Loot council

Loot Council is a relatively simple way to distribute loot. Whenever an item is involved in the loot system, a group of individuals decides who gets the item. Ideally, this group of individuals takes into consideration several different factors, ranging from attendance, performance, size of upgrade, and attitude. In some cases (often called "corrupt loot councils"), council members may make decisions based on friendships or personal bias. It's worth noting that Loot Council systems are the most popular method of loot distribution in world-class raiding guilds.

Utilities

 * LootCouncil_Lite is an addon aimed at helping loot councils make more objective decisions. It provides an easy-to-use interface that enables council members to quickly compare all members interested in an item. This addon has no been updated since 2015, a more modern alternatives are RCLootCouncil and BigDumbLootCouncil

Advantages

 * Loot Council values performance much more than other loot systems. Top performers usually find that they get loot faster.
 * Loot Council values size of upgrade much more than other loot systems. Point-based systems tend to put too much emphasis on best-in-slot items and not enough on total impact to the raid.
 * Loot Council can better distribute loot for the challenges that face the guild. If the guild needs a certain sector to get gear (such as dps or healers), it's easy to reallocate gear to them.

Disadvantages

 * Loot Council is only as fair as the people on the council. One corrupt council member can destroy a whole guild.
 * It requires more work on the part of council members to pay attention to and keep track of that which determines loot distribution.
 * Actually awarding loot can take more time as council members debate whom it should go to.

When to use Loot Council

 * Guilds that have problems such as: shortage in attendance, too many "casual" raiders and people that do not put effort in raiding, drama related to loot, drama related to the alleged "inflation" of the Point systems will likely not benefit from this arrangement.
 * Guilds that have homogeneous raiding groups, a homogeneous commitment and attendance, non overcrowded guilds and guilds doing the very high end content of the game in server with little "competition" can benefit from this arrangement.