Need, Greed or Pass

   One thing that is a must know when in a group are the rules for Need, Greed or passing. While these seem to be straight forward, there can be slight changes when in a guild group.

Usually these are the rules..

Pass – I don’t want this item to use and I also don’t want it to sell.
Greed – I intend to sell or auction this item.
Need – I will USE this item. You WILL NOT SELL IT. (Some groups may wish you to equip it there and then, some groups will just trust that you will make use of it after the instance.)

Just one last point on “Need”, your character really should be able to use it there and then, also “needing it for the money” is not need, that is the greed option.

   The one difference I’ve found when in a guild group and something you may want to ask or get straight up front before heading into an instance is Blue Items.. Mostly those that bind on pickup (BOP). The groups i’ve been in usually hit pass, so they can discuss it and not have to worry about the need/greed timer. Believe me, you don’t want to be the ninja that hits greed and everyone else hits pass, you get it and 2 others could have used it.. oops! yes it happened to me (Noob!). It makes sense, because since it’s BOP and you can’t use it, then you would only be able to sell it for small small amounts to the NPC’s, so usually someone can enchant it and the group shares what comes from it.

   While i’m talking about looting I might as well add what the different loot options are for groups, since many don’t know.

Round Robin – Everyone takes turns in looting. It is your turn to loot again when everyone has taken their turn in that “round.” This setting is recommended for most situations. If a player bends down to loot a monster under Round Robin looting, then if they leave items on the corpse that they haven’t looted, anyone in the party can loot them. Keep in mind that more than one person will be able to loot a corpse if the person currently looting already has enough of the quest items that that specific monster dropped.

Free-For-All - This setting allows anyone in the party to loot any corpse. You might find this option useful if no one cares who gets what, or how often any one person gets to loot.

Master Looter – This setting allows the group leader to loot everything and allows the leader to decide if other members in the party are to get items, and what items they should get. This becomes useful when very powerful items are dropping and people can’t be trusted to pass them out fairly. Any time an item is distributed using the Master Looter system and the item is quality epic or above there will be a confirmation dialogue to confirm that the item is going to the correct person.

Group Loot (default) – When an item equal to or above the threshold (details on threshold below) is on a monster that is killed, everyone gets a pop-up box on their screen with the item and pass or roll options and a timer. Anyone who rolls, displays a number between 1 and 100, the highest roller of all those who choose to roll automatically gets the item. Anyone who waits until the timer expires automatically passes. Items below the threshold are taken care of by normal round robin rules. If more than one player ties a loot roll, a random player will receive the loot. An interface option, “Detailed Loot Information” is defaulted to ‘on.’ If you turn it off you will only see the roll and Need/Greed option of the player who won the item rather than information for every player.

Need Before Greed – Same as group loot, except players who cannot use the item automatically pass.



One Response to “Need, Greed or Pass”

1. Valdesta says:

   December 11, 2007 at 1:37 pm

   Hey there, great topic, it’s definitely something that is largely unwritten for the new player and a source of anguish.

   Another thing to consider in your NEED category is that in a group of strangers, hitting Need because one of your Alts will use the item is another common mistake by low-levels who forget that everyone in the party likely has alts as well.

   Nice blog, I’ll link to ya!

   Valdesta
   WoWGrrl player blog with tips and tricks