I wanted to help out everyone in P2 with finding alternative loot systems for GDKP now that GDKPs are banned and you can be banned for doing them in P2.
Since GDKPs won’t be a thing anymore and no one will be running them I wanted to post a list of other types of loot systems that work well in SoD that you should look into.
Guild loot systems:
- EPGP
- DKP
- Loot Council
PUG loot systems:
- Soft Reserve or “SR” runs
- Mains spec over off spec runs or MS>OS runs
Guilds in SoD:
One of the best things in WOW is being part of a guild so you can enjoy the social interactions with like minded people. WOW is a social MMO and so being in a guild is a very huge part of the game. With GDKPs being gone, I encourage everyone to join guilds that raid at times that fit their schedule for the best experience.
Guild loot systems are designed to reward people who participate in the guild, attend raids, and who generally make the guild a better place.
EPGP loot system:
- The EPGP loot system is probably by far the best guild loot system. It stands for effort points gear points. The system awards points to guild members for attending raid, donating to the guild bank, or helping the guild. These points can then be used help gain priority over other raid members for rolling on gear. The person with the highest loot priority is allowed to take any gear they want 1st but then their priority is lowered after they receive a piece of gear. It’s a simple system and can be fully automated by addons.
The benefits of EPGP are that loot is distributed more fairly and one person can’t soak up all the gear items in a guild. The more gear you get the lower your loot priority will be compared to people who haven’t received loot and have participated in the guild.
Your effort points also decay if you don’t use them so you can’t hoard points and lock out new players. New players can usually get loot their 1st or 2nd raid because they will have a high prio since they have never received gear. This doesn’t mean they can get the best items though. It just means they have a shot at getting some items over people who have already received a lot of gear.
A huge benefit of EPGP is that it is harder to game than DKP and its unbiased. Your prio is completely based on your effort and the gear you receive.
DKP loot system:
- DKP is one of the original loot systems for WOW and stands for dragon kill points. Guild members are awarded dragon kill points for participating in the guild much like EPGP but in DKP the points can be spent directly on gear items. In EPGP effort points just help set prio but you don’t actually spend the points. They constantly accumulate. In DKP the DKP points are spent like a currency for gear and when you run out of points you can no longer bid on items with your points.
The major downside of DKP is that people can hoard points because there is not decay built into the system. So long time guild members can easily lock out newer members from getting the best items for a long time.
The benefits of this system are that it heavily rewards long time guild members and people who are active in the guild and penalizes guild hoppers.
One drawback of DKP is it can be easy to game and gear is not distributed very evenly since people with a lot of DKP can soak up a ton of gear.
Loot council loot system:
- A loot council system is basically a council of guild members who decide which guild members get each piece of loot when it drops. It can be the most efficient loot distribution method in WOW if run correctly. Loot can be given directly to the people who need it the most or who put in the most effort by knowledgeable guild members who know the game.
Unfortunately, this is rarely the case. Most of the time loot councils become heavily biased and corrupt and loot is awarded to officers and their friends over other guild members. It’s unfortunate but when a group of people are allowed to distribute loot and it isn’t somewhat automated there will be inherent biases.
I would not recommend loot councils for new players. EPGP guilds would be the best loot system for you if you want to join a guild and are new to WOW.
PUG raids in SoD:
Often times these days, people just don’t have the time for guilds in games like WOW but would still like to raid and enjoy the content. Great news, PUG (pick up group) loot systems offer these players the opportunity to still raid and acquire gear but with a bit more RNG. These systems are easy to implement and require minimal planning. They offer anyone the ability to host a raid and distribute loot in a fair manner.
Soft Reserve (SR) loot system:
- One of the best loot system in the game (even out of guild systems) is the soft reserve loot system. This system allows people to reserve items in a raid they would like the opportunity to roll on. If the item drops only those who soft reserved the item are allowed to roll from 1 to 100 in chat for a chance at winning the item. The highest roll wins. The rolls are determined by a built in game mechanic which is basically a random dice roll. The highest roll wins the item.
Often times these runs put a cap on the number of items you can soft reserve and also the amount of items you can win in a run. Often you can reserve 1 or 2 items and are capped at 1 or 2 items in run before gear will awarded to other players over you even if you roll higher on the items.
This is a very fair loot system and helps prevent people from rolling on all gear even if they don’t really need it. The soft reserve limits force people to only reserve items they want or need.
Any gear that isn’t reserved by any players is just rolled off as a main spec over off spec roll. See next loot system.
There are many addons or 3rd party tools to help automate this loot system. In game addons can handle all reserves and distribution of loot automatically. It’s very easy to run.
Main spec over off spec (MS>OS) roll loot system:
- This is one of the simplest but also most fair loot systems in the game. Players can roll on any item that drops that would normally be equipped by someone of their class and spec.
Tanks can roll on tank gear. DPS can roll on dps gear. Healers can roll on healer gear.
Typically you are not allowed to roll on gear outside your main spec over other players. Many times you can roll on gear that isn’t for your main spec (tank) but only if no one rolls main spec on it.
This system is heavily reliant on dice rolls and is very random. You can win no items or you can be fully geared in 1 run. It heavily depends on your luck and the gear of the other people in the raid.
It can be one of the most fun loot systems because of the luck aspect. You can be very lucky on occasion and get many good items.
Most runs often limit you to winning 1 or 2 items before gear is awarded to other players over you even if you win rolls. These are called +1 or +2 MS>OS runs. The number indicates the max number of items you can win before you are given lower priority.
Conclusion:
I hope this explanation of the available loot systems in WOW SoD helps you pick the right system for you to replace GDKPs since they will be banned in P2 and no one will be hosting GDKPs.
I would strongly encourage you to join a guild if you can for the proper WOW experience. It really does make the game way better.
Thanks for reading!!!