DKP (Dragon Kill Points)

What the Heck is DKP?

This is a fairly common question for players either new to MMO's or new to end game raids in MMO's. DKP is a loot system that was invented long ago (in the video game time frame) as a way to decide who should get what loot in a dungeons. The acronym DKP stands for Dragon Kill Points. A simple definition of DKP would be:
DKP (Dragon Kill Points) - A complex tracking system used by guilds in MMO's to distribute loot to players, based on the players contribution to the guild's raiding efforts.

How Does DKP work?

DKP can be complicated and has several different variations. Before getting into the exact details of the variations and different ways DKP is implemented you should have a firm grasp of the basic concept. The basic concept is that you are awarded points for participating in Raids with your guild. These points are then tracked by someone in the guild and used to help determine who gets future loot. In general the player with the most available points will get the item that they want.

How do I earn DKP points?

No matter which system of DKP is used there are usually several ways to earn points. The ones used in your guild are up to the guild. Some guilds use all methods to award points while others only use the loot drops to determine points. There is no right or wrong way, as long as it is consistent. Below is a list of the primary methods of earning DKP points.

Loot Drops - This is by far the most common method to award points to players is for the actual loot that drops on the raid. This requires either a chart of point values for all possible drops in a zone or the use of open points bidding for the item. Points charts in WoW are normally allocated in increments of 40 so that any item that drops can be easily divided by the number of players in the raid. With a point chart system each player would get a fraction of the points that were allocated to the item, whether they got the item or not.

Loot Drop Points Example:

The raiding group "The Ten Ton Hammer's" kill Ragnaros in the Molten Core. He drops 3 epic items that have a points rating. The items are worth 120,120 and 80 points.

* Boomjack and Messiah each bid and receive one of the 120 point items, while Ratboy receives the 80 point item. The other 37 people in the raid receive nothing
* A total of 320 points were dropped by Ragnaros
* Each of the 40 players in the raid gains 8 DKP for future use.
* Ratboy loses 72 DKP (80 points spent - 8 points earned)
* Boomjack and Messiah each lose 112 DKP (120 points spent - 8 points earned)


Boss Kills - Some guilds award points based on the boss that is defeated. This can be based on the difficulty of the boss, potential drops from the boss, or difficulty getting a group for the boss. This is used many times for bosses that people do not like fighting, has poor drops or are bored with. Many times this is a bonus to the loot drop points that guilds use to encourage players to attend for all bosses.

Instance Bonus - Sometimes used to encourage players to stay to complete entire raids. Many guilds will track when players join the raid and if they stay until completion. Some guilds offer bonuses to those that stay until the end, while other guilds chose to not award their loot or boss kill points until the end of the raid and then only to those still in attendance. Either way works out to roughly the same thing.

Time Bonus - This is very often used by guilds when learning new instances or bosses. There are few other ways to earn points if you are not killing bosses or receiving loot, so this encourages guild members to attend and help learn the new instances or bosses. It is generally a preset point amount per hour equal to to normal DKP awards if fighting bosses.
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