GDKP information

I'm going to be trying to start a GDKP run on the horde side of Anachronos in the next few days. For this to work, people need to know about what GDKP is, why it might appeal to them, and how to get in touch if they are interested.

What is GDKP?

GDKP is a system of distributing loot in pugs for gold, rather than /rolls or any other system. For a more comprehensive explanation of the system I'd recommend reading this thread over on EJ. Copy pasting the summary:

- GDKP stands for "Gold-DKP". It can also be known by similar names such as "Gold runs", "GKP runs", "Cash runs".
- It was a Korean concept brought to WoW. It's already established and extremely common in some regions, only recently introduced on some servers , yet still completely unheard of on others.
- Items which drop in your run are auctioned off in raid chat. The highest bidder receives the item and the gold they pay is added to "The Pot"
- Profession Patterns, BOE's, Crusader Orbs, Disenchanted Shards etc are all auctioned off in this manner as well. Everything that drops.
- "The Pot" keeps growing in value until the end of the run
- "The Pot" is split evenly at the end of the run to all 25 players in the raid present when the final boss dies. Everyone gets an equal share.
- There is no mainspec > offspec priority, its gold which determines who gets what.

First of all, there's the obvious trust issue. A lot of you won't know anything about me, and might consider handing over thousands of gold to a stranger a fairly risky proposition given the number of ninja raid leaders that seem to plague ICC 25 pugs on Anachronos. Fortunately, you don't actually have to trust me, as Blizzard have explicitly said that if loot rules are clearly stated at the beginning of a pug, and the master looter then tries to run off with the pot or otherwise scam the members of the raid, Blizzard GMs will intervene, and punish the offender appropriately. Here are the relevant quotes, and sources:

World of Warcraft - English (NA) Forums -> GDKP Will GM Help When Ninja strikes

Blizzard Response: The Game Master staff does not frequently intervene in looting disputes; however, we may provide assistance if a player blatantly attempts to scam others by promising a loot method that is not upheld. Accordingly, I encourage you to speak with raid leaders and master looters before participating in a raid; if they choose a looting method counter to your desires, please respectfully decline the invitation to join their raid. If the looting method is not upheld, open an in-game petition so that our Game Master staff may review the issue further and take appropriate action in accordance with our policies.

World of Warcraft (en) Forums -> Policy on GDKP intervention

Blizzard Response: In an incident where a Master Looter fails to maintain such a "cash for drops" agreement and disappears with money belonging to players, we would investigate such an incident as a scam. We would of course recommend that players don't get involved in this kind of scheme and instead attend raids and instances with their friends, guildmates and other trusted players who will not organise such a scheme.

So as long as I state the loot rules clearly at the beginning of the raid, you're protected. Even if you're not interested in taking part in a GDKP run, it's good practice to get the raid leader to state loot rules when joining any pug so that you have something to take to the GMs if they end up ninjaing items.


A bit about me.

Obviously people are going to be more inclined to want to come to one of these if they believe the person running it is trustworthy and knows what they're doing, so I'll provide a little background on myself. I was GM and raid leader of Bloodpack for most of the last two years, and at our peak we were ranked around world 300, at the time we cleared 11/12 ICC heroic on 25 man, and 12/12 ICC heroic on 10 man. My main, a paladin tank formerly known as Rhiannon, and now Rhia, is part of a guild called SlashCry on Kazzak, with whom I've cleared Lich King 25 heroic and Halion 25 heroic. I raid lead for Bloodpack for the entirety of my time with the guild, and frequently raid lead in pugs on my alts so I have a fair amount of experience. I believe that most of my former members would say that while I can be critical and abrupt, I was a reliable and trustworthy GM, and an effective raid leader.

I still have a few characters left on Anachronos; a warlock who is a member of late night raiding guild Lithium, a priest who pugs ICC 25 most weeks, and a warrior who I intend to lead these GDKP runs with.

I've taken part in a few GDKP runs now, on my new realm. Being a more progressed realm on average, as well as busier, Kazzak has a bigger pool of experienced players, so the GDKP runs I've been on have cleared between 8 and 10 bosses on heroic in ICC typically, as well as Lich King normal and Halion normal. I enjoyed the experiences a lot, and while I think it may take a little while before runs on Anachronos can compare I'm sure it can happen given enough effort.


What makes GDKP better than a normal pug?

Well, nothing intrinsically. I've been on pugs hosted by Synthesis and Sundown in the past, and they were run efficiently and cleared content quickly. Unfortunately though, these are the exception rather than the rule, and most 25 man pugs on Anachronos still barely scrape past Saurfang, perhaps downing Rotface and Festergut before disbanding. A few key aspects of GDKP lead it to promote a better pug experience:

The pot is only split at the end of the designated raid time, and only to people who are present at that time.

Regular pugs are plagued with people DCing, or mysteriously disappearing when they don't get the drop they want, or after the first wipe. With GDKP, there's a very strong incentive to see the run through - would your cat suddenly catch on fire if you knew that there was a split of a couple of thousand gold waiting for you if you stayed the course?

As the items cost hard-earned gold, players are likely to put more thought into what they want.

A typical problem in normal pugs is people rolling on anything they perceive as even the slightest upgrade, simply because there's no incentive not to. Ret paladins rolling on deathbringer's will, warlocks rolling on solace of the fallen, etc. If you're going to a GDKP run you're more likely to have analysed what drops are actually upgrades and worth bidding on, and what would just end up rotting in your bank.

The payout at the end is directly proportional to the amount of content cleared.

Obviously, the pot will be bigger at the end, the more items that drop. This promotes less afking and higher levels of concentration than the average pug, as everyone benefits from getting a couple more bosses down even if those bosses don't drop any specific upgrades.


It's not all peaches and cream of course, and a GDKP run isn't going to magically clear everything just by virtue of being a GDKP run. But average quality of player interested in attending tends to be higher than your average /2 pug aiming to clear 6/12, and then disbanding after Saurfang.


Specifics

Talking specifically about the runs I intend to run:

The first run will be Saturday 7th August from 14:30 server time until 18:30 server time. Last pull will be at 18:15 so I have time to split the pot before end of raid. What we aim for is dependent on the quality of the people signing up; it'll go one of two ways. If we have several people with heroic experience, on other characters and so on, I will aim for ICC 11/12 with at least Marrowgar, Gunship, Rotface, Princes and BQL on heroic. If on the other hand the raid is less experienced, I'll be aiming for a fast 10/12 normal (with gunship heroic, kingslayer permitting) and then aim for Ruby Sanctum 25 normal.

The bidding rules will be:

Minimum bid: 750g
Minimum increment: 250g

Anything that does not go for minimum bid will be disenchanted, and abyss crystals and primordial saronites will be auctioned at the end of the run.


Expectations of those that attend are as follows:

You will bring flasks for four hours worth of raiding, as well as mana, armor, haste, wild magic pots as appropriate for the harder encounters. Fish feasts will be provided.

You will be able to use ventrilo, and understand spoken English. I don't have a pronounced accent and most people find me fairly easy to understand.

If you disconnect without warning, I will wait 3 minutes for you before pulling the next boss. If you're not back online within 10 minutes of disconnecting, I will remove you from the raid and get a replacement, and you will forfeit your share of the pot. Unlike regular pugs, people are willing to get themselves saved even if several bosses are down, if they're going to get a reasonable amount of gold for their trouble.

You will have a reasonable knowledge of what the encounters involve. It's in your interest as well as the rest of the raid's to know roughly what to do on each fight. Each attempt that ends in a wipe reduces the number of drops/hour, and so the likelihood of seeing the upgrade you want drop, and the total pot at the end of the run.

You are able to put out an adequate performance given your level of gear. Obviously, we may have some fairly undergeared people coming along with lots of gold to drop on upgrades, but being undergeared does not give you a free pass to play terribly. Any newly dinged 80 should be able to put out at least 6k dps with full 25 man raid buffs and the ICC zone buff, if they've spent a couple of days farming triumph badges as soon as they hit 80. Having poor gear doesn't give you an excuse to stand in fire, or not taunt when you're supposed to, or let the tank go without heals for 5 seconds. Those who I perceive as grossly underperforming their gear level will be replaced.

This all may sound a bit draconian, but I'm extremely keen that the first few runs I try to put together go as smoothly as possible. I'm not too worried about the pot size to start with, I'd much rather take a raid of people who know what they're doing, but don't need to buy much gear, than rich, undergeared, but clueless people, who end up with nothing to buy as we can't down any bosses. If the initial runs are successful, we'll be able to push more heroic content in the future and pots will grow naturally from that anyway.

Hopefully that covers the details. If you have any questions contact me either here or by whispering or mailing Stroganov in-game.