A loot council is a simple way to distribute loot in theory. A designated group looks at the loot that drops, looks at who wants it, and decides the best fit.  Sounds easy right? There are problems though since people’s perceptions, bias, and feelings are involved, it can turn ugly quickly.

One of the most basic things that can cause drama around any loot system is players not understanding it, or the raid leader not explaining it clearly.  So, before we look at some of the ways to minimize the drama around a loot council let’s run through some basic loot council rules. I promise that if everyone knows the rules and understands them, you will have fewer issues in the long run.

Loot Council Rules

The first thing you need to know about a loot council is that it really should only be used when it is a full guild run.  Recruits that you are looking at are OK to be included, but not just any old PUG player.  The basics to running a loot council are as follows:

1 - The loot council should be made up of the raid leader and several guild officers. They should have access to a separate Vent channel or raid channel to discuss loot distribution.

2 - Raids are run with Master Loot on and one of the loot council is given control.

3 - When items drop from a boss, or an epic from trash, it is linked in raid and everyone that is interested speaks up. A last call warning is given from the loot council and then they leave to discuss it.

4 - The loot council then discusses who should get the item and why.  The things that should go into the decision are individual to your loot council but are generally:

    • The player’s time in guild
    • Their place in the guild, for example the main tank over an off tank
    • The improvement over their current gear
    • How often they attend raids compared to the others interested
    • How many drops they have gotten recently
    • Their other contributions to the guild
    • What is best for the guild
    • Main characters get preference over alts

5 - The gear is then given to the person that the loot council awards it to and the group moves on.

6 - No public complaints are allowed after distribution, all discussion must be with a loot council member.

You can make any rule changes to the standards that you want, but it is critical that they happen before a run not during a run.  If done in the middle of a run, you are just asking for trouble and for people saying you are doing it to play favorites to someone. 

This brings up the point that while you can make the rules whatever you would like, you also need to make sure that they are fair.  If they are not fair and equal to everyone you are asking for trouble.

Who Loot Council Works For

Loot council is just one of many different kinds of loot distribution systems.  As stated above it is really meant as a guild run only loot system, but even above that there are a few things to keep in mind.


Something as simple as who gets which piece of gear can have dramatic effects on a guild.

Because it is based on human decision at every step, it works best in a guild full of players that know and trust one another.  They also should have similar goals and not be ego driven. 

The ideal group to use loot council is a group of players that knows each other and wants to work as a group to get through and defeat new content.  While wanting to experience new content they also do not really care if they are personally 1st or 15th on the damage meters, or 1st or 5th on the healing meters, or if they are the main or off-tank is the ideal group for using loot council.

How to minimize drama

As with any loot system, or almost anything in the game, drama will ensue since people are involved.  There are several things that you can do to minimize drama though.  A few of the basic things to keep in mind are outlined below.

The simplest thing to reduce drama from a loot council is to make sure that everyone is on board with it and understands the end goal.  The end goal of a loot council is to distribute loot for the betterment of the guild.  Make sure everyone is clear on that.  Players need to understand that at some times that will mean one person potentially getting a lot of gear in a row, and at other times none. 

[protip]An additional way to keep drama to a minimum is to make sure that the council is selected from a core of trusted players.  Make sure that the core covers a variety of interests and includes someone from each of the major clicks in the guild.  Even though you are a raiding group of 25 you know that there are probably 3-4 groups of 5-6 closer friends.  If at all possible try to get 1 player onto the council from each of those groups.

Also while trying to keep involvement from different groups also try to keep the overall council small and efficient.  Four players max for 25 man raids and two or three for 10 player raids.[/protip]

A good example would be if your guild lost a key DPS cloth player and replaced them with a known good player, but that player was under geared.  This could result in that player being given several of the next cloth DPS drops even though other DPS players wanted them and haven’t gotten a drop lately. Even though another player wanted it, it is better for the guild to have all their DPS functioning at a high level.  The gear may make a 15 DPS difference to your existing players, but a 100 DPS difference to the new player. 

Keep in mind that even though the rules are fairly open, and it is possible to grant all the gear that drops the two key things to remember are: what’s fair, and what’s best for the guild.  Remember too that one of the best things for the guild is to not fall apart due to drama over loot distribution, therefore the “be fair” rule becomes critical. Given the situation above, make sure that your DPS are ok with not getting something, and make sure they understand why.  In most groups this isn’t a big issue, but if your guild has repeated issues with it, it may mean loot council is not for you or that you need to distribute loot differently to keep everyone happy.

Another important thing is to be able to explain any decision rationally and with the logic that went into the choice to award loot to a player.  The simplest way to defuse a complaint from a player that they did not get gear is to explain clearly why the other player got it.  The complaining player may not like the decision, but if it is clear and logical then they have no choice but to accept it.  If the decision was “they got it because we like them better” then you should expect issues.

Even though loot council is not like a DKP based system and each piece should be given on the merit at that time, you really should also keep track of loot over time. Sometimes loot should be given to a player that is there all the time even though it is a small upgrade if they have not been given anything in a long time. It is very easy to forget that you haven’t given a certain player gear in 5 weeks, since you are dealing with 24 other players, however I guarantee that player will not forget.

As you can see running a loot council and keeping drama down to a minimum can really be summed up with two words: Be fair!


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our World of Warcraft Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Byron has been playing and writing about World of Warcraft for the past ten years. He also plays pretty much ever other Blizzard game, currently focusing on Heroes of the Storm and Hearthstone, while still finding time to jump into Diablo III with his son.

Comments

Related Content

Patch 5.4 Profession Changes