Never miss out on your chance to upgrade your character with this guide on How to Roll for Loot in World of Warcraft. Compete against friends, allies and guildies for awesome loot, epic mounts or stylish transmogs. Read on to find out, How do I Roll for loot? Why is my loot not tradeable? And How other guilds might be different.
What is Rolling for loot? (Explained)
Rolling for loot is when a player doesn’t need the item that they received and then proceeds to offer it to the group they are in. Most players in WoW do this as a kindness to their fellow player. Most guilds have adopted this loot roll system since Warlords of Draenor changed the way loot is rolled out.
Old WoW & Classic Looting Systems (Explained)
Personal Loot. This was implemented in Warlords of Draenor to combat the Master Looter issues within the game. It has been going rather well but there are still some issues with looting this way. This is a remake of the Group Loot system which allowed the loot to be given out and a threshold for rolling would be privately agreed with the group.
Master Looter could be set by the leader of the Party or Raid. With Master Loot the leader could either keep all of the loot for himself or trade it to his fellow teammates by rolling it out. This caused a lot of grief among players where loot was given to the wrong players or not given out at all. Many “Game Master Tickets” were opened and left with sad endings.
Round Robin, where players take turns looting corpses. Normal players would see this as a way to get loot more fun, outlandish players could manipulate the kill order of hostiles to get the most loot out of an instance.
Need before Greed, this loot system was interesting as it gave you a chance to vote “Need” “Greed” or “Pass” for loot so theoretically only players that needed the item would automatically roll for it. However the system was flawed and everyone could vote for either option.
Rolling for Loot (Explained)
To roll for loot you will need to be in a party or raid group. The item must not be Soulbound or Loot Locked. Nearly all loot can be traded with few exceptions to this rule.
Firstly the item must be usable by your Character. Such as Plate Wearers can’t equip Cloth gear and wouldn’t win the roll even if you scored higher.
Once you’ve decided that you need the item (fast decisions or you may miss the roll)
Type “/roll 100” in the chat channel. Then press “Enter”
Will appear in chat along with anyone else that rolls for the item.
The winner is the person with the Highest roll.
How to Trade Loot (Explained)
- Giving Loot
To trade loot, right click on the Player Nameplate that you wish to give the item to:
Select Trade:
And if the user is available to trade, the trade window will appear.
Right click the item in your bag to put it in the Trade window, or drag the item into the frame. If the item is Soulbound and isn’t tradeable it will be put in the Will not be traded box.
Once you are ready to trade, hit the “Trade” Button and this box will appear on the top of your screen.
Item level issues. Some gear is item level locked to your player. If your Item level is between 3-5 levels below the item you want to trade it can’t be traded until your equipped item level is higher than the item to trade.
If this text highlighted in the Red Box doesn’t appear on Raid or Mythic Dungeon loot you cannot trade it to other players.
- Receiving trade:
When receiving loot from a player, the trade window will suddenly appear on your screen.
The other player will deposit the item in the window.
If you have purchased the item you can add your gold on your side of the panel.
Once you’re ready to receive the loot, press trade. If both windows turn green then the item will appear in your bags.
How guilds roll for loot
Most guilds will roll loot out for Guildies first to gear their team, this will be on a Mainspec before Offspec before Transmog basis. If their guildies don’t require the loot it will be given out to Players Ungrouped (PuG’s).
Some guilds will operate in different ways, like the old DKP (Dragon Kill Points). DKP is a points operating system for loot rolling, usually managed with an addon and a DKP master.. Attending raids, killing bosses would earn you points to gain loot. You would use your points to buy loot instead of rolling for it. DKP points would be revoked by the DKP master for wipes or failing to turn up or signup for raids as well.
A select few guilds have BiS (Best in Slot) Lists for their teams. Best performing players would receive the best loot first. This is very rarely operated and only the top guilds usually perform this method.
Other types of Rolls
You can perform multiple different types of rolling in WoW many other players will play games of who can under roll one another for different items or trades.
In order to do this you have to change the number when typing “/roll”.
/roll 2
/roll 20
/roll 200
/roll 2000
Rolling for Tier Sets (Explained)
Shadowlans Tier Sets roll out differently to other pieces of loot.
They drop via:
- Chest – Rygelon
- Hands – Lihuvim, Principle Architect
- Helm – Anduin Wrynn
- Legs – Halondrus the Reclaimer
- Shoulder – Lords of Dread
They are specific to certain classes at a time.
- “Dreadful” – Demon Hunter, Death Knight, Warlock
- “Mystic” – Druid, Hunter, Mage
- “Venerated” – Paladin, Priest, Shaman
- “Zenith” – Monk, Rogue, Warrior
You can only trade these items if you have already opened one from this tier difficulty. If you haven’t opened the “Shoulders” one from “Heroic” then you will not be able to trade it. Best way to check is the blue text on the item description.
Locked Loot Boxes
During your adventures in Azeroth you may come across a loot box with red text “Locked” “Requires Lockpicking” You can get these opened in two ways.
Asking for a rogue to open some boxes in your guild, or trade channel.
Or
Leveling Blacksmithing or asking for a blacksmith carrying player to open them for you.
These will need to be traded to the player who is opening them.
F.A.Q
Question: Do you still roll for loot in WoW?
Answer: Yes! When an item has dropped that the person it has dropped for doesn’t need.
Question: What does rolling in World of Warcraft mean?
Answer: It is using emote /roll for when gear is being offered to trade in groups.
Question: Difference between Bind on Pickup and Bind on Equip.
Answer: Bind on Pickup locks the item to the player when you pick it up, Bind on Equip locks the item to the player only once it has been equipped in character screen.
Question: How do I see if I have collected the item already for transmog?
Answer: I use All The Things addon which puts a “Collected” marker in the item description.
Question: I have traded the item to the wrong player. What should I do?
Answer: Whisper the player in the chat window and explain the situation, they will most likely give the item back. Unfortunately sometimes they don’t give the item back. There is nothing you can do. Blizzard GM’s do not get involved in trade disputes.
Author Comment
At the time this article was written it was announced that in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight the way we receive loot in Dungeons and Raids is going to change in favor of the players. A more comprehensive guide to Dragonflight Looting will be published upon release of the expansion.
