Running a good lotto

[Javai]

Seen a whole lot of threads lately about running raid lotto's thought I'd share how I do them on our alliance raids as it has proven to be smooth, easy and popular.

We only lotto ML keys at the raid itself all other items are taken back to our mansion and placed in an empty vault. Everyone present on raid can then browse the drops and everyone does /random 100 and chooses an item in turn. This means that you don't have to worry about rolling for an 'early' item in case something better comes up or taking your Infil to the raid when the raid needs a cleric. I appreciate for huge zerg raids this may not work but thought I'd share the idea anyway.

Only downside is it usually requires a break of 15 mins to let people get to the right house but in reality a break of 15 mins between raid and lotto is often a good thing.

 

[Flimgoblin]

For big zerg raids (e.g. public or alliance sidi before ToA) I used to turn logging on, have everyone /random 500 and then turn logging off - take the logfile and parse it with excel to get everyone's rolls and sort it by roll.

then read out the droplist (or preferably have someone else read it out whilst you're doing the rolls) and have people choose stuff for their class in order of the rolls.

Biggest thing for running a good lotto is to be fair: pick a rule and stick with it. Make it clear at the start how things are going and make it obvious when a lotto for an item is finishing (e.g. "going..." "going....") - might be an idea to decide what to do for people who are afk/ld before you start the lotto - i.e. do they get a 5m grace period to /random after the fact? or is it "tough luck" if they miss their item. Or do you get someone else to /random for them?
All three methods are fair as long as you stick to it for everyone (delaying the start/end of rolls for an LD also works).

If it's "by class only" then make sure it's all by class only - don't change your mind halfway through the lotto to "sodit everyone can roll" (unless noone wants the item - I always allow everyone to go for unwanted items - best to do that at the end though).

The guild based one that Kirrenia uses is great for a quick fair lotto for lots of people assuming you have a sensible number of guilds around - it's not a "everyone gets something" method though as the rng can really shit on you with that system but it's fast and there's no choosing to wait for

 

[Khale]

Kci has a very nice selfmade parser

 

[Shrye]

I don't get why people still does class specific lottoes :/ ... just about everyone got a couple of lvl 50's now, but they ain't necessarily bringing their -main- to the encounter(s), hence they tend to bring what's better suited for the encounter(s), than what they prefer playing in the end.

 

[Flimgoblin]

I don't get why people still does class specific lottoes :/ ... just about everyone got a couple of lvl 50's now, but they ain't necessarily bringing their -main- to the encounter(s), hence they tend to bring what's better suited for the encounter(s), than what they prefer playing in the end.

it depends - sometimes people bring chars for xp as well as loot (or for ml steps or mlxp latterly)

if people are genuinely bringing a different char for the good of the raid then most raid leaders set up a "roll for alt" thing.

The reason for class specific is so that people who have far too many alts (no pointing elbows at eggy or pin) don't suddenly get 8 times the chance to win something in a lotto that the poor sap that only has the one 50 gets.

 

[Aussie]

setting battlegrouploot is sooooo stupid especially on ML raids.

ppl cba to fight the aggro mobs because it doesn't matter if they hit the mob, they got as much chance to get it as anyone else
If you don't set it, ppl will kill mobs for the scrolls/drops. your raid will go faster and you never have any probs with a stupid lotto

I still don't understand why ppl cry about loot on ML steps btw, you join an ML raid for the credits. not for loot.

 

[Shrye]

it depends - sometimes people bring chars for xp as well as loot (or for ml steps or mlxp latterly)

if people are genuinely bringing a different char for the good of the raid then most raid leaders set up a "roll for alt" thing.

The reason for class specific is so that people who have far too many alts (no pointing elbows at eggy or pin) don't suddenly get 8 times the chance to win something in a lotto that the poor sap that only has the one 50 gets.

Actually, seems to me that people got a chance of not being able to roll at all with class-specific lotto, whereas everyone can at least roll if there's no restrictions. Not to mention, there's quite alot more hazzle having to keep track on who's who and who's what.

setting battlegrouploot is sooooo stupid especially on ML raids.

ppl cba to fight the aggro mobs because it doesn't matter if they hit the mob, they got as much chance to get it as anyone else
If you don't set it, ppl will kill mobs for the scrolls/drops. your raid will go faster and you never have any probs with a stupid lotto

I still don't understand why ppl cry about loot on ML steps btw, you join an ML raid for the credits. not for loot.

Indeed - that's the way I've run my raids too, with the exception of the x.10 step, loot from last mob is the only stuff that I'll ever bother lotto on ML raids (and I tend to leave before lotto has been done with, unless it's my own raid).

 

[Flimgoblin]

Actually, seems to me that people got a chance of not being able to roll at all with class-specific lotto, whereas everyone can at least roll if there's no restrictions. Not to mention, there's quite alot more hazzle having to keep track on who's who and who's what.

depends if people are honest - if you have one character and only roll for that one character then you lose out to someone who has 8 characters and rolls for things that are good for any of them

Unless you just roll for everything of course

 

[Alithiel]

Actually, seems to me that people got a chance of not being able to roll at all with class-specific lotto, whereas everyone can at least roll if there's no restrictions. Not to mention, there's quite alot more hazzle having to keep track on who's who and who's what.

Class restricted lotto's make for a better 'Need before Greed' system, and give more casual players who aren't rolling in plats the opportunity to get rarer drops that are actually going to be of use to them. I'd rather see drops go to people who genuinely need them than end up on somebodys CM.

This only really applies to MP/rare drops and scrolls, though... Anything that's less than 98% quality should just be randomed to anyone for salvage.

As far as rolling for alts goes, I usually work on the basis of it being that you're rolling for the character you bring unless you let me know otherwise before the raid starts... And no changing your mind just because the item you wanted didn't drop and something that'd be useful for a different character did!

 

[Shrye]

depends if people are honest - if you have one character and only roll for that one character then you lose out to someone who has 8 characters and rolls for things that are good for any of them

Unless you just roll for everything of course

One word: naive!

... or a few more, actually. It ain't impossibly to trade to something which suits your char better, that happens all the time. That's the thing, nothing is glued to someones character (would be kinda silly to lotto no-trade items, aye? ) and there ain't any bad feelings either should the person decide to switch main char a week after the lotto.

Class restricted lotto's make for a better 'Need before Greed' system, and give more casual players who aren't rolling in plats the opportunity to get rarer drops that are actually going to be of use to them. I'd rather see drops go to people who genuinely need them than end up on somebodys CM.

Indeed. However, it ain't worth the extra hazzle imo, and if someone really wants the item, they will get it as long as it's the average Joe who wins it - merely skipping past the CM. They simple can't stand the temptation of ie. 10plat, seen it so many time

 

[Flimgoblin]

One word: naive!

not everyone who plays the game tries to get every drop they can possibly get their hands on whether they can use it or not just to flog it on their CM. (though if you spend all your time with l33t d00ds then I'd forgive you for thinking it )

I like to make it a bit fairer for those kinds of people (the ones that'll only /random when they actually want/need the item rather than just to sell it).

Indeed. However, it ain't worth the extra hazzle imo, and if someone really wants the item, they will get it as long as it's the average Joe who wins it - merely skipping past the CM. They simple can't stand the temptation of ie. 10plat, seen it so many time

I run invite raids (at least when it was sidi, not done any large raids for ToA yet) - people that do that don't get invited back

it depends on your raid audience - sure if you have a group of people who all have umpteen alts at level 50 make it roll for anything, if you don't care about need before greed and people selling stuff then make it everyone roll for (or choose) everything.

If you have a mixed raid with some hardcore people, some casual gamers and believe that having someone on the raid use the item is better than having someone on the raid sell it to some necro cashfarmer for 15p then make it a class/spec based lotto.

 

[Gorre]

best lotto imho for ML raids:
salvage all drops and then devide all bars equally under the amount of participants
everyone will be happy becasue no-one else will have more then themselves

PS lill tip for futur raid leader bring spare arcanium bars along incase the amount of salvaged bars cant be equally distributed to all.

 

[Alithiel]

best lotto imho for ML raids:
salvage all drops and then devide all bars equally under the amount of participants
everyone will be happy becasue no-one else will have more then themselves

People will still find an excuse to complain...

wtf?!? I'm a crafter and can actually use those bars! He's just going to sell them ffs!



It doesn't matter what you try... people will find a reason that it's unfair, just for the sake of arguing!

 

[kirennia]

Lotto rules.
These rules are slightly more difficult for organiser during the raid but leads to a much much quicker lotto by guild.

lets say for example there are 4 people of different guilds attending.

a has 10 people,
b has 7,
c has 5 ,
d has 1.

from this, a would have 1-10, b = 11-17, c = 18-22 and d 23.

Each item is then said in /bc followed by just the raid leader doing /random 23. Wherever the number lands, the representative of the guild picks up the item. There are no limits to number of drops one guild can get as its completely random, one day you could get more then your chance, another time you could get less but its all down to the /random


All people in attendance will count for one number even if they're the only person from their guild present.
This way theres no arguments about who can roll for what apart from you set the lvl limit of who can count as a number. There is only 1 roll per item as well so no spam. Write the numbers on a sheet and with the new 'drag item stats to chat window' you can do that, hit a macro for /random and look at the sheet to see whos won. 10 seconds per item.

Just a suggestion but has led to much much calmer lottos on my last raids which this was used for.

This works on the premise that no matter what drops, everyone has the chance of getting the great item for their particular needs. If you are a casual cleric who gets a mincer item, then trade the item for another. If all you need is cash, then sell it. But this I don't beleive to be greed before need because EVERYONE in the raid has the same chance to win each item as long as their internal guild lottos are done right.

So far this has led to many 10 minute lottos for 75 items, theres no arguing about "what happened to that af:45 RoG?" or anything because it's all in there

Of course smaller 8 man raids like my sidi ones were done differently though but wont go into them cause think the post is aiming to more about how to do the larger raids.

 

[Shrye]

not everyone who plays the game tries to get every drop they can possibly get their hands on whether they can use it or not just to flog it on their CM. (though if you spend all your time with l33t d00ds then I'd forgive you for thinking it )

I'm a mid, ain't that explanation enough?

 

[Temmie]

These rules are slightly more difficult for organiser during the raid but leads to a much much quicker lotto by guild.

Gah such lies, you just prod me till I do it for you