Since we’re talking about games outside of the KingsIsle realm now, I figured I’d drop some knowledge for everyone. If you’ve only played KI games before, you’ve never experienced a mechanic called Need Before Greed. In most MMOs everyone sees the same loot drops and it goes into a “roller”, where everyone in the party chooses Need, Greed, or Pass.
NBG is a great system when you’re playing with friends or a League/Clan/Guild/whathaveyou. It ensures that your tank gets tank items, controllers get control items, healers get healing items, and DPS get the damages. Some games have additional mechanics where clothing items are concerned, and these usually revolve around either style, set bonus, etc. Now, there are certain courtesies that must be considered in order for NBG to work properly; especially in Pick-Up-Groups (PUGS).
Rule 1: If it’s not for your role, you can’t roll Need on it. Some games even have a lockout feature to prevent out-of-role players from ninja-looting it (WOOHOO!).
Rule 2: If there are two or more of the same role in a raid (usually an 8+ player instance), senior member of said role gets first grabs, then other member. I know it bites. It’s how these things should usually run.
Rule 3: Everyone else should be rolling Greed if they want to sell it or Pass if they honestly don’t care.
Rule 4: Where special secondary perks are considered, you should only ever Greed on an item. Filling out a Styles tab and then trashing the item is incredibly disrespectful to anyone who could have used the item for real. If it’s a +1 Off-Hand Orb you’ll get a bonus feat for owning for a split second and then you trash it for your +6 Orb of behind-kicking, well, the low level mage would like a word with you…bring ice for the burns.
Rule 5: Don’t be a jerk. Really. Without rules we have anarchy. Steve and Chris can probably attest to this from WoW, if not other games.
Why am I writing this now, you ask? I’m really hoping that all of our talk of other games inspires more people to give them a shot! Additionally, I was just running a T2 in DC Universe Online on my new healer, Blighted Redeemer, with a PUG and the Hand Blasters weapon drop I was farming (Purple Ultra-Rare quality, mind you) flew across the loot table. I was the only person playing with this weapon type and thought it would be an easy Need. I was wrong. The kid using a Rifle rolled Need and immediately said “Loot is ffa [Free-For-All], I needed the style.” as though that would assuage my eagerness to let him die in the final boss. Don’t worry, I didn’t. Don’t be that kid. Learn these looting rules for common courtesy before jumping into a game with NBG or you’ll probably run into a group that won’t deal with it and /votekick you from the group. Nobody likes to be kicked out before the final boss.
–John Lifeglen