We ask every member to put effort, not only into their character but into the guild itself. Make improvements where you can to your own gear, without relying on the upgrades gained from 25 man instances. You can do this in a variety of ways, heroic instances, pvp, crafted items and good level 80 quest rewards. We appreciate that you are not all fans of pvp and that doing so just in not an option to some people, and that levelling a profession such as tailoring or leatherworking is very costly and time consuming. All we ask is that you do your best. Make sure your gear is enchanted, that you have good gems in socketed items and that you always come to raids stocked with consumables to help give you that edge.
Loot system
During TBC, we used a Loot Council system, where raiders would link their gear in raid chat, the officers would discuss who it would be a bigger upgrade for, and then (where there was an equal upgrade / equally deserved upgrade) rolls determined who would get the item. However, towards the end of the expansion, it became more and more difficult to determine who items would be a bigger upgrade for, and we also saw increased dissatisfaction with newer / less frequent raiders winning loot over longer serving raiders with high attendance.
We felt it was likely that these issues would continue on into the expansion, particularly with Blizzard redoing the itemisation to make more items suitable for more classes and specs.
I don't think we'll ever get a system where everyone is 100% happy - I think it's the nature of the beast - but we have looked at many different systems and reached a consensus amongst the officers that some kind of weighted attendance system will probably achieve our goals best, and address the issues we saw during TBC raiding.
Here is our updated loot system.
- Initial determination of who is entitled to roll will still be by Loot Council, with raiders linking their gear in raid chat and the officers deciding who is eligible to roll. The existing loot priority still stands - Raider Need > Raid Trial Need > Social / Alt / Greed.
- Rolls will be weighted by attendance - using a base of 50 plus an additional 50 weighted by attendance (50 + 50 * Attendance%) over the previous four weeks. (Greed / Alt rolls will remain a /roll 100)
- We won't use phpraid as the record system for attendance - whilst it works great for helping establish who can attend a raid on a given evening, it's not a perfect record for various reasons I won't go into now. Instead, we will have a locked "Attendance" forum, that can only be edited by officers and class leaders, but visible to members.
- Every Tuesday night / Wednesday day, a new thread will be created in the forum for the new raiding week. We will have an officer or class leader responsible for this, and a backup for when the first is on extended afk or unable to.
- The first post in the thread is a calculation of the attendance / standby of each raid member over the four previous raid week threads. This will show what each person's /roll number will be for each raid that week. There is a spreadsheet which performs this calculation based on the attendance over the past four weeks.
- Any raider / trialist attending a raid who is not on that list rolls the minimum roll (50).
- The master looter only needs to have the week's thread open during the raid, and alt-tab back to look up names and advise raiders what their /roll number is if they are rolling on an item (so there is no need to do calculation mid-raid). Raid members will be listed in alphabetical order by main for easy reference.
- During the raid, one of the officer / class leaders will be responsible for recording who attended the raid and who was on standby, and they post a reply on the thread for that week at the end of the raid with those details.
- By the end of the Tuesday raid, the thread will consist of the original calculation post, a Wednesday raid post, a Sunday raid post, a Monday raid post and a Tuesday raid post (or whichever nights we choose to raid). At the end of the night, or the next day, the officer responsible for the forum creates the new thread for the new raiding week, along with the post of the new calculations.
- Raiders will receive a credit for each attended raid or raid where they are on standby for the duration of the raid. A combination of standby and attendance over the full duration of the raid will also be one credit.
- Raiders will receive a half credit for each raid part attended or where they were available on standby for part of the raid. This is primarily where a raider must leave early, or arrives late and goes on standby after the raid has commenced. It is at the officers' discretion whether a raider is eligible for part attendance / standby, but a general guide at least an hour of standby or attendance (or combination thereof), or assisting with a boss kill, should be sufficient.
- Where a raid has to be cancelled due to insufficient attendance, those who are ready to raid at the time of cancellation will receive a cancellation credit, which will count towards their attendance weighting.
- Officers have the discretion to apply a credit to prevent a raider from being penalised for non-attendance. This "holiday" credit will only be used in exceptional circumstances, and therefore should not be expected.
- These credits will be compared to the total number of raids over the four week period (12 minus any cancelled raids) to calculate the raid member's attendance over the period. This percentage is used to weight their roll, as detailed above.
- Raid Trialists, though on a lower priority for loot distribution during their trial, will still earn attendance, which will be applied to their rolls also.
- Finally, if a raider /rolls the wrong number when asked to roll, then that roll is null and void, and they must in all cases roll again with the correct number. For example, if someone does a /roll 90 when in fact they're only entitled to /roll 80, they will be asked to roll again, even if the result of the roll was less than or equal to 80.
Raids - 12th November 2008 -> 2nd December 2008
Player Name : Attended + Standby / Total = Percent : Roll
Bonesatyr : 1 + 0 / 12 = 8.33% : Roll = 50 + 5 = 55
Millian : 1 + 2 / 12 = 25% : Roll = 50 + 13 = 63
Yomiko : 5 + 5 / 12 = 83.33% : Roll = 50 + 42 = 92
etc...
The key thing is that the system is transparent - by having a thread on the forums, raiders and socials alike can see what is going on, and how it is working, and all the information is at the master looter's fingertips. We also wanted a way to reward attendance without resorting to a DKP or DKP-like system with points and prices. Hopefully you agree that this is a good alternative
When noteworthy loot drops, then:
- The loot master will link the item.
- The loot master will ask for everyone who wants the item will be asked to link their current items, together with need or greed as appropriate. We generally allow 30 seconds for people to make a decision, but may extend that time if someone is uncertain about an item. Then:
- The loot master will look to see who has linked to determine who is eligible to roll. The priority is:
Raiders > Raid Trialists > Socials / Alts (e.g. if 3 raid trialists, and 2 alts place a claim, only the raid trials will be eligible to win the item). - The loot master will list out the roll scores for each eligible roller (For details of how these roll numbers are determines, see below).
- The rollers will /roll <their_number>, with the highest roller winning the item. In the case of a draw, both will re-roll their number.
- The loot master will look to see who has linked to determine who is eligible to roll. The priority is:
- Failing this, the loot master will ask for everyone who GREEDs the item to /roll (100), with the highest roll winning. Everyone has equal priority on a GREED.
- Failing this, the item will be disenchanted, and the mats placed in the guild bank for member's enchanting usage.
There are exceptions (listed in other items below), and PvP items are always a greed roll.
Roll Scores
Roll scores are based upon attendance over the last month, with attendance points being given for being on standby as well as for actually attending a raid. A member with no previous raid attendance will start with a 50 roll, and a member with perfect attendance over the last month will have a 100 roll. Raid scores will be updated weekly on a Wednesday.
Recipes / Plans / Patterns / Plans
Raid Members with the appropriate trade skill may greed roll on these items. There are however one or two stipulations.
- You have the required skill/specilazition for the item.
- If the item which is created is BOP - the item in question must be an upgrade for you, and you must be planning to make the item for yourself.
Other Items
BoE crafting items such as Runed Orbs will be retained in the guildbank and offered to members who are crafting items for themselves or other guild members. All we ask is that the item is best in slot (or thereabouts) and that you have all the other mats needed to craft the item before making your request. Ask one of the officers if you would like to make a request. Requests are dealt with on a first come first served basis.
