5 Things About Loot

There are few things in WoW as desired, discussed, and controversial as loot and how it’s distributed.  Loot discussions have come up in every guild forum, realm forum, and officer chat.  If you haven’t seen one yet; trust me, you will.

So here are five things to keep in mind when you’re thinking about loot:

1.  It’s About Guild Progression if you are in a raiding guild.  PuGs exist to help individuals improve themselves; guilds exist to help a group of like-minded players achieve a common goal.  This is a distinct difference.  If you are in a raiding guild, your goal is to see all of the bosses as quickly and efficiently as you can.  Gear is a means to an end.  Granted, I think we all want to see our characters do their best in the best gear we can obtain, but in the end, gear upgrades exist to help our guild move further into instances.

This is something that has been woefully forgotten across the board.  I’ve seen it in my guild, and I’ve talked to many people who echo my sentiments.  It seems like a lot of people are all about gearing themselves and improving their personal performance.  They’re cutthroat, greedy, and thoughtless.  Yes, there are plenty of people I really like who have turned into loot whores.  I still like them, but these traits apply to them, too.

For instance, let’s say a nice trinket drops.  It’s an upgrade for you, yes; but do you ever inspect the other people rolling on the item?  Do you check to see if the other druid (who’s there almost as often or more than you are) is still carrying around something from Ulduar?

I want to have awesome gear, but I also want to kill bosses.  If passing on that trinket and giving it to consistent raider who needs it more than I do helps us achieve that goal, then so be it.

TL;DR: Don’t be a loot whore; consider your guildies and how gearing them up will help you progress.

2.  What are the loot rules? It’s an important question, both in guilds and in PuGs.  If you care about loot at all in the raid you are about to get saved to, you need to know what to expect.  Progression raid loot is loot council-based for us.  Those who need an item put their name up for consideration.  The loot council (comprised of both officers and raiders) then choose the person they think will benefit the most from the item (in theory).  Main spec takes preference over off spec, and Raiders take priority over Initiates.  If you don’t know the loot rules for your guild, you should ask.

Usually PuGs are set to a Loot Master, who links the item and then prompts for main spec rolls.  If no one rolls for main spec, that person opens it for off spec and then gives it to the highest roller (whether or not people actually need the item or not is an issue for a separate post!).  Sometimes you’ll get into a group that has special loot rules, such as: “This is mostly a guild raid, and we will be keeping patterns for our guild bank.”  At that point, people who are dissatisfied with the rule can opt out.  Special loot rules should be expressed up front.  If you’ve got a question about anything, make sure you ask, so you don’t get halfway through the run and find out someone else is going to be preferred for the items you want.

TL;DR: Know what to expect from loot before it becomes a problem.

3.  A Little Consideration goes a long way.  No one likes being in a group where one person rolls on everything.  Yes, it’s an upgrade, and that’s awesome (it really is, upgrades make me drool), but if you’re sitting on two new pieces of loot, let someone else have a turn.  Something you might see as a minor setback might really help someone else out, and people remember these things.  There are people I get into PuGs with today that when I see their name, I think, “Cool, that person was so awesome last time.”  Accumulate gear, but be reasonable; there are 9 or 24 other people in your group who are there for the same reason you are, and you can’t solo Icecrown.

TL;DR: Play nice and take turns.

4.  Know Your Role!  Before rolling on loot, you should know what stats are best for your class and spec.  A warlock rolling against a healer on an item with mp5?  Bad.  A healer rolling against a mage for an item with hit?  Also bad.  There are hundreds of resources on the internet to find out what stats (and in some cases, which items) you should focus on.  Do your research, know your class, and roll on the right things.

TL;DR: It’s 5 sentences, don’t be so lazy.

5.  It’s Just Loot.  I know, I can see that look on your face right through the computer screen.  “If it’s just loot, then why did you waste a whole blog post on it?”  Here’s the thing:  loot is important to players.  I think it’s perfectly reasonable to question loot rules, to get frustrated or disappointed with the way loot distribution is handled, and even to sometimes get angry about getting treated unfairly when it comes to loot.  There have been times I have been seething over the way something loot-related went down.

However, is one item worth losing your guild over?  How about a friendship, in-game or real life?  Is it worth earning a bad reputation on your server?  I don’t think so.  If your guild is repeatedly shafting you, then yes, maybe you should bring it up (tactfully), but if it’s a rare occurrence, or a one time thing, respond carefully and try to keep it in perspective.

TL;DR:  There are things much more valuable than epic loot.

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Heroic Ulduar: XT-002 the Deconstructor

If Razorscale felt like a raid boss, XT-002 feels…well, more like a raid boss. We wiped on him for nearly three hours last night before we got him down.  I have to tell you, though; his speech is wildly amusing. “I guess it doesn’t bend that way!” is probably my favorite. I honestly enjoyed this fight. It was challenging but a strat that I fell easily into, unlike Kologarn. But we’ll get to him tomorrow.

Oh, and I remembered to take more screenshots this time, because let’s face it, who reads blogs without pictures? Starting with XT-002’s exercise regimen he performs pre-pull as you watch from the door:

Basics

The Bombs

There are two types of human bombs:  Light and Gravity.  Light does DoT damage to you and in a 10 yd AoE area around you.  Gravity does damage and sucks nearby people towards you when it blooms, but the range is more like 15 yds.  We settled finally on 10 yd distance (DBM /distance automatically assumes 10 yds).  With this strat, if you get Light, you stand still.  Assuming you’re actually watching your distance display, you will already be 10 yds apart so you won’t affect anyone else.  If you get Gravity, you run out of the raid so that you are more than 15 yds from anyone when it ticks off.  Healers need to throw HoTs on nearby Gravity victims so they don’t die while they’re waiting for it to tick.

The Adds

There are three types of adds that appear throughout the fight.  The Bombots should be nuked, and they do damage to anything nearby, friend or enemy, upon getting killed.  You can’t miss these guys; they’re round black bombs with big fuses and legs, just like the ones in Mario on crack.  Next are the Pummelers.  They are big, ugly, and have 2 mil hit points.  Forget trying to kill them, you have a 6 minute enrage timer to beat.  Let tanks pick them up and kite them around.  Each tank needs to have a healer that runs with them.  A good healer, at that, because the damage adds up as they acquire more Pummelers.  And finally, the Scrapbots.  Scrapbots are tiny reddish-colored robots that the boss will consume, much like Gluth’s Zombie Chow.  We had AoE-ers on the left and right (hunters, mages, warlocks) to catch these Scrapbots, slow them any way possible (Frost Nova works), and kill them.  They called the direction so the rest of us could watch for them, too; and keep them from the boss.  Moonfire their little metal butts if they get too close, it’s very satisfying.

The Phases

These phases are alternating and obvious.  He has a very stable, steady pattern, so everyone should be able to get into the swing of the phases pretty quickly.

Phase 1

The first phase 1 starts with the pull.  XT says “New toys?  For me?  Oh, I promise I won’t break them this time!”  (mmhmm, sure).  Immediately spread out to 10 yds apiece.  At first, this is very straightforward.  DPS the boss, pay attention to bombs, and GTFO if you get Gravity.

Then comes Tympanic Tantrum.  Being the giant, metallic, spoiled brat he is, XT is bound to have a tantrum, which wouldn’t be too bad if it didn’t  blast away at your raid.  Healers need to go crazy during tantrum, big heals on tanks; good, solid group healing in raid.  If you are dpsing and you see the healing not keeping up with your health, it is your responsibility to use a stone or a pot (or even a heal, if you’re desperate) to keep yourself alive.  I used Lifeblood (yay, herbalism) and made use of my one measly healthstone several times.

Every time he loses 25% health, you’ll switch to Phase 2.

Phase 2

This starts with XT saying “So tired.  I will rest for a moment.”  At this time, his heart will become exposed.  Go crazy on that heart.  Heroism, Treants, Army of the Dead, Mirror Image; whatever the heck you’ve got.  The more damage you do to his heart, the less health he will have when Phase 1 returns.  But big fat note:  If you kill the heart, you will enter hard mode.  And hard mode is hard. So kick its butt, but leave it beating…for now.

During this time, adds will appear, as described above.  Take care of the adds and the heart, and in a few seconds, XT will be ready to play again.

As with every other boss:  keep most of your raid alive and beat the timer, you’ll be collecting your worthless, non-moonkin loot:

Now go spank that naughty robot, and good luck!