Dear Wildstar Raiders,
There were some questions last night about how we distributed the loot for the light armor, finesse legs that dropped. Since we were close to our end time and in our interest to keep the raid moving, we did not have as much time as we would have liked to explain our rationale.
Situation: A pair of light armor, finesse legs dropped. A main-specced Engineer and an off-spec Spellslinger were both interested in rolling for the gear.
Background: Our agreed upon loot roll system is need vs. greed. Everyone declares a main spec and off-spec. When armor for their class drops, those with main spec receive priority before off-spec. If a main spec already has the piece of armor and it is a rune slot upgrade, then they roll as a greed with other greed rolls. We have a soft cap limit of 2 pieces of loot per night to distribute gear among the raid.
Assessment: Up to this point with need vs. greed, we have never had a situation where two different “armor classes” (i.e. light, medium, or heavy) have expressed interest in the same piece of gear. Thus, when this situation presented itself, the raid leaders and raid assistants discussed how to handle this loot roll and set the precedent for future rolls.
There are two levels of priority to address with this question: 1) armor class, and 2) main spec vs. off-spec. We have already identified that main spec has priority over off-spec since that is the spec you intend to play more often. However, we have not considered that a main spec may be interested in a piece of gear that belongs to another armor class.
Decision: The raid officers’ decision was to place armor class (i.e. light, medium, or heavy) above priority of main spec vs. off-spec. While we do place emphasis on acquiring gear for your main spec, it is also our expectation that you are able to perform in your off-spec when asked to do so. Now that we have progressed through half of the bosses in GA, you have seen that flexibility in roles makes for more successful encounters. Healers and tanks are asked to DPS at times (and vice versa), so we can not minimize the value of the off-spec.
Thus, priority has been placed on armor class first because light armor wearers, for example, can not roll on medium and heavy armor. We did not feel it would be fair for a heavy armor class to roll on a light armor piece of gear when a light armor wearer can not roll on a heavy armor piece of gear. This would create a disparity in the loot table, allowing heavy armor wearers the opportunity to roll on 3 times as many pieces of gear than their light armor guildees.
At the end of the day, we based our decision on what would be the most fair to the most people in the raid. Some of you expressed your concerns and disagreement with this decision, and we appreciate your feedback. Please know we take these decisions very seriously and hope you understand our rationale.
I do want to apologize on behalf of the leadership for our miscommunication. With the pressure of keeping the raid moving, I acknowledge we did a poor job communicating all of this information to you before loot was distributed. We do value your opinion and feedback and take that into consideration when we make decisions.
Thanks for your attention. If you have any questions, please reply to this thread.
There were some questions last night about how we distributed the loot for the light armor, finesse legs that dropped. Since we were close to our end time and in our interest to keep the raid moving, we did not have as much time as we would have liked to explain our rationale.
Situation: A pair of light armor, finesse legs dropped. A main-specced Engineer and an off-spec Spellslinger were both interested in rolling for the gear.
Background: Our agreed upon loot roll system is need vs. greed. Everyone declares a main spec and off-spec. When armor for their class drops, those with main spec receive priority before off-spec. If a main spec already has the piece of armor and it is a rune slot upgrade, then they roll as a greed with other greed rolls. We have a soft cap limit of 2 pieces of loot per night to distribute gear among the raid.
Assessment: Up to this point with need vs. greed, we have never had a situation where two different “armor classes” (i.e. light, medium, or heavy) have expressed interest in the same piece of gear. Thus, when this situation presented itself, the raid leaders and raid assistants discussed how to handle this loot roll and set the precedent for future rolls.
There are two levels of priority to address with this question: 1) armor class, and 2) main spec vs. off-spec. We have already identified that main spec has priority over off-spec since that is the spec you intend to play more often. However, we have not considered that a main spec may be interested in a piece of gear that belongs to another armor class.
Decision: The raid officers’ decision was to place armor class (i.e. light, medium, or heavy) above priority of main spec vs. off-spec. While we do place emphasis on acquiring gear for your main spec, it is also our expectation that you are able to perform in your off-spec when asked to do so. Now that we have progressed through half of the bosses in GA, you have seen that flexibility in roles makes for more successful encounters. Healers and tanks are asked to DPS at times (and vice versa), so we can not minimize the value of the off-spec.
Thus, priority has been placed on armor class first because light armor wearers, for example, can not roll on medium and heavy armor. We did not feel it would be fair for a heavy armor class to roll on a light armor piece of gear when a light armor wearer can not roll on a heavy armor piece of gear. This would create a disparity in the loot table, allowing heavy armor wearers the opportunity to roll on 3 times as many pieces of gear than their light armor guildees.
At the end of the day, we based our decision on what would be the most fair to the most people in the raid. Some of you expressed your concerns and disagreement with this decision, and we appreciate your feedback. Please know we take these decisions very seriously and hope you understand our rationale.
I do want to apologize on behalf of the leadership for our miscommunication. With the pressure of keeping the raid moving, I acknowledge we did a poor job communicating all of this information to you before loot was distributed. We do value your opinion and feedback and take that into consideration when we make decisions.
Thanks for your attention. If you have any questions, please reply to this thread.