WTS!: In-Game Loot Distribution

We're all familiar with the typical loot options in the game. I think the two that get used the most are Group Loot and Master Looter. I don't know anyone who uses Round Robin or Need Before Greed, and Free-For-All is pretty much a gimmick option for running lowbies through things, or similar off situations. I would like to see implementation of a loot system by Blizzard for raids, so there is a "standard" method - even if Blizzard makes it optional.

In my mind, a player should have an "edge" when rolling on items for his spec and professions, as well as when he hasn't received any loot from a boss (or raid) over multiple kills. Of course, this can't "carry over" between guilds, so each raid would have to be tagged for a guild or as "PuG" when entering, and each player would have a running tab of what amounts to DKP with each guild he runs with, while PuGs remain how they are now.

As an example of the mechanics, let's say that the bias for a player who can use an item is +5 to a roll, and the bias for not having won something yet is another +5 per boss. So in your Sunwell raid, the engineering goggle upgrade for your character's class and spec drops, and you haven't won any loot for 5 kills. So you have a total of 30 points to add to your roll. What I'm suggesting isn't a straight addition, but simply an increase of top roll - so (/roll 1-130) instead of the normal (/roll 1-100). These additional points would be "spent" on a winning roll, but retained on a losing roll. This puts a soft cap on the amount that you can effectively use, and so encourages people to roll often without making any points over a certain number useless.

This also leaves a large part of the loot to chance. The roll isn't being sold to the highest bidder, it's being biased toward the unlucky. There is still the chance for someone to show up, roll 100 on everything and leave, or for a dedicated raid member to lose every roll, even though he has a bonus of 500, but these are very unlikely situations.

Of course, a huge dilemma with this is that there is no "standard" system now, so how can Blizzard choose one to impose? That's why I suggest that it only be mandatory in a PuG setting, and can be turned off in a raid to allow a guild to use whatever system they're already using. I don't really expect to see this anytime soon, but here's hoping!

Beta Key! Northrend Ho!

So I found a nice surprise when I opened my e-mail this afternoon: A WotLK beta Key. I debated hocking it for an hour or so, but then decided that running around and taking screenshots would be more fun than trying to undercut people on eBay and getting a couple bucks.

I'm probably not the typical case of what people are like when they get a beta key in that I don't really want to spoil the content for myself. I know, I know - why even get the key in the first place, then? Well, I want to see how the new UI changes are going, and I want to play around with macros and a couple of new talents. I very specifically DO NOT want to level through Northrend just to have to do it all again in a couple months. Repeating content exactly makes me a sad panda. In fact, repeating content similarly makes me a sad panda. I like new. I like different. Probably just like everyone else.

I'll try not to post any "spoiler-ish" things here, so that everyone else can enjoy the content fresh and new when they can get the game for themselves. If, for some reason, I do feel the need to post spoilers, I'll be sure to warn everyone before they come up.

I'm hoping that the beta won't take me away from the other things I'm doing in-game. I just want to explore a little and see what the buzz is all about.

Hopeful UI Changes

Blizzard is promising a lot with the coming expansion, and it seems to be the big thing everyone wants to know about. What kind of raids, what kind of zomg purplez, what kind of monsters. . .

The thing that I don't hear anything about (possibly with good reason) is the UI. I've heard about a built-in threat meter, but no other real changes to the interface. Is it because they don't want to increase the requirements on the system any more than they have to with the new content? I'm not sure, but from what I understand unless you have hundreds of addons, or a really old computer, the load on the system isn't that big.

If they're trying to keep the UI open for 3rd party developing, what's stopping that if additional functionality is incorporated in the base UI? I would love to see some kind of action bar flexibility and more mobile frames. (In addition to the promised threat meter) Other than these, what kind of UI mods are there? Sure, some mail things and specialized things for inventory and auctions, but all-in-all I think the most pervasive ones are covered under frames and bars.

At any rate, I'm really hoping they imbed some of these. I would also like to see a default "DKP" system that could be overridden if your guild chose to. I just don't think that many guilds I've been in have been "fair" with loot, instead favoring the guild master/officers/friends. It sounds (from what I've heard) like Warhammer is instituting something like this with their public quests, so that whoever contributes the most gets the most out of the reward.

We'll see how it all shakes out, but here's hoping!