Blizzard Blue Taepsilum has weighed in on a forum thread discussing the potential implementation of what’s referred to as the Need Plus system in 5-man instances. If readers recall, the Need Plus system was the previous iteration of the Raid Finder loot system, where certain specs and certain classes would have 100 points added to their rolls for certain items, and indeed weren’t permitted to roll need on other items.
Many have bemoaned the absence of this system in 5-man dungeons, and with players’ reliance on 5-man content for gearing at the very start of Mists, it is not surprising that the complaints have increased in severity and frequency. While there is a kind of priority system in place in dungeons already, it doesn’t work like the Raid Finder system did, and indeed allows some very strange need rolls.
For example, in the Cataclysm era Raid Finder, if a healer and a DPS rolled on a spirit item, the healer would receive a 100 point bonus to their roll, to ensure that they beat the DPS player to the item. There were also divisions between classes. For example, the two healing classes who could roll on shields with spirit on them could only roll on those shields, and not on off-hands, which were restricted to non-shield-using healers. So a shaman, despite being able to equip a spirit off-hand from the Cataclysm-era Raid Finder, such as the Ledger of Revolting Rituals, could not win on it — their roll was treated like they were a DPS.
So should this system be implemented in 5-man dungeons? There are several advantages and disadvantages, but victims of other players ‘ninja’ behavior in rolling need on items which they clearly don’t would likely argue in the positive. My paladin tank is inexplicably able to need on almost everything, while my shaman’s rolls are far more restricted, perhaps simply as paladins could theoretically equip every class of armor. But agility leather is no use for my paladin.
It would certainly put a damper on the antics of certain players who roll need on every thing they can need on, just planning to vendor it for gold. However, in downsides, it would make it far harder for players to build an off-set, as was regularly pointed out in reference to the Raid Finder’s loot system. But should players who are building an off-set not perform their off-spec role if they wish to need on those items?
It’s certainly a difficult task to balance the system, but what do you think? Is is best to maintain the current system? Or would something like the earlier ‘Need Plus’ Raid Finder system work better? Or another system altogether?
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