One of the most bragged about features in Warhammer Online is the contribution system used to dole out loot in Public Quests and Keep captures. Supposedly a player's contribution is measured on various actions taken while in the public quest and the more someone contributes, the more likely they are to get loot. This is all calculated according to a secret formula that Mythic Entertainment has devised.

A group of players have now claimed that they've broken the code of that secret formula. Namely the secret is this they say - the formula doesn't exist. According to this theory, a random die roll is made when a player enters a zone. That is their contribution score, and will remain their score until they change zones. Which means, theoretically, that someone who was lucky enough to have a high roll could sit there and do nothing and win every loot until they either leave or someone with a higher roll comes along.

This theory is causing a lot of heat on both sides of the issue. Those that don't believe this is the case are upset that these players are "stirring the pot". Those that support the theory are calling it a betrayal by Mythic.

Despite what their intentions were I am horribly disappointed in Mythic. Not that they failed to create this tool, but that they still used a roll system and named it contribution; made us believe that what we did actually mattered. Lied to. Deceived. I can think of no complimentary words for what they did. It’s another big feature that caused me to buy this game which isn’t implemented. They might have kept half the system if they would finish it at some later time, but I still can’t figure out why they would name it contribution. It makes no sense! The only word we have got about the system is the usual “working as intended”.

No word yet from Mythic about how correct or incorrect this might be. We are hoping to hear from them soon.

A full explanation of the theory behind contribution can be found here.