And it was work. Normally, we run a 10-player and a Flexible group that tends to skew into the high teens. While I've had experience working with a larger group, there was one element I hadn't considered: loot distribution. As leader of our raids, and since my role as a damage-dealer wouldn't be terribly missed for a couple of minutes, I never gave a second though to not dishing out loot myself---until we encountered the increased amount of loot drops in 25s. Distributing the spoils became more cumbersome, and then there was the task of tracking who won what so that our loot rules could be properly enforced. That, in addition to making sure the run continued on without delay.
The group is at the point where it can pretty much run itself through SoO. Still, come Warlords of Draenor, we'll have new challenges, new packs of trash, new bosses and possibly a greater need for raid direction in the immediate aftermath of a boss kill. I realized it was time to find a new Loot Master.
It was a small yet significant change, and I don't miss handling the loot one bit. I'm freed up to keep the raid slashing its way towards the next encounter while another player loots the boss, calls for rolls, distributes and tracks loot. You know those times when you discover a new way of doing something, and after the discovery you can't believe you'd been doing it any other way? Yeah, this is one of those times. I'm an advocate of the non-Raid Leader Loot Master, and feel every organized raid should have one.
How does it work in your raids? Are leading and loot two separate domains, or does your leader shoulder both responsibilities?
The day I decided to have a dedicated loot master was a day of awesomeness and I never looked back. No longer did I have to worry about EPGP, DKP, whatever. I only cared about loot if there was something I wanted that dropped and it was GLORIOUS. We actually had two dedicated loot masters, who took turns every week. That also allowed me to swap the loot masters in and out of the raid based both on their desires or my raid composition (one was DPS, one was a healer). I managed to go the ENTIRETY of Cataclysm without handing loot out once.
ReplyDeleteGlorious, I say. Glorious. Congratulations to you on your newfound freedom. ;)