Originally Posted by
Namor of Muradin
I came up with the following idea after a discussion in my 25 man guild about loot systems. I am curious if anyone out there has done anything like this, and if so, how has it worked in practice. I would also be interested in general feedback from the community.
Some Common Loot System and Raid Team Goals (in no particular order)
Distribute loot in a time efficient manner
Distribute loot in a fashion to facilitate more effective progression
Distribute loot in a way that minimizes interpersonal drama
Have fun raiding and progressing with a group in which good character and sense of team unity is of the highest importance
Keep loot distribution straightforward without requiring micromanaging with lots of and lots of analysis or pro/con discussions
Loot System Idea
To help communicate the idea, I am going to describe a scenario of loot distribution
Boss dies. Assigned looter picks up loot, linking the pieces in raid chat as the group moves to begin trash. Each raider looks at drops and links their current item in the slot for any desired pieces they see in the loot list into the appropriate chat channel* for that item. The members of that chat channel review what is linked, and type in the name of the player they think should receive the loot based on whatever the guild leadership has decided should prioritize loot distribution**.
If there is no clear consensus, then the channel arbiter (an officer) either makes a decision, or if there is no real clear separator in their minds, names the people eligible and calls for them to roll, highest roll wins. If no one wants a piece, it is linked in raid chat for open roll as OS. This process should take no more than 45 sec-1 min, occurring simultaneously in each of the different chat channels. Once trash is cleared, while setting up for the next boss, people getting loot open trade with the looter and link the piece. He/She places it in the trade window. Any pieces not claimed would be relinked one more time mid-way through raid and again at end of raid, and if still no takers, DE'D.
*There is a loot chat channel for each amour/primary stat group, for each tier token group, for each weapon type group, and for each primary stat ring/neck/trinket group. Each channel has one officer assigned as the arbiter for that channel. Other than officers, raiders belong only to the channels that involve main spec gear, and OS gear would be handled in main raid channel. So even though there is forest of chat channels, most people would be in only 4 channels. A team of 5 Officers would each be in about 7-8 channels the way I have it set up.
-Cloth/Int
-Cloth/Int/Spirit
-Leather/Agi
-Leather/Int
-Mail/Agi
-Mail/Int
-Plate/Str
-Plate/Int
-Protector
-Vanquisher
-Conquer
-Healer Weapons
-Caster DPS Weapons
-Ranged DPS Weapons
-Melee DPS Weapons (Auyen, Kristoo, Alcar, Reigning, Vivell, Nasty, Xrage, Jabbers)
-Tank Weapons
-Agi Rings/Trinkets/Neck (includes both tank and dps trinkets for agi based classes)
-Int Rings/Trinkets/Neck/Offhands (includes both healing and dps trinkets for int based classes
-Str Rings/Trinkets/Neck (includes both dps and tank trinkets for str based classes)
**Things that might prioritize loot distribution could include: biggest upgrade, making sure there is some equality in rate of people getting upgrades, raider/initiate, role (tank,healer/dps) priority for efficient progression, gearing top performers first, whatever. These would be established by the officers.
Reasons I like this idea
1. I really like the idea of everyone in the raid actively participating in loot assigning. It provides a way to create a guild-wide ethos of everyone thinking about "the greater good" by creating small groups making decisions with full visibility. This is an active structure that provides an easy way to push back against selfish impulses and requires a level of participation and thinking about fellow raiders that I think would help naturally foster good group dynamics and low drama.
2. It is potentially very fast with very low impact on the pace of raiding
3. It is a fully transparent process and very democratic
4. It doesn't get bogged down with hair splitting. Using the roll if there is not a clear consensus or obvious recipient keeps controversy low and time spent haggling low.
Things it would require to work well
-Needs everyone to be involved and actively engaged in loot distribution. Even people not interested in a piece would need to be thoughtful about who gets the piece.
-Would need a clear and well communicated set of loot distribution priorities
-Some kind of loot award tracking. Having a public spreadsheet showing who has gotten what to supplement memory.
Possible Cons
-Assuming that stamping out of any kind of mini-factions crap would be a top priority of the officers, the only major con I can really think of it that it really requires people to pay attention and reduces chance to tune out in between intense fights. It might require actually having people stop controlling their toons and just focus fully on the loot discussions to work well. This would reduce the proposed efficiency a bit, but it would still be more efficient than any one item at a time method.
Thoughts/experiences?