NEW RELEASE! JULY 23, 2008
There have been two problems that snuck into the Uplink that occurred after the last OS patch when we pulled the Uplink package in from source control. This resulted in replacing the archive scripts with an older version and breaking things. This has been fixed.
Swaps is also now UPDATED to Version 1.01. This version removes class auctions and some other changes.
The following changes were made:
The following changes were made:
Yes. Points that are being stressed are in italic. Points that are being especially stressed are in bold italic. A bold word indicates that the term is defined in the glossary.
Shadow Watch Auction Points (SWAPS) is a loot system by which the Shadow Watch distributes loot to raiders in high-end World of Warcraft 20- and 40- member raid instances.
World of Warcraft high end raid instances provide some of the best equipment available in the game. These instances require the coordinated efforts of 20 or 40 raiders for hours at a time. The product of any given raid is usually only a handful of epic-quality items. This means that, on any given raid, most participating players walk away without any loot at all.
Blizzard provides a built-in method for distributing loot randomly. Even though its random nature distributes loot evenly over the very long haul, it cannot guarantee that over the short haul that individual raiders are not overcompensated while others are not compensated at all. Furthermore, a random system cannot take into account the past efforts of raiders. A player who is attending his very first raid may be rewarded with a piece of loot at the expense of an unlucky raider who has attended 25 raids and not yet received a single piece of loot.
Issues relating to loot distribution are among the most sensitive in the game and have led to personal recriminations between groups of players and the fragmentation of entire guilds. The guild leaders want to minimize the chances of this misfortune befalling The Shadow Watch.
The aim of SWAPS is to provide a structured and fair way to distribute loot to raiders. It aims to
SWAPS is a variant of the Zero-Sum-Points loot system.
In SWAPS, all raiders are provided an initial balance of 1000 general points and 1000 class points that they manage throughout their raiding careers. When an item drops in a raid instance in which SWAPS are in effect, an auction is conducted. If an item is restricted to members of just a single class, then raiders bid on the item using their class points; otherwise, raiders bid on the item using their general points
The raider who bids the most points--that is, the raider that values the item most highly and that is able to pay for it--is awarded the item. If no one bids points on the item, the item goes to a need/greed rolloff.
The points that the winning raider spent to purchase the item are immediately deducted from his SWAPS balance and distributed evenly all other raiders present. This characteristic is why the system is a Zero-Sum system. A raider's balance only ever decreases when he wins an item. A raider's balance only ever increases when he is present on a raid in which another raider wins an item. The points lost by one raider exactly equal the points gained by every other raider and so points are neither lost nor gained by the system as a whole.
This method of handling loot has the following effects:
Want to guarantee that you win a piece of uber loot? Bid lots of points... you're not only paying for a nice item but also for the guarantee that you'll win it and the status that comes from being the first member of the guild to win it. (But such a win will come with a cost. You may have to sit on the sidelines of subsequent bids while your SWAPS balance recovers.)
Or, want a fair shake at winning an item but aren't convinced that it's the Uber Beer Bottle of Doom you're planning your build around? Bid a more conservative number of points. If you win, you'll still be in contention for future items since you've lost fewer points, but don't be surprised if someone who wants it more than you do ends up walking away with it.
The system is more elaborate than laid out in this answer. Further answers in this document detail SWAPS in its entirety.
It's that simple.
Guild leaders have been researching zero-sum systems on the Internet and some guild members have direct, extensive experience with these systems in practice. Reports are consistent: guilds that have tried Zero-Sum systems really like them.
Yes, extensively.
The most common looting scheme used by guilds is a system called Dragon Kill Points (DKP).
SWAPS (and ZSP systems in general) have cropped up as a way to counteract the worst excesses of DKP. In a DKP system, guild members accrue points on each raid they go on, on each boss they kill, sometimes on each stack of rare resources they provide to the guild banker, rarely for each roleplaying event they lead. These points can later be used to bid on dropped raid loot.
But there are severe problems with a DKP system. One of the worst is the way in which it favors the guild raiding hierarchy to the complete exclusion of other guild members.
Why? Because the people in charge who determine the DKP award for guild activities are also often the ones accruing the DKPs. For instance, a guild new to an MMO must first experience the content in order to assign DKP values.
A new guild might decide that each Upper Blackrock Spire (UBRS) run is worth 2 DKP. As the guild runs UBRS over and over, the first players to reach UBRS levels will accrue positive DKP balances relative to people who are levelling more slowly. These first levellers will also get to the point where they've mastered UBRS and are ready to move on to Molten Core (MC).
At this point, the temptation is to either award MC a greater number of DKP or to adjust the DKP economy so that UBRS runs are worth less. Guild members who are not part of the first group of raiders not only are likely to have lower balances but are also going to find it impossible to accrue DKPs at the same rate as veteran raiders, leading to a situation in which they're consistently unable to compete on an equal footing for competitive loot. Crafting rewards suffer similar problems in that if DKP administrators notice that crafters are able to accrue DKP at rates equivalent or better to the end-game raiders, DKP rewards for crafting get adjusted downward.
All this leads to a system that is very, very good for the hardcore 24/7 raiders, but which is bad for everyone else. If you craft or RP or PvP, you simply won't have any expectation of receiving loot rewards for helping on the difficult end game instances. If you're a quality level 60 who would otherwise make a good addition to the guild roster, you're completely disincentivized from joining, since you're locked out from reaping any loot rewards from raiding for many many raids.
Worst of all, however, is that DKP is a system that contains inherent inflation. In economics, inflation is a system that prevails when purchasing power falls relative to the supply of goods--in other words, the price of an individual item gets higher and higher. In a real world economy, inflation occurs when the money supply of the economy grows relative to the goods and services available. In a MMO, inflation occurs as players are able to get more and more gold from mob drops--this is Auction House syndrome, in which new players coming to an established server may find that a blue item for a 30th level character goes for 30 gold, since rich level 60s who want to buy the item for their favored alts don't really sweat the additional cost. And in a system like DKP, as points enter the bankrolls of the hardcore raiders and, thus, the economy, the prices for nice loot drops get correspondingly higher.
Many of our guild leadership detest DKP.
SWAPS is used in all end-game instances:
Swaps should not be used in 5-man "non-raid" instances like Scholomance or Blackrock Spire.
Swaps will be used without change in the upcoming instances in Burning Crusade.
SWAPS is used on all equippable items (armor, cloaks, melee weapons, ranged weapons, jewelry, trinkets) that drop from the raid instances in which it is used.
SWAPS is also used on profession recipes, quest items, and dropped character skills.
If an item is class-restricted--that is, specifically has the text "Classes: class name" in its item description, only members of the specified class may bid on it.
The use of SWAPS for crafting reagents is still being discussed.
Certainly. Certain items in World of Warcraft are equippable ONLY by
members of one or more classes. These items always specifically have the text
"Classes:
One concern that came to light on our early raids what that members of highly represented classes, such as Priests, had to complete more aggressively for their class-specific armor, than members on less well-represented classes, such as Warlocks. This factor led to cases in which Priests won items at significantly higher prices than Warlocks, leading to Warlocks being able to maintain higher-than-average balances. This, in turn, put Warlocks in a much better position to complete for items, such as rings, trinkets, and weapons, that were useful to a variety of caster classes.
The system has addressed this concern through the introduction of class points. Raiders are granted two balances of points with which to purchase items. Raiders of the appropriate class use their class balance on items restricted solely to members of their class.
Some examples may make things more clear:
Bids and rolls on loot are permitted to any member who can potentially use the item. This means that, even if an item is a quest item that requires other components, members who do not yet have the quest or who have not yet collected the less rare items may participate in an auction.
If an item is a recipe, members who have the associated profession, but who have not yet attained the required skill to craft the item, specifically are permitted to bid on these items.
The guild leadership believes that rules like "You need to have the quest to roll" are copout rules that people use to bias loot towards them. In SWAPS, people back up their desire to win an item with the points they spend, and that's all that's necessary.
Many World of Warcraft items have a specific class-affinity in that they possess stats that are especially beneficial to members of a particular class. However, these items do not possess a specific Classes: tag. We believe that, if Blizzard truly intended for an item to be usable by certain classes, Blizzard would have explicitly placed a Classes: tag on this item.
This means that in the high-end-raid instances, any class who wishes to bid points on a non-class-restricted item may do so and possibly win the item. Realize that players who frivolously bid on items with a class-affinity are likely to engender ill-will from their fellow raiders. If, for class-spec or roleplay reasons, there's a particular item with class-affinity that you're interested in, the best practice is to let the raid leader know before the raid starts.
To readers who worry that some Warlock will walk away with an uber Rogue dagger, keep in mind:
That's not to say that some raider won't someday walk away with some item that you feel doesn't belong to members of his class, but it's not nearly the problem that you may think it is. In practice, we strongly believe this problem will self-regulate. The vast majority of raiders will be willing to bid only on items that Blizzard has specifically designed for them.
The specifics of the auction have been through several quite-complex iterations, vigorous discussions among the officers, and outside consultation with an economist who specializes in the game theory of auctions, but the resulting version is about as simple as can be: items will undergo an English auction.
What's an English auction? Nothing less than the going... going... gone... auction that everyone is familiar with.
How will it work in practice?
The 41st man also serves as a convenient place to park any SWAPS that cannot be equally distributed on any individual loot roll. At the end of the raid, excess points held by the 41st man are distributed back to the raiders as a whole.
At the end of a raid, points that cannot be evenly divided among all raiders present remain in the 41st man's balance, unless a majority of the raiders present nominates that some or all of the points be distributed to one or more raiders present who have demonstrated uncommon valor and competence during the current raid.
Primarily because
The primary drawback will be the possible time it takes to distribute raid loot. The SWAPS add-on helps manage the process, however.
If auctions start to take too long, there are a few options:
There, there, my darlings. We've got your back.
We're sensitive to the fact that, with an average balance of 1000, if new players come into the system with an average number of points, new players will be about to outbid half the raid right from the get go.
SWAPS solves this with a vesting system. Whereas all players eventually receive a full balance of 1000 SWAPS to manage, they don't get all these points right away. Instead, they vest into these points over a couple of raids; that is, their 1000 SWAPS are held in escrow and move into their active balances according to a fixed schedule.
Yes. But if your balance is low, it means you've previously won a nice item, quite possibly when the guest raider was present. If this possibility offends you, strive to maintain a higher-than-average balance.
One of the aims of SWAPS is that we are able to attract new top talent to the guild. DKP systems prevent this, because over time, hardcore raiders achieve such an advantage in points that newcomers cannot hope to catch up. Smart raiders, that is, the ones we'd like to be part of the guild, will see this points advantage and go elsewhere.
Therefore, an aim of the system is to ensure that raiders enter the loot rotation reasonably quickly. We believe that around 6 raids is a reasonable number. People who stick with us for 6 raids are going to be more likely to raid with us regularly in the future.
Therefore, the system uses the following vesting schedule for all raiders:
Here's the above information presented in table form:
| Raid number | General points | Class points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 200 | 200 |
| 3 | 400 | 400 |
| 4 | 600 | 600 |
| 5 | 800 | 800 |
| 6 | 1000 | 1000 |
SWAPS training points are kept in a completely independent balance and vest differently
Regardless of whether a raider is vested in any points, all raiders participate in points disbursements when a raider wins an item.
SWAPS is a Zero-Sum system, which is meant to prevent inflation or deflation of the economy. But inflation or deflation can occur. It happens when players leave the system.
If a vested participating raider quits when he has a balance of exactly 1000 points, nothing is lost or gained. When the raider came into the system, he added 1000 points to the economy. If he leaves with 1000 points, equilibrium is maintained.
If, however, a participating player has 2000 points when he leaves, he's pulling points out of the system. He's taken 1000 of your points. When the guild decides that someone has left the system permanently, any points in excess of his vested balance are distributed equally among all members of the system.
Conversely, if a participating player has 0 points when he leaves, some of his points are left in the system. The guild as a whole has 1000 of his points. When the guild decides that someone has left the system permanently, any points under his vested balance are taken equally from all members of the system.
Since points are added to and subtracted from among all members, the relative SWAPS standings of all players relative to each other remain stable.
If members who leave the system return, their balances are restored to the number of points they had when they left and guild balances are adjusted accordingly.
With SWAPS (and ZSP), over the long term, your current balance matters far less than how well you can manage your points and how quickly you can replenish your balances. Frequent raiders will find that their balances recharge much, much faster than infrequent raiders, since frequent raiders are present for more rolls than infrequent raiders.
This means that frequent raiders, by design, will win more loot. All the system guarantees is that vested members in the system get to enter the rotation. Just like other hardcore raiders, once they bid, they'll have to recharge their points.
This system simply prevents hardcore raiders from monopolizing the loot. Some people may see that as a penalty, but the guild leaders see it simply as fair.
No. If that's want you want, you're probably better served by joining a guild that uses DKP and making sure you're among the first hardcore raiders in that guild.
It's in the nature of this system to distribute the nice purple items equally among the consistent raiders.
Also, keep in mind that if you want to be the first person to win a given purple item, you're going to likely have to pay more for it than if you wait to win it the second or third time it appears.
What are you getting for your points? A significant equipment advantage compared to other players in the game at that time, bragging rights, and a guarantee that you win the item.
Crafting drops are still an open issue. We're not sure if these are something that should be handled with SWAPS or if the Lord Seneschal should design an alternate system.
In practice, running auctions like this would be so paperwork-intensive that no one would be able to do it efficiently.
The job of the auctioneer is made much more manageable via the use of the SWAPS add-on. The SWAPS add-on allows the auctioneer to handle vesting operations, auctions, rolloffs, and post-raid splits. Tracked balances are kept in a database that raiders can check offline, and, in addition, they can receive current balance reports in game.
Non-auctioneers need to download nothing. They interact with the auctioneer via in-game /whispers.
This proposal is still subject to change. However, the fundamental Zero-Sum nature of the system is unlikely to change. This means that people will not be awarded points simply for attending raids.
And, while SWAPS is subject to change, the time to do this is not in the middle of an ongoing raid. Raid leaders and auctioneers should strive to award loot according to the rules of the system. Problems with running the system in practice should be brought up to the loot officer and officer corps, which will discuss possible fixes to the system. There is a mandatory two-week discussion period before any proposed change to the loot system may be formally incorporated.
Okay. So now you may be thinking, "How am I going to ever make sense of all those rules?" This example may help make things more clear.
Let's assume that Anna, Brandon, Dimashie, Fangtooth, and Wildvine decide to 5-man Blackwing Lair.
Before the raid starts, here are the balances:
| Raider | Class | Guild | Previous raids | General | Class | Unvested | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anna | Hunter | The Shadow Watch | 6 | 1245 | 1520 | 0 | |
| Brandon | Mage | The Shadow Watch | 4 | 600 | 634 | 400 | |
| Dimashie | Rogue | The Shadow Watch | 4 | 600 | 34 | 400 | |
| Fangtooth | Rogue | Beer Barrel Brigade | 2 | 210 | 244 | 800 | |
| Wildvine | Druid | The Shadow Watch | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 41st man | NA | NA | NA | 6 | 12 | NA |
Brandon is the auctioneer. Everyone enters the instance and Brandon vests them in their points. Anna is already fully vested, so her balances don't change. This is Wildvine's first raid, so she gets no points put into her current balance, but is given a 1000 point grant, which she will vest into over time.
The new balances are
| Raider | Class | Guild | Previous raids | General | Class | Unvested | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anna | Hunter | The Shadow Watch | 7 | 1245 | 1520 | 0 | |
| Brandon | Mage | The Shadow Watch | 5 | 800 | 834 | 200 | |
| Dimashie | Rogue | The Shadow Watch | 5 | 800 | 234 | 200 | |
| Fangtooth | Rogue | Beer Barrel Brigade | 3 | 410 | 444 | 600 | |
| Wildvine | Druid | The Shadow Watch | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1000 | |
| 41st man | NA | NA | NA | 6 | 12 | NA |
The fivesome overcome incredible odds and kill a boss, who drops [Crochet Pants], a set of cloth pants with no Classes: tag. Brandon starts the auction. The auction uses general points.
Brandon bids 50 points, but the bid is rejected, since it doesn't exceed the minimum bid.
Brandon bids 100 points, and the bid is accepted.
Wildvine bids 110 points, but her bid is rejected, since she doesn't have enough points in her general balance.
Fangtooth bids 120 points, which is accepted as the new high bid.
Brandon bids 150 points, which is accepted as the new high bid.
No one else bids. The auction is over.
Points are now distributed. Brandon's general balance loses 150 points. Those 150 points are redistributed to the four other members of the raid, so their general balances increase by 150/4 or 38 points. 2 points are left over, which go into the general balance of the 41st man.
The points totals after the auction completes are:
| Raider | Class | Guild | Previous raids | General | Class | Unvested | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anna | Hunter | The Shadow Watch | 7 | 1283 | 1520 | 0 | |
| Brandon | Mage | The Shadow Watch | 5 | 650 | 834 | 200 | |
| Dimashie | Rogue | The Shadow Watch | 5 | 838 | 234 | 200 | |
| Fangtooth | Rogue | Beer Barrel Brigade | 3 | 448 | 444 | 600 | |
| Wildvine | Druid | The Shadow Watch | 1 | 38 | 0 | 1000 | |
| 41st man | NA | NA | NA | 8 | 12 | NA |
Our brave heroes continue and amazingly defeat another boss. A [Red Defias Mask] drops, which is a Rogue-only item. Brandon starts the auction. Only Rogues may bid, and the auction uses class points.
Brandon bids 200 points, but the bid is rejected, since he's not a Rogue.
Fangtooth bids 250 points, and the bid is accepted.
Dimashie bids 300 points, but the bid is rejected. Though Dimashie has plenty of general points, this auction is class-restricted and uses class points.
No one else bids, and the auction completes.
Points are now distributed. Fangtooth's class balance loses 250 points. Those 250 points are redistributed to the four other members of the raid, so their class balances increase by 250/4 or 62 points. 2 points are left over, which go into the class balance of the 41st man.
The points totals after the auction completes are:
The points totals after the auction completes are:
| Raider | Class | Guild | Previous raids | General | Class | Unvested | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anna | Hunter | The Shadow Watch | 7 | 1283 | 1582 | 0 | |
| Brandon | Mage | The Shadow Watch | 5 | 650 | 896 | 200 | |
| Dimashie | Rogue | The Shadow Watch | 5 | 838 | 296 | 200 | |
| Fangtooth | Rogue | Beer Barrel Brigade | 3 | 448 | 194 | 600 | |
| Wildvine | Druid | The Shadow Watch | 1 | 38 | 62 | 1000 | |
| 41st man | NA | NA | NA | 8 | 14 | NA |
The raid continues and [Zin'rokh, Destroyer of Worlds] drops.
Brandon starts an auction, but no one wants the item.
Brandon starts a rolloff.
Brandon rolls need on the item, rolling 50.
Wildvine rolls need on the item, rolling 10.
The rolloff completes. Brandon is awarded the item. Balances remain unchanged.
The raid completes. Before everyone disperses for the evening, spare points in the 41st man are shared. The 41st man has 8 general points. Each of the 5 raiders receives 1 point from this balance, leaving 3 in the 41st man's balance. The 41st man has 14 class points. Each of the 5 raiders receives 2 points from this balance, leaving 4 in the 41st man's balance.
The final balances are:
| Raider | Class | Guild | Previous raids | General | Class | Unvested | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anna | Hunter | The Shadow Watch | 7 | 1284 | 1584 | 0 | |
| Brandon | Mage | The Shadow Watch | 5 | 651 | 898 | 200 | |
| Dimashie | Rogue | The Shadow Watch | 5 | 839 | 298 | 200 | |
| Fangtooth | Rogue | Beer Barrel Brigade | 3 | 449 | 196 | 600 | |
| Wildvine | Druid | The Shadow Watch | 1 | 39 | 64 | 1000 | |
| 41st man | NA | NA | NA | 3 | 4 | NA |
When the intrepid raiders meet again. Brandon will vest them in the new raid. Points will move from Brandon's, Dimashie's, Fangtooth's, and Wildvine's unvested balances into their general and class balances, at which point Brandon and Dimashie will have been fully vested and Wildvine finally accumulates enough points to participate in an auction.
A fictitious raider who maintains a SWAPS balance. When the number of SWAPS to distribute to raiders for a winning auction does not evenly divide among the raiders present, the 41st man receives the excess points.
Excess points that the 41st man has at the end of the raid are evenly divided among all members still on the raid. Any points that cannot be evenly divided shall be carried over until the next raid, unless a majority of the raiders present acclaim that one or more raiders should receive some percentage of the unallocated points.
The raider who administers the SWAPS system
He or she
The auctioneer is allowed to bid for items.
The maintenance process of modifying SWAPS balances when participating raiders leave the system.
Any points in the current balance in excess of the departing player's vested points are returned to all guild members with vested or partially-vested balances.
Any points in the current balance below the departing player's vested points are made up from all guild members with vested or partially-vested balances.
Loot which may be particularly suited to one particular class. SWAPS permits people to bid on any item, even if some players feel that an item is particularly suited for one particular class or another.
Any loot with Classes: <class name> literally in the item description. This type of loot is restricted to members of a particular class. The auctioneer is expected to ignore bids from bidding raiders who are not of the appropriate class.
An open auction format in which participants submit increasingly higher bids until no participant is willing to bid higher
A secure account into which people who are just entering into the SWAPS system store their initial balances. Raiders whose points are in escrow cannot use the points in escrow to bid on items, but may earn SWAPS via normal distribution when other raiders bid on a win items.
100 SWAPS, the minimum amount of points that may be accepted as a bid in the auction
10 SWAPS, the minimum amount of points by which a bid must exceed the current high bid to be accepted as a bid in the auction
Blizzard provides built-in need/greed loot prompts. In SWAPS, these prompts aren't used. If a piece of loot is unwanted, then the auctioneer asks for need rolls from attending raiders.
Raiders who feel they need the item, /roll. The auctioneer awards the item to the highest roller and asks for a roll-off if two raiders tie for the highest roll.
If no one needs the item, the auctioneer asks for greed rolls. Raiders who want the item /roll. The auctioneer awards the item to the highest roller and asks for a roll-off if two raiders tie for the highest roll.
The person nominally in charge of the guild raid. The raid-leader is responsible for directing other raiders in the completion of the instance.
The raid-leader cannot affect the basic rules of the SWAPS system.
A raid in which Shadow Watch Auction Points are actively being used. These consist of only the following encounters:
SWAPS is also designed for use in 20-man raid instances, but, due to the more pickup nature of these instances and current limitations of the SWAPS World of Warcraft add-on, SWAPS is not used in Zul'Gurub.
The purpose of including Upper Blackrock Spire as a SWAPS-raid is to provide a training ground where people new to SWAPS and high-end raiding can get used to the system. A guild-event UBRS run will cause points to come out of escrow according to the vesting schedule, but the intent is to have perhaps only one such event in any given week. The points used for these training runs are kept separate from the main pool of SWAPS. If you get a pickup group of 15 to run UBRS, nobody's training SWAPS totals change. Even if the auctioneer is present, UBRS raids only count as SWAPS training raids if they've specifically been announced as guild events.
An item for which none of the raiders decides to submit a bid. Unwanted items undergo a need/greed rolloff.
The process by which a raider's points in escrow become available for bidding.
Vesting schedule for all raiders:
SWAPS training points are kept in a completely independent balance and vest differently
Regardless of whether a raider is vested in any points, all raiders participate in points disbursements when a raider wins an item.