<Darker Than Jealousy>

Loot Council

Section 1: Overview

Loot Council: Two officers, three players; no one who wants the item.
Off-spec Items: Suicide Kings
Legendary Items: Officers' discretion
Wish-List Slots: 250 raiding hours, max of 5, usable on any item.
This system is only for the 25-player raids. Loot distribution in the 10 and 5-player instances are left to the discretion of those players.

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Section 2: Assembling the Loot Council

At the beginning of every raid, two representatives of the officers and three representatives of the raiders will be declared the Loot Council for that evening's raids. The guild officers will decide amongst themselves who will fill the first two slots. Any raiders (and non-officers) that wish to participate in LC will roll (1-100) and the top three rolls will fill the other three slots.
In the event that an officer wishes to receive an item, another officer will replace the player for that boss (or just the item, if it is a trash drop). If a raider on the LC would like to be considered for an item the next highest roller who does not want to be considered will step in for that boss (or item, if it is a trash drop).

When available, a third guild officer will act as moderator and master looter to ensure that the process flows efficiently. This officer has no voting rights and generally should not weigh in an opinion on distribution of loot. In the event that a third officer is not available, one of the voting officers of the LC will act as master looter (while retaining voting rights).

As such, there will always be two officers and three raiders voting on the LC, none of which are in consideration for the items.

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Section 3: Standard Looting Procedure

In order to efficiently distribute loot, these steps will be taken to process requests for items, decide on distribution of the items, and deliver items. This process is designed to maximize transparency while minimizing down-time and still enable a necessary amount of flexibility.

  1. After a boss dies, the Master Looter will link all of the items into Guild chat. Even those in the guild love to see what items dropped, so to limit excessive link spamming, only the ML should like the loots, and do it just the once.
  2. Any player in the LC that would like to be considered for an item will let it be known, and replacements shall be made.
  3. The ML will assign a member of the LC to each item, who will handle accepting bids for the item.
  4. For each item that drops:
    1. The LC player will link the item in Raid chat, soliciting requests.
      1. Any player that wishes to be considered for the item will link their current item for that slot. In the case of rings, trinkets and dual-wielding weapons, the players will link both of their current items.
      2. If the item is on a player's Wish List, then that player need only send a tell to the LC member stating "Wish List Item".
    2. The LC member will then compile the list, and post it to the LC discussion channel. In the event that no player wishes to receive the item for a main role, then the LC member will announce that no bids have been received, and the items goes up for off-spec roles.
    3. The LC will then have a quick discussion about the item and who they believe should receive it based on the Standard Distribution Criteria. If a consensus is not obvious, then a formal vote will take place, with each member voting for one person.
    4. A player must receive at least three votes to receive an item. If a player does not accumulate three votes, then more discussion shall take place.
    5. Once a player has been designated to receive the item, then the Master Looter will direct that item to be received by that player.
    6. Rinse and repeat for the remaining items.
  5. After items have been distributed, the designated player responsible for tracking attendance and loot received will record this information on the website.

It shall be strongly enforced that the time for collecting bids for an item shall be a reasonable length of time such that it is long enough for players to be able to respond, but short enough that it does not delay the entire process. Once a bidding is closed for an item, no player may be added to the list, and a player may only withdrawal once. This is to prevent people from sending in late bids, and preventing people from putting in a bid, then revoking it, then changing their minds. It will usually be between 30 and 60 seconds from the time items are linked in guild chat until bidding starts. It will then be another 45 seconds before bidding closes. Clear and concise announcements will be made in raid chat when bidding for an item opens, and when bidding for an item closes.

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Section 4: Standard Distribution Criteria

When multiple players have placed their names in for an item, the Loot Council will need to decide to whom the item should be distributed. The following criteria should be used when making that decision:

  • Time Since Last Item. When all other factors are equal, the player who has gone the longest without receiving an item should be given the item, unless it becomes obvious that a player is purposely avoiding receiving upgrade items in an effort to hold out for a single, much coveted item. Basically, if it is an upgrade, don't pass on it just to have a better shot at something down the line. Attempting to "horde favor" with the LC will backfire.
  • Item Differential. The difference between their current item and the item in question should be considered. All other things being equal, the player receiving the larger upgrade should get the item. The betterment of the raid, and increasing the chance of progression are the primary reasons for distributing loot, so getting rid of the worst pieces in a raid is generally a priority.
  • Raid Attendance. The frequency of a players attendance in all twenty-five player raids is one of the primary factors in making a decision of who should receive an item. Generally, the easier a boss is for the guild to kill, the farther back raid attendance should be examined. When the guild is attempting to push progression, looking at the last 15 days attendance is the primary factor, since a player might have attended many raids when the guild was farming before the progression push, those dates are not very meaningful. Conversely, when the guild is farming bosses, looking deeper into the past (30 or 45 day attendance) is more telling of whether the player was participating in the prior weeks of progression pushing.
  • Skilled Performance. Good players should be awarded good gear, because they will put it to the best usage. While this should not be a major factor, it certainly should be a factor. Strictly looking at meters in not an accurate assessment of a player's skill; however, weighing meters against current gear levels, role assignment and opportunity can give an approximate telling of a player's value to the raid.
  • Extra-raid Effort. A small factor in the decision of loot should be the amount of effort a player puts into helping to further advance the progress of the guild outside of the normal raiding time. This can include helping other players run 10 or five player instances for better raiding gear, or contributing to the guild bank during off-nights, or assisting in guild administration tasks.
  • Guild Rank. Raiders, Veteran Members and Officers are all held on each standing. Trial Members get items if none of the others want the item for a main spec. Trial Members get to receive items for their main spec before the items are openned for off-spec.

Along with the list of points to consider, the following in a non-exhaustive list of things that should not be considered when deciding who should receive loot.

  • Personality Conflicts. The decisions of the LC need to be objective and not based on personal prejudices. Just because the player's personal conflicts with members of the LC, the player should not be immediately discounted.
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Section 5: Off-spec Items

Off-spec item distribution will have a priority-based opt-in list, commonly called Suicide Kings. Off-spec items are limited to one off-spec per class and are generally limited to one item per raid. In the event that no player that has not received an item would like it for off-spec, then it may go to players who have already received an item. When an item drops and no player wants it for their main role, then the follow process is followed for determining the recipient of the item.

  1. The LC member in charge of the item will solicit bids for the item for off-spec.
  2. Players wishing to use their priority slot will send the word "Suicide" to the LC member, and those who would like the item, but without using their priority slot will send the word "Roll".
  3. If any player decides to "Suicide", then the player highest on the priority list that elected to use their slot drops to be the bottom of the list, and receives the item. This list will be initially seeded with everyone able to raid at the first raid rolling (1-100) and any new raiders will be added to the bottom of the list.
  4. If no player decided to "Suicide", then all players wishing to roll do so (1-100) and the highest roller receives the item without change in the priority list.

The reason for only allowing one off-spec per class is to limit items from being stock-piled in a players bank without being used. These items are better served being disenchanted and the enchanting materials either used for high-end enchants, or to sell for guild repairs.

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Section 6: Wish-List Items

For every set number of hours of raiding a player participates in over the course of a three month span, the player shall be award one Wish-List slot, with a set maximum number of accumulated slots. The exact number of hours-to-slots and the actual cap needs to be fluid to allow for changes in raiding situations. Tentatively, that value will be 250 hours per slot and a cap of five (5) slots.

A player may use a Wish-List slot for any items in the game they can use, except Legendary items. Items on a players wish-list may be changed at anytime except during a raid. Wish lists are fixed when a raid starts, and may not be changed until after the raid has ended. Use the slick interface on the website to update your lists.

When an item drops, if the player chooses to receive the item, they will consume their Wish-List slot and receive the item. If multiple players have an item on their Wish-List, the Loot Council which decide which player receives the item. Generally, a player with an item on their Wish-List will always receive the item requested. However, on occasions with extenuating circumstances, the LC may decide to override the Wish-list request and award the item to another player. In these rare cases, the Wish-list slot in not consumed. Extenuating circumstances may include the player having already received numerous items recently and the other players have high attendance and need the item more. Also, if the item is wish-listed for an off-spec and it is a significant upgrade for another player's main spec, this would count as an extenuating circumstance. It is intended to be a rarely used override of a wish-list item, but the clause is there to enable the Loot Council to cover itself against greedy players.

When the attendance of a raider drops below a certain attendance rating, their wish list slots will be frozen. They do not lose the slot, but it may not be used to give priority on an item, and it will not be consumed if the player does receive an item that is wish-listed. The exact number will be fluid, but it will be equivalent to the base percentage required to maintain a Raiding Rank

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Section 7: Legendary Items

The method of distribution of Legendary Items will be handled exclusively by the officers of the guild and independent of the Loot Council. Each Legendary Item will be handled on an individual basis and the method of distributing on legendary item does not necessarily set a precedent for future Legendary items. Because Legendary items are uniquely powerful and rare, they need to be handled as special cases. The Officers will decide how each item will be distributed; be it a roll-off of two players, or a set order of who gets each drop, or some other method. What is used to determine one item doesn't mean that all Legendaries will be handled that way.

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Section 8: Loot Council Discussion Channel

All discussions for the evening will take place in the LC Discussion Channel. This will be an in-game chat channel that will be moderated by the Master Looter. Only members of the Loot Council will be allowed to speak in the channel, but any member of the guild and raid may be in the channel to read the discussion. The specific name of the channel may vary from raid to raid, but will be announced in guild and raid chat prior to the raid. By allowing everyone to read the discussion, it is open and public, and everyone knows how every decision is made. There is complete transparency. However, to ensure that only Loot Council will make the decisions and that the raid continues to proceed in a timely fashion, only members of that evening's LC will be allowed to speak.

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Section 9: Loot Council Misconduct

In the rare circumstances where a player shows gross misconduct during their participation in Loot Council, their privilege to join the Loot Council may be suspended by a majority vote of the officers. Length of this suspension is at the discretion of the officer. This may include: demonstrating the inability to set aside personal prejudices; showing a gross inability to make informed, logical decisions; making malicious attacks in LC discussion. Basically, this protects the guild from someone who just isn't a good fit for sitting on LC.

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Section 10: Extra-raid Participation

Because raids are capped at having twenty-five active participants, there will inevitably nights where players who are ready and willing to raid will be unable to because the raid is full. However, the guild understands that we cannot penalize these players. As such, all players who are online, ready and willing to raid will be placed on the active attendance roster for each milestone in an evening of raiding. The player is expected to make an attempt to further the progression of the guild through: running instances to better their own, or other guildmates' gear; farming for gold to donate to the guild repair fund; farming for materials for consumables used by the raid. If a player is unable to participate in a raid when the guild needs the player, they will lose all attendance ratings for the evening. Generally, a player will have a 15-30 minutes notice before the raid will need them to be ready for an invite and summon, but when it happens, if the player is unable or unwilling to join the raid, they will not count as having attended at all for the evening. Just as raiders are expected to raid the entire night, so are those not raiding expected to be online and ready to raid for the evening.

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Section 11: Amends, Clarifications, Change Log

That's right... it goes to eleven.

In the event that a situation occurs that is not covered in this document, the Loot Council for the evening will make a decision that will set a precident for the rest of that raid. The officers will then meet post-haste to decide on a formal and lasting decision. Any minor changes to this document can be made with a majority vote from the officers. Any major changes will require a decision from the Board of Directors.

  • 06-Aug-2008: Initial Post