I don’t mean for this to be me bitching (I swear), but I’ve spent time over the last week working on a fair, equitable process for determining who’s going to get the legendary staff. Note that I haven’t selected anyone, but I have recently proposed a fairly lengthy and detailed process to the officers of my guild.
I was pretty pleased with it. It promised to be long and tedious for some people (mostly the officers) but it seemed like the fairest way to do things.
There is a substantial amount of resistance from the officers thus far.
I won’t describe my process (at least not yet, but I’d like to do so at some point in the future), nor what some of my officers are countering with, but I wanted to post because if they aren’t going to accept my method, I need another suggestion. So I am now looking at backup plans. Of course, the last one took me a week to refine, so if I’m going to counter, I need to spread my net a little bit.
Please comment about legendary selections that you’ve seen in the past! Tell me about the best AND the worst selection processes for a legendary you’ve ever seen. Tell me why you liked one and why you didn’t like one. Have you ever gotten a legendary? If so, the process obviously worked out for you, but what flaws did you see in the system? Have you been passed over for a legendary? If so, the process obviously did NOT work out for you, but what did you LIKE about the process?
Finally, how is your guild dealing with the legendary staff?
Can’t wait to read your responses. :)
My one guild in Ulduar did it via a vote. It was between arguably, our two best healers… a Resto Shaman and a Disc Priest. The problem with that, was like maybe 5 people actually used the forums and voted.
My second guild in Ulduar was giving pieces to a Holy Pally because he was basically our top healer it was understandable. I’m not sure how they came to that conclusion as he was getting the fragments before I had joined the guild.
In ICC, our first Shadowmourne went to our top melee DPS, a ret pally. It was a no brainer decision from the officers and no one really had any reservations about that. The problem was the second SM which went to a Ret Pally who was an officer and brother of the GM. He was also pretty bad at the game and made zero use of it, even after he had he was still doing middle of the pack DPS.
I think it’s up to the officer core to evaluate who is the best, most reliable player of the eligible classes.
How is my current guild going to hand out Dragonwrath? Well, you still have to decide ;)!
Atonement Priest weapon.
We held it to an officer vote. I got voted in as the only Val’anyr wielder in the guild at the time. The big thing I look for is that we’re spending a significant amount of time and resources into Legendary construction and I want to maximize the gain out of it. That means locking it to players who have been around for a long time, who I trust and who I also know will will wield it expertly (as in, top line players).
Last thing I want is someone getting it then leaving or quitting the game.
We’ve already made a shortlist of who’s getting the Legendary. They’re all going to get it eventually, but the order’s essentially been decided.
The only thing I can say for sure, based on experience, is know who is going to get it before you step foot into the instance.
The guild that I was in during Wrath had started a healthy debate about it on the guild forums, they wanted the guild to have input and an official decision hadn’t been made yet. They assumed that the Flame Leviathan wouldn’t drop a Fragment on our first night going into Ulduar. They were wrong.
Needless to say, they made all the healers roll and I rolled a 98 (or 99) and I got the first piece. Much emo and angst was had and it was unceremoniously decided that I would get Val’anyr first. I would still not encourage any guild to do it the way that they did, even though I was technically the “lucky one.”
The guild I had in Ulduar gave Val’anyr to the healer who had been there the longest, but he was also our worst. Their other healers were new to the guild, none being there longer than a few months. This person had been there for years. I understand why they felt tied to give it to this person – at least it would be likely to remain in the guild – but no one was really excited about it.
They used zero-sum DKP and set the total cost at 3k. Each fragment cost you 100 DKP, so it would be slowly drained instead of all at once.
They set their second recipient based on attendance and performance once the first was almost completed (which took a long time for us), but ToC came out before we finished the second one.
In ICC – and different guild – they gave Shadowmourne based on loyalty and performance. Balancing the two, they gave it to one of our good melee DPS (not the best, but certainly most loyal).
The problem is that everyone’s idea of “fair” is going to be different. Some GMs may think that giving it to who they trust the most to be around is fair. Others may think a guild vote is fair. Some others might think a job-style interview process is fair.
There will most likely be drama, regardless, unless the guild is one of those types that just don’t put a lot of stock into such things as legendaries (either because they are practically unattainable, like my past guild was about Valnyr during Ulduar, or because there’s one clear prospective recipient, like there was during my second ICC guild).
Unfortunately (well, fortunately, heh) for you, Kurn, we have a lot of competant, worthy candidates who put a lot of time and effort into making their toons and the guild itself the best that they can. Not everyone in our guild is going to be happy, no matter what. I’m not surprised that the officers can’t agree on a method, personally.
But you are the final decider. If you just decide to have Dar come on her mage and she gets it on that alt, that’s your decision, period. Us raiders will most likely chose to high-tail it out of the guild, but that’s the consequence of a choice like that.
I’m still looking forward to what you decide on the process, though, and who gets it. I’m kind of glad I’m not going for it myself. :-P
On a side note, if we do it the way O’s guild did it as she describes (straight roll), the decision is out of your hands entirely. People can only blame RNG! If worse comes to worst … :-)
Here is my guild’s process:
Multi-part Legendary Weapons:
1) Only classes that can equip the Legendary when complete may roll
2) Only raiders that are regular raid attendees (attend 90% or more of scheduled raids during a rolling 3 month period) may roll
3) All eligible raiders will roll off when the first piece drops (this is more fair than bidding because that goes against the spirit of the loot rules by encouraging camping the top of the loot ladder)
Once the first piece is assigned, the winner of the roll (hereafter referred to as “player 1”) will receive all other pieces going forward, until the Legendary is complete or those parts are no longer needed by player 1.
If player 1 is absent and a piece drops we will repeat the process and the winner of that roll off will be named player 2 and will get all the parts that player 1 doesn’t need any more of or is not present to receive. Player 1 will always be preferred over Player 2; Player 2 will always be preferred over Player 3; etc. If the allotment of pieces becomes disproportionate we will discuss the situation with all involved and may rearrange the priority of all involved on a case by case basis.
We’ve awarded every legendary since Thunderfury, based on officer decision.
I shared how we decided on awarding Val’anyr (http://fallingleavesandwings.wordpress.com/2009/04/13/what-to-do-with-valanyr/) and how we decided to award Shadowmourne (http://fallingleavesandwings.wordpress.com/2009/11/17/what-to-do-with-shadowmourne/). I imagine that we will use a similar set of factors in deciding how to award the caster staff as well.
I will reiterate what I’ve read from a couple of other people – absolutely know who will be receiving the item before the first shard/fragment drops. Be transparent with your guild on how you chose who is receiving the item, and what factors went into making that decision.
I am a pretty staunch believer that the staff should be awarded – and not DKP’d off, voted or /randomed. The staff isn’t just for the wielder, but is an achievement for the guild. It really ought to go to someone who has been loyal to your guild, above and beyond others, and someone that is going to be around the entirety of the expansion so that the guild gets the benefit of the staff. We’ve used this philosophy to award three thunderfury’s, one sulfurus, atiesh, three warglaves, (we didn’t get a thron’dal), two Val’ynars and four shadowmournes. And over six years of legendaries, we’ve yet to have a lick of drama regarding the items.
“I am a pretty staunch believer that the staff should be awarded – and not DKP’d off, voted or /randomed. The staff isn’t just for the wielder, but is an achievement for the guild. It really ought to go to someone who has been loyal to your guild, above and beyond others, and someone that is going to be around the entirety of the expansion so that the guild gets the benefit of the staff. We’ve used this philosophy to award three thunderfury’s, one sulfurus, atiesh, three warglaves, (we didn’t get a thron’dal), two Val’ynars and four shadowmournes. And over six years of legendaries, we’ve yet to have a lick of drama regarding the items.”
Agreed completely.
Definite factors should go into it, too – loyalty to the guild, outside-of-raid participation and dedication, good relationship with guildies, and clear performance capabilities.
You don’t want someone getting it who only logs on occasionally, never participates in guild activities outside of raids, doesn’t speak up on the forums, never talks to anyone outside of their own circle of friends, never helps people out or volunteers their time/effort for someone else’s benefit, never helps with mundane activities (bumping recruitment posts ftw … too bad only me, Kurn, and a healer do it!), and yes, someone who bottoms out the dps charts.
It should be someone who EARNS it, BOTH as a player and as a guildie.
At least, that’s what I think. Some GMs would probably think it’s fair to look at only one aspect (highest dps, or an officer), but I’d imagine all aspects to be a fairer assessment, and harder to argue against if drama starts.
But I’m confident you’ll come up with a good system, Kurn. <3
We handled them differently. basically the legendary was worth all your loot. you got the stuff that was going to be sharded, though you did beat off specs. we had interested parties post on the forums, and then had a roll off for the victor. it worked well enough.
We haven’t officially decided who gets our legendary, but I know who my choice is. It’s based on what Beru said: “It really ought to go to someone who has been loyal to your guild, above and beyond others, and someone that is going to be around the entirety of the expansion so that the guild gets the benefit of the staff.”
This guy has been around since the guild was founded, never complained, takes care of our guild site… and while he’s not a very good DPS and I’m sure the others will QQ, he deserves it. Especially since the other potential recipients have only been in the guild for a few months and they’re either unreliable or pains in the ass. I just hope both the officers agree with me :P
I was the lucky winner of the first Legendary Val’ynar, but it was sort of a mixed up process.
At the time there were five officers in our guild, myself included. Two of us were part of the healing team, myself being the heal lead. When the weapon first came out, it was concluded by most sites at the time that the weapon would be best in the hands of a paladin, and there were two in the guild. The main contention was that if ‘I’ was the one to get it, the guild might look at it as favoritism, since I was heal lead and an officer, and people might not feel motivated to try as hard to accomplish things only for the elite’s benefits. So, somewhat to my dismay, it was voted 3 to 2 that I would not get the first one but the other active holy paladin would. (There was also talk that he was a flat out a better healer, but there really was no proof to support or refute that statement.)
So we went into Ulduar, announcement made, and started killing bosses. We didn’t even get our first shard for three or four weeks. However, during that period, the other paladin that had been chosen started missing raids AND underperforming, cause he had other things on his agenda, so by the time those three or four weeks had passed, it was redecided that I would get the first hammer after all cause I never missed a raid and I did a substantial amount for the guild, heal lead included.
The other paladin quit the guild soon after, the changed selection probably helping to influence that.
The second hammer was easier to select for. It went to who I felt was the next best healer in my guild, as well as someone who was religiously around and was taking a more active role in helping out (she later became an officer and replaced me as heal lead when I quit WoW for a time after our server first Lich King kill. Raiding 6 times a week took it’s toll.)
As for THIS legendary, it should be pretty easy. We’re only a ten man guild now, and our caster squad is surprisingly small. We have a shadow priest, an ele shaman, and a boomkin. Right now, our boomkin has been redesignated to full time healer since we lost our priest, and shamans don’t use two handed weapons. So our selection is pretty easy. ;) However, if our boomkin can still boomkin, it’d go to him. He’s been GM since I can remember and has given more for the guild than anyone that still remains.
My guild has two raids, working on a third, all independent ten mans, not overseen by officers. It’s up to each raid how they want to make this call.
The other raid has a mage and a lock, a mother/daughter pair. I think they’re going to let the two of them work it out.
My raid – well we only had two contenders, both mages. And I admit to making the decision before we even brought it up, but the mage we’re giving it to is the obvious choice. Her hubby plays the AH big time so she can buy the mats. She’s incredibly reliable, this is her only raid, and she’s just a fun person to raid with. I’ve mentioned it to half the raid now and everyone agrees she’s the obvious choice.
It seems that most of the comments or processes listed here are echoed in the guild discussion thread. Perhaps re-reading that thread with the critiques offered by the officers in mind will help sort out some of your issues. Also, I’m happy to chat about it or help refine ideas if you need a sounding board.
One more thing, the odds of most guilds completing more than 2 of these seems very low in my opinion. A lot of people have had their view of Legendary procurement skewed by Shadowmourne. We had ICC as the end-game instance for 11 months. Its extremely unlikely that Firelands will be the end-game for anywhere near that length of time. Its more useful to think in terms of how many you can complete in 5-6 months (when you’re not clearing it for at least the first month of that time).
TLDR; Unless you’re in a top 100 guild, you’ll likely only see 1.5-2 completed while Firelands is current.
We only have one eligible person in the raid I am in. The other ranged is a hunter….yes I know everything is hunter loot.
So they got lucky as they are the only one who can really use it. We may not have taken the time to make the legendary if they were a slacker etc. But the player is someone who is there all the time, has the resources to complete it etc, so it was a nice and lucky fit.
And I am the other mage in Analogue’s raid…I am glad the other mage gets it :) Not really interested in making a legenday, I am too much of a healer, so I flail about trying to DPS.
Based on my personal experiences with Legendaries they are a completely overrated waste of time. (I’m not bitter, really).
Let’s see if I can remember everything…
Warglaives – I wasn’t privy to the process of how these were awarded but based on who got them I believe that both longevity in the guild and performance were taken into account. The officers made the decision. The first one went to a rogue. He was very good and I think he deserved it. However, very shortly after he got it he got hacked, or quit the game and I never saw him online again. The second one went to a very deserving warrior, who did actually make use of it.
Val’anyr (this is where the bitterness comes in) – I had two guilds that had to deal with Val’anyr. In my Alliance guild the shards were collected by our holy priest (as decided by the officers). She was always there, had been in the guild for a long time and was a fantastic healer. After collecting all the shards we were having trouble killing Yogg to get it made. The priest quit the guild before completing it. We didn’t get more than a couple more shards before TotC came out.
In my Horde guild the first set of shards were awarded based completely on attendance. In a very optimistic move, we announced the first 3 people in the order. On top was a terrible, terrible priest. She had almost 100% raid attendance, though if you figured in how often she was actually alive in raid, that number would be much lower. I was second, on my shaman. Another (terrible, terrible) shaman was 3rd. I think we only got 15 or so shards before TotC came out.
Shadowmourne – The first legendary where things actually worked out well, in my experience. The officers in my Alliance guild determined who it would go to. Again, I wasn’t privy to the process but I assume it was based on guild loyalty and performance. Our first one went to our raid leader who was generally our top dps. The second went to a ret pally who was also really good.
Again, my Horde guild awarded the first one based completely on attendance. Unfortunately, we never managed to complete it.
Though I didn’t know the exact process invloved in the decision-making, I always agreed with the way my (previous) Alliance guild awarded legendaries. We just had some really bad luck with people who had been loyal and great performers for a long time disappearing, but based on my experiences with them beforehand they were the right people to be rewarded.
I’m not a fan of my Horde guild’s method of using 100% attendance and not factoring in performance.
Entropia – So would that be your requirements? “best”, “most reliable” player? How would you come to those conclusions about the people interested?
Matticus – hahaha!
Last thing I want is someone getting it then leaving or quitting the game.
Completely agree with that.
We’ve already made a shortlist of who’s getting the Legendary. They’re all going to get it eventually, but the order’s essentially been decided.
What was your process?
Oestrus – Yup. The first fragment I saw with my Ulduar guild was on the first night in there, off Flame Leviathan, so that, as well as your experience about the /rolling, has my ass in gear trying to figure stuff out.
Keese – Yeah, longevity doesn’t really work out well with us since we’ve reformed after an initial 2-year run together. We were together in BC and the start of Wrath, but then took about 19 months away from each other and have reformed, so to consider people around BEFORE we reformed just because they were there and came back to us… I can’t really factor that in. It has to really be based on who’s been there for us since December/January.
I do enjoy rewarding loyalty, mind you, and I’m sure dedication to the guild will be a factor I bring in to the decision, whatever my personal role in the decision will be.
Thanks!
Dahrla
I’m not surprised that the officers can’t agree on a method, personally.
Well, the initial reception was like “hahaha, no.” We’ll see how my continuing arguments go. ;)
The trouble is, I have never, in the life of the guild, just done something and decided THAT IS HOW IT IS without reasonable room for reconsideration from the officers. I need a “GM’s discretion” clause, but it’s not really my style and it’s way too late to implement that now, particularly since if I were to do so now, it’d be like “oh, Kurn’s just doing that because she’s not getting her way”.
Meh.
In my process, rolling comes into play, but only once the list of 8, I believe it is, has been otherwise pared down to 3. And, due to my sociology and statistical background, it will NOT be a simple /roll. There will be outliers removed, means (averages) done and I think everyone will feel it’s sufficiently random and will be unable to blame “bad luck” for rolling like, a 4.
If my process goes through. We’ll see.
Jason – haha, I think #1 is a pretty good thing to have in writing. :D
Interesting attendance requirement. Do you have a minimum attendance requirement that is lower than the 90%?
Has there been much drama with regards to rolling? Or, if not drama, complaining? Have you thought about retooling the process at all?
Thanks very much! :)
Beru – I really like your set of criteria. The only thing that I’d have to throw out from there is length of time in the guild since we just got this show back together 6ish months ago. Otherwise, things would be far too stacked in favour of those who were with us in Burning Crusade and then came back to us. While, personally, I like that kind of loyalty, it’s not fair to the new people who took a chance on us, without whom we wouldn’t be raiding. In a guild that’s been together like yours since Day 1, totally acceptable criteria, IMHO.
Despite a lack of drama, have there been any complaints? Resentment? Or have your legendary wielders just been THAT awesome that it was really a no-brainer?
Dahrla –
At least, that’s what I think. Some GMs would probably think it’s fair to look at only one aspect (highest dps, or an officer), but I’d imagine all aspects to be a fairer assessment, and harder to argue against if drama starts. But I’m confident you’ll come up with a good system, Kurn. <3
How a guild decides this is basically going to stick for months, if not years. The pressure is on. ;) I’m looking for something fair, objective as possible with the possibility of rolling at the end for the order to be decided. I think I’ve come up with a GREAT system, but I’m posting here to spread the net a bit further so I can come up with another few refinements to counter arguments.
adgamorix – Interesting, another case of loyalty over performance. Is that primarily so that you can ensure it stays in-guild?
Falrei –
The main contention was that if ‘I’ was the one to get it, the guild might look at it as favoritism, since I was heal lead and an officer, and people might not feel motivated to try as hard to accomplish things only for the elite’s benefits.
That’s an excellent point and why I can’t just GIVE it to Majik (our caster DPS officer) although I think he’d be an excellent candidate for it. If he ends up getting it through a fair, equitable process, no one will be able to complain. He’s recused himself from all discussions about it, too. :)
We have a shadow priest, an ele shaman, and a boomkin. Right now, our boomkin has been redesignated to full time healer since we lost our priest, and shamans don’t use two handed weapons.
Do you think elemental shaman should be completely eliminated from the choice? They can (and occasionally do) equip staves. Despite the fact they CAN use a shield… it’s not like priests, mages and warlocks can’t use an OH. I’d love to hear more about this, since one of the people interested in it in my guild is an ele shammy. :)
Analogue – Thanks for the input! :)
Merk – that’s EXACTLY where I pulled all my ideas for the process that’s being debated right now, the thread on our guild forums. The latest from me is “look, I’m listening to how the guildies want to handle it: this was taken from this idea, this was evolved from this idea, and I refined this idea”.
As to completing more than 2, I would tend to agree that 2 is probably about average, but like having a third designated person in case of disaster with 1/2 (computer issues, RL issues, etc).
Slice – TOTALLY hunter loot! For the mend pet set! ;D
What the hell, you HAVE a DPS toon? ahahaha. ;)
Jasyla – haha, I got burned in Ulduar on Val’anyr, so I’m juuuuust a bit bitter, myself. ;)
I would agree that I don’t like how your Horde guild didn’t factor in performance.
Sounds like a crazy experience in terms of legendaries for you, lady!
So how many shards do you have sitting in your bank? I have 3. Pout.
Kurn –
We’ve not had any complaints or resentment. In times where we were having a particularly difficult time deciding where to award the item (glaives come to mind), we actually pulled our two top contenders into vent and advised them they were the two top contenders. Walked them through our thoughts, and asked them for their feedback. At the end of the conversation, they both pretty much said they were honored to be considered, and felt that regardless of the decision, they trusted that we would make a good one – and recognized that both of them were worthy of receiving the weapon.
We did the same thing before awarding Val’ynar. Only we did it over a telephone call instead of vent. But we talked it out, and the other contender was all in favor of awarding our first one to me.
Other times, there was a more clear front runner when we ran through the factors, and that is what drove our decision.
In all honesty, I think transparency in your decision process is important. If everyone understands how and why you made your decision, it’s hard to argue with. Additionally, it helps people see the amount of thought and effort that was put into making the decision, and I think that also comforts people – so that they know that it wasn’t something as simple as flipping a coin and left to chance.
Give it to yourself, even though you can’t wield it, as a reward for figuring out how to distribute it.
Seriously, though, it needs to come down to officer decision. In your position, I’d use the officers to create an unranked list of candidates from the guild, people who are reliable, veterans of the guild that you know you can trust. Then, I would create a set of categories to rank them: efficiency (dps/hps), attendance, attitude, preparedness, attentiveness – terms like this. Hell, use the Johari window for WoW I envisioned a few months ago and choose some terms there. Have each officer rank each candidate secretly, then tally. Winner wins; if there’s a tie, redo the process with only the 2 tied candidates.
While this might take a few minutes out of your officer’s day, it’s well worth it to be able to go to the guild and say, “Based on the officer’s as a whole interpretation, the staff will go to X.” No one campaigned, no one influenced, everyone just put down that they thought and you added it up. The officers should be willing to do that much work for the good of the guild.
I’ll be interested to hear your process in the future, though, so once it’s sorted out, please do return to it.
Kurn-
Since you’ve obviously given this a considerable amount of thought and effort, sought out opinions and ideas, and made the effort to write what I assume is a long explanation (I know you :)), the burden really lies with anyone who has complaints to justify them. What is the flaw(s) in your system? Why would the Guild as a whole disapprove? What idea is superior to yours?
I can’t honestly see you proposing a system that didn’t address many of the basic problems in past legendary distribution systems you’ve experienced or have been referenced here.
We’re going to try something new this time. In the past, we’ve just done it like any other loot council’d item – the officers got together and picked the most deserving person, with a bit more weight on things like “seniority” than normal.
This time, we’re going to invite everyone who is eligible for the staff to write the officers a PM telling us who they think should get it (not themselves) and why. We’re still going to decide it in the end, but we’re going to offer people the opportunity to have input into the process.
We’ll see how it works out.
It’s fairly obvious what I mean by “best”, and “most reliable”. These are players that know the intricacies of their class, are the top performer of their class(if you have multiple people of that class/spec in your raid), and always show up to raids prepared.
The person has to be both though. Looking at some of the responses here, you’ve seen some people say that “long time members, who weren’t that great” were the first to receive a legendary. So great, that person is reliable and loyal to the guild but that in no way is a justification or valid reason for them to receive the first legendary. If the person can’t properly wield it then you aren’t doing your guild/raids any favors.
If you give it to someone that is amazing but flakes out or is inconsistent in their raiding then that should be a no brainer that they should not be in contention to receive the legendary.
Take a look at all the potential recipients of the legendary, or those that have expressed interest. How are they during raids? Do they nerd rage a lot and potentially cause grief? Do they stand in bad, but put out good DPS? Do they show up to every raid prepared with their own flasks/food? Do they have to constantly be reminded to buff or to click their ready check? How long has that person been in the guild, and are they in good standing? It’s a large annoyance to give the staff to someone that’s a good player but not well liked either, that can be a huge hit to morality in the guild. So giving it to a player that not only is an excellent player that shows up to the raid but is well liked goes a long way for the morality of the guild.
It’s a tough decision either way, everyone in the guild has their pre-conceptions immediately at who should get it (I know I do!), and not seeing them get it may not negatively impact the person, but the supporters of that person.
Obviously putting it to a public vote creates a rift in the guild and politicking from the potential recipients would make it even larger. I think that method should be avoided at all costs.
I think that you should privately and confidentially inform the “finalists” that they’re in great contention to receive it. It would then mostly come down to the officers finally electing the first person. The other finalists would then be given a rank based on votes on when they would potentially receive their legendary.
I like what Meloree suggested as well. When you have some finalists, have them respond to you saying why you’re the best candidate to receive it. If they only give a short answer like “I’m the top DPS of my class and I never miss raids”, then they’re not making a compelling argument so you may want to pass on them for the first one.
My raid leader just made the announcement about this Tuesday night. He said that it will be an officer choice, but that the decision will be based on a set of specific criterion that will be posted on the website in advance. I don’t know what they will be, but they’ll probably be too late to act as advice for you. And I don’t know how they did Val’anyr, as I wasn’t with them until late ICC.
I did pipe up and state that my rogue likes the hit on it, so it should come to me. That was greeted with silence. =^/
One thought: It’s a caster DPS weapon. Should the fact that the player is a pure DPS or hybrid class factor into this? Ideally it wouldn’t, but what if the player is, say, boomkin/resto, and is frequently in their resto off-spec? That would deprive the raid of the legendary a decent percentage of the time. Do you think this should be a factor?
Ag
Kurn
“Do you think elemental shaman should be completely eliminated from the choice? They can (and occasionally do) equip staves. Despite the fact they CAN use a shield… it’s not like priests, mages and warlocks can’t use an OH. I’d love to hear more about this, since one of the people interested in it in my guild is an ele shammy. :)”
I honestly don’t know enough about shaman’s that zap stuff with lightning bolts to know if the legendary would be amazing for them or not. I do suppose I’ve heard the retirect enough that ‘stave shaman’s are lame’ that it didn’t occur to me that it WOULD be an amazing weapon for them as it would for mages, boomkins, shadow priests, etc. BUT if it was up for serious contention, meaning there was no clear cut winner, our decision would next go to performance. I know our shadow priest is very commonly at the top of DPS meters (our boomkin was the only one that really gave him a run for his money most of the time) whereas our elem shaman is not. Still, our ten man is pretty easy going about decisions. Unlike a 25 man guild, we don’t really HAVE officers since there’s no need for em. I heal lead but it’s as much the three healers talking it out as it is suggesting what might be best for an encounter personally. It would come to a democratic selection on who would get the first stave, and it’s already been heavily hinted our shadow priest was top contender unless we get a third healer to replace our unfortunate boomkin turned awesome resto druid.
Give it to the druid…if not then just realize that no process is going to be 100% accepted no matter how hard you try to make it fair.
Ultimately its one of those decisions which you need to weigh the options and make a “gut check” call. CEO, Office Manager, Team Captain, President…GM doesn’t matter the title. Every organization has a person at the top they need to trust when it comes time to make critical calls. If they don’t trust you to make the final call, then you have bigger issues than just the legendary to address.