Dragon Kill Points, or DKP, was invented by Thott in 1999.  Afterlife is the first guild to ever use it, and still uses it to this day.

Over the years, many tweaks have occurred in the system to adjust for guild needs as games and members change.  This page refers to the current rules.  Historical rules are also available.

Each raid attended where a boss is killed will net everyone present (and those on the sit list as well) some amount of Dragon Kill Points, or DKP.  Items that drop are then paid for using DKP.

New to the system (2011) is Tier DKP.  Tier DKP is used to determine who wins an item that drops.  Whoever has the highest Tier DKP that wants the item, wins it.  The cost of the item is then subtracted from their total DKP, and Tier DKP is recalculated using this new base value.

Tier DKP is calculated with the following complex, but fun, formula:  ({Total DKP} + 100) / (1 + {Tier Items Taken} + 10 * (1 – {Activity Percentage}/100))

This is basically Total DKP divided by Items Looted, with attendance added and some modifiers to make the numbers work well in zero-item and low DKP situations.

{Tier Items Taken} resets to zero with each new tier of content.

Alt Spec

It is not uncommon that there are no players present that want a particular item for their primary spec, in that case, anyone can enter to win the item as for their alt spec.  For example, a tanking warrior has as his primary spec tanking, and normally enters for and buys tank gear using DKP, with all of the associated advantages in lotto success.  If, however, a piece of dps plate drops and nobody else wants it, the tanking warrior can go in on it as alt spec.  In this case there is no DKP cost, and the winner is decided strictly by activity placement.

New Members

Initiates participate in the DKP system, earning DKP for attendance, but are not allowed to win an item wanted by a member for their main spec.  They can, however, win items for their main spec that a member would otherwise only use for alt spec.  This restriction goes away when promoted to Peon.

Because of the way the Tier DKP system is designed, a new member with no attendance and no DKP will have a Tier DKP value of around 9.  Given current DKP income rates, if no items are purchased the new member will have a Tier DKP value of roughly 150 after 30 days of attendance, assuming no items are taken and attendance is 100%.  The biggest factor in the first 30 days is getting a high attendance percentage, as each 10% loss of attendance is equivalent to looting an item in Tier DKP value.

Inflation

There are many ways to run a DKP system, and beyond the basic concept (give points for killing things, pay points to get loot) there are many, many variables to play with.  Afterlife uses a system with 10% inflation, which means if 1000 DKP worth of items are looted in a given month, 1100 DKP will be added to the system, leaving a net of 100 DKP remaining, spread across the players participating.  Inflation in this case represents a form of seniority, albeit one proportional to time spent raiding as opposed to time in guild.  Given the nature of the Tier DKP system even years of accumulated inflation may only net a player a one or two item advantage in a new tier of content, but it is an advantage, and one that exists for any new member that puts in the time to obtain it.

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