The Truth About Drop Rates
by Elizabeth Harper 
May 3rd 2006 at 9:00AM
If you've ever participated in a raid, you've
heard countless theories about what rules over loot drops. Perhaps the drops are decided by the class of the
first player who enters the instance? Or the raid leader? Well, every time such rumors are posted around
the forums, Blizzard denies that there's any system to it, saying that loot drops are completely random. Kylindra
of Cenarion Circle server has put together a good write-up
on drop rates and explains that "random" drops and fair drops aren't always the same thing.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Wreckless May 3rd 2006 9:56AM
Good info and well written, not something you see very often on the WoW forums.
Dave May 3rd 2006 3:12PM
I find it unfortunate that many people won't, in fact, read that post. For those of you who read and understood, regardless of the randomness or lack thereof of Blizzard's number generators, it still negates the myths that drops are determined by anything other than probability. The debate over the nature of "random" numbers is irrelevant; loot drops have nothing to do with who enters first, how many of each class there are, or any other ridiculous theory. Math. The end.
ORC DUDE May 4th 2006 5:24AM
I WANNA SPEN LESS DAMNIT!!
Mike May 4th 2006 8:44AM
#2 - Well, you're right that the debate over the nature of computer-generated "randomness" is irrelevant. But while it's probably true that the loot has nothing to do with who enters first, or how many of each class they are, or the server time the raid entered the instance, drops could be dependent on any one of those things or a combination. The bottom line is that we don't know what the "randomness" algorithms are based on, but the real point to grasp here is that, even if the loot is somehow related to those things, it's not related in any predictable way. So there's no use in having your raid leader always be a warlock or entering the instance at 7:00PM server time every time because it's not going to generate any predictable pattern in the loot you get.