When we first started raiding, back in Zul’Gurub days, we just random rolled for everything. Over time, random rolls will give a statistically fair distribution of items amongst players, and at that time our uber-casual guildies expressed fear and concern over the dreaded DKP. In fairness, I didn’t see a real need for it, and after reading a couple of things about zero-sum systems I certainly didn’t want to have to adjudicate such a beast.
Things went well until about halfway through ZG when a guildie skipped for a more progressed guild. One of his reasons for leaving was that he had “bad luck on rolls with us”. What? Your guild doesn’t.. well you see, random numbers.. it.. it just doesn’t work like that. And this is true, in theory, but one thing I learned is that people are superstitious by nature. Given the lack of any obvious rhyme and reason to loot distribution, they will invent patterns to explain things.
We knew we had to change when we started Molten Core, but again we didn’t want anything resembling DKP. This time we went with Suicide Kings, which is essentially a loot priority system. One of the big draws was that absent raiders never “dropped” spots. They stayed where they were, and people moved around them. This was essential for a pretty fluid raid roster. (Usually raiders #30-#40 were just whomever logged on during the night. Grats on 60 — now come to Molten Core!)
SK served us well until about the middle of Serpentshrine Cavern. The problem was that people were camping that top spot for a long time, passing up lesser upgrades for that one big item that was “worth” going to the bottom of the ladder. As well, our hybrids wanted to collect off-set gear (which was reasonable) but didn’t want to drop completely for it. By this point our SK system riddled with handmade exceptions, and we were trying to refocus the guild to be a little more serious about raiding anyway. It was time for.. almost DKP.
Since then, we have been using our own variation of the Shroud Loot System, and I think it works wonderfully. It gives players a little more leeway to set their own priority on upgrades, and also doesn’t need many (if any!) built in exceptions.
Basically, it goes like this: the average player will receive 8 points for the average night of raids. You get one point for being on time, one for being there at the end, and one for every 30 minutes of raiding. Killing a brand new boss is a +4 point bonus for the night. You don’t receive the points until the end of the raid, and you can go into negative points.
There are only two bids: 8 and half. That’s it. If an item only receives 8 bids, then all the bidders roll for the item. If there are any half bids, then the top bid wins. The idea is to provide a lower priority bid (8), but with the possible consequence of having to roll against others for the item and lose. Sore losers are told, “If you really wanted it, you should have bid half!”
And that’s .. pretty much it. I like this system a lot because it is simple to maintain, and the half bids regulate point inflation for the most part. We don’t specify whether something has to be on- or off-spec (and what does that really mean in the era of dual specs) or that people should stay in their armor class. If a ret paladin wants to bid on leather they’re welcome to do so, but they are going to have a mob of cranky rogues and ferals on the guild forum to answer to later.
We also give loots to initiates who make 8 bids, although that can be a bit of a contentious rule. I like it though – I think it represents the friendly kind of guild we are, and if someone has made it through the application process, let’s give them some gear!
And if you don’t like it, you should have bid half.
