I got told to give a spirit cloak in a Twilight 5 man to the healer. ( Admit ably this was after I had asked did the healer mind if I needed, and had no response until after the roll – and was already in the process of trading it when I was TOLD to give it to them) I had a 378 but I ‘need’ a healing set. I was more upset at the being told to hand it over.
So I handed over this healing cloak, and didn’t bat an eyelid when the healer rolled on the dps staff.
On my horde hunter I paid a DK from my server 500 gold to give me the Agility trinket he needed on after he said ” damn blizz shouldn’t have let me roll need on that” and left group. He was on my server so I had a second chance – I made the offer – he made some gold on a piece of loot he ‘should not’ have rolled on
In LFR I am passing on the Tier pieces I already have on my priest’s healing spec even though I should be ‘needing’ for my shadow spec
Also in LFR I don’t bother when arguing with people who win two pieces of tier for the same slot, even though they might be a warrior that doesn’t have a heals and dps set they could use it on. Sometimes this works out ok for me, On my Shammy the other Shammy who won two leg tokens realised and gave me one, on my priest, I got a spirit non tier chest that another priest had received two of. It’s about 50/50 in LFR when someone who receives two of something hands it over. I won two non tier hands and had 3 people whisper me demanding I give it to them. I then had to whisper two of them back and say no, ‘such and such’ was the 2nd highest roll – and I gave it to them.
My heart broke a little on my horde hunter when a hunter seemed to have kept two of the polearms from DW. He looted two and then left raid quickly after, not sure if he gave it to someone else, but I was 2nd highest roll and he left a little quickly to trade.
We know that guilds are running LFR wearing gear that is better and rolling on tier to pass to guildies – and that there are ‘underhanded’ deals being made in regards to the power of a class to roll on an item that they may or may not need. I had some random offering to roll on a piece of tier for me on one boss, I said no thank you initially – but then I won the trinket and considered that the piece of teir might be as good – or at least one step closer to a 4 set, and therefore worth a trade. So I said, ok, if you win a token I will trade you. ( and he didn’t win – so the deal never happened)
We can argue till we are blue in the face with people about what we think is fair or not, and not only are we battling with lady luck and RNG, but also the whims of random people. Sometimes someones idea of fairness aligns with the general sence of fairness in the raid, or amongst a class or role set and they will pass so its not an issue, or they will re-distribute the winnings. Sometimes they will roll just because they can, and blame blizzard for letting them.
We are creatures of free will, and I really don’t want to roll on everything I can, or on something I know I won’t use, as tempting as thinking ” screw you all” is.
It’s only pixels – repeat that to yourself.
but somestimes I feel like singing
“What about me, it isn’t fair
I’ve had enough now i want my share
Can’t you see i wanna live
But you just take more than you give”
and so I leave you with some classic Australian rock from the 1980’s and a band called Moving Pictures ” What about me”
Or if you prefer the Shannon Noll version
Provided by 
Pugnacious Priest's Warcraft Blog 
My point is pretty simple on this: if you can roll need, you do.
Your disenchant material > some randoms BiS
I would like to see you play a round of prisoner’s dilemma with someone like yourself.
Logically, I agree with Gevlon. However, my heart tells me that I’m a self centered bastard every time I roll need on something I don’t really need. I guess I’m not really a goblin, even though I play one in a computer game.
Last time I used LFR on my resto druid, there was a kitty needing on everything. His strategy was to trade stuff he won but didn’t need for stuff he needed but didn’t win. I won 2 tier pieces, he won a leather belt with spirit and a caster dps trinket. On both occasions he asked if I wanted to trade with him, and I refused.
It would have been better for both of us if I had traded 1 tier token for the belt (the same 2 useful items for me, and 1 useful item for him instead of 0).
But it would have been even better for me if he hadn’t needed on that belt: I would have gotten it, along with the same 2 tier tokens, as there was no other resto or balance druid in the raid. So I didn’t trade him, as I felt entitled to that belt.
I was so upset with his attitude that if I was Balance specced I would have rolled on agility gear and would have vendored any agility drop won this way.
So sometimes rolling on everything you can doesn’t pay off, as it upsets others around you and makes them less willing to cooperate or even encourages them to screw you over.
Random loot is random. In a recent LFR on my hunter, I must have clicked the wrong option because I somehow ended up with an expertise ring which caused a big stink. When I realized what had happened, I traded it to the rogue who ought to have won it. Later on, the bow dropped but I lost the roll to another hunter who was very well geared. After most everybody else dropped group, he told me that he’d intended to vendor it but gave it to me since it would be a nice upgrade.
Any one drop can be hugely unfair and people can be jerks or generous but in the long run, it more or less evens out. On the other hand, in the long run all gear is obsolete.
I totally understand. Given the option between being just as much of a selfish jerk as everyone else or not running LFR, I chose the latter.
Gevlon’s selfishness highlights the difference between fair and just. The fairest option would be to let everyone roll on everything; each person would have equal odds to win each item. A just system could be loosely defined as one in which each person gets what they deserve – and therein lies the problem. How do you determine who deserves what? Do you judge by the dps meter, biggest upgrade, least damage taken, best transmog outfit… no matter what system you choose it will be subjective, open to debate, and possible to game. In a community (guild) you can choose a system that aligns best with the standards and principles of the group, as well as ignore the system when consensus dictates doing so. Social pressure keeps gaming and abuse to a minimum. LFR presents a different scenario, given that the players in the group don’t have social ties to one another and gain nothing from someone else winning. Justice isn’t really applicable in that setting, beyond very broad rules that everyone can agree on, and which leave lots of room for manipulation, like what the Pugnacious Priest describes in the post. In the end I guess I’d say act according to your own principles, but don’t expect those principles to be respected by the other players in LFR. Gevlon isn’t the only one who will need on everything.
Nobody prefers the Shannon Noll version. Nobody.
I normally pass on LFR loot if I have already better or more appropriate gear – most players do. Let the players that need it have it!
Some players follow Gevlon’s principle “if you can roll need you do” even when they do not really need the item (the loot rules are far from perfect). I can live with that but it is not my thing.
at least the DK in your example knew they shouldn’t have been able to roll on the Agility trink. I’m constantly loosing Agility accesories to DKs when on my Hunter and Rogue. Curiously this has only been the case since Plate’s use of Agility was nerfed (4.2 I think?) Which makes it even sadder.