Wow, I honestly didn't know that. I mean, I knew they increased loot spawn rate, but I didn't know you had to be under water for it to kick in.
And I'm glad you're re-evaluating looting. I honestly think a few more loot-buying NPCs will solve the problem. That way if people want to put in the effort to get the most out of their loot, they can. If people just want to sell it all to half-price Elster, they can do that too.
I think perhaps a few of the loot values should be increased too. Especially the rare ones. Yes, they're fun to display, but I have more than one of most of them. And i just can't see selling them for that little (even if I did get the full 150 gralat value, it's still not enough). I must have looted close to 1000 times before finding
one odd-shaped gem. I wouldn't sell it for anything less than 1k.
Finding these rare loot items should be an awesome moment. But given the value of these items, it's hard to feel like I've found anything that special (especially since 1 bumblebee, not even on bee day, is worth more than what you can get from selling most of the rare loot items. Think about that)