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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: DKP Systems
by Eliah Hecht 
Jan 3rd 2007 at 8:00AM
Love them, hate them, or love to design them over coffee, DKP systems are overwhelmingly prevalent in raiding guilds. I only recently learned to stop hating them when I saw a forum post that analyzed DKP vs. random rolls and proved that the relationship between number of raids and amount of gear gotten is pretty much the same in both cases, but with less random noise in the case of DKP. My guild uses a fairly simple zero-sum system, which seems to work well (even if I am almost always in the negative). What about you? Where do you stand on DKP, and what DKP system, or what way of distributing loot, does your guild use?
Filed under: Guilds, Breakfast Topics, Features, Raiding
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
newbienoob Jan 3rd 2007 1:00PM
Could someone please tell me how zero-sum and suicide kings dkp systems work? I've never heard of them.
Tommysback Jan 3rd 2007 7:38PM
Old guild: DKP system with class restrictions = Drama and reforming
New guild: Zero sum DKP system with loot council on legendaries...much less drama
Zero Sum is definately the way to go
peedee Jan 3rd 2007 7:40PM
My guild uses a strict senority system, which to be honest really sucks when you're the new guy. It's a typical situation when someon who's completely epic'd out will bid Need for an item thats almost the same [sidegrade] to what they already have, and be awarded it, while the people beneath them remain in Blues and Greens. Also our Tier2 people still bid on Tier1 over the newbies 'to complete their set', not that they even wear it, ever.
That being said, it keeps the oldtimers there and interested, and a fair bit of the loot trickles to the less senior people, but I hate it. Giving a +600spelldamage mage a sidegrade with +2 more is NOT as good for the raid as giving an epic to someone who doesn't have one at all.
Eliah Hecht Jan 3rd 2007 1:42PM
Zero-sum works roughly like this: Items have a fixed DKP value. For instance, the Obsidian Edged Blade is worth, say, 175 DKP. When it drops, out of everyone who wants it, the one with the highest DKP gets it; 175 is then subtracted from their DKP. Next, 175 is divided between all the people present who didn't get the item (about 4.5 DKP per person, if it's a 40-man). This makes it so the total amount of DKP in the system always sums to 0.
As far as suicide kings, I'm not quite as solid on that. I think it basically works such that the highest DKP person who wants an item gets it, but taking the item makes them "suicide" or drop to the bottom of the DKP list. But I could be wrong about this.
Bunkai Jan 3rd 2007 1:47PM
Here are a couple links that will explain the various DKP systems and the Suicide King's Loot Ladder for you.
DKP:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DKP
Suicide Kings:
http://www.blackcompanywow.com/viewtopic.php?t=156
Here's a WoW Forum post about the two:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html;jsessionid=0C1CF28115ADE538B082B419BD5890F3?topicId=59427538&postId=592529732&sid=1
Hope those help.
Tom Jan 4th 2007 7:42PM
Ok as a non-hardcore raider DKP sounds like a bunch of hooey-phooey made up algebra voodoo. Who decides the DKP value of items? Who keeps track of everyone's DKP? Are there programs that do it for you, or are you relying on some guild leader to tally it up? What the hell does DKP even stand for?
Stephen Johnston Jan 18th 2007 8:29PM
We wrote our own system called Rapid Raid over at http://www.guildlaunch.com Guild Launch. We basically based it on an open ended system that lends itself to open or closed bidding, then went from there. I think every guild comes up with their own version of their DKP.