Classic Master Looter Behavior

Support Customer Support
1

Hey guys, I have a question that involves a loot dispute in Classic specifically, however:

-I am not asking for loot to be redistributed
-I am not making a complaint
-I am not any of the affected party members

I am simply a guild officer getting conflicting information from the people who were involved, and what info I can find about ML behavior suggests that the account of events from either side cannot have happened, but the only blue posts I can find date to 2009.

Specifically, I have a situation like this:

Player A, B, and C are farming a rare item from a dungeon.

A is Master Looter
Item drops! Player B wins the roll clearly.
A disconnects from the game before he can distribute, and returns 5 minutes later to find that he has been booted from the group and set at the instance portal.
B is complaining that C received the item (C is not currently online, I cannot confirm he has it, and no screenshot has been produced to confirm)

Is this even possible? My understanding is only the ML could have looted the item, and even if he is no longer in party, no one else can access it. If anything, the item should disappear when the body does, right?

So, either I misunderstand the loot behavior, or I have someone lying, near as I can tell.

Anyway love classic, sorry to waste everyone’s time with loot drama, I did not miss this part lmao

2

Probably best to ask over in the Classic forums to be honest.

You might want to find out if “C” has the item first though. If “A” was the master looter when the item dropped, they’re the only one that can distribute the item (as far as I understand it at least).

Either way though, Blizz will not get involved in any loot disputes in Classic. They’re completely hands off on those.

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I explicitly stated at the top that I’m not looking for anyone to arbitrate? :expressionless:

I’m just asking for confirmation about player-facing game behavior in an exceptional circumstance.

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4

The blues here can’t give an ideas for many reasons, one of which they’d need to look through the logs to see the details. They can’t really help with overly open-ended.

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5

folks i literally just want to know what happens to loot when the master looter disconnects for an extended period of time from a reliable source.

i don’t need anyone to look at logs.

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6

Avarin’s just looking for commentary on the looting mechanics.

I think it’s possible if RL was transferred to another individual, as then the looting rights would be passed to that new leader. However, I’m working off of memories of original Vanilla so YMMV.

[Edited to add correct answer provided below.]

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I understand you don’t want confirmation or a review or an arbitration.

Vis a vis what actually happened, one would need logs examined. Otherwise you’re going to get conjecture from the community, and that’s it.

So that leaves us at:

A, B and C can say anything they want. A can say they DC’d when they really yanked their network cable. C can say they don’t have the item, when they actually do. B could have the item and just be trolling.

You can never know for absolute sure unless someone examines logs, and that sort of service just isn’t available for classic (loot arbitration.)

Can A loot an item and say he never got it, or whatever? Sure! “Oh, I DC’d and never looted it.” Okay.

Can he loot it and give it to D? Sure.

Etc.

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8

I thought I covered that.

Whoever was the master looter when the item dropped is the only person who can access it to distribute it. Even if the master looter changes, the drop is still locked to whoever was assigned as ML at the time of the drop.

That’s what I found when rummaging through some sites regarding master loot.

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9

This should be correct. The Master Looter position cannot be reassigned if the Master Looter has disconnected. So the loot usually cannot be distributed in those situations.

In those cases our staff have policies in place that allow them to help distribute loot, assuming they are able to verify the looting method and what dropped.

Basically, Avarin, the scenario you describe is a bit suspect, as I don’t believe player C should have been able to acquire the item without GM assistance. In those cases we usually need to speak with the Master Looter, not the other members in the group. I’d want to check the logs to see what may really have happened, what the loot method was set to and who got what item.

If I find out anything specific about the system that conflicts with what I’ve said I’ll be sure to update this thread.

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10

Much appreciated for the answer and effort Vrakthris, thank you for confirming.

Since I am none of the affected parties, I will pass this on the the ML and hopefully they will follow through in good faith.

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11

If nothing else, I’d have the Master Looter submit a ticket under Loot Problem. Provide details: Which raid > the boss that was killed > loot that dropped and who is should go to.

They should be able to check it out and distribute it if it wasn’t distributed or otherwise see what happened.

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12

Either way though, Blizz will not get involved in any loot disputes in Classic. They’re completely hands off on those.

So, utterly, completely wrong.

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13

I’d love to hear your take on it. Here’s what Blizz has said and provided in their Support Articles (which I’ve linked for your convenience):

Master Looter Didn’t Distribute Loot
"Customer support will not redistribute loot in the event of a dispute between players. "

Section on Scams and Loot Disputes
“World of Warcraft loot systems empower players to manage loot directly. For this reason, Blizzard support will not redistribute loot in the event of a dispute between players.”

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14

Care to explain how she is wrong?

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15

Vrakthris
If nothing else, I’d have the Master Looter submit a ticket under Loot Problem . Provide details: Which raid > the boss that was killed > loot that dropped and who is should go to. They [Customer Support] should be able to check it out and distribute it if it wasn’t distributed or otherwise see what happened.

There are also plenty of archived posts from the past several months regarding loot rules being clearly communicated before a raid, neglected during raid, and GMs stepping in, I will look for them now and update this reply, but I think Vrak’s response is pretty straight forward that they can and will assist with loot distribution issues.

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I note that there is a major difference between distributing loot, and redistributing loot.

Mainly, the difference is that one isn’t a loot dispute.

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17

No, this is 100% right. There are 100% hands off with loot disputes. If “C” was assigned the loot by “A”, then that’s a loot dispute.

Other information indicates that it could be a disconnect. Blizzard has a specific policy in place for that. It is NOT the same as a dispute, and it is important to make that distinction for anyone who does a search on this subject in the future.

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18

I referred to loot disputes. As in, the master looter didn’t give me the item that I rolled on and won.

In this case, Vrak is saying that a GM could look to see if something glitched and hand out the loot as appropriate.

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19

You are referring to loot scams. IF there are clearly communicated rules in-game (there usually are not), and IF the Master Looter breaks those rules, a GM will punish the scam and remove the loot. They will NOT redistribute the loot to a player who feels they have a claim to it.

No, his response is clear that there is a policy to assist with this particular issue: the issue of the Master Looter disconnecting BEFORE distributing loot.

Not every issue is the same, and just because it has “Master Looter” in the name does not mean it’s the same.

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20

I stand corrected!

You are referring to loot scams. IF there are clearly communicated rules in-game (there usually are not), and IF the Master Looter breaks those rules, a GM will punish the scam and remove the loot. They will NOT redistribute the loot to a player who feels they have a claim to it.

This is the clarification I arrived to upon reviewing some archived posts. Glad I could learn from y’all on this subject! :smiley:

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