 4 locations, matching the 4 colored bars. So you can compare up to 4 items.

While all of the major item databases mentioned above have their own search/filtering functions, lootables' search seemed to me to be the fastest and easiest to use. I also liked the fact that you can search for several types of items together, so for example I did a search for epic guns+bows+crossbows for level 70, since I want to see the best ranged weapon I can use, regardless of the exact type. I can't do such a search on wowhead for example...

There are some things I would change -
1. Why do you need both an icon and a text description of where the item drops? Especially as the icon has a tooltip that says the same thing as the text.
2. Make the search button much more visible - large and use text. Since when does a magnifying glass icon imply search?
3. Need more info on items on the site itself - vendor price, convert ratings to percentages @L70 (a-la RatingBuster)

These are just minor issues though, overall I'd rate the site 9/10. It's a worthy addition to any serious player's toolbox of reference and helpful sites.

Oh, and for those who are interested in such things, the site doesn't advertise gold sellers - always a positive step for WoW sites in my opinion (although I won't stop using a site just because it advertises gold sellers, I'm too much of a pragmatist ;)).

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