Loot is the carrot, not getting loot is the stick
by Matthew Rossi 
Dec 21st 2012 at 5:00PM
We've all complained about loot drops. It is as close to a universal truth as World of Warcraft can encompass. I remember running LBRS with my wife, run after run after run, trying to get the hunter dungeon set piece off of Wyrmthalak. I remember killing Rend Blackhand day in, day out, and never getting the Doomsaw until finally, one bright sunny day, it dropped and the paladin healer took it. Luckily, the Beast provided me with a touch of revenge, as he dropped Lightforge, which I then needed and won. Such was the cynical, sadistic, uncooperative nature of Blackrock Spire pick up groups, a lawless zone in a lawless time.
Loot remains one of the prime motivations for running dungeons. We run dungeons to gear up and run raids, which then gear us up for the next tier of raiding. Better loot lets us perform our roles more easily, makes daily questing and grinding easier, and serves as a status symbol of sorts, as well as clogging up my bank with more transmog fodder. (This is not a post about needing another void storage tab, but man, I really do.) And as a result, for as long as there has been loot in World of Warcraft, people have complained about how it dropped, about how it didn't drop, about never getting the drop they wanted and getting the same drop over and over again. I understand this frustration. The current loot system used by LFR and world bosses like Sha of Anger and Galleon often maddens people with its quirks.
But I tell you now, there will never be a perfectly rational loot system that gives you what you want or need and doesn't give you what you already have.
Loot remains one of the prime motivations for running dungeons. We run dungeons to gear up and run raids, which then gear us up for the next tier of raiding. Better loot lets us perform our roles more easily, makes daily questing and grinding easier, and serves as a status symbol of sorts, as well as clogging up my bank with more transmog fodder. (This is not a post about needing another void storage tab, but man, I really do.) And as a result, for as long as there has been loot in World of Warcraft, people have complained about how it dropped, about how it didn't drop, about never getting the drop they wanted and getting the same drop over and over again. I understand this frustration. The current loot system used by LFR and world bosses like Sha of Anger and Galleon often maddens people with its quirks.
But I tell you now, there will never be a perfectly rational loot system that gives you what you want or need and doesn't give you what you already have.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Raiding, Mists of Pandaria
