Yesterday I wrote about the DKP system that is in place for our raid “alliance”. I wanted to give the system some time before making a final judgement (our guild has often considered going to a DKP system). But after only two nights of DKP I’m ready to make the call. It’s bad, very bad.
I have to admit it’s hard to come here and bash a system where I’ve gotten, Valorous Cryptstalker Spaulders, Gloves of Calculated Risk, and Leggings of Failed Escape (arguably three of the best pieces of hunter loot in the game), but I must.
Actually, of the three pieces only the Leggings of Failed Escape were purchased with DKP.
So what are my gripes?
- The focus of the group seemed to be more on loot then having fun and doing the actual content.
- We had some new raiders that weren’t happy with the prospect of not having a chance to get any upgrades.
- Loot distribution was slow and took too much time.
- There were also shenanigans. I wasn’t paying full attention, but after the four horsemen loot distribution ended one of the OTs left the raid in a huff (he quit the other guild too). I think it was over a BoE drop.
- Too much time strategizing. I have to admit I was very guilty of this. Prior to the raid I spent some time prioritzing drops and figuring out who the competition was. Before we started I knew the drops I wanted and the maximum amount needed to acquire them. I just needed to get lucky (which I did).
- The system favors individuals and not the raid. If we had gotten to the Plague Quarter, and if Noth had dropped the Crippled Treads, I would have had a tough decision to make. Spend my points and get the boots (having already gotten the leggings) or defer and let someone else who hadn’t gotten anything get them.
Overall I think DKP works best if you have a consistent team that is equally geared. That way you can reward those players who show up every time by allowing them to get gear first (you don’t need a DKP system for this by the way).
I like the way our guild does it. We look at who is in the raid, who will be raiding and with what toons. We try to see that we buff the raid group as best as possible, and we try to spread the wealth. If we’re pugging any spots we give those players the same opportunity to get loot as everyone else. It’s not perfect, but I think it’s better than this garbage.
The more complex systems typically arent that much fairer than straight out /rolling for main spec, and they all take a lot longer to administer. And most of them require people to spend time researching drops and prioritizing ahead of time.
The way my guild does it is anyone can /roll for main spec unless they’ve already won something this raid ID. Tier pieces are the exception- even if you’ve won something, you can /roll on a tier piece.
This system is quite simple and efficient. Any losses we have that would have been prevented by some sort of complex DKP system are probably more than outweighed by the fact that we can clear more content this way as we spend less time administering a loot system.