Crest rolling rules are like political manifestos

In case you’ve been under a warcrafty rock for too long, crests are a type of RvR currency that drops from enemy players. There are different types of crest, Conqueror, Invader, etc and each type of crest can be spent on it’s associated armour set. These armour sets have renown rank requirements to equip and that in turn relates to the level of player that has a chance of dropping the relevant crest.
 
There was a bit of debate recently within our new alliance about who should be allowed to roll on what type of crest. The guilds in our alliance have very different rules internally regarding crest rolling rules, but thankfully a compromise was quickly decided upon, so it’s not a big issue anymore. However this is a debate I’ve seen many times before, with some guilds seeing things our way and others not, but in some of the discussion after this latest event I saw something that amused me greatly: accusations of greed from both sides of the debate.
 
I found this amusing because both sets off rules can be viewed as greedy, depending on your perspective. I know which system I believe is fairest, but I think I can argue a good case both for and against, should I feel like it. To say followers of system A are greedy people and system B is the only fair way of doing things is somewhat naïve, as there is more to it than that. The definition of what is the fairest way of doing things is totally subjective, it is not set in stone. That’s why in the real world we have different political parties to vote for; we want our governments to define the rules of our society fairly, but we don’t all agree on what is fair.
 
A lot of guilds restrict what their members are allowed to roll on based upon the players renown rank. So for example if you were renown rank 55 you could roll need on Conqueror and Invader crests, but would have to roll greed on Warlord and Royal crests.
 
In KF we have an open rolling policy. Anyone is allowed to roll need on any crest, it is never restricted and everyone has an even chance of winning. If people want to opt out on crests then that is entirely up to them.
 
Supporters of restricted rolling say their system is fairest because it makes sure the people that have the most need for those crests are guaranteed to get them. They’ve earned the renown rank, they should get their just rewards. It is frustrating when some level 32 alt, that’s only played once a bloody month, wins a royal crest that he/she will probably never use. Having restrictions also helps the guild as a whole progress quicker, with the higher renowned players getting their armour sets as quickly as possible.
Wanting crests before you have earned them and before you can use them is greedy.
 
Supporters (like me) of open rolling say their system is fairest because it ensures that everyone regardless of time played has equal chance of getting geared up. Renown rank is not earned, you log in and you get it. It’s an indication of how much you play WAR, nothing else. That’s why not having a job and/or other real life commitments often coincide with high renown rank, not that I’m saying it’s an exclusive relationship, as that too is more complicated than a simple assumption. Anyways, if you’re playing often enough to get high renown rank, that also means you take part in more loot rolls than other people and as such already have a far higher chance of earning your required crests. Allowing people to get crests in advance also helps the guild progress as the people that only get to play once or twice a week on guild event nights will have a chance of getting higher tier armour, that otherwise they simply will not take part in enough crest rolls for.
Deciding you want all the crests all the time because you play more than other people is greedy.
 
I find restricted rolling to be reminiscent of Conservative values in Margaret Thatcher’s Britain, the system is set up to benefit those with the most opportunity of gain in the first place. Where as open rolling is rather left wing, with equal opportunities regardless of your gaming background (and some may say work ethic), which is more of an 80s Labour party thing. But by saying this I don’t mean it as a slur on either point of view, because that’s all this is, a point of view. The era of Thatcherite Britain is revered by some and hated by others. Right, wrong and everything in-between (Paddy Ashdown ftw) is entirely subjective. You may say that comparing real life politics and online world politics is silly, but I don’t think so at all. The way people behave in-game and the rules they expect the world to work by are a reflection of their real life opinions. This reflection is not a perfect mirror image, it’s distorted by the anonymous nature of the Internet (hence all the tough guys and foul mouthed bigots), but it is a reflection none the less. Over here in the UK we’re about to elect our next government, but in WAR we already voted, it was the moment we joined and decided to stay in a guild.

Rubbish new GOA CSR policy regarding loot

A bit of a rant coming up, I'm going to get all emo about missing pixels. So I'll apologise now. Sorry ;)

This week I won my first ever loot bag in a fortress. However the chest wasn't visible to myself and several others winners. I raise a help ticket for a CSR, surely they must be able to reimburse us. I'd presumed they would have logs they can access for contentious things like fort loot. It would be, you know, like a sensible thing to have.

CSR response via email much later was this:

Dear Customer,

After investigating your case we regret to inform you that we are unable to restore your loot bag. We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused.
As we can understand this can be frustrating, this issue will be escalated to our quality assurance department for further investigation, in the hope that we can avoid this situation in the future.

For any further issues please do not hesitate to contact us via the ingame appeal system.

Kind Regards,

Warhammer Europe Customer Service Team.

Obviously I was not happy about this at all. I know several people that have previously had missing or unlootable gold bags mailed to them. Hell, even people that didn't loot cos they were bloody dead or outside the keep have had them replaced in the past. So I raised another ticket to point this out and that this is purely the game at fault, so why don't I get equal treatment. This time a GM gets back to me quite quickly. Alas, he simply says that their policy has changed and they don't replace loot bags anymore "sorry". Hmm that's a crap new policy, but ok...

Unfortunately, the tale doesn't end there. Today I was the only choppa in an alliance warband when the Conqueror choppa gloves drop. I click need, everyone else clicks pass or greed. But oh joy, nothing happens. No rolls, nothing. The loot simply vanishes into the ether. Ok thinks I, this is a different situation, I'll raise a CSR ticket and hope for the best...

Dear Customer

You recently placed a support request concerning a missing item. We are sorry to hear that you have lost an item, however until further notice we are not reimbursing items in your situation. Should you require further assistance please feel free to place another support request.

Kind Regards,

WAR European Customer Support Team

AAAGHHH!!!

Ok excuse caps, but this needs saying loud.

WHY HAVE YOU GOT THE OPTION IN YOUR TICKET SYSTEM FOR LOOT BASED REQUESTS, WHEN YOU REFUSE TO BLOODY HELP?

In both situations the game screwed up. Nothing to do with players doing anything dodgy or stupid, the game simply cocked up delivering the loot. Yet the CSR's wont do anything? WTF is that about?

Considering the various issues being leapt on by disgruntled rage quitters of late, the last thing Mythic/GOA need to be doing is pissing us about when the bugs skank our loot. Either replace things or get rid of the option in the help menus, because at the moment it just raises false hope only to replace it with annoyance. Alternatively, make it so loot doesn't bug out. Whilst discussing this I discovered it's not exactly unusual. :(

What makes this doubly annoying is now that you can't buy any conqueror, etc for gold, it's now MUCH more difficult to get the gear. The token system takes ages to get any armour with, compared with how you couold quickly get a couple of bits before. Which means if the items drop from players, crap like this is immensly annoying. I am not paying 650g for conqueror gloves from the auction house.

It's easier to get bloody invader for crying out loud.