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Hello, all!
As you can imagine, in 25 man raids, there are more people competing
for the same gear, and it is important that everyone knows ahead of
time what loot distribution system we will be using, so everyone in the
raid knows what to expect if an item drops that they want.
Below is what we have implemented as our loot distribution system. We have found that it has been very
effective and (except in rare instances, like when the DST dropped)
remarkably drama-free. Comments and questions? Check this thread.
**PLEASE NOTE** We use loot council for our scheduled Tues/Wed/Thurs 25-man raids ONLY. We generally do not track loot or use Loot Council for 10-mans or for other 25-man raids.
Loot Council
What is a "Loot Council" System? First off, let me clarify that the Loot Council method of distributing raid loot is NOT
a DKP system. It is a merit-based system in which a "loot council"
determines which person should receive a particular piece of loot. This
is a more democratic system than a loot chairman method (where only one
person makes the decision of who each piece of loot goes to), while
also being much less complex to implement and track than a DKP system
and having different pros and cons than a DKP system. It is also more useful for guild progression than simply /rolling for loot. For a smaller, more cohesive
guild like ours, we believe that the loot council method works very
well.
How is a Loot Council System different from a DKP System?
The loot council system is based on merit, not how much DKP you have
and are willing to spend. It is more flexible and intuitive and rewards
some members more than others based on merit and what will most benefit
the raid group. In DKP systems, the distribution of DKP is very
structured and capitalistic economy-based, making it more based on the
DKP "wealth" and desires of individual members.
Note for those of you who are not familiar with DKP systems: A
DKP system is a commonly used loot distribution system where raid
members earn DKP while raiding (for example, one point for showing up
on time, one point for each boss, one point for finishing the raid,
etc. The details can vary greatly.) DKP is essentially in-guild
currency you can "spend" when you want a piece of loot. Basically the
people who are in a raid together end up getting the same amount of DKP
for that raid unless someone was late, etc. (Just like in real life,
for people who get paid the same hourly wage, everyone working the same
shift earns the same amount.) People who raid more often therefore earn
more DKP than those who raid less often. (Just as in real life, people
who work part time make less than those who work full-time.)
Unfortunately, the process of tracking DKP can be very tedious and
time-consuming, and the system itself is somewhat bureaucratic and
doesn't allow for much flexibility. Over time, it also can be prone to
various economic problems such as "inflation" of DKP increasing, or
some members who raid a lot stockpiling DKP rather than spending it.
(See link at the bottom of this post for more detailed information
about various raid loot systems.)
What is the purpose of a Loot Council?
The first purpose of a Loot Council is to distribute gear in a way
that will most effectively boost the power of the raid as a whole,
allowing the raid to be more successful and continue progression.
The second purpose of the Loot Council is that instead of giving everybody
the same amount of DKP per raid or just having everyone who is interested in a piece of loot /roll on it, to go beyond that and reward those who
have shown their merit.
At
times there are moments of drama when a certain person might feel that
someone else got loot that should have gone to them. But... in general,
the guild trusts the loot council method and accepts this policy, and
the members of the council remain consistent in our stated methods of
distributing gear, so we have found it to be quite effective.
How does a Loot Council work?
Basically, a group of officers (plus 2 randomly selected non-officer
raid members) will comprise the "loot council" and when something
drops, will go into a private vent channel to discuss which person to
give each piece of loot to. (Dillmonkey has created an add-on which
randomly selects 2 non-officer members of a raid group, so we don't
have to have 25 people /roll.) If an officer or random member of the loot council wants a particular piece
of gear, that person will "step out" of the vent channel and not participate in the loot council discussion for that particular piece of gear.
The council can balance and dictate which item goes where to provide
the greatest group benefit, whether that benefit be giving the group
the greatest upgrade in stats, or whether it be giving the equipment to
those who take the most hits (stack the MT with tanking gear), or
whether it be giving the equipment priorities to those who are most
consistent (give the gear to those who will use it the most).
The council will pass out loot in order of:
1) Raid and guild enhancement (particularly tanks and healers)
2) Raid Attendance and Punctuality
3) Degree of upgrade
4) How recently you got your last upgrade
5) Positive attitude and helpfulness
***IMPORTANT NOTES ABOUT LOOT PRIORITY***
**Loot priority as listed above is for MAIN spec. In general, if no one
needs an item for main spec, we have people roll for off-spec gear.
**As you can see from the list above, (3) degree of upgrade and (4) recentness of upgrade
are NOT the most important factors we consider. There are times when we
might give loot to a consistent, reliable member who is upgrading from
one epic to a better epic rather than than to someone who shows up once
a month who is upgrading from a blue. While this might seem unfair to
the person for whom this is a huge upgrade, if we always gave the item
to the person who had the worst gear, there would be no motivation for
people to upgrade their gear on their own through running raids and
instances and getting badge gear. That said, we do try to remain aware of who has and has not gotten loot recently and we do our best to be fair in the way we distribute items.
**Please note that (2) raid attendance and punctuality also includes, to a certain extent, how prepared and attentive people are when they come to raids. If you never come to raids with flasks or food, or you are constantly going AFK, these things may count against you when it comes to deciding on loot.
** We take (5) positive attitude and helpfulness fairly
seriously. Complaining about the raid, complaining about loot, and
generally being negative not only decreases your chances of being taken
to future raids, but may result in you being passed over for gear that
we would otherwise happily give to you.
**Trial members, please be aware that until you are a full member, you
have somewhat different priority on loot (although occasionally there are exceptions to this):
Full member main spec > Trial member main spec > Full member off spec.
**If we have PuGs in the raid, and they are interested in a piece of loot, we will either ask them to link for an item just like everyone else, or we will have everyone /roll on that piece of loot to give them a chance at getting it. PuGs are generally only allowed to roll on items for the spec they brought to the raid.
***IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT LOOT TRADING***
Blizzard, in their effort to reduce the amount of time their GMs have to spend on resolving issues related to mislooting of items, has now made it so that items which are recieved in a raid or dungeon can be traded for up to an hour after being received.
I think that for the most part, our raid members are fairly honest and
would not intentionally use this mechanism for self-gain, but rather
act as if they were "passing" on an item by giving it to someone else.
That is not intrinsically a problem, except that we the LC might have
had very specific reasons for wanting to give an item to one person
rather than another, which might relate to their performance, their
attendance, their commitment to the guild, or any of the other factors
that we consider when we distribute loot "for the benefit of the raid's
progress". Loot trading without notifying the officers presents several problems to the raid members and guild as a whole:
1) It totally subverts the Loot Council's process, authority, and goals.
2) It could easily lead to someone attempting to "sell" or "buy" loot items to or from other guild/raid members.
3) It leads to inaccurate records of loot received and could affect our future distribution of loot as a result.
In an effort to avoid nasty loot drama caused by these possibilities, we have formulated the following official guild policy regarding loot trading:
1) If you are given a piece of loot by the Loot Council and you decide
that for whatever reason, you don't want it after all and you want to
pass it to someone else who needs it, you MUST get approval from one of
the officers who participated in the Loot Council for that item BEFORE
trading the item to another raid member. Once approved, please be sure to let Justizia know who the item actually went to so that the loot records are accurate.
2) Anyone who is discovered to have traded an item received via Loot
Council (both the person who gave the item and the person who received
the item) without gaining officer approval will be given a single
warning and will lose their guild rank for at least two weeks, during which time they will also receive lower priority for any loot and/or not receive any loot while in
raids. If this person is
found to have traded loot a second time, that person will be deemed a
"loot ninja" and as such, will be kicked out of the guild.
3) Anyone who is discovered to have bought or sold an item received via
Loot Council with either in-game or IRL funds will be immediately
deemed a "loot ninja" and will be kicked out of the guild.
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