I've been having a big discussion about moving to a zero-sum system, and a few people have asked how does the system (such as the EJ one) handle things like feral/moonkin/enhance shaman/elemental shaman/shadow priest gear for the "hybrid classes"? Obviously if something is a benefit to a pure dps class I could see it going to that class instead (like Nelth's Tear or similar), but what about things like Gloves of Ebu for moonkin druids? Do they pay full price for the item, or is loot like that priced lower, or a % of the full price based on a sidegrade/downgrade?

I believe this is answered in the big sticky thread, but you can upgrade to and from it. For example, you can upgrade from cenarion chest, to malfurion's bulwark, to stormrage chest.

That said we have no moonkins or shadow priests

The problem with damage/healing is that it's both healing and damage. Therefore, in some cases it can be an upgrade to their primary raid role, which is healing, and in others it's not an upgrade to their primary role.

In the case of Gloves of Ebru versus Stormrage Handguards, the Gloves of Ebru are in fact a downgrade healing wise (and even straight up item level wise), but probably a full upgrade DPS wise.

So what it comes down to, would you prefer to encourage upgrades for the primary raid role by using a discount system for +healing upgrades and having your raiders pay the full price for other items, or do you want everything to be the same price, no matter what.

edit: Although I definitely think there should be some priority enforced when it comes to gear that might be contested by several classes, such as cloth pieces. I have major problems with priests trying to take Ebony Flame Gloves over warlocks, since they are the best raid-DPS gloves in the game.

It's hard for this to actually become a problem if you guild has responsible players. Lets say you go with 3 warlocks and 6 priests. Warlocks have 100% of their DKP to spend on DPS stuff while the priests are still in competition for their healing gear. After the warlocks have everything priests are only competiting with themselves.

The first 2-3 leggings of immersion that dropped were disenchanted in my guild. Only after the price was lowered our ONE balance druid bother to pick them up.

Our druids get leggings of immersion for free because disenchanting things is silly

We don't prioritize DPS items, because farming time (soon to be leveling time) > Raid time, so it seems rather retarded to have 10 excellent farmers (who still need sleep) and 30 crappy ones, over 40 good farmers.

DPS classes spend the majority of their item aquisitions on dps gear. They're going to have more of it, and overall better sets, than your healers/tanks. You don't have to kick your healers/tanks in the nuts and say "No farming repair bills, honor for rank 3, mats for consumables, or level 70".

Of course, your milage may vary. In our system we see the first x drops tend to go for full, generally to the obvious classes because they're willing to go full on it, and the next y drops go for upgrade to the secondary classes that you'd predict for that item, and then the last z drops go for downgrade to primary and tertiary classes that weren't interested in spending points on it.

If you have people buying stuff that makes no sense in any situation at all, that's a people problem, and you want to identify it early. People who don't know enough about their class to realize that (for instance) perditions blade doesn't make any sense for a druid, are going to drive you crazy when you try to explain "stand 10 yards apart" or "Tanks at 12, healer camp at 4, Blast pit at 8". Having a priority system seems like it hurts your guild a lot more than it helps it. For one thing -- Morons can't be identified easily, for another -- your healers/tanks kill stuff outside/inside of raid time inefficiently, which has repercussions for preparedness, and for flexibility during encounters where your raid composition is too many tanks/healers.

I understand why dps classes want priorities. I just think they're being retarded. >.<

Nobody who can heal pays shit for repair costs shut up.

Also farming in this game is almost completely unnecesary for raiding. All a guild needs is a couple herbalists, and no amount of taunt dragonhide crap will make you better at that.

Dios, I created Zoltana (my warrior alt) just to farm to feed my priest. It wasn't until 1.10 and I could actually spec holy/disc and get a decent damage/healing hybrid build that I stopped needing to use my warrior alt.

How the fuck was I supposed to pay for my repairs, major mana/dreamless potions, essence of air/water for healing enchants and countless shards, etc. Farming on a Disc/Holy priest before 1.10 was an excercise in utter frustration. You'll notice I haven't been playing Zoltana much at all since 1.10 has hit. I've pretty much retired her since I can actually kill shit with my priest now.

It must be nice being a tank and having all your flasks and greater defense potions handed to you. Every single class has to put their effort in outside of raiding. You're expected to have your needed consumables and all your gear enchanted correctly for the raid.

I just dropped enchanting to train herbalism again to farm for herbs so I can start getting my consumables together for Naxx. Brilliant mana oil, major manas, etc. You think we're going to beat Patchwerk without all that?

So don't give anyone shit about repair costs, or maybe I'll think about drinking that major mana potion that cost me 3g just to keep you alive so you don't have to pay repairs on another death.

With herbalism I've never had much of any problem making money and being able to provide my own consumables.

herbalism seems to be the equivalent of engineering in pvp - sure you could survive without it, but it makes life so much easier. If you're a serious raider ( and even more especially true if you're a healer) then you either have herbalism on your main, or you have a herbing alt.

No, just no. If you only knew how expensive it actually was.