What is GDKP in WoW? GDKP raid looting system in World of Warcraft, explained

Maybe the most popular way for pick-up groups (PUGs) to organize raid runs in World of Warcraft Classic is with GDKP. 

GDKP, short for “Gold Dragon Kill Points,” is a system used extensively in WoW Classic by players looking to farm raids and hunt for items. In these raid runs, players can use gold to bid on items that drop during the run, and the players who don’t get lucky with the loot drops each get a share of the gold spent on items. 

Here’s a brief breakdown of how GDKP runs work in WoW Classic. 

What does GDKP stand for in World of Warcraft? 

GDKP stands for “Gold Dragon Kill Points,” implying it’s a spin-off of the Dragon Kill Points (DKP) system prevalent in the early days of World of Warcraft. That system used a metric known as Dragon Kill Points to track participation in group activities. After being an active member of enough boss kills with the same group, players would have accumulated enough Dragon Kill Points to spend on a piece of gear when it dropped in a future raid run. 

In the case of GDKP runs, Dragon Kill Points are replaced with gold, and you can spend that gold on gear that drops during the raid.

How do GDKP runs work in WoW Classic?  

GDKP runs are relatively different even though they share a similar name to the Dragon Kill Points system that was previously popular among the player base. Since gold is a more readily accessible currency for PUGs than DKP, it’s become the standard currency used to bid on items. 

Whenever an item drops for a group during a GDKP run, interested players can bid on the loot with however much gold they want to spend. In turn, players who were outbid on the item (or are uninterested in it) get an even share of the gold the winning player spent.

For example, if Player A bids 1,000 gold on an item, and Player B bids 2,000 gold on the same item, Player B wins the item, but the other players in the raid (including Player A) each receive an even cut of the 2,000 gold that Player B spent on it. 

GDKP runs were immensely popular in WoW Classic and even became prominent in the first phase of Season of Discovery. But with the revelation of the second phase, the devs want to remove the system. It remains to be seen how Blizzard will remove GDKP from WoW Season of Discovery.

Are GDKP runs worth it in WoW Classic?

GDKP runs are often viewed as a traditional “everybody wins” type of situation. If you’re looking to either farm gear or gold, and don’t have a reliable guild group to raid with, GDKP runs are a great way to get yourself up to speed with the gearing curve. 

Even if you miss out on an item (or are outbid by someone else with more gold), you’ll walk away from the run with a sizable chunk of change that you can put toward any loot that drops during your next run.