In today's discussion, I will address a recent development concerning Phase 2 of WoW Season of Discovery. Blizzard has officially declared the prohibition of GDKP (Gold-DKP) raiding in this phase. This guide aims to delve into the positive aspects of GDKP raiding, its drawbacks, and significantly, my proposal for an alternative that not only serves as a substitute but also enhances the loot system for Season of Discovery players.

Why GDKP Is Good?

Just so we’re all on the same page, a GDKP raid is one where items that drop are sold to the highest gold bidder. All winning bids are collected into a pot, and the pot is divided amongst all participants at the end of the raid. Let’s talk about a few of those benefits.

One reason why the GDKP loot format is good is that it provides an incentive for players to stay until the end of the raid, when the total gold pot is divided amongst all the players. In other loot formats, some players will leave after the boss that drops the item they want dies. GDKP provides an actual incentive for them to stay till the end of the raid, reducing mid-raid departures.

GDKP also provides an incentive for players who are mostly or fully geared to continue attending the raid. The SOD Gold payout at the end can be spent on consumables, repairs, profession leveling, or used to help gear up another character. In contrast, other loot systems may not offer such incentives for geared players to continue attending.

Another benefit of GDKP is that everyone gets something valuable for their time. With most other loot systems, the most likely outcome is leaving the raid with no items, a small repair bill, having spent consumables, and with the exact same odds of not making any character progress in the next raid. GDKP ensures progress, either in terms of more gold to spend or walking out with an item.

Additionally, the points or gold earned in GDKP raids are transferable to any other group. This flexibility allows players to join different raids, making it easier to play with different people each week.

Why GDKP Is Bad?

Certainly, if GDKP raiding wasn’t bad, Blizzard wouldn’t be banning it. In a GDKP raid, the more gold you’re able to spend, the more loot you can get. This popularity of GDKP makes it easy for cheaters to turn bought gold into character progress, making cheating more tempting. The negative stigma attached to GDKP raids, contributes to the ban. Many players form opinions based on these highlights, which are not the norm, leading them to avoid participating in GDKP raids.

Emblem Auction Loot

With Blizzard banning GDKP raids in Phase 2, I thought a new loot system option could be implemented – the Emblem Auction loot format. In this system, bosses drop an Emblem currency for all raiders, and the boss loot is auctioned for Emblems through the in-game interface.

The highest bidder gets the item, the Emblems are deleted, and the process repeats. Emblems can only be acquired from raids with this loot system enabled, and they cannot be traded to other players. Emblems could also be exchanged with an NPC for a moderate reward, such as gold or other desirable items.

This is essentially a DKP system with transferable points, minus the administrative work and overhead associated with traditional DKP systems. It provides incentives for everyone to kill every boss to earn Emblems, and since Emblems are only obtained in raids and can only be spent in specific ways.

The Emblem Auction system mimics the benefits of GDKP, such as everyone getting something valuable for their time and geared characters still being incentivized to attend raids. If Blizzard could implement a loot system like the Emblem Auction loot format, which could replicate many benefits of GDKP while minimizing the risk of transactions.