No usable set piece was going to rot. If nobody bid, they would compare that slot across the raid and assign it to whoever had the weakest item there.
"Warlocks, bidding's open."
This was Fearless's first Tier 1 piece. Even Felheart was going to draw bids.
DesertWanderer started.
"One."
FirstDate followed.
"One here too."
Shadowlord matched him.
"Same. One."
That left them in a ridiculous spot.
Everyone only had 1 DKP.
Gabryell cut in. "Set pieces start at 10. Remember the rules. If you want it, start at 10."
"We don't have 10," FirstDate said.
"You can go negative. But once you do, you don't bid on anything else until you're out of the red."
That was all FirstDate needed to hear.
"Ten."
"Eleven," DesertWanderer said, refusing to back down.
Nobody wanted to let the raid's first Tier 1 piece go cheap.
"Twelve," Shadowlord said.
"Thirteen."
"Fourteen."
The bids kept climbing until they hit 22.
The bidding was getting stupid. At this rate, somebody was going to burn several lockouts' worth of DKP on one belt.
Gabryell stepped in.
"Don't blow several lockouts' worth of points on one belt. Think before you bid."
This was their first DKP auction, and he did not want reckless bidding to become the norm. If half the raid buried themselves deep in negative DKP, people would lose motivation fast.
The three Warlocks finally cooled off.
Desert, as the Warlock lead, backed out first.
"Pass."
"From now on, just type P to pass," Gabryell said. "Once you pass, you're out. No jumping back in."
DesertWanderer corrected himself.
"P."
Shadowlord still had not typed P, but he was not raising either. He was clearly trying to decide whether the belt was worth it.
Gabryell had no intention of letting every loot auction drag on like this.
"Shadowlord, are you still in or not? If you don't bid, I'm counting down. Once I hit one, you're out. Anything after that doesn't count."
"Five."
"Four."
"Three."
"Two."
Gabryell deliberately paused, giving him one last chance.
"P."
Shadowlord finally made up his mind.
There would be plenty of drops in the future. Dumping several raid lockouts' worth of DKP into one piece made no sense if something better dropped later.
With both of them out, Gabryell finished the countdown.
"One. Sold."
"Congratulations, FirstDate. First Warlock Tier 1 piece in the guild is yours."
"Grats!"
"First T1 of the night!"
"Of course it's Warlock gear. Where's the Mage loot?"
"Keep dreaming. Next one's Rogue."
Everyone immediately started hoping their own Tier 1 would be next.
One Felheart Belt was enough to fire up the entire raid.
Suddenly, the "garbage set" did not look so garbage anymore.
After one auction, everyone had the basic idea of how the DKP system worked. A few more drops and the whole process would become second nature.
"Victor, charge FirstDate 22."
Victor answered immediately.
"Done. He's at minus 21."
FirstDate groaned.
"Well, there goes my DKP for the next few lockouts."
"FirstDate, equip it."
The Tier 1 belt was Bind on Equip, which meant it had to be equipped on the spot. Gabryell was not about to let somebody win a raid drop and walk out with it to sell.
The first Warlock Tier 1 belt to hit the Auction House would attract plenty of attention. At this stage of the game, it could easily sell for over a thousand gold.
"Okay."
FirstDate immediately equipped the Felheart Belt.
Gabryell addressed the raid.
"Same rule for every raid BoE from now on. If you win it, you equip it. Anyone who walks out with one to sell gets gkicked and isn't coming back."
Later, once nobody needed them anymore, Tier 1 belts and bracers would be treated like the other guild-owned drops and materials.
Anything valuable would go on the Auction House, with the gold going into the guild bank for flasks, elixirs, and other raid supplies.
Anything worthless would be disenchanted on the spot, with the materials going to the guild's Enchanters to help gear everyone up.
Nobody objected.
Raid chat immediately filled with people agreeing that anyone who took a raid BoE just to sell it deserved an instant gkick.
With the loot settled, they could get back to clearing trash.
"Rebuff the two Rogues," Gabryell said. "Give them everything, then sit and drink."
Two Rogues had died during the previous pull, so they were given a full set of buffs again.
Once everyone had recovered, Gabryell continued.
"Hunters are pulling from here on out. Anyone want the job?"
He did not automatically dump the responsibility on Hugo.
Pulling carried too much responsibility to force on someone, and if another Hunter wanted to prove themselves, Gabryell was happy to let them try.
Smooch volunteered immediately.
"I'll do it! Let me pull. I'm fucking good at this, and my kiting's clean as hell."
A puller could wipe forty people with one bad mistake.
Hugo considered volunteering, but he was not confident enough yet and kept quiet.
OneShotCrit had thought about it too, but Smooch had already jumped on the job, so he backed off.
"Let Smooch do it."
"Fine," Gabryell said. "Just watch every mob's position before you pull. Especially patrols. Don't come running back here with half the room behind you."
Smooch answered without hesitation.
"Relax. I'm fucking good at this."
Nobody knew the Molten Core trash layout yet, so Gabryell was not going to put too much pressure on whoever pulled.
If one bad pull meant losing DKP, nobody would ever volunteer for the job again.
"All right, hotshot. Let's see it."
Gabryell gave Smooch voice permissions in Ventrilo.
"Call every pull over voice from now on. Typing's too slow."
Smooch immediately keyed her mic.
"I'm pulling."
Gabryell stopped her.
"Hold up. Which one are you pulling?"
Smooch looked across the bridge.
One mob was a Firelord.
The other was a Lava Annihilator.
Behind them, against the wall on the left, stood two more Molten Giants.
"The Firelord?" Smooch asked.
The thing was literally called a Firelord and was covered in flame.
It certainly looked like the nastier of the two.
Not bad.
Gabryell nodded.
"Mark the Firelord. From now on, whatever has your Hunter's Mark is the kill target. That's what we burn."
Smooch suddenly felt the weight of the job.
She was not just bringing mobs to the raid anymore. Her Hunter's Mark was effectively calling targets for forty people.
"Don't overthink it," Gabryell said. "Watch the patrols and commit to your call."
He wanted Smooch to grow into a reliable puller.
She muttered under her breath.
"I'm fucking good at this. I got this."
"Go. Pull the Firelord back to us."
Fighting on the bridge was asking for trouble.
The two Molten Giants behind the pack were close enough that one bad pull could turn into an instant wipe.
Bringing the mobs back was much safer.
Still, nobody in the raid had fought a Firelord or Lava Annihilator before. A few wipes while they figured the pack out would not be surprising.
"Everybody back up. Carlos, Susie, get ready to pick them up."
As Smooch applied Hunter's Mark to the Firelord, Gabryell had the raid move back and give the tanks room.
Smooch fired an arrow.
Her voice immediately came over Ventrilo.
"Two incoming! Fuck, they're both coming!"
The Firelord and Lava Annihilator had been standing close enough together to be linked. Pulling one brought the other with it.
"Carlos, take the Firelord. Susie, pick up the Annihilator. DPS, wait for three Sunders on Carlos before you go. Firelord first."
Gabryell deliberately held off on calling for Banish.
He wanted the raid to see the Annihilator's behavior for themselves first.
Susie could Taunt it and get its attention, but the elemental would not stay on one tank for long. Once everyone understood that, the Warlocks would step in and Banish it.
...
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