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Ask WoW Insider: When is it fair to upgrade an epic?
Welcome back to Ask WoW Insider, where each week we publish one of your questions. Last week we had some fun imagineering new battlegrounds, and this week we turn our attention once again to an issue near and dear to our hearts: loot. This week's question comes from Chris, who wants to know about etiquette regarding rolling or bidding for an epic drop to replace an item in a slot that is already an epic: All DKP ideas aside, when is it fair to upgrade an epic over an epic? Here is the situation: We are running Karazhan and the Staff of Infinite Mysteries drops. I, being a mage, have the epic spell blade form Thrallmar and epic off hand I got from turning in badges of justice. In addition to my weapons I have dropped all money making professions to take up tailoring and enchanting and power leveled them up to get the best gear and enchants possible to make raiding easier. Everyone else has just started doing the same thing finally and are a bit slow in the progress. Now, every DPS squishy wants the staff because it's an obvious upgrade to their blue weapon and I want it because it's an upgrade for boss fights because of the +hit and secondary stats. Would it be fair to roll for the staff seeing as how I have worked hard to get where I am at and still consider the staff to be an upgrade? Or should I just let the people that haven't worked as hard to get geared out take it in hopes it helps out the raid progression a bit faster. My opinion is that passing on loot to help those less geared out is like taxing the smart to help the dumb. Perhaps you have a better theory. What say you, readers? What factors should you consider when bidding or rolling on an epic drop that will replace a piece of gear on your character that is already shiny purple? Should you gear up those in blues first to help your guild, or is your dkp yours to spend on whatever you like with a free conscience? How much of an upgrade does it need to be to justify taking it over the lesser-geared? Join us next week for another Friday edition of Ask WoW Insider, and don't forget that we need your questions to make it happen! Send us what you want to know at ask AT wowinsider DOT com.
I'll bank on it
Recently I donated a character slot to the cause of guild management. One of our guild officers thought it was a good time to start a guild bank system, and since I had an extra character sitting around (goodbye Fela, I'll miss you) I offered my services for managing the guild bank. So we created Donations, an officious little gnome with a penchant for bureaucracy. Our system is highly organized, thanks to minds that are substantially better at these things than mine. We built the donations system along the gold standard. Each item donated is assigned a point total based on how much gold it is worth in the auction house. I downloaded Auctioneer, and that has cut my research time in half. The guild bank accepts certain crafting supplies along with monetary donations. Any greens or blues donated are auctioned and the player is given points corresponding to the amount of money it sold for. The points are a lot like DKP, you spend them on items or gold whenever you need them. The more points you have, the more points you can spend on items donated to the guild bank, or withdraw in the form of cash should you need to pay for some hefty purchase in the future – epic flying mounts anyone? So far the system has been pretty successful in its beta phase. Several of us, myself included, were able to save enough points for mounts for our alts. I am hoping that when Blizzard instigates its guild bank system in the future it is something that is this intuitive. I know personally I like being able to get value from items that I cannot use (exactly how much Knothide leather does an Alchemist need?), and it's important to me that we are able to provide supplies to those in the guild who need them. What are you guild bank systems like? Do you tithe, or are the donations all voluntary? And what would you like to see in the guild bank system Blizzard is proposing as an addition to the game?
Breakfast Topic: DKP Systems
Love them, hate them, or love to design them over coffee, DKP systems are overwhelmingly prevalent in raiding guilds. I only recently learned to stop hating them when I saw a forum post that analyzed DKP vs. random rolls and proved that the relationship between number of raids and amount of gear gotten is pretty much the same in both cases, but with less random noise in the case of DKP. My guild uses a fairly simple zero-sum system, which seems to work well (even if I am almost always in the negative). What about you? Where do you stand on DKP, and what DKP system, or what way of distributing loot, does your guild use?
Gaming and work motivation: not mutually exclusive
It's like you can feel its adorably shaped nose pressing into your back. You're trying to assemble a droll (is there any other?) business presentation, and all you can think about is how woefully uninformed your employers must be if they expect you to be motivated by a moist creature of the sea balancing a ball on its face. "Persistance," it says. "SEAL the deal." You really hate puns.But you like gaming. Perhaps that's the key to motivating you at work or, at the very least, reminding you that there's a much better world out there ... in your computer. Have a glance at these gaming-inspired motivational posters (you know the ones) and watch your productivity soar to hitherto unseen heights. Or, more realistically, have a laugh. It's the only thing keeping you sane.[Thanks David!]
50 DKP Dives -- the new Leeroy
The words "50 DKP MINUS" are becoming somewhat legendary even in non-WoW circles, but have you ever wondered about the guy who originally uttered them? Wagner James Au has interviewed Dives, leader of the Wipe Club, and the interview contains some real insight into the life of this particular raid leader.Turns out that, for those following the Onyxia Wipe closely, Crushim didn't actually get -50 DKP once the situation was explained. Thank goodness for that then.
Guild Issues: DKP
When I first started playing WoW, I hadn't the faintest clue of what DKP was. As I started leveling up, the system sounded silly - why make such a complicated set of rules for loot distribution when you can just roll, after all? - but since I've started raiding, I've come to realize that some sort of system is a helpful at this stage in the game. But, of course, DKP can mean a lot of different things - and I've seen systems that range from glorified ways for officers to get first choice of all loot to immensely detailed policies that strive to be as fair as possible. There are numerous different systems, and before joining a new guild - or starting one yourself! - it would be for the best to find out about how DKP is done. WoWWiki has a nice writeup covering what DKP is and how it can be done and Wanderer from Cenarius server is attempting to define and explain each of the different systems used in the game - the post is lengthy, but quite informative.
