by John Hoskin on Sep 08, 2006
Endgame, the game after the game, the find some friends or create an alt time, the raiding era... is the inevitable conclusion to spending countless hours leveling your character to the maximum in most MMO games. You have spent weeks, months and maybe even years reaching the level cap in your game of choice. Hard encounters that were developed for a few people at a time are replaced by encounters that are orders of magnitude more difficult, requiring many players to complete.
Most players partake in raiding for a number of reasons; the feeling of accomplishment that is attained by conquering endgame encounters, the prestige that goes with being able to defeat the toughest mobs in the game and the opportunity to receive loot superior to those players who do not raid are some of the more prominent justifications for putting 20, 40, 60 or more people together in one virtual place to attempt a virtual feat. Raiding is where both the individual and group measuring of e-penises really comes to the forefront, pun intended. Just having the guild-tag of a endgame raiding guild over their head is enough for some players. Raiding may well be one of the hardest parts of a MMOG to explain to a person who doesn't play MMOGs. No matter how much you may think you are on cruise control for cool while expounding the virtues of your latest raid to a non-player, all they hear is, "Geek...gurbledeeeegoooop...geek...geek...geek."
When push comes to shove and the 'Plated Boots of the Journeyman' meet the road, the players always defeat the best that the developers can throw at them and eventually even the toughest encounter is easily dispatched with minimal effort. What was the epitome of strategy and guile becomes the mundane. When this happens, all that is left is the loot.
And so the debate begins on how best to divide up the loot on endgame encounters. There are two main schools of thought; one is called DKP or Dragon Kill Points and the other is usually referred to as Priority.
Let's look at Priority first because it is the easiest to explain. In a Priority loot system someone within the guild, usually an officer or the guild leader decides who gets each piece of loot. This decision is generally based on benefit to the guild as a whole. For example if the guild's main tank already has five uber pieces of armour many would feel that the sixth piece should go to some other worthy individual. The person who makes the decisions about loot may feel that the main tank should always receive the upgrades since it is he or she who benefits the guild most by wearing it. There is a huge amount of room for drama in a system that allows a player or group of players to decide who gets the honour of owning the best gear in the game. That said, a guild that gives out items fairly and in the best interests of the guild as a whole will usually be better off if it is uses this method.
An EverQuest guild that I was fortunate to be part of used a Priority system. Because we were the #1 guild when it came to defeating the endgame encounters even those in the guild who received an item the third or fourth time it dropped had it before anyone in any other guild. Priority systems put the collective guild first and the individual players second. It takes a mature, focused group to deal with a Priority system and not be inundated with complaints and drama.
DKP is a points system based on attendance at guild raids. Those that attend the most will have the most points. It is assumed that those that attend the most also contribute the most and though this may or may not be true it is a means of measurement that allows players to decide which items they would like and which are not worth spending their points on.
DKP works as follows; the guild decides how many points will be given out for a raid. This may be based on the mob they are trying to defeat, time spent or some other measure, but whatever the measure is, everyone on the raid will receive the same amount of points regardless of their level, class or status within the guild.
When an encounter is defeated items drop. Those that would like the items can spend their DKP. The person willing to spend the most gets the item.
There should be no drama with this type of system. The rules are laid out ahead of time and everyone has the same opportunity to gain points and in turn spend them as they see fit.
Of course, virtual characters have real people behind them. Often these people are greedy or simply don't understand that in the post-Copernican world everything doesn't revolve around them. Even though there are clear guidelines as to how the system works, they somehow feel more entitlement to certain items that drop than a person who has earned more points than them. For instance, they may feel that the statistics on a sword that drops are more beneficial to a warrior than a rogue and that because of this the rogue shouldn't get it even if he spends the most DKP on it.
I personally prefer the Priority system, but finding a group of 40+ people who can trust the guild leaders to hand out the items fairly is nearly impossible to find. There are inevitably complaints and worse guild drama, which happens to be my own personal kryptonite.
What system does your guild use? Are their issues? What system do you feel is best?
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-- John "Boomjack" Hoskin