I'm sure at some point in time we've all seen epic looting nightmares. More than once I've been hoping for a drop in an instance only to have another party member beat me on a need roll. Usually, though it's something they actually do need, at least as much as I do. Sometimes ninja looting is even an accident, but other times it is not.

Avirisa of Mannoroth is a might miffed that she was outrolled for a Commendation of Kael'Thas ... to a Hunter... for PvP. As a tank, she said he was running the instance to acquire that drop. Most responded that this behavior is part of what gives Hunters a bad name in the game (Huntard). Some blamed the original poster for inviting not only a Hunter, but a Night Elf Hunter to the group.

That's Alyxandria of All That Remains on Sisters of Elune, professing the opinion that the stuff her guildies stole from Just a Game on the same server isn't being given back. Apparently taking a bunch of stuff out of the guild bank and then /gquitting doesn't count as stealing -- we'll leave you all to decide the morality there.

For our part, we don't judge, we just report on all the guild drama, downed, and recruiting news from around the realms. If you've got some, feel free to send us a tip, anonymous as you'd like, at wowguildwatch@gmail.com. Whether it's a particularly interesting screenshot of chat (as above), or an all out hilarious forum thread, or just news that your guild has downed a boss they've never downed before, please let us know, and you can see it here next week.

I still remember my first run in Hellfire Ramparts for exactly this reason. It was a new instance for all of us, the healer and mage were new to the game and hadn't instanced much (having just hit 59 when the expansion came out in the case of the priest) and the rogue kept berating everyone for not being up to his standard of play. As you might expect, he also didn't seem very good, but it was late and I just wanted to get the quests done.

It was endurable, although not terribly fun. We finally got to the first boss, Watchkeeper Gargolmar, and thanks to some really nice work on the part of the priest and hunter, got him down our first try. He did not drop the Bracers of Finesse, however, and the rogue went ballistic. Note that neither I nor anyone else in the party can control what the bosses drop. While we were discussing if anyone in the party was an enchanter, as no one needed the Light-Touched Breastplate, our rogue went off stealthed, deliberately pulled several groups of mobs onto us, vanished and hearthed out while I tried desperately to keep aggro long enough and not die with enough time for the rest of the party to escape. They didn't make it, and between that wipe and the loss of a DPS, we were effectively done for the evening.

Since I knew his guild reasonably well (I'd been in it) I sent the GM a tell expressing my dissatisfaction with what had happened. I mean, who exactly was he angry at? How was it anyone's fault that the bracers didn't drop? The answer I got back was one of my first exposures to the "It's only a game" mentality, as this is the tell our rogue sent to me after his GM got done ripping him a new one. It was 'uncool' of me to have brought it to his GM, it seems, as it's just a game after all. Apparently it's not just a game when you don't get your drop, but it is when you wipe an entire group over it.

Last night in Heroic Magister's Terrace, I accidentally ninjaed a Cudgel of Consecration. I'm not sure what was going through my head -- I'm currently a Holy priest, and clearly need it much less than the Prot pally tank I was grouped with. Somehow I'd gotten under the impression that it was a healing item, or something. I was, understandably, promptly called a noob and yelled at by several members of the group, and there are a couple hunters out there who may well never group with me again. I profusely apologized to the tank, and we both opened tickets and sat around in the instance waiting for them to get answered. (The response, un-helpfully enough, was "your ticket has been escalated; this may take several days to be resolved.")

I gave him the mats for a Major Spellpower enchant, to put on the Cudgel once he gets it, to help make up for my stupidity. We parted on pretty good terms; we're hopeful that the GMs will sort this out. But picking up that item may well have been the biggest "d'oh" moment I've had in the game thus far. Either that, or accidentally taking a point in Throwing Weapon Specialization one time while respeccing my rogue. What's the most boneheaded mistake you've made in your WoW career?

Obstruce brings up a topic that seems obvious to some people but can drive others crazy: healers wearing less sturdy gear than they can just for the stats. I won't lie -- I've got a few pieces of leather on my restoration Shaman for the stats, but in general, I don't think it's a bad thing that healers and casters sometimes wear cloth for the stats, given of course 1) that they're not taking it from someone else who needs it, and 2) that there's not a better piece of normal gear for them to be wearing (it's an upgrade).

Obstruce's aunt disagrees, especially with Shamans and Druids -- if for some reason they pull aggro, wearing leather or cloth will only make things harder on the group. Which is true -- if I'm wearing leather (or even cloth) on my Shaman, I'm not going to have near as much armor as I would wearing the mail I'm supposed to wear. But in a group where all members are doing what they should be, I should never get hit anyway. If a healer's getting hit, it's a good 80% of the time not their fault -- it's the tank's or DPS' fault for not keeping aggro where it belongs.

So no, I don't see any problem with a Druid or Shammy (or even a Paladin, though there's a lot of nice healing plate out there anyway) wearing less than they're meant to. Warriors are definitely not in the same situation -- while yes, some of that Hunter mail may have lots of Agility on it, and that will help out your crit percentage, you get so much more bonus from Strength and Armor that it's just not worth it. Casters can steal Mage and Priest gear (as long as they're not actually stealing it from actual Mages and Priests) if it's an upgrade, but Warriors almost never have a reason to slum it up in mail.

Spensi on WoW LJ says she may have accidentally ninja'ed -- it was clear before the raid that if Moroes' Pocket Watch dropped, she would get it. But when it actually dropped, she apparently looted it herself as main looter without saying anything, and her guildies didn't quite remember the deal before the instance started. Was it a ninja? I don't know -- there are good points on both sides.

In fact, it seems the only way to really avoid loot drama is to, unfortunately, be as selfless as possible. Last night, I did a run of Ramparts on my up-and-coming hunter, and on the first boss, the Hunter mail pants dropped. The other Hunter in the party needed them as well, so we rolled on them, and I won. Later in the instance, another green piece came up that we both needed, but to be fair, I let him have it. And finally, on the second boss, the mail hands dropped, and I did need them, but once again, to avoid drama, I just let the other Hunter have them. I could probably have made a case for at least rolling on them, but it wouldn't have been fair for me to walk away from the instance with two blues when he only had a green, so to keep the peace I let it go.

It worked out, too, because I picked up some great blue hands anyway when I turned the quest in. And that's the thing to remember when it comes to loot -- there will always be more of it. Even if your item doesn't drop, or you don't win this roll, or your guildie gets angry because you nabbed an item, even though they knew you needed it, there'll always be more drops and more rolls and more loot to get.

I've noticed something a bit unexpected and confusing over the last few months: apparently, the way my server generally deals with loot in 5-mans is strange. Rather than rely on the in-game roller, we pass on all loot, and let people call need on a piece. Then we all roll need or greed on the stuff. If there's an enchanter in group, they can disenchant the loot for the winner on a greed roll and hand over a shard. Lately, though, since Blizzard started allowing server transfers, it seems a lot of the new 70s have come in and told us that this method is a bit weird. Why don't we just use the in-game rolling system? Why should enchanters be expected to automatically be willing to shard gear for non-enchanters without compensation? These are questions that are really alien to most of our server community, but there they are.

So, I thought I'd ask you, dear readers. How do you deal with 5-man loot on your servers or groups? Do you just use the built in roll system? Do you use Master loot? Do you pass and discuss? Is it generally expected that an Enchanter will gladly shard loot for everyone in the group, or is it expected that an Enchanter only need shard his own loot?

Every Thursday, Well Fed Buff will be serving up the tastiest dishes to boost your HP and stats, just in time for your weekend gaming.

Hands down, the best recipe in all of World of Warcraft is Savory Deviate Delight. I will hear no arguments or opinions on this. I decided to try making it for dinner. I don't know what happened. All of a sudden there was a loud "Yaaarrr!" And my friend turned into a pirate in a puff of smoke. It was absolutely incredible. Your results may vary.

Savory Deviate Delight is always in demand. It can turn players into a Human pirate or a ninja for an hour. It doesn't really benefit the player in anyway, but who wouldn't want to be a pirate or a ninja. The Savory Deviate Delight Recipe randomly drops in the Barrens. The materials for the in-game version are Deviate Fish which can be caught in pools in the Barrens Oases and Mild Spices which can be purchased from cooking and trade vendors. Wowhead lists auction house buyout prices of 36 gold for the recipe and 63 silver for the individual consumables.

The real-life version is somewhat more complicated than the in-game rendition. Read on for my Savory Deviate Delight recipe. Get it while it's hot!

I've heard about this multiple times since Ritual of Refreshment was first introduced in 2.3: Mages are a little combusted over casting this food creation spell in the battlegrounds. Their first complaint was the reagent cost-- even though casting buffs is free in BGs, the reagent cost is still there for mages, and so lots of them haven't bothered casting it at all (I ran an AB to research this story-- tough work, but someone's got to do it-- and though we had two mages, I didn't see a table at all).

But now, the other problem arising is actually ninja looters-- people are joining the battlegrounds, grabbing all the food from the table, and then afk-ing out. It seems crazy to me, but it's happening, and Neth says (as per Blizzard's rules) that stealing items from other players in this way isn't actually a violation of game policies. But it is dumb. Never mind why you would need all that food, but it seems like the issue would be easy enough to fix-- either make food conjured in BGs stay in BGs, or just make the food unique to 100 (apparently people are sometimes stealing all 50 stacks right off the table).

Of course, that doesn't fix the other RoR problems-- a few mages are also wondering why they get to lay a great spread, while only getting crumbs and water themselves, but that's a problem for another day. Have you had your Manna biscuits ganked in the BGs?