if certain people in the group can wear it, and it is an upgrade for them, and they decide they would like to have it, they roll Need

if you don't meet the above criteria, you roll Greed

no exception
easy as that

people can excitedly talk about potential upcoming items, or try to reserve them all they want, but the above formula is how the system works, and it works pretty well i'd say

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I hate when people are just in a group and say out of nowhere, "I get this drop if it drops," but I don't think it's that ridiculous for someone to join a group on the condition that if something drops it's theirs, even though that wasn't specifically mentioned in the post. If that's what someone else wants, they can say no to letting the person join, or leave the group.

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57 counted runs of Crapatraz for a trinket off the last boss. I haven't won it yet and have only seen it drop once. I tend to offer bribes now to anyone that could use it. Perhaps if they didn't make the drop rate so incredibly random there wouldn't be any whining for loot.

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A few nights ago, I joined a BM group with my hunter. Befoer we'd even filled the group the Druid tank was asking me "Are you going to roll on the Hourglass?"

I said dude, don't count your chickens, it's bad luck and bad manners. And yes I am here for an equal chance at the drop.

...Druid nearly kicked me from the group when he heard I needed the hourglass too, btu we went anyway, cleared the instance, and then the group split apart and I got a whisper from one of the players in the group, who'd wrangled up another BM group immediately. I join, and everyone in the group si the same as previously, except that the druid had been exchanged for an epicced-out warrior.

Hourglass dropped, and I was the only one who needed it. The druid sure was mad when I PST'd the link to him though LOL!

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I find calling out an item lowers it's droprate. I never specify what it is I'm after, just that an instance "has an item I want."

"one of my pet peeves is people who join a PUG and try to "reserve" not-yet-dropped items"
I personally just "call dibs" at the start of a run (like calling shotgun in your friend's car). Then I get to whine when someone else gets an item. Noone ever has any sense of humor about it though, even in my own guild. It's not like I'm trying to ninja anything...

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I started running Ramparts at lvl 57 on my priest main. I'm now halfway through lvl 61, and have essentially only leveled in ramps (besides a BF run or two). I have not seen Lifegiver Britches
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=24083
drop, Ever. I have two bands of renewal and a witching band (got the witching first, then was only healer twice), have gotten the staff and upgraded past the staff to the BF mace / offhand combo, got the neck, the shoulders...but no pants.
Stupid chest, drop it already! :-P

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@3 you are crazy - arc that many times?!, yet correct about blizz, fix the freakin game pls. i've run botanica over a dozen times for the pally shoulders and have yet to see them drop. the only other 70 pally in my guild got them on the first run, go figure. I'll try a couple more times, then its a complaint to blizz - not like they care or will do anything.

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Playing the game to get loot is one way to look at it. I prefer not to look at it the game in this fashion.

I take the perspective of loot like this:
If you want to progress end game, be it in arena or end game content, you need loot upgrades to do so. The loot is a means to the end, not the other way around as described in the article.

Just my opinion, but i feel like the people who play Wow for the sole purpose of "gearing up", instead of for enjoying the content, or trying to compete on a higher level (arenas) to win, are probably very unhappy most of the time when such gear doesn't drop, or when their rating isnt too high b/c they just dont want to put that extra effort to perfect their arena strategy.

I play arena mostly. I'm a very competitive person by nature so my goal is to get the highest rating/ranking i can. Gear just comes along with that.

I'm sure the guild's who have beat the end game content share the same idea.

/end rant

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the solution to this problem is setting master loot - you don't like that, then go group w/ someone else. i can't stand when someone ninjas a need on something they should be passing on.

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My tauren war has been running Sethekk Halls for the Crow Wing Reaper since March. At this point it's not even an upgrade anymore, I just WANT the thing. Yet every single time that crow dies he drops capes.

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If you don't like greedy pick-up players stealing your loot, maybe you should run stuff with guildies.
If your guildies are greedy, maybe you should find a new guild.

I'm just the opposite with drops, though. During raids if we come to a fight that needs more healing, and I get asked if there's anything I need for a boss, my response is almost always "I have to check..."

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Haha. This is all so backwards to how my guild did things.

At the beginning of the evening, I'd call for what everyone wants/needs, and when I heard a decent overlap of players who needed items from a certain instance, we'd all head there.

That way everyone knows everyone's goals prior to getting there, and we can cross our fingers collectively at loot time.

But yeah, PuGs are a different story entirely.

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I have run SH and SL over 30 to 40 times to get respectively hunter's gloves and the sonic spear. Never dropped for me, in any of the pugs I was in. I ended up respec'ing from Armorsmith to Axesmith to craft my own weapon out of SL frustration (now have the Mooncleaver) and got hunter gloves out of the last boss in Hero Mech. So I have sympathy for people who really need an item, and try to "negotiate" with other pug members who might roll on an item they have been trying to get for a *long* time.

One way of managing the loot issue in heroic instances is - if you have an enchanter in the party - to keep shards until the end so that you can figure out who should get them depending on who got which loot at the end. The people who did not get any item should be first in line to get void chrystals or shards.

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"And for my part, I've already noticed that I should keep my loot hopes to myself-- my guild doesn't really care about me getting every little upgrade I want."

Maybe you should think about looking for a new guild. End game is all about upgrades - and most of them are minor. You have to squeeze out every +mp/hp/agi/str/etc that you can. You get small upgrades on 10 people, and that can add up to a big difference on a boss.

Vass

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I agree with 12. Lately when running with the guild or an allied guild, we kind of know why we're going somewhere before we set out: a person may be looking for rep., to finish a quest, or looking for an item. Everyone that joins knows what's up. That's the best part of not running PuGs, no drama.

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In my guild, we always celebrate each boss kill by linking the drops in guild chat. Not so much for 5-mans, but certainly for Kara or a heroic.

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In a game where your placement in a group/raid depends (let's just say 70% and 30% skill) upon the loot you work hard for and strive to get how can you expect players to not be excited about trying to get something from an instance. I agree that spending your time claming something before it drops, if not stated before joining a party beforehand, is improper etiquite as well as going to be shot down in any party I'm leader of.

The reason I say stating before joining a party is better is because you may have something better to do or something you have already got planned and YOU were ASKED to join the group by another person trying to PUG you. In that circumstance, requiring an item to be solely yours may be the only reason to make the instance run worthwhile to you and if you are looking to have to battle it out with 2-3 other people, it's not worth your time, especially if they aren't your guildies/friends. It's not being selfish, just for a casual player you only have limited time to spend in game so you have to make the best of the time you have so you do get invited as a viable option for that raid you are wanting so badly to see.

To any GM who states that he's going to DE an item in front of someone who plainly needs it is downright rude and not fit for the position. It does take a special person to hold a group of players from different backgrounds and different interests towards the same goal, especially if that group is older, ie more set in their ways and not accustomed to taking direction from someone.

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I was on a SV run with my guild for Kara fragment... our mage had run SV 34 times with his Pally, and the Helm from the gnome boss had never dropped, and had run it about 12 times with his mage and it had dropped 4 times. He asked if we wouldn't mind swapping out the mage for the pally, and especially since it was a guild run, we were like WTF... why not. So there we were... a Prot tank, a hunter, two resto Shammy's and a Holy Pally... thank god for totem pets.. otherwise we'd still be there right now. However, his helm dropped... he almost fainted and then back to the frost mage for uber pawnage of the last boss.

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Many people including myself mention when a particular item of loot is all they are interested to gauge interest in the item. If I see half the group will roll against me I may decide my time is better spent finding a different group.

Also by mentioning my interest in only in item X, it allows others interested in item Y, to know that I am one less person rolling on that.

If some GM or other group member decided to ML or need the item just to DE it, then I would never play with them again. Additionally I would spread the story around, no one wants to team with an asshat.

I have nothing against people who need the item I am looking for if they are planning on using it. I don't like to play the relative need level thing. But I would not be happy about a holy priest rolling on a dps item for instance. Though a Pally rolling on a spell damage sword is fine by me. I play a mage btw.

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I understand really needing an item. Anyone in a PUG I've been in that's said "if this drops I get it" has gotten told everyone that needs it has a right to roll and if they don't like that we can replace them.

It's funny how one person claims that their time is so valuable they don't have time to run an instance and not get what they need if it drops. As though the other four people are degenerates living in their parents basement with nothing better to do than work for your loot.

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