Loot Distribution For Raids
This guide is meant to help out any guild leaders or even members of guilds to make sure loot is given out in a way that is fair and keeps everyone happy. This can also be used by alliances to help maintain good relationships. Loot is always a tough issue, and can easily cause conflicts if not dealt with properly. Make sure before implementing any of the ideas in this guide to discuss all the options with your guild, communication is the single best way to help everyone support whatever choice is made.

When selecting a loot distribution system you have to first figure out what you want your guild to be like. Is your guild gunning for Naxx as fast as possible (hardcore) or group that raids ZG / AQ for fun when you can (casual). After you figure out how fast you want to progress you also need to decide on how to treat the primary characters (mains) vs. alternate characters (alts) of a single player.

For each of the loot systems I have seen / researched I will have a brief discussion of how the system works, it’s benefits, drawbacks and what type if guild might find it most useful.

1) /roll

Everyone on the raid who wants it does a /roll and the highest roll gets the item. Usually rules that require it to be equipped make it so good items are not taken to be sold, or DE’ed.
+ Simple… it does not get any easier.
- Luck is a big factor, and bad luck tends to turn people away from raiding.

Guild) This is for pick up groups or a first try at an instance where people don’t expect to go back. Not a good long term way to distribute loot and keep people coming back and helping.

2) Priority systems

There are a large number of these as well, but in general you rank people and give loot based on who you want to gear up first. When the highest priority person passes it goes to the next highest, and so on till everyone gets geared up.
+ Simple, if the highest priority needs it they get it.
- Can quickly lead to problems as there will be people who spend the time raiding and do not get loot for a while.

Guild) Bad feelings can develop quickly using this system unless the group is extremely friendly and agreed to it before hand. On the plus side it can lead to success more quickly that some of the other systems. Often this is a starter system untill a certain criteria is met (such as main tank has 200FR, and main healer has 5000 mana etc.).

3) DKP systems (lots of variations)

DKP stands for Dragon Kill Points and was created back in EverQuest to track the killing of the only world raids, the dragons. The essential part of this system is a pseudo-currency that you earn depending on various actions and that is spent on loot. Over all there is a lot of flexibility in these systems and can be tuned to many different guilds and styles. I will go over some of the major variants, which are mostly divided by how points are spent.

In all of these I am not discussing the earnings part of the DKP system, as that will depend on how your guild wants to implement it. Some ways to do earnings are X points per boss kill, per hour, or per raid, there can also be bonus points for using potions, coming early, or even negative points for messing up (although this is often seen as a bad way to do things). In all you have to figure out what your guild values and assign points based on that. A typical mod used is by nurfed http://www.nurfedui.net/ndkp.php. The Wikipedia article on DKP has even more information on further variants of DKP systems. Below are some of the most common.

Overall DKP)
+ Extremely flexible; costs, earnings, and system can match just about any guild.
- Some point systems have problems with collusion to artificially get loot cheaper
- Some of the systems require lots of book-keeping to update prices of each item, and points each person has.

3a) Item Cost DKP system

Every item has a cost and the players pay the cost to get the item. In some of these the players are allowed to go into negative points to get an item. A very common subset is the Zero sum where the earnings of the system have to do with the loot that drops (each person earns a fraction of the loot value, and the person who gets the item spends the loot value).
+ Fair system that allows items to be tuned to what they are worth.
+ Prices can be adjusted depending on what people want
- Heavy raiders can amass a large number of points, and upon moving to a new dungeon can buy all the rewards leaving little for the rest. This can be solved by having points decay, but either of these can cause guild friction.

Guild) The book-keeping time makes this a bit harder for a group of casual gamers. It is however fair and can be tweaked on the spending or earning side to fit just about any guild.

3b) Bid DKP systems

In these systems when people want an item they send a bid to the loot master. The person with the highest bid usually gets it, and loses the number of points they bid. A number of variants change how many points are actually spent depending on the other bids.
+ Allows players to prioritize items themselves
- The same item can have different costs which can lead to problems.

Guild) Book-keeping is much simplified since all items do not need to be valued. There can be problems if your guild is not very close / honest of a subset trying to game the bidding to get things cheaper.

3c) Spend all DKP

In this system everyone is initially in an ordered list (usually created through a /random). Loot is then offered to the highest person on the list, and if they take it spend all the points they have.
+ Gives loot to members based on participation, but allows even infrequent raiders to get something eventually
- People will often not want to spend their points on certain items that provide only a small upgrade, and let otherwise usable items get DE’ed

Guild) This is good for guilds that have lots of different participants who all want something. It tends to give more loot to casuals, as they will spend fewer points on average, while still giving a bonus to the heavy raiders by allowing them first pick of items.

4) Suicide kings (http://www.curse-gaming.com/en/wow/addons-2335-1-suicidekings.html)

This system is similar to the spend all DKP in that you put everyone in a list, and the person at the top gets first shot at any loot. In this case though there are no earnings, the person who takes loot goes to the lowest slot of people in the current raid, and everyone else moves up. In this way current raiders move around, but people not on the raid neither gain nor lose their position in the list.
+ Very simple and can all be handled in game with the mod
- Not as much benefit for heavy raiders since you only move up when someone above you in the list takes loot.

Guild) SK is good for a smaller or medium sized guild, and is friendly to a guild of mixed play times (some heavy raider, some casual). There is no penalty for missing raids, but those who raid more will still get more loot. It encourages everyone to attend when they can. The drawback is that as the guild gets larger or has multiple runs a week, luck can have more to do with loot than in a DKP system since you only move when loot falls.

Currently I am in a casual guild that still wants to raid. We use the Suicide Kings system, but are seriously thinking of changing to a Spend all DKP. Our current conflict is that we want to reward participation more than SK currently does and so moving to a new system would solve that. In all, what is right for your guild might change as your guild does. Make sure everyone is happy and try out new systems.

Good luck and regardless of the system may you get great loot!