WoW Rookie: Roll With Caution
by David Nelson 
Sep 19th 2006 at 10:50PM
.jpg)
You finally got a group together for your very first instance run and are about to descend into the Wailing Caverns. You are repaired, have plenty of consumables and your bags are empty to scoop up your loot. You have already gotten this far, so don't spoil things by rolling like a noob. Here are some pointers to enhance your WoW looting experience in instances...1. Ask about the loot rules. You should ask the party leader about the loot rules ASAP. Yes, most of the time it will be need or greed, but sometimes it isn't, and I guarantee someone else in the group is wondering about the rules as well. It never hurts to ask, and by speaking up you will be 100% sure what to do when the loot roll boxes pop up. Sometimes groups will choose to go with Master Looter on bosses instead of rolling, and this should be established before you enter the instance.
2. BOE Items. Most items that drop off of the trash (non-boss) mobs will be Bind on Equip. What that means is even if you win the roll on that item, you are still free to trade it to others or sell it in the auction house. BOE loot windows are gray in color and will not prompt you after you roll to confirm that you really want to roll on the item. If you happen to win something that someone else in your party claims to need, it is good form to let them have the item. Whatever small amount of gold (or in the lower levels, silver) that you might receive by keeping the item will not be worth the bad reputation you will gain by hoarding loot.
3. BOP Items. Most of the items that drop off of bosses will be Bind on Pickup. This means that once you pick up the loot, you cannot trade it or sell it on the auction house. You will notice that BOP loot has a gold roll box, and it will prompt you after you select need, informing you of the BOP status of the loot. If you are paying attention you should never mistakenly roll on BOP items. Remember, if you see the gold roll box pop up, take a few seconds before you hit need, and review the loot to make sure it is something you really want. Once you loot a BOP item there is no going back.
4. Wait to loot. Never loot a corpse in the middle of a fight. It is distracting to see roll boxes pop up in battle, especially if you are the healer or main tank, who have a lot more to worry about in instances than DPS classes. Additionally, people tend to make more rolling errors when they are just trying to clear a loot box off their screen so they can continue the fight. Just wait for the fighting to end, and while the mana classes are drinking, go ahead and loot.
5. Don't Be Greedy! If you notice you are going on a run where you have won 2 or 3 greens in a row, it might not be a bad idea to pass on a few items to let others get some loot as well. People in your party will appreciate it. Also, if you have already won a couple cloth blues from the instance, it might be nice to allow that mage you came with to grab the caster dagger that just dropped.
6. Just because you can use it doesn't mean you need it. Whoa! It's a blue robe! It has +20 spirit on it. You are a warlock. You don't need this robe! Spirit is a fairly useless warlock stat, and the priest in your group would appreciate you passing. Make sure you do a little research on what stats are good for your class beforehand. Check out the class forums on the official WoW boards, or WoWWiki, if you have any questions on what stats are best for your class.
If you follow these simple rules, you will be invited back for more instance fun. The people you meet at level 20 are the same people you will bump into again and again on your path to 60. You will be upgrading loot so quickly at these lower levels that it really pays to play it cool and try to make some friends via the loot process, rather than snag all the loot you can. As I have said before, just be a good WoW citizen, and you will find that getting groups and finding the proper guild will be an easy process.
Are there any other pieces of looting advice the WoW vets can bestow upon the new guys?
Filed under: Tips, Items, Instances, WoW Rookie
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mj Jan 7th 2009 7:14PM
To the TOTALLY noobs, I would like to comment the difference between NEED and GREED - I was booted out of my first instance because I didn't understand that. I was a noob.
NEED - this means that you can and will use the item. In the default looting methods, people who roll need, when everyone else rolls greed, will win every time. You NEVER roll need if you are not sure that it is ok.
GREED - this is the typical default. If everyone greeds, everyone will get a chance to roll.
Most of the time, it is best to ask before you answer NEED on any roll.
Daishi Jan 8th 2009 5:02AM
With BOE items, if someone rolls need, it is common practice in a PUG on my server to see the winner asked to equip the item immediately, thus binding it to them.
My general rule is unless I would actually consider it an up or sidegrade for an offspec, I pass. Sure this means I've finished a run with no stuff to sell, but if everyone does this, and just /roll or shard unwanteds, you most often end up with some profit
Smithra Sep 19th 2006 11:39PM
I'm still somewhat of a newb, but I'll offer this advice:
The other "standard" if there is one is to pass on blues and/or Bind on Pickup items and then roll with /roll.
It's pretty standard to determine chest ownership with /roll as well.
Lastly, a lot of people don't realize that /roll takes an argument of how high the max roll is (default is 100) so while you're standing around waiting for that dwarf to finish digging through the chest he won, /roll 3000 is usually good for a laugh.
warbleflit Sep 20th 2006 2:36AM
Sorry to nitpick, as this is a really good article about rolling. It is always good to find out if your group is doing the "pass on bop, roll after" rule or not... I've seen that one start way to many heated debates when everyone passes and one guy rolls greed.
but, spirit is too a good stat for warlocks. It's not the best stat, stamina and intellect are better (in that order) but it is the third best. It IS a bonus on EVERY tier set for warlocks. Now if you had said agility or strenth, I would have agreed with you.
toolmonkey Sep 20th 2006 8:27AM
From what I can tell, standard loot rules (Greed Green, Pass BOP and Blue +) do not go in effect below Sunken Temple. No matter how much you tell people to pass, most lowbies won't pass. And besides that, there's nothing worth being accused of a ninja at low levels except BOE blues, and even those aren't worth it.
Once you hit ST or BRD then you'll become very familiar with the standard loot rules, and any defiance will usually end up in you being called out in the LFG channel as a ninja.
steve Sep 20th 2006 7:11PM
Even at the level of BRD, Scholo, and Strat I find the "standard" loot rules have variations (roll need for greens) and sometimes break down. I think part of the reason is that the longer you've been a 60, the less likely it is that a drop will be better than what you've already got -- I'm sure we've all done Scholo runs where every single BoP got sharded. The problem comes when you start mixing in a group with 50-somethings or new 60s. With the standard loot rules, the 50-something or new 60 can make a better case for "need" on the blues and BOPs.
I ran BRD the other day, happily passed on half a dozen blues that I couldn't use, then got into the ninja-namecalling thing that toolmonkey mentions when I won a greed roll for a blue and announced my intention to shard it. I discovered that there was the "just because you can use it" greed mentioned in #6 of David's original post, and "I'm gonna shard this immediately" greed, and that they were not viewed in the same way by the group ;->
Since I hadn't picked up the item yet, I yielded to the group and a few of them re-rolled need. After a couple hours in BRD and a bunch of downed bosses, I left with no greens and no blues. Did we follow standard loot rules? Yes. Would I group with any of these guys again? No, life is too short.
felunost Mar 6th 2007 4:33AM
Lucky I Have always party with the same people form lvl 1 =D As im the only one who can D/e things I nomaly roll need for unwanted blues.
my Tip: ask before looting in a party sometimes your party will be fine you needing to D/E - BUT ASK - sometimes this is not cool.