GDKP - Play by Play to Pay Day

OK, Dath'Remar is set to have another GDKP run tonight, and I'm going to cover it in excruciating detail. Rather than just hit up the highlights, my wins and the big ticket items, I'm going to do it all. Hopefully this is give everyone that hasn't experienced GDKP more of an idea of the mechanics, and amuse those that know what it's about with tonight's antics. If you are new to the concept of GDKP, read about my first dragon soul GDKP adventure.

Tonight I'll be raiding on Zenborg, my shadow priest... and possibly my laziest gold making character... I think he's got very little left to buy tonight, so he should rake in some gold. Let's get to the action.

1800 - Invites are out, and I'm getting DBM sorted on the laptop... You only appreciate those timers when you need to DPS without them.
1804 - Checking the coin situation, I have 97k on me, time to see what loot I'd actually like. Zenborg is now pretty much best in slot for normal, with 4pc and a couple of heroic drops from Morchock, [Petrified Fungal Heart] and [Robe of Glowing Stone].
1815 - Slow going on invites tonight only up to 15. It gives me an opportunity to actually try and sell some enchanting scrolls.
1817 - Good news, everyone! Just got an SMS from Oddox saying he'll be on soon. I can't wait to see how much he bids on Gurth.
1827 - We have 20. Oddox is in, and now we're discussing the rogue legendary items. Last week it was put forward that if you have just one rogue it's a minimum 16k buy. Excellent idea. I believe the week before they went for 50k, but I think that was the LAST week and completed the rogue's legendary weapons, so well worth it in my opinion.
1833 - OK, so my wife is very excited that Oddox has transferred his warrior we used to raid with back to our server. I'm also to point out that I'm raiding on her new laptop, pristine and up until my GDKP hijinks, infected with very few addons. As a side note, I think there's something wonderful in the oven right now, and I have a glass of wine. Thanks honey!
1844 - OK, I think we're full. H Morchok is first up. Free food. WIN!
1849 - Not so ready for pull just yet, usually someone bails at the last minute. Another and another.
1902 - Bam! Full again. Minimum 1k starting bid, 100g increments.
1907 - Rogue related hijinks, we have a rogue with season 9 daggers, so no clusters for him. So we're shuffling tanks to grab a rogue at the newly negotiated price of 10k for the clusters. Wrathborg is seething at me right now, perpetually holed up in Uldum for transmuting to [Volatile Air].
1918 - Trash is done. Free flask, win!
1934 - First wipe on H Morchok, looks like we're setting it to normal.
1943 - Normal Morchock down
1944 - [Underdweller's Spaulders] -  1k
1945 - [Razor Saronite Chip] - 500g on pain of DE
1946 - [Mycosynth Wristguards] - NO BID
1947 - [Rockhide Bracers] - 2.6k - Oddox :)
1949 - [Petrified Fungal Heart] - 3.7k
1950 - Essence of Destruction x2 - 300g
1952 - [Pattern: Deathscale Leggings] - 1k
1952 - [Plans: Foundations of Courage] - 1k
1953 - Zon'ozz  next
2000 - HOLY COW! Wipe on Zon zon.
2008 - HOLY $#@%! Wipe number 2 on Zon zon. Leader justifiably kicked the douche melee that wasn't on vent.
2020 - Yey, he's down.
2021 - [Belt of Flayed Skin] - NO BID
2022 - [Grotesquely Writhing Bracers] - NO BID
2022 - [Cord of the Slain Champion] - 4.8k - healthy three way bid.
2023 - We have another person bailing on the run. Doesn't anyone have time management skills anymore?
2025 - [Gauntlets of the Corrupted Conqueror] - 4.5k
2026 - [Gauntlets of the Corrupted Protector] - 7.5k - Oddox yey!
2027 - Essence of Destruction x1 - 200g - Zenborg
2028 - Pot: 37.6k
2042 - Yor'sahj down - Managed to get Oday into the mix with his hunter.
2042 - Interrogator's Bloody Footpads - NO BID
2043 - Mindstrainer's Treads - NO BID
2044 - Scalpel of Unrelenting Agony - 3k
2047 - Leggings of the Corrupted Vanquisher - 4.5k
2048 - Leggings of the Corrupted Conquerer - 4.4k
0853 - Essence of Destruction - 300g (dude tried to bid it back to me for 200g c'mon)
2053 - Pot: 49.9k
2100 - Hagara down. Worst DPS mistakes with cooldowns from me on that one :S
2101 - Shoulders of the Corrupted Vanquisher - 6k
2102 - Shoulders of the Corrupted Vanquisher - 5k
2105 - Electrowing Dagger - NO BID
2106 - Bracers of the Banished - 3.2k
2106 - Ring of the Riven - 8k
2109 - Pot: 72.6k
2114 - Someone managed to bug the Ultraxion trash... we get to do that all again!
2134 - One wipe on Ultraxion and then the kill. 10 minute break coming up too.
2136 - Curled Twilight Claw - 8k
2137 - Morningstar of Heroic Will -  NO BID
2137 - Treads of Sordid Screams - 4k
2141 - Chest of the Corrupted Conquerer - 10k
2142 - Chest of the Corrupted Vanquisher - 6.6k
2203 - Warmaster down, shadow priest on top of the DPS FTW!
2204 - Goriona's Collar - 2.1k
2205 - Goriona's Collar - 2k
2207 - Starcatcher Compass - 6.5k - Oday woo!
2209 - Crown of the Corrupted Conqueror - 5k
2210 - Crown of the Corrupted Protector - 5k
2211 - Essence of Destruction - 200g
2212 - Pot: 122.4k
2219 - Spine. OMFG gripped every damn lift. EVERY $#@%ing lift. Not only that it was for the ENTIRE first lift. I'm only a little competitive, so after slaughtering Warmaster on the boat I was keen on seeing shadows burst on the tendon, but no go. I'm loving the 4pc, and it's so frustrating to just have to sit there, getting felt up by a freakin' tendon.
2225 - Gloves of Liquid Smoke - 5.5k
2226 - Heart of Unliving - 15k - I went as far as 11k... but c'mon it's a healing trinket.
2231 - Backbreaker Spaulders - 3k - People were so myopic as to say, 'who are they even for'. How about perfect itemisation for both Arms Warriors and Ret Paladins silly?
2232 - Eye of Unmaking - 10k - ??? Oddox will tell me what this went for and if he got it
2232 - Essence of Destruction - 200g
2233 - Pot: 163.1k
2247 - Just had the best time DPSing Madness, sandwiched between the two fire mages at 54.2k DPS. I managed to creep ahead on DPS a few times, but just couldn't hang on in the end.
2248 - No'Kaled, the Elements of Death - 3k
2251 - Rathrak, the Poisonous Mind - 9k - Zenborg
2251 - Rathrak, the Poisonous Mind - 9k
2254 - Maw of the Dragonlord - 8k - Again, bidding until the price got too high for my "healing" threshold
2255 - Blade of the Unmaker - NO BID
2257 - Maelstrom Crystal x6 - 700g
2257 - Final Pot: 192.9k or 7.7k each

Overall, a little shaky start with a couple of people not on vent, and some wipes, but it came good towards the end. The bidding was very tentative but a pretty good indication of what sells for the big bucks depending on the wealth of the group. Trinkets, tier and weapons are always popular, with gigantic holes for melee agility weapons and leather and mail gear depending on the make up of the group..

Well, I'm going to leave that in the 'live blog' type format and go and collect my gems. I'll add another post with the data tidied up soon(tm). So I was down on gold in the end by 1.3k (the essences will turn a profit) but picked up that lovely dagger. It's a good night too when you have a couple of friends join in for the ride. There was also less fidgywidgy with bidding this week (although it was more tentative) with no rogue bidding on stuff for their 'intellect trolling set'.

GDKP Hijinks

Last night I enjoyed some GDKP on my shadow priest, who as best as I can tell is my second favourite character... or at least the first I level after my main and who I raid on most often.

If you aren't familiar with GDKP, it stands for GOLD DKP. It combines the fun of raiding with gold making and the excitment of bidding for items with cold, hard coin. DKP stands for Dragon Kill Points, but in this context is just the most commonly used acronym for "formal loot distribution methodology" for raiding. In a GDKP run, everything is up for grabs and is awarded to the highest bidder. The gold raised by selling every, single item is then divided equally among all the participants.

Cataclysm had it's ups and downs for GDKP. The introduction of gear equality amongst 10 and and 25 man raids made it easier to form groups of similarly skilled peers to progress through content. However the incentive of extra loot for 25 man raids means that there's more loot than ever before to bid on. On Dath'Remar at least, GDKP hasn't been popular at all until Dragon Soul started to get nerfed substantially.

The beauty of GDKP are the competing priorities that can create a delightful raiding environment. The overall goal is to have a smooth run, and raise as much money as possible. Here's who you bring to get that done.

Raid Leader and Master Looter
The raid leader and master looter combination are crucial to the success of a run. They need to be respected members of the server's raiding community and they need to know how to keep things moving. They need to explain the GDKP rules to people who don't know them, and make sure the bidding is quick efficient and most of all fair. They need to be able to balance the group as a whole and keep the run downing bosses and the gold flowing.
 

Quality Raiders that don't need a lot of loot
Quality raiders (often from the raid leaders guild, friends list or network) are what makes the run smooth and who do most of the heavy lifting during boss kills. The beauty of quality raiders is that while they don't bid on the majority of loot, and are there to rake in the coin at the end, they often contribute more than their share to the gold pot. Quality raiders are often wealthy, competitive and care a great deal about that one drop they have never seen (even when raiding on their alts). When you get those seldom seen BiS drops, it's more often than not a quality raider that will bid far outside the limits of characters that are in the run to buy a lot of gear.

Undergeared raiders (or alts) that want to buy a lot of gear
The meat and potatoes of the GDKP run, you want enough players with plenty of gear to upgrade to drive bidding prices up, but not so many that you risk wiping on straight forward bosses. The balancing act depends on the difficulty of the raid bosses attempted, and at the 20% nerf mark in Dragon Soul normal mode means there's plenty of room for everyone.


The GDKP run I joined had been running successfully for a couple of weeks in a row, and I really didn't have my eye on too much loot. I was glad that I went on Zenborg who is my most geared and best performing alt (although a survival hunter packs a decent punch at early gear levels) overall the raid benefitted from some extra oomph in the DPS department.


The run was humming along until we killed Ultraxion, and the [Experiment 12-B] mount dropped. Back in the good old days, you could only bid gold that you actually had on you, but after the mount dropped people requested a quick break to log over and forward some coin. Although I had previously sent Zen 100k, I thought when it came to a mount I didn't want to risk it. I promptly logged over and send another 150k just to make sure. When the bidding started I was surprised at how quickly it went from nothing to 50k to 80k and beyond. Then the bidders dropped to myself and another priest going smartly in 5k increments all the way to 150k. I wasn't quite sure what my limit was, but with the announcement of account wide mounts, and my raid group only having seen the mount from Madness a couple of times I wasn't going to stop there. Finally, I secured it for 155k and was just overjoyed when it hit my bags.

I had a nice congratulations from my fellow priest, whose limit was 150k and a couple of well meaning crys of 'you're insane, mate'.

The great thing about the run was that bidding was so furious on other items, that my 155k, while making a big difference didn't come close to dwarfing the pot, which by the start of warmaster was up to 430k. Two bosses and two Gurths later, we had arrived at a grand total of 603,200g. So my mount was only 25% of the total, and everyone walked away with 25k.

I bid on serveral upgrades during the evening with a pretty hefty haul of caster loot. In particular, both [Cunning of the Cruel] and [Will of Unbinding] dropped. I did bid heavily on both, with each of them going for more than 25k, but since cunning dropped on Warmaster, I didn't want to be too extravagant after winning the mount. In hindsight, poor Zenborg (and none of my other characters beside my main have done well with trinkets) is wearing [Bottled Wishes] and [Darkmoon Card: Volcano] so I could have afforded to be more aggressive with trinkets. Right at the end of the night, I thought I had [Rathrak, the Poisonous Mind] all sewn up at 25,100g but a last minute bid and my preference for staves was the end of my aspiration for loot.