Loot is the single biggest headache involved with raiding. The past few weeks it has been something I have been focused on heavily as I prepare to move my guild, Exhumed of Shadowsong EU, into Mythic raiding. We decided a while back to move to Loot Council but hadn't considered the nuts and bolts of how to do this.

We looked at addons and they really don't add any benefit to the process. therefore I have looked around and come up with a system that I feel will work, be easily managed and simple to explain. One thing that I had to accept was that nothing can avoid disagreements over gear.

I have also set up the Loot Council to have an odd number of members to avoid a deadlock on a piece of gear. The aim is for loot to be distributed as fairly as possible. I have asked that our raid team do not contest our decisions in the raid and this will mean that we won't be changing our decisions. I have asked that anyone who feels we made an error to discuss it AFTER the raid.

The only situation whereby a person will have to pass loot to a different person is if the loot Council decide that "person A" should win an item but the Master Looter hands the item to "person B". The correction will be announced by the Master Looter and we then expect that the item be handed immediately to the correct winner by the incorrect winner. This will mean that we have had to ask that people do not gem/enchant/transmog an item for 15 minutes as this may make the item soulbound.

How to express interest

Bidding for items will be done in raid chat, to ensure that nothing is missed, raid chat should be kept clear while bidding is in progress. To make sure the raid is not slowed down during this process each item will be open for 15 seconds after the item to bid on is linked during this time you should do 1 of 3 things in /ra:

• Say MAIN link your equipped item – If the item is a significant upgrade for you in your current spec and role. If this is a piece of Tier and it will activate a set bonus add 2pce or 4 piece to your "bid"
• Say OFF (no item link) – If the item is a minor upgrade or you’d like it for an off spec.
• Say nothing – If you have zero interest at all in the item.

After the 15 second countdown, there will be a "Bids closed" statement. Interest expressed well after this point will not be considered into account (unless there was no one interested at all during the countdown). The council will then write the name of the person they feel should be awarded the item in a private channel and the master looter will then announce a winner. Bidding on the next item will then commence.

This does of course rely on the bidder being honest when linking their equipped item, this will be policed and anyone found cheating the system will be dealt with very harshly.

Who will be on the Loot Council?

The Loot Council will consist of 5 people. These will be 3 officers and 2 of the raid team (decided by a /roll each raid). The raid leader will always be on the council. They each have their own individual personality and are 5 different players. Each council member has 1 vote used to decide who receives an item if there are multiple players interested in an item. ALL loot council members will vote on ALL items, even if a member of the loot council is interested in an item.

6 Influential factors

Current rank and position: Players not holding a raider rank will not get loot assigned to them if a player holding a raider rank has bid MAIN. This is to prevent people from joining, getting a few pieces of loot, and then leaving. It is basically a form of DKP. It forces people to have a vested interest in the guild and raiding regularly to receive gear. This may be overlooked based on performance, attendance, or the amount of loot already received during that raid.

Attendance: Raid attendance is extremely important. If players aren’t here to raid, they’re not going to be able to contribute. Remember that loot drops will be awarded in order to be as effective as possible. This means there is a higher chance that a player who attends 80% of raids will get an item over a player who only attends 50%. This doesn't mean that a person with lower attendance will never get loot, just that persons with higher attendance but equal gear level will get loot earlier.

Effectiveness: Is it effective for the guild as a whole? Will the raider be able to utilize it and ensure that it does not become useless? We want to ensure that items aren’t going to be wasted by being awarded to alts or off specs unless there is no main interest. A guardian/boomkin Druid looking to obtain a spirit item aren’t going to get it if they’re in raids to only to tank or DPS. It doesn't maximize the effectiveness of the item if it is not being used.

Current items: A player still wearing gear from the last tier or from a raid difficulty lower than that being run is going to have a higher chance of being awarded an item. Keep in mind that this will not always be the case. In certain situations, while the item in question may be a larger upgrade for a newer player, it could be awarded to a veteran player who has been in there for weeks or months on end trying to get the item.

Equal distribution: Loot will be distributed as equally as possible to the appropriate classes that need them (at least, we’ll attempt to). It is unlikely for players to receive more than one item from a boss. But it is entirely possible for players to receive multiple items in one run. We cannot control what items a boss drops. The last thing we want to do is shard a piece.

Set bonuses: If you have an odd number of set pieces (like 1 or 3 set pieces), we want nothing more than to help activate them.

Self improvement and teamwork

The main tanks in the guild are able to talk amongst themselves and figure out who needs upgrades over the other first. They do this purely through communication and cooperation by figuring out their weaknesses and identifying the items that benefit them the most. When tank items drop, they are able to compromise.

I encourage other players to do the same with the other classes or other players wearing similar armor types. As an example, I try to work with the other healers to see who can benefit more.

During our 10 man days many of the loot drops were handled in this informal way and hopefully that spirit will continue with the new larger raid size, everyone takes turns in passing and are aware who can benefit items the most. It’s the times where there is no informal agreement where the Loot Council will step in and make a decision rather than let the RNG of /roll decide.

That is the approach we are taking in Exhumed, if you have any comments regarding this I'd love to hear from you either via comments below, email to evlyxx at evlyxx.co.uk or alternatively in game evlyxx@shadowsong.eu.

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Decided that this week is the week to bring you guys up to date with my latest and greatest kill shots as it seems to have been months since I did the guild killshot pictures. So forgive me if there are any repeats!

And now for some non-heroic ones

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I would like to thank all 26 people who replied. The mix was good as I had all 13 of the HC raid team respond (I did /slap them though) and 13 other people respond. This means that the results are a really good indication of what you guys want both now and in Warlords. The information gathered will allow us to make decisions that fit your life and game goals. I have put as much of the information into pictures to keep the waffle down. I have also broken the responses into 3 groups:

• Overall: This is everybody that replied;
• HC Raiders: This is everyone in the Wednesday/Thursday raid team;
• Non HC Raiders: This is everyone except the HC Raiders;

Also during this post please note that the terms I use are the Warlords of Draenor terms for the raid difficulty:

• Normal: what we currently know as Flex and raid on a Sunday;
• Heroic: what we currently know as Normal and raid on a Monday;
• Mythic: what we currently know as Heroic and raid on a Wednesday/Thursday;

Overall

Almost 2/3 of the people want to do Mythic raiding in Warlords and only 2 people want to tackle raids only on the easiest mode (LFR doesn't count).

The people who want to raid Mythic difficulty also prefer group loot over personal (LFR style) loot and the majority of people would like to use the Loot Council method of loot distribution.

One of the questions I asked was, "Would you be prepared to be an assistant raid leader, this will need time spent in and out of game?" looking back this was a badly phrased question as what I was after was people who could help manage a Mythic raid team if we decide to run that content in Warlords. The reason for needing this assistance is that managing a squad of 15 raiders is hard work and one that my co-raid leader and myself  have done this expansion and while my co-raid leader has been a great help I have carried the bulk of the "invisible" work that needs to get done to get the show on the road.

A Mythic raid team will need 30 people for us to get a raid team out every night, this is a big task and also means that we have to put a loot distribution system in place as /roll really doesn't work in a large team. Therefore, the kind of roles that we will need filled are:

• Raid Leaders;
• Class/Role Leaders;
• Loot Masters;
• Strategy Planners;
• Statisticians;
• Recruiters;

and that is what I meant by "assistant raid leader". 7 people responded with at least a "maybe" and that includes 2 of Exhumed's raid leaders and myself. I will be speaking with the other 4 over the next week or so.

Here we see that most people want to raid only 2 days per week, none of you want to raid only 1 day but a few folks would raid 3 or 4 days per week.

The most popular days are our current raid days with Sunday and Monday the most poular. Only a few people liked the thought of raiding on a Saturday (afternoon or night) and a few liked the idea of a Sunday afternoon raid).

With regard to our start and finish times 69% said they could start at 8pm (server) while 54% could raid until 1am (server).

HC Raiders

Looking now only at our HC Raid team. The vast majority want to raid Mythic. One person that doesn't want to move to Mythic because of the 20 man raid size and the other would raid Mythic but preferred Heroic difficulty.

The majority prefer Loot Council, and the "n/a" figures also include people that had no preference.

In addistion to my co-raid leader and myself, 3 people said they would maybe like to help run the raids. As stated previously, I will speak with these people soon™.

Most people like our 2 day raid schedule...

...and our Wednesday and Thursday schedule...

Almost half the team could start at 8pm and almost 2/3rds could raid until 1pm.

Non HC Raiders

While not as numerous as the HC Raider group,almost half of our more casual players would actually like to do Mythic raiding in Warlords.

Of those wanting Mythic raiding, over half would prefer Loot Council. The 46% "n/a" shown below either didn't want to raid Mythic or had no preference.

In addition to the normal team's raid leader, 1 other person said they would like to assist in the management of the raid team.

Most people want to raid 2 days per week...

...and for Sunday and Monday to be those days...

Most of the Non HC Raiders want to start at 8pm but over half don't want to finish later than midnight.

What Does It All Mean?

In brief:

• We raid on days that the guild members want to raid on;
• Most people prefer to raid 2 nights a week;
• The Non HC Raiders would like raids to start at 8pm;
• The HC Raiders generally like their 9pm to midnight raid times;
• Most people want to raid Mythic;
• A few people may be able to help assist in the running of raids;

Over the next few weeks, the Exhumed officers will be using this information to decide our Warlords schedule and that may possibly include changes to the way we are raiding for the rest of this expansion as we make the transition between the 2 expansions.

If you'd like to part of Exhumed, on Shadowsong EU, please check us out at http://www.exhumed-guild.co.uk/  and if you like what you see, register and apply to join.


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Just a quick note to let you all know I haven't fallen of the edge of the world. Between work, home, the holidays and WoW commitments the past month have been carnage (especially work as I've had little free time on the night shifts when I do a lot of my blogging) and I have not had time to blog properly since mid-December and I've now consumed all of my backup posts!

Hopefully things will return to normal now so I'll be able to pay the blog a lot more attention over the next few weeks, especially as Evangelysm has its 3rd birthday this month.

So for now have fun and keep farming those dailies! more »

This year has been a real roller coaster ride for me in Warcraft and to be honest I got to admit that what looked real scary at the beginning ended really well and I'm really looking forward to the next ride although I must admit I'm hoping for a more gentle run this time around. That said, I have doubled my wow friends list and have had the honour of being in 2 awesome guild with a load of awesome people and really I couldn't wish for being surrounded by better people.

So with a new year almost upon us (or probably here by the time you're reading this I thought I'd take you all on a whirlwind tour of MY 2012.

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Today I realised that I have neglected the blog for 3 weeks and while I don't care about that so much I do care that I have let you, my readers down as I haven't even let you guys know about my "absence" and that makes me feel bad.

It all started back in September when MoP launched, my life got busy and a lot of guild stuff happened too. But things seem to be settling down and fortunately much of the work I have put into the can be used here too so I'll be back from the blogging wilderness with a bang soon.

Now that part is out of the way lets bring you up to speed with where I am in WoW.

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Can I play with Madness?

Well the simple answer is yes! After the fine boys and girls of Exhumed finally got round to killing Spine of Deathwing on heroic Just goes to show what perseverance and some dedicated folks can do when they want to.

We had a few pulls of Madness and thought that we do still have a chance of killing him before mists lift on Panderia and we're aiming for a server last and heck if we go to the wire on Monday it could even be a world last in Cataclysm. 

We're still recruiting (see the panel on the right for our needs) and if things continue in Pandacraft as we have ended Cataclysm we're looking in real good shape, so if you're looking for a new home in a non-hardcore guild (no attendance requirements and upto 9 hours raiding a week over 2-3 nights), where you can have fun and kill heroic bosses, with no elitist douchebags we could be the guild for you!

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After 3 years and 4 months I have finally gotten my legendary mace, Val'anyr, Hammer of the Ancient Kings and I appreciate that it is an expansion too late but my first fragment was gained on April 15th 2009 (the day Ulduar was introduced in Patch 3.1) thanks to one of my healing crew passing up the chance for the fragment, thanks Spicefang! 

Finally last week I hit the magic 30 fragments on our Leviathan kill, which meant all I needed to do was grab myself a Yogg'Saron kill with 1 keeper missing and throwing the Shattered Fragments of Val'anyr at Yogg. But we were a small group and many had never seen the Yogg fight and there was a lot of tired people failing miserably so my planned night of victory failed at the very final hurdle.

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In only a few short weeks, we will begin the charge to Pandaria and to level 90, but before September 25 arrives, we even begin preparations for the big day.

We need to consider many things for our characters and our computing hardware. Many of these tasks are quick and simple housekeeping type of things that if we weren't so busy we would keep on top of all the time but always find some excuse to put them off. But now there is precious little time remaining, we can procrastinate no more, the time for action is upon us!

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The past few weeks the folks at Exhumed and I have been going back and doing the meta, Glory of the Firelands Raider. We had all the required heroic kills and lacked only the Do a Barrel Roll achievement because we had always managed to hit a tornado. So our mission was simple get in there and kill her without getting hit by tornados. Easy!

Well it would have been had we not been plagued by a series of random DCs, people getting hit by brushfire (one of our group had that to get as well) and after 2 hours of wiping we decided to not calling a wipe for the brushfire, and then promptly went ahead and avoided ALL 4 obstacles at once, go figure.

A few of the team (aka the slackers) still need a few achievements and I'm sure we can go get them soon as the hardest ones are all done anyway.

I’d like to thank Sophina for being the pain in the ass wanting to start this achievement, Baniza for making it happen and all the other players that came along at various points to join the core of 8 that got the meta last night.

Top work folks, you made an old man very happy,

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After our defeat of Yor'sahj last week we added Zon'ozz to the agenda for this week and well he died after only 5 pulls and one of them wasn't really worthy of being called a pull because we forgot how to bounce the ball.

Annoyingly after we distributed the loot the corpse despawned so the boss is actually AWOL in the screen shot but still a great effort guys, gals and Jim. For the naysayers out there that may disbelieve that we killed him I provide a link to my achievement.

Next week we'll add the wicked witch Hagara to the Dragon Soul tour! more »

Diablo 3, summer, end of expansion blues and more are affecting the WoW community right now. Many guilds are struggling to keep their members active in the game but here on Shadowsong EU, my guild, Exhumed, are thriving. All because of Firelands, yes I kid you not!

For the past few weeks we have been scheduling Firelands raids once per week to go and grab some achievements, heroic kills and a bit of fun to break up the monotony of nothing to do except maybe another alt run through Dragon Soul. A few people claimed they had been there, done that and got the T-shirt and weren’t interested. A few had never been and wanted to go get some easy HC kills via ye olde zerg method of beating old content. Warnings were given to say it wouldn’t be that way, the warnings were laughed at and we set off for doing normal kills with achievements.

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No corpse or chest but we DID kill HC Ultraxion, honest!

After almost 2 months of killing HC Morchok with ease the guys and gals of Exhumed finally added a 2nd HC boss to the list.

After a piss poor performance of button pressing at the right time by yours truly I finally managed to get it right (and deliver shocking DPS, man I should stick to healing) and we killed him.

Awesome work folks Yor'sahj is next!

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The new off spec

I have recently changed my off-spec to Holy because I no longer "need" to have a shadow spec for grinding daily quests to build up my guild rep and finally getting my 2500 daily quest achievement. I had specced dual-disc for times when I wasn't able to heal effectively with Atonement, but found that I simply wasn't using the non-Atonement spec. This week and last week, I'm working nights on the progression nights so am running with the bench/alt team which already has a Disc priest so decided to give Holy another bash as I haven't tried it seriously since December 2010 just after Cataclysm launched.

My initial task was to revisit the tree and decide how I wanted to spend my talents in the Holy tree.

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The title says it all, so just a quick post to say that I did it! Well OK me and 9 others. As with most first kills it wasn't text book but the record book showed we killed him and we got loot so who cares how messy it was.

Grats to Brimar and Lifeshifter on their loot wins too, hopefully there will be more for us all. The big question now is which boss next? If you have any suggestions, please post a comment below... more »

Deathy is dead! 
(screenshot courtesy of Exhumed)

I'm glad to report that on February 9th, 2012 myself and 9 friends from Exhumed successfully slaughtered Deathwing and therefore saved the citizens of Azeroth from their impending doom. But seriously, I was honoured to be part of the guild's first kill and as much as my ego would like to think they couldn't have done it without me they most definitely could have although I'm glad they did let me tag along despite my lowly trialist rank in the guild.

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