Looting is a complex issue in any group. The more members of trhe group and the rarer the loot, the more complex it becomes.

-As a guild member, you are required to be mature about loot. This means that you should approach it with knowlegde of both your own situation, the situation of the others in your group and the guild as a whole. "Loot whores" are not welcome and will be terminated with prejudice - there is nothing more de-stabilising for a guild to have loot disputes.

-The guild does not institute any formal or calculated loot metrics. We are a mature age guild and expect the mature approach.
-Preferences still apply to standing and requirements. This systems has worked very well to date and because we are friends, will continue to work well for those aligned to the spirit of the guild.

To put it in simple words; there are only 5 uses for loot:
1. Wear for your spec
2. Wear for your off-spec
3. Sell on AH, privately or transfer to an Alt (BoE)
4. Disenchant
5. Sell to vendor (BoP)
(This is also the order of importance for both the individual and the group).

The basic blanket rules:
- BoE Greens/Blues: Greed. Need if you're going to wear it.
- BoP Blues/Epics: Pass - return to it when all mobs are cleared and it's safe.
- BoE Epics: Pass - treat is as a BoP (yes, they do drop off trash mobs).
- There is absolutely never any time that you may 'demand' a loot drop, nor will you ever be arbitrarily 'entitled' to any particular item.
- Raid Leader (RL) will be the final and undisputed say in who is allocated loot.
These rules apply from candidates to the GM. There may be exceptions - see the guidelines below.

-Boss fights should be on Master Loot, but if they are not, you must follow the rules above and pass. Feel free to antagonzie the RL for forgetting Master Loot.

Guidelines the RL will use for determinng loot disbersement:

-Tanks and healers are the back bone of any raid. Thoses classes are what progresses raiding and they will always take gear in preference to DPS.
-The order of importance listed above is tiered. Ie. a player will get priority for a main-spec piece over someone wanting it for off-spec.
-If more than one players wants the same piece and are equivalent tier, you may be asked to /roll and accept the outcome.
-If more than one players wants the same piece and are equivalent tier, you may be asked to link your current gear for the RL's consideration.
-We don't like to disenchant epics, so if no-one wants a piece, think carefully about alternative specs.
-Longer term members/raiders will get a preference over newer members/raiders. This is because it is likely that the longer term player is chasing fewer possible pieces (often only one) in a raid and therefore it is distincly unfair to them to roll against someone who would be taking every piece for their class. The RL will be abreast of this and that is why the loot disbersement decision is solely with the RL.
-If you Need/Greed on any item that is possibly in dispute, you will almost certainly be kicked from the raid immediately and probably kicked from the guild - not necessarily in that order. If you can't click the correct button on the screen ("It was an accident! Honest!"), you are not going to be of any benefit to the guild.
-The RL should nominate an enchanter to roll 'Greed' on everything so that they may disenchant it. If you are an enchanter and the RL has not asked you to do this, don't do it. Similarly, if the RL asks for someone to do it, offer your services. Epic shards are to go in the guild bank. Large Prismatic Shards are usually rolled for at the end of the raid/instance. If (for example) there have been 3 shards throughout the instance, everyone is to /roll and the highest 3 receive one shard each. If there is no enchanter in the group, you may be instructed (by the RL) to 'Greed' on any items that you would normally pass on - you can still pass if you want, of course.

What each individual must know:

-Know your class and spec - this includes what stats are the most important or even what specific drops were designed for your class and spec. You are playing with a lot of people who have probably played your class at this level or higher; you will look stupid if you ask for items that everyone else knows are not appropriate to you.
-Use RatingBuster (AddOn) - customize this addong so it can quickly and easily give you a comparison with your current gear for your class/spec. It will help you understand the game mechanics even better.
-Know your friends in the group/raid. The more you know about them and their toon, the clearer the mature choice of loot is.

The "if the hat ain't red, it belongs on your head" ideal is fine when purples are easy to come by, but when we start raiding the new content, the distribution of loot impacts on the guild's performance and it is important that the loot is properly controlled and distributed.

It is important to look at what a piece of loot will do for the guild, not for the individual. An individual player is worth less than the guild as a whole. As such, it is important to share the loot around, so that the loss of a single player does not cripple the guild.

Yes, this is also the basic underlying premise of fascism.
No, do not report me to the terrorist hotline. Seriously, don't.


There are 4 main premises to looting.

1 - Mains only - The character you signed up for on Low's thread here is your main. If after reading this you want to change your choice by all means go ahead. But that character is your raiding main. There will be no more 'I wanna bring my alt in or I wanna get some offspec gear' until the raid is on farm (actually on farm. Clearing it once after 5 hours doesn't constitute farm status) and all the mains have a decent amount of raid gear. Even then, other people's mainspec on their main will receive priority against an alt/offspec. For people unfortunate enough to be inflicted with alt-itis and feel the need to gear up several alts at once or switch their main every week, I say tough luck. Overall, an alt does not help the guild, so you will be asked to bring your main in most circumstances.

In short mains > alts/offspec. If it comes down to alts rolling against offspec, the master looter may have the final say as to whether anyone is more eligible than anyone else. (eg, a tank offspec may be given priority over a DPS alt)

2 - Share the loot - Unless there is really no competition for a piece (eg, a tanking gun drops and there's only 1 warrior tank) people who receive loot will generally be asked to pass on subsequent rolls. This helps share the loot out a bit more and discourages people from rolling on everything just because it's purple. This also prevents large amounts of loot going to one person, as such an occurrence would leave us crippled should we lose that person.

Expect also, that if you require a weapon for a stat stick that you would be asked to pass against a character that required the weapon for DPS. Don't expect, for instance, Hunters to be getting melee weapons over actual melee classes or Warriors getting guns or bows over Hunters. Spec will also be an issue; Daggers for instance would be first offered to actual dagger specced Rogues. Also note, except for extreme circumstances, "But I'm going that spec next week!" will not be a valid excuse.

The exception to this rule should be recipes. Since recipes have their own intrinsic material cost and recipes can often be crafted for other guild members, everyone is entitled to roll on a recipe who can use it, and receiving a recipe should not count towards the overall total loot obtained.

3 - Tanks and healers first - This is mostly in regards to Tier tokens and items with a certain amount of synergy or hybridization - loot with a clear role, such as plate with defense, or a mace with hit rating will be constrained to it's particular role. Tanks and healers should be given first preference to most tanking and healing gear. This should not overrule the second directive though, and tanks/healers will also be asked to pass if they have already received loot.

4 - Subbing people - There will be no more switching people in and out of instances for particular bosses. Unless there is an extremely good reason or you are replacing another player, do not expect to be substituted into a raid. Likewise, players who show up markedly later to raids than everyone else will be given lower priority when rolling against another player who has been there the entire duration of the raid. Players who replace other raid members though, will still be able to roll on the same level as anyone else.

On a related note, new members to the guild will generally be asked to pass on loot until they have lost their candidate status. This is to prevent people from receiving a choice piece of loot and then leaving.


So what do these new looting parameters mean for you, the humble raiders? It essentially means that the loot will be more fairly distributed. The experience will be more evenly distributed. Gone are the days when a few select people collected a large proportion of the loot. Gone are the days when people brought their alts into progressing content. This is not intended to handicap anyone's chances of loot in any way. Remember - gear to raid, don't raid to gear.

I'd like to close noting that these rules are not a unwavering line. All looting is done at the discretion of the master looter. If, for example, the ML feels that a certain drop is the biggest upgrade for a certain player, he may ask all others to pass on it.* If you disagree with a decision made by the ML, whisper him/her. Please don't call them out over raid or guild chat. **

*note however, that players who may attempt something such as deliberately not upgrading their gear to improve their chances of rolling, or switching a piece of gear for something substandard prior to the fight will be called out. This is why there is no explicit rule regarding 'upgrades'