Raiding Basics: MS/OS Looting and Raid Rolls

Even though I knew I was taking on completely fresh players who've never raided before I still take certain things for granted.

During our first loot distribution, I explained how the MS/OS looting works (much like I'm about to now) and afterwards I sat back all proud of myself for doing such a great job teaching people the ins and outs of raiding. About three or four bosses later I got a message from two raiders asking what to do if they wanted a piece of loot.

It turns out I'd forgotten to explain the /roll command. I then felt like a complete tool for the remainder of that raid.

Looting rules should be of of, if not THE, very first things you explain to any raid. There are a huge amount of different rules regarding loot distribution: DKP, GDKP, Loot Council and more.

Today I'm going to focus on MS/OS and Raid Rolls.

MS/OS:

It stands for Main Spec/Offspec. It is generally accepted (though it can vary depending on the raid) that your main spec is the current talent tree you're using in the raid at the time.

Eg. I'm tanking for a naxx run, my main spec at the time would be Feral.

Offspec is for any set of talents you can use, but aren't using currently.

Eg. While I'm tanking my Offspec would be Restoration.

Anytime loot drops, it will be announced to the raid and the MS/OS rolling will take place. It normally follows this procedure:

• Item is announced to the raid
• Raiders are given an opportunity to /roll if the gear is suitable for their Main Spec (MS)
• If no-one rolls MS, Raiders will then have an opportunity to roll OS (they can still use it, but it would not be suitable for their current or main spec)
• If nobody rolls for the item during OS, the distribution is decided by the raid leader or master looter.

So using the example above, if an item dropped that would be terrific for my healing set of gear, I would have to wait until the OS roll to get it (as I'm tanking). If anybody rolled on it for their main spec, they would get it over me as they take the priority.

This system is one of the simplest and most useful of the loot distribution methods. It ensures that loot goes to someone who can use it straight away and gain maximum benefit from it. Keep in mind though that some variations to this rule exist - I'll go through these at another time.

Raid Rolls:

Raid Rolls are relatively simple. For an item that everybody wants (a sack of treasure for example), instead of having everyone roll individually, the master looter will perform a raid roll to determine who gets the item. For a ten man raid, the roll would be: /roll 1-10

A number between 1 and 10 is then generated (an unmodified /roll is between 1-100). The master looter uses that number to determine who gets the loot based on their position in the raid tab in the social window.

In group one, the member at the top is assigned 1 and 2, 3, 4 and 5 to the members below sequentially. Group two is 6, 7, 8, etc.

One thing worth noting about this system is that occasionally the order of people within the tab might appear different to a few people in the raid. Unless you suspect the master looting of cheating (giving the item to someone they like, rather than who should've gotten it) it's best not to argue over it. The point of raid rolling is to shorten the exercise, not draw it out for eons.

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UPDATE @ 5.51pm:

I've decided to go against using raid rolls for Harms Way run from here on in. I tried one before and it was leading to a bunch of bickering as the raid tabs weren't lining up for everyone. So I'm not rolling for you anymore, you can all roll for yourselves and make me sort through a bunch of numbers! In the meantime, I'll just grab some pills for my headache...

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That's enough from me for the moment - I have a (perhaps doomed - I'm such an optimist, eh?) VoA to attend in ten minutes. More raiding basics to come, so watch this space!

-Ahz