#1 - Sept. 27, 2018, 4:13 p.m.
I was wondering why my luck was so bad. Then (when putting my engineering mind to the task) I realized I wasn't having bad luck, that's just how this work now. My raid is roughly 28 people. The only shield wearing main specs are me and a holy paladin. Since it's personal loot, I have to be selected for loot (6 out of 28) on that one specific boss, and then I have to get the specific item out of the boss (1 out of 3) I believe. So my odds of getting a shield are 5%. The odds with master loot, assuming 4 drops instead of 6 would be 36% (11 drop options on the boss so (1/11)+(1/11)+(1/11)+(1/11)). That's where my seemingly "bad luck" is coming from. I am 7 times less likely to get a shield in a raid with personal loot instead of group/master loot.
My chances are slightly improved by having that holy paladin in the group, but he has to get one first and then a second to pass to me.
If I switch to a monk, that gives me 3 chances (2x monk tanks + a survival hunter). However if I switch to DK, that gives me 5 chances (1 unholy dk+2 ret pallies+1 fury warrior+1 blood dk). I just wanted to bring to everyone's attention that your raid/group composition directly impacts the odds of you getting specific loot items.