WoW BHA Loot Rules:

1. Intent/Introduction:

This thread is intended to be informational only. It is intended for members of the GWJ Alliance guild on the World of Warcraft server, Blackhand, and was indicated as such in the thread title. If you aren’t a member of the aforementioned guild, in that game, on that server, please keep comments to yourself. Any suggestions can be PM’d to me through this website. I appreciate the past respect shown by the greater MMORPG Junction forum community on Gamers With Jobs. You make my job much easier with your respect.

To my fellow GWJ’ers, please read this carefully. I will not answer questions on topics that are clearly covered. I spend a great deal of my free time working on making this guild work at all levels. I’m loathe to devote any more to something I’ve already addressed. Thank you for your time and patience as I’ve developed my leadership style and implemented strategies.

The time for loot discussion is long past. Questions regarding rules or errors in this initial post will be the only ones answered. Suggestions regarding the rules will be considered and evaluated but not discussed openly at this time.

A person owns their own actions. Anger, inflammatory posts, griping about past “injustices”, or any other form of bad behavior will almost certainly be met with consequences in-game, to say nothing of a post that violates this site’s Code of Conduct. Though the site moderators don’t actively participate in the running of this guild, they most certainly care about what their brand is attached to. While they’ve never, to my recollection, actively intervened in a given thread regarding running of the guild, I do know that they monitor them. Again, you own your behavior.

These loot rules are designed to streamline and make more transparent an otherwise odious and time-consuming task. The selected system was determined after a period of testing involving several different systems. This system was determined to be easiest to implement, simplest to understand, and most resilient given the often unpredictable nature of GWJ raiding.

This document consists of two parts: an explanation of the system and how our guild will apply it, and a rule-set regarding a raider’s participation in GWJ raiding.

The Guild Master reserves the right to implement or abolish this or any system at his or her sole discretion. Note that this will only occur with prior notification given to the guild at large. Said more bluntly, a system will not be ignored during a raid at the GM’s whim.

This will be the loot system used for all designated progression content. No other systems to include open rolls, closed rolls, or loot council will be used.

2. Applicability:

These loot rules will apply only to 25-man content for which a majority of raiders are GWJ (defined as 18 or more) and the GM or designated loot master gives consent. Due to the disagreement regarding tiers of content and relative rewards in those tiers, these rules shall only apply to 25 man content rewarding ilvl 226 gear or higher. Current examples of this would be Kel’Thuzad in Naxxramas, Sartharion plus two drakes, Malygos, or any encounter in Ulduar.

The following loot system is assumed for older tiers of content:

/roll with the following caveats.
One Epic Per player:
Main Character > Alt Character
Main spec > off spec
GP can always be deducted and PR adjusted.

An alt's main spec, is therefore given loot priority over a main's off-spec. However, a player can always elect to spend GP to obtain an item if the PR's allow it. It is strongly recommended that players only do this for items which are main character/ main spec upgrades and only highly coveted items such as trinkets or BiS items. The decision for older tier loot will be ultimately up to the loot master for the run.

10-man content is sufficiently small enough that we can safely count on our loot masters to go by the old stand-by of ‘Don’t be a d-bag.’

3. System:

EPGP will be the system by which a determination for regular loot assignment will be made. Information on this system can be found at the wowwiki entry on EPGP.

Effort Points / Gear Points = Priority. Or EP/GP = PR.

• Effort Points will be awarded for boss kills only.
• The value for any boss kill shall be 150 EP awarded following the boss kill.
• At this time, no time-based award of EP shall be used. The decision to implement time-based EP shall rest solely with the Guild Master.
• Behavior awards or penalties will not be explicitly governed with this system. Or, stated differently, if you’re an asshat, just count on not coming.

Gear Points shall be deducted in the following way:

• All armor slots shall use the default EP value generated by the mod.

• Main role weapons shall use the lower of the two values. Off-role weapons shall use the higher.

• Off-set loot rewarded shall use the lesser of the EP values (rounded) divided by two. Weapons which are sent for off-set shall use the lower of the two values divided by 2.

• Example 1 (Armor in the off-set role): A wrist item with a GP value of 149 drops. No main spec users of the item desire the item. The item is offered for off-set. A raider elects to take the item. The loot master does very simple math rounding the value to nearest “zero” value (150) and then divides that value by 2. (150/2 = 75) The raider is deducted 75 GP to yield a new PR.

• Example 2 (Ranged Weapon in the off-set role): A ranged weapon with GP values of 249 and 149 drop. No ranged classes desire the weapon. A melee raider wishes to use PR on the item. The loot master rounds the lower of the values (149) and divides by 2. (150/2 = 75) The raider is deducted 75 GP to yield a new PR.

• Example 3 (2H weapon in off-role PR ranking): A 2H weapon with GP values of 199 and 99 drops that is an upgrade for a melee class raider and a “stat-stick” upgrade for a ranged class raider. The ranged class raider has a higher PR than the melee class raider and elects to use his PR to obtain the item. The loot master rounds the higher of the values (199) and then deducts that GP value to yield a new PR. (Ranged EP/200 = Adjusted Ranged PR) NOTE: This will never happen in this guild. This example is provided only to explain the reason for two values existing on weapons. “Stat sticks” are simply extra armor slots, in my opinion. I don’t care if a rogue can shoot a gun or a hunter can melee a target. That is not their intended raiding role.

Loot assignment will be handled based on item’s intended purpose and the raider’s PR. Loot will not be rolled on unless an identical PR exists between raiders interested in a given item.
Loot not covered by the previous (rare drop mounts, crafting patterns, BOE “blues”, etc. ) will be handled at the discretion of the loot master. In the case of legendary items, raid drop materials (runed orbs, hearts of darkness, etc.) the guild leadership shall decide how best to allocate them.

4. Rules of the Raid. Or Raid Rules. Or GWJ’s Raid Rules vs. MTV’s Road Rules vs. The Gauntlet.

In GWJ Alliance raids, we attempt to accomplish three things: treat everybody like an adult, ensure loot rules are known and fair, and kick some ass. When we don’t do these things, people get really upset, very fast.

The following rules are designed with assumptions that everyone participating in GWJ raids are adults or capable of acting like adults, that adults want to have fun in their chosen hobby or leisure activity, that adults respect other’s time, and that we’re all here, at the very least, to kill bosses, get loot, and have fun doing so.

4A. Membership
a. All raiders wishing to participate in GWJ designated points runs must have an active account on the website, www.gamerswithjobs.com.

b. Raiders earning points in designated GWJ raids must be members of the guild, with the proper guild ranking to ensure invitation to raids through the calendar.

c. No other restriction on raiding shall be enforced as far as membership is concerned. (An example would the defunct, ‘Fairy Princess Rule.’)

d. Members of the GWJ Alliance guild need not raid to maintain membership. However, all members participating in designated points raids will be subject to these rules.

e. Accepting an invite to a designated points raid gives consent to be bound by these rules, whether knowledge of these rules by the member exists or not.

4B. Raid Scheduling
a. Raiders must, at a very minimum, post their availability, to include non-availability, in the relevant raid scheduling for the given raiding week. Updating the thread with information regarding a change in availability or potential issues regarding tardiness or AFK’s during the raid is highly encouraged.

b. Raiders must, at a very minimum, either ACCEPT OR DECLINE a raid scheduler’s in-game calendar invitation to maintain their raiding status. Failure to do so will result in a demotion of raiding status and a reset of points after two weeks without prior notification given to the raid scheduler or Guild Master.

c. Posting availability does not guarantee a raid spot.

d. All due consideration will be given to ensure that a raider who missed a raid due to overages, a guild leadership decision which is non-punitive, or other unspecified “good faith” occurrences will be compensated in some fashion

4C. Points and Point Allocation
a. Points will be awarded on a per player basis.

b. Points will be, generally, awarded to and deducted from one character only. This is to ensure that loot isn’t diluted across many characters and is to encourage a “main character/main role” mindset in the player. The system has the capability to track alts, though I doubt the guild has need to do so.

c. Specific exceptions to (b.) will be made on a player by player basis. Sufficed to say, this is not the intent of the loot system. “Dual spec” allows one character to wear many hats. It’s better for progression to have one fully geared character than many, poorly geared characters.

d. No determination regarding points decay/points wipe have been made at this time. Once done, this section will be updated.

e. Points will begin at the beginning of the scheduled raid time and end at the scheduled time. This is to encourage prompt arrival and discourage “extra inning” play. We have many guildies across the world. Let’s not screw with people’s sleep schedules.

4D. Behavior
a. Act like adults. Play like adults. Consider the raids more akin to a league bowling night or league softball. View it less as a video game that you can pause at your leisure. You have 24 other adults, excited to play, burn off some stress, or whatever. Don’t be Buzz Killington.

b. Plan to participate the full duration of the raid. Breaks will be scheduled and taken. If you have some circumstance that would cause frequent AFK’s, obtain permission from the raid leader before accepting your invite. We’re adults here. We all have adult responsibilities. Attending to an emergency is one thing, letting the doggies out is quite another.

c. Show up with raid consumables. We all love the fish feast people but not everybody has the time and will power to gather stuff for you because you’re too lazy to get what you need and should have.

d. Raid vent is not the place to have the Festivus Airing of Grievances. If another player is dying in the fire, don’t tell them in Vent. Tell the raid leader. In whispers. After the raid has wiped. It’s not your problem. It’s the raid leader’s.

e. The Raid leaders run the raid. Not you. Let them announce the kill order and changes to the plan. 25 people in Vent can get very confusing when the madness sets in and everybody starts communicating at once. If you have a legitimate suggestion or strategy, please bring it up beforehand in the forums or in a whisper to a raid leader. If the raid leaders think you have the skill or capability to raid lead, we’ll approach you. Yes, we watch how other players play, make notes, and gossip about it afterwards.

f. Don’t run away after the boss is dead. The new mod requires it and doing so can sometimes lead to wipes.

g. Don’t loot the boss. Let the loot master do it. It can screw with the mod.

h. Failure to abide by any of these rules, repeated infractions, or general asshattery will result in a ban from raids.

That about covers it for now. Nothing I’ve written here, or omitted to write here gives you permission to act in a manner out of line with the GWJ tradition. Thanks for reading this.

VERSION 1.0 – 6/16/09
VERSION 1.0a - 6/16/09 - Formatting Hell.
VERSION 1.1 - 6/16/09 - Older tier/loot system clarification