Overview

Burnination uses a zero-sum, silent bid loot system for loot distribution. This system was designed to remove the variability of /roll and provide for a level reward:raid ratio for all members. We have used this system in the past and were pleased with the results. If you have questions, comments, or concerns about the theory behind our system, or its implementation, please take them up with an officer.

How it works:

From the perspective of a raider, the system is very, very simple. We've been using this since the days of Molten Core, all the way through Sunwell Plateau in Burning Crusade, and now through all the 25-man content available in Wrath of the Lich King. If you weren't around for that, and find yourself confused in a raid, there should be plenty of people that can help you out. Here, then, is Bobtheorange's Guide to Winning Phat Lewtz:

1. Kill the boss. This actually turns out to be important, so start with that.
2. WAIT until someone (probably Bobtheorange, but not always) gives a raid warning asking for bids on a piece of loot. Don't jump the gun and bid early, if you do, your bid may be lost in chat.
3. Send your bid to Bobtheorange, or whichever officer is asking for bids. Your bid is either a 1, 2, or 3. Send a simple tell with just that number. Do not put your bid in raid chat, party chat, guild chat, general chat, local defense chat, your class channel, or anything other than a tell to the bid-taker and expect it to be read. Only bids that are sent as tells will be considered. The number you send is one fourth of how much DKP you are willing to pay to each of the other members of the raid in exchange for this particular shiny purple thing.
4. If Bobtheorange (or whichever officer is handling the DKP) determines you win the auction, congratulations! If someone else wins, you don't get loot, but you get sweet, sweet DKP to give you a better chance next time.

The winner of the drop will lose DKP equal to their bid multiplied by 100. Everyone else in the raid will gain DKP equal to the winning bid multiplied by 100 divided by the number of people in the raid. The winning bid is the high bid, with one exception. If there is a tie (multiple bids of 3, for example), the tie-breaker is current DKP. If that is tied, we go to a /roll. DKP ties are actually very rare after a handful of raids. There are a couple of details to this that are addressed in the FAQ below, but this is essentially how the system works.

Frequently Asked Questions:

How can I see how much DKP I have?
Click on Rapid Raid along the top navigation bar, then click on View Members along the left. We do maintain separate DKP pools for each tier of content, so, how much DKP you have available depends on what you are raiding. Make sure you are looking at the correct pool for the raid you are on.

Do I lose DKP if I bid and don't win the item?
No. Only the person that actually wins is charged their bid.

Something that is a small upgrade for me just dropped, but it's not really worth a lot of DKP to me. What should I do?
Bid low. This is exactly why we have multiple bid options. If someone else thinks it's a bigger upgrade for them, they will bid higher and win it. If no one else wants it, you will win it, but it won't cost you much. In other words, /w Bobtheorange 1

What if it's something I might use for an off-spec, but not in a raid?
If something drops that you might equip for arenas or farming or whatever non-raid role you may play, but is just not worth any DKP to you, if no one else bids, you may /roll for the item. This should be a rare occurence, and you should never pass on something that is a raid upgrade instead of bidding. Our DKP churns if people are letting the system work, and a small expenditure on a small upgrade is no big deal.

I have negative DKP, can I still bid?
Absolutely. Going negative does not mean you are in trouble, or can't bid anymore. It's by design. Expect at least half the raid to be negative at any given time. All that matters is your DKP compared to that of the people bidding against you (see the next question for the one exception to that).

What's to stop someone from just bidding 3 on everything and taking all the gear?
Two things. One, someone else that didn't win the last drop might bid 3. The more loot someone takes, the lower their DKP gets, and the more likely they are to lose out to someone that hasn't taken as much. Two, one of the details I mentioned above: any bid from someone with less than -800 DKP will automatically be changed to a 1. This has actually worked out well in the past, and serves to prevent loot-and-run types as well as what I call Kid-in-a-Candy-Store Syndrome (which leads to hunters with Nexus-strikes). It protects the raid, and it protects individual raid members from themselves.

What about new raiders?  Is it really fair that someone new might come in higher than someone that has been here for every raid for months?
In a sense, yes, it is fair.  If an old-timer is negative, they've gotten a large share of the loot the raid has seen.  However, trials are, by definition, not guaranteed to be here next week.  It makes sense to give some priority to raiders that have demonstrated some loyalty to the raid (and earned some loyalty from the raid).  Therefore, during their trial periods, recruits may bid, but all bids will be treated as a "1".  This gives them the chance to get drops that regular raiders have already collected, but prioritizes existing members' needs over the recruits'.

Why not just /roll?
This is certainly the easiest and quickest way to hand out loot, and at first glance, it seems fair. Everyone has an equal chance of being the high roller, right? While it is true that /roll may be "fair" in some sense for any given drop, it is not fair over a series of drops like we see in WoW. The problem is that the dice have no memory. Suppose we /roll on one piece, and someone, let's call him "Skee", wins the roll. The next time something Skee can use drops, he has the exact same chance of winning that roll as do all the people that lost the first roll. Over many thousands of rolls, that averages out. Over dozens of rolls it does not. Using /roll leads to very spiky loot distribution. Because not all drops are usable by all characters, there are actually even less /roll events than it might seem, making the problem even worse. So, /roll doesn't work, because it gives no credit for losing rolls, or drops that you can't use, and there just aren't enough /roll events per character for it to even out.

Doesn't this screw people that don't raid often? Won't the people that raid all the time always be able to outbid them?
It's true that someone that raids 3 days a week will get three times as much DKP as someone who raids one day a week, and that makes it look like the one day a week guy is doomed to never win anything. What's missing is the fact that the three day a week raider will also spend three times as much DKP. The only way they are guaranteed to have more DKP than the one day a week raider is if they didn't win anything those extra two days. In that case, yes, they will win the auction. They should, since they've gone an extra two raids without winning anything. Of course, it's just as likely that they will have spent a lot of DKP on those two days, in which case the one day a week raider will win. This is the beauty of zero-sum: your dkp is exactly how much loot you didn't win minus how much loot you did win.

Imagine a scenario with absolutely terrible warlock luck. For a month, no warlock loot ever drops, except on Sunday. One warlock, call her "Toliana", is there three days a week, while another warlock, call him "Alucious" is only there on Sundays. Week One: Toliana gains dkp two days, and spends that dkp on Sunday, winning the drop. Week Two: Toliana again gains dkp for two days, spends it on Sunday, and wins the drop. Week Three: this is where it gets interesting. Toliana gains dkp for two days, but now only has as much dkp as Alucious, who has also accumulated dkp for two days (the last two Sunday raids) without winning anything. Both warlocks are in the same situation: they have each been to two raids without winning anything, they have equal dkp, and equal chances of winning the drop. Whichever one of them loses the drop on the third Sunday will win the drop on the fourth Sunday, and future drops will continue to go to whichever one has the larger backlog of (drops not won) - (drops won).

Mix other drops in on different days, or whatever you want to do. You'll find that the only way for Toliana to get drops faster than Alucious on a per-raid basis is for warlock items to simply drop less often on Sundays. Even if that happens, Alucious is going to end up winning every Sunday drop, which is the best any loot system can do for him. If anyone has any questions about how our system rewards players with different attendances, or how that might have an impact on progression, please feel free to ask me (Bobtheorange) about it. I'll be happy to explain it in as much detail as you want, up to and including graphs showing Monte Carlo simulations of any loot system you'd like to compare to ours.