This isnt even a made up scenario, I ran Uld this weekend with a Troll mage who rolled need and won on a green plate boots drop and a blue Plate wrist that would have been a great upgrade for our warrior and a +armor ring that would have been a great upgrade for me.
Theres a reason the two options are “need” and “greed” and that need comes before greed!
Because the cash the mage would get by selling is the same amount of cash the tank would save by not having to buy it off the AH.
This thread is about BoE items mate.
The tank can go buy it off the AH.
The mage can sell it and buy his equivalent BoE off the AH.
Whats the difference? When we say “Hey, if i can sell it on the AH for gold, its need!” we can just as well add “Hey, when I can vendor it for gold its need!” to the list.
Uh, here we go again running in circles. 
You could’ve just read some of my previous posts where I explain that.
The difference is you can sell and buy BoEs on AH for its market price which reflects its value in gold equivalent.
You can’t buy a BoP item and the vendor price doesn’t reflect its value.
They really need to add a system where you can only need if you can actually USE the item.
I think TBC had this, you couldnt need on plate as a mage, you could choose “Disenchant”, which was below Need but over greed, but you could only use it if you had enchanting…
Best system this far.
EDIT: no wait, i belive Disenchant was on par with Greed, but you got the disenchantment materials when you won the roll.
Not really, because you cannot buy the item for vendor price. You can only get item via rolling in dungeon.
Comparing sale on AH to a vendor price… that makes no sense.
You could argue that, but with what we have now the best way is to all “need” on BoEs, and “need before greed” on BoPs.
Not only is it more fair, giving every group member a chance to get a reward they worked for together as a group, but it also prevents cases like the OP describes where people greed on a BoE leaving the opportunity for someone to “need” and ninja the item. Or cases when someone claims they’ll use it for an upgrade when they already have that item etc etc.
@oakenlix
Its only a problem because people like you makes it more complicated than it has to be. Need if you are going to equip it else greed …
All your sentiments about market economy and whatnot might make perfect sense for you - but its pretty obvious to me that the majority doesnt like your thinking …
But you are probably right, everyone else just havent thought it through, are just casuals or are simply missing the point … what else could it be ?
Oh yeah, so what solution do you propose? Let’s make all people behave, right? So there would be no ninjas anymore. That surely will work!
Same way we used to, make people accountable for their actions - that might actually work in a classic setting without group finder and x realm … Maybe some classic players was really looking forward to that aspect of classic … A sense of community again and accountability - thats on the players this time around and not blizzard …
But no, lets force the retail mindset on people instead … sigh
First of all, this “bad reputation” thing barely works on realms with higher than low pop.
Secondly, why not simply prevent ninjaing by everyone rolling need on BoEs, rather than letting it happen and then trying to punish the ninjas? Preventing the problem is always better than dealing with it when it has already happened.
Everyone pressing need on a BoE is doing so because they need gold, even if you intent to equip it. Because if you didn’t need the gold you would already be wearing it as you bought it off the auction house. The only reason you need it from a drop is because you don’t have the gold to buy it.
Thinking of it another way; The only difference between the gold value of a BoE and the BoE itself is the running distance to the closest AH.
I should really write a letter of complaint to the Lottery.
Because I need a super yacht…I need that specific real tangible thing. Whilst they keep letting people win who just want the money…they shouldn’t get to enter the lottery, cause I need a super yacht not just money…
I would totally like use it, like.
Yeah, i wish to you that one run a rare BIS for your class drops and you are the only group member who can use it but it gets ninjad by some priest who says he “needs” it to level his enchanting.
Well, guess what, losing a roll sucks. But adult people normally can deal with it without crying and accusing everyone of being a ninja. And if he chooses to disenchant an item that he won via a fair roll, that’s his business.
If it is a BoE as we have been discussing, then I can either buy it from AH, offer to buy it from my fellow group mate, but I certainly won’t be rolling around on the floor having a tantrum about it. Or demanding that the 500g item is worth more to me than 500g is to him, demanding that his rights to that 500g are less than mine would be damn stupid. That is all a BoE is, cos I can go buy it for that…perhaps off of him.
Well, do what feels right tbh - but i for one would never roll need on something that is clearly an upgrade for someone else in the group, just to turn it around to gold on the AH - and no it doesnt matter if its a stranger or a friend, this is a mmo after all … At the end of the day, we are all playing an online videogame - and stunting someone elses progress just becauses i feel entitled, after having spend an evening cooperating together - would kinda ruin the fun for me and thereby defeating the whole purpose of playing in the first place …
Each to his own i guess … GL on your loot rolls …
That’s a pretty strange way of looking at it.
You’re not taking something from someone because you feel entitled when you roll on a BoE. You worked as a group, something dropped that could be an upgrade for any of you, and so all of the group members should roll on equal terms for it to be fair. If that doesn’t seem fair to you, well, I dunno what to say.
Here’s the thing: all this “it’s worth the same to everyone” logic has a flaw. You’re just assuming that everyone will use the money for their current toon and 100% availability of alternatives to purchase.
If I end up spending the money (or item) on an alt, how am I not falling foul of main spec > offspec etiquette?
As an aside, there’s also a literal gold value difference between players because of the auction cut (and any lost deposits along the way), but I acknowledge that this is of limited relevance when discussing items worth many times this amount.