DKP is a method of distributing loot that attempts to be more fair than
/random. DKP is a term that comes from Everquest. It stands for Dragon Kill
Points. People would earn points by killing dragons, and then spend the points
on dropped items. Those who particpated more received more items. That's the
basic principle. It's a way to reward people proportionately to how much time
they invest in helping the raid. DKP is typically only used in MC, Onyxia, and
BWL currently, because those are the only instances with timers. A particular
character cannot defeat the same boss from those instances more often than once
every six days. In other words they are not farmable like every other instance
is. Hence the extra care taken to set up a fair loot system. BTW Zul'Gurub in
the next patch will also have a timer, but only three days.
First I'll illustrate why /random and round robin are bad. Then I'll discuss
two popular DKP systems. Finally I'll present a third DKP system that I
devised (at least I haven't seen it elsewhere) that attempts to merge the best
qualities of the other DKP systems.
Random
How can we compare one loot system to another? One way is to simulate the loot
system over a large number of raids and look at trends. One factor to look at
is number of items won vs. number of raids attended. Ideally someone who
attends twice as many raids as another person would receive twice the items.
Another thing to look at is whether or not casual players (those who attend
fewer raids) are at a disadvantage compared to hardcore players (those who
attend more raids). Ideally both types of people should have to put in the
same total effort per item. For example, if the harcore player attends 50
raids and acquires a new item about every 5 raids, his raids per win ratio is
5. If the casual player attends 10 of those raids, he should receive 2 items
total, because the raids per win ratio (or the effort required to get one item)
should be the same for all players. These two principles are similar but have
a subtle difference, I hope I've explained it clearly.
Someone took it upon themselves to simulate a random loot system, and I jacked
the images from their website to illustrate what I'm talking about. They
simulated a guild of 150 members running through 500 raids. Each member had
a hardcore factor, meaning some members were more likely to attend raids than
others. Here's a graph of how the number of items received varied with raid
attendance:
As you can see this isn't so good, because it's possible for someone who
attended only 200 raids to receive more items than someone who attended 500
raids. Now here's the graph of raids per win vs. number of raids attended:
Not much of a strong correlation.
Round Robin
Round Robin systems basically assign items to people in such a way that no
person wins two items until everyone has each received one item. Why is this
bad? One reason is that it equates all items to the same
value. Person 1 might get a Gutgore Ripper while Person 2 might get a Shard of
the Scale. I think most people would agree that Person 1 made out like a
bandit compared to Person 2. Yes you could vary the system such that the round
robin occurs per slot or per class, or both, but you still have multiple items
of varying power that can go in a particular slot. More powerful items should
be valued higher in a fair system.
Zero Sum DKP
The basic rules of a Zero Sum system:
Everyone starts with 0 points initially.
Each item that can drop is assigned a point value beforehand. For
example, Arcanist Crown might be worth 50 points and Netherwind Crown might be
worth 75 points.
When an item drops, the person with the highest points can choose to take
the item or pass.
If they pass, the person with the next highest points may take the item or
pass, this continues until someone wants the item.
Once someone decides to take the item, their points are reduced by the
pre-determined value of the item, and everyone in the raid gets an equal
fraction of those points added to their current points. For example, if the
item is worth 80 points, the winner gets 80 points deducted, and everyone in
the raid receives 2 points.
Any new members added to the system later start out at 0 points.
This system is called Zero Sum because if everyone's points were to be added
up, the sum would be 0. The same amount of points are always added to and
subtracted from the system. One advantage of that is that no inflation can
occur. Inflation can lead to inconsistencies in the raids per win ratio. Here
are the graphs for Zero Sum:
It's much better than random. There's a much more tightly-coupled relationship
between raids attended and items won, and the raids per win ratio is fairly
constant regardless if you are hardcore or casual.
The primary disadvantage of Zero Sum is that assigning pre-determined point
values to items is rather arbitrary. It doesn't take into account how
desireable an item is to a particular person. For example, if a mage won
Netherwind Crown and then decided to buy Arcanist Crown because it has +10 Fire
Resistance (but is otherwise inferior to the Netherwind), he would end up
paying the same amount for the Arcanist Crown as another mage who was upgrading
from Magister's to Arcanist. The same item would have a different value to the
two characters. Disputes are inevitable about how much a particular item
should be worth.
Market DKP
A Market DKP system might have the following basic rules:
Everyone starts with 0 points initially.
Points are awarded for each boss killed, or each item dropped, or for hours
spent on a raid. The metric doesn't matter, but it's a constant determined
beforehand. Additional points may also be awarded for things like showing up
by the raid start time or first kills of bosses.
When an item drops, everyone interested in the item whispers a bid to the
Master Looter. The bid can't exceed their current points. The highest bid is
the winner. Ties are broken by rolling.
There are a couple of ways to determine the price. One is that the exact
value of the highest bid is deducted from the winner. This is similar to how
the AH in WOW works. Another way is that the value of the second highest bid
plus 1 point is deducted from the winner. This is similar to how ebay auctions
work.
In Scions we used this type of system with 2 points awarded per epic dropped by
each boss and ebay-style auctioning. Some nice things about this are that
bidding allows people to quantify their desire for an item, and their current
points represent their capacity to fund that desire. So the first drop of a
Gutgore Ripper might go for 200 points, while the sixth drop of the same weapon
might only go for 40 points. The system reflects the laws of supply and
demand. When the first weapon drops, they are scarce, and demand is highest,
so the price will tend to be high, because people are willing to pay more to
have an item earlier. When the sixth weapon drops, supply has increased,
demand has decreased, the price falls. Hence the term Market DKP.
A disadvantage is that inflation occurs unlike in Zero Sum systems. The number
of points awarded exceeds the number of points spent, so you start getting
fluctuations in the raids to win ratio. Items may go for amazingly expensive
or amazingly cheap, regardless of supply and demand.
Another disadvantage is that when new people are added, they start at 0, so it
can take them quite a while to catch up to the point where they can win an
item.
The Pie Plan
Here's an alternative system I came up with called the Pie Plan. I tried to
combine the best features of Zero Sum and Market DKP.
Everyone starts with the same number of points. The number doesn't matter,
as long as it's non-zero.
When an item drops, people interested in the item send bids to the ML.
They can bid up to the number of points they have. Highest bid wins. If bids
are tied for highest, they roll to break ties. Just like with Market DKP, ebay
or WOW AH auctioning may be used.
Points for the item are subracted from the winner. Equal fractions of
points for the item are added to all members of the raid. Example: the winner
gets the item for 160 points. 160 points are subracted from the winner, and
each member of the raid receives 4 points. The total points in the system is
a conserved quantity just like in Zero Sum, but the sum is non-zero.
New players start with the same number of points that other players started
with.
Can you see why I call it the pie plan? At the beginning, all raid members
start with equal portions of the pie. People that win items will have their
slice of the pie reduced, while everyone else will have their slice increased.
No net points are ever added to the system (except when a new player is
inserted) so inflation doesn't occur. Like Zero Sum, the Pie Plan has a
constant raids per win ratio and a tightly coupled items to attendance
relationship, as you can see from these graphs:
It's simpler than Zero Sum because there are no pre-determined item values.
Market principles determine item prices.
Additional Rules
Those are the basics, but additional situations also need to be covered.
I highly recommend having one pie for class sets and class quest items and
another pie for everything else. For example, the hunters would have a hunter
pie with class points (CP) they spend on Giantstalker and Dragonstalker items,
as well as Ancient Petrified Leaf. The hunters would also be part of the main
pie that all toons belong to, with hybrid points (HP). HP would be spent on
capes, trinkets, rings, necklaces, weapons, shields, crafting recipes, armor
not part of their class sets, etc. The reason I recommend separate pies is
because of the class makeup. For example, typically there will many more
shamans than druids. So on average, the druids will complete their sets much
faster than the shamans will. Less demand and more supply means the druids get
their set pieces cheaper, meaning they would have more points to spend on cross
class items if there was only a single pie. With separate pies, the druids
will still complete their sets faster, because there are so few of them, but
they will be on a level playing field with every other class for non-set items.
Punctuality is important to reward in my opinion. The sooner people show
up, the sooner the raid can begin. It's easy to handle in the pie plan, simply
remove a certain amount of points from those who are late and distribute equal
fractions to those who are on time.
Bindings of the Windseeker: This comes in two halves, left and right. The
item begins a quest for a legendary 1H sword. The first time one of the halves
drops, it should be bid on with HP. The winner would automatically receive
the other half when it drops, for 0 points. The winner would also loot Essence
of the Firelord from Ragnaros, which is an item only used for the quest.
Eye of Sulfuras: This drops from Ragnaros, and is used to create Sulfuras,
Hand of Ragnaros, a legendary 2H mace. The first time this drops, it should
be bid on with HP. Sulfuron Ingots are also needed to craft this item, they
drop from Golemagg. They should be saved for the person who wins Eye of
Sulfuras.
Recipes are bid on using HP. In the first round, only people with the
proper profession may bid. If no one bids on the item, a second round occurs
where people may bid if their alt has the proper profession.
Mature Black Dragon Sinew can drop from Onyxia if a hunter present has the
epic hunter quest. It should go to the hunters for 0 points, in the same order
that they won the Ancient Petrified Leaf.
Tome of Tranquilizing Shot drops from Lucifron (first boss in MC). It
teaches a hunter an ability that is needed in the fight against Magmadar
(second boss in MC). That's the ability's only use. I suggest the hunters
random for this item. The drop rate is very high, so all hunters will have
this after 4-6 Lucifron kills.
BOE class set items: if so many of these drop that one day no one bids on
one, it should be saved so that those people not rostered on can bid for it at
a later time. If still no one wants the item, I suggest selling it at the AH
and splitting the money. Or if people prefer we could random it and the winner
could keep all the money from selling it at the AH.
BOP items that no one wants: eventually this will occur. It will probably
happen first with druid set items. The item will be disenchanted, and people
may roll for the shards at the end of the raid.
BOE greens and blues: these can be rolled for at the end of the raid.
Essence of Fire/Essence of Earth: these can be rolled for at the end of the
raid.
MT gearing: I'm opposed to giving the MT preference on items, except in the
case of Fire Resist (FR) gear which I'll discuss separately. From what I've
seen in Scions, it's not necessary. The MT will acquire enough items through
normal competition with other warriors to be able to handle bosses.
MT rotation: I'll talk about this separately in more detail, but basically
I think we should aim for 50 people in the group, so 10 people would be rotated
out each week. I suggest that all are rotated except the MT and MA. It's been
my experience that having the MT and MA consistently there really makes runs go
smoother. However, every fifth week the MT/MA would receive no points during
that raid. So just because they are not rotated out, doesn't mean they will be
able to amass extra points. They may still bid on items that drop.
Fire Resist
Fire Resist (FR) gear on the MT is helpful for Onyxia and required to defeat
Ragnaros (actually there are two MTs for Rag). The MTs need to approach 300 FR
to survive Ragnaros. Other raid members need some FR too, but not in such
extremely high amounts. This is the one case where I advocate MT preference
for items. Two tanks at 300 FR can handle Ragnaros, but six tanks at 100 FR
cannot. It doesn't do any good to spread FR items around until after the MTs
are sufficiently geared. Here's what I suggest:
Allow the MT to loot the first Head of Onyxia for 0 points. It can be
turned in for a trinket with +15 FR and some +def (the other choice is a caster
ring with +10 FR). Subsequent heads are bid on normally with HP.
Onyxia Scale Cloak: These are made with scales that drop when Onyxia is
skinned. She can drop 1-4 scales, each scale makes one cloak. The cloaks have
+16 FR. Eventually everyone in the raid can get a cloak, but I suggest
prioritizing based on class: warriors, rogues, healers, then ranged dps. This
order is based on the varying amounts of FR needed for Rag.
Thorium Brotherhood recipes supply most of the good FR gear. In addition
to Dark Iron, they need mats that can only be acquired in MC: Core Leather,
Fiery Cores, Lava Cores. The cores are fairly rare. In general, in a single
full clearing of MC, you'll get enough cores to make a single piece of
equipment. So all Dark Iron, Core Leather, Fiery/Lava Cores should be saved
for the purpose of crafting FR items for the MTs. After they are geared, the
items can go toward making FR gear for other classes.
