If you haven't already made your way into Icecrown Citadel and checked out the quartermaster, you may not be aware that unlike ToC and Ulduar 25-mans, wherein many yummy crafting patterns fell from the bosses, you will be needing to purchase your 3.3 epic crafting patterns. Specifically, you will need to have appropriate reputation levels (honored for one pair, revered for another pair or patterns) plus a primordial saronite to purchase each pattern.
There are two ways to obtain the primordial saronite — they drop at 50% or less off the bosses in Icecrown Citadel 25-man raids, or you can buy them for 23 emblems of frost. Personally, I don't see a lot of folks taking the latter route straight out of the gate since we'll all be needing to spend hundreds of those emblems on purchasing our tier 10 gear.
Our guild is still undecided about how to handle the saronites as they drop. We do have a guild crafter rank, Swashbuckler, already in place. For runed orbs, our guild sold them to guildies, from the gbank, at half the going auction house price. I've proposed that we either give them to the guild crafters, as they hit the appropriate rep levels, or sell them to them at no more thank 1/4 the going auction house
price. Even the latter would be a pricey proposition for crafters.
Personally, having acquired a substantial number of patterns both before and after being named a guild crafter, and so far having made about a dozen pieces for guildies and friends of the guild, and nothing for myself, find it a little hard to rationalized spending my gold on buying primal saronite for four patterns, when it's unlikely I will make the items for myself (at best, I could see myself crafting a pair of boots.)
One of the rules of being a guild crafter is that since you get priority on dropped patterns you don't charge guildies for crafting the items. Thus, if we don't give guild crafters the saronite, we are basically saying "oh hai please spend 3k per pattern in costs you will not be able to recoup unless you shop yourself out in trade chat for a few weeks." I doubt most of the folks would do so — or would even have the cash reserves to do so even if they wanted to.
How's your guild handling the primal saronite? Or how would you like to see it go?
To the person getting shadowmourne, the first 25 pieces should go to them.
How would you decide who gets Shadowmourne? And why would 1 person’s weapon upgrade be more important than the guild having all the epic patterns?
Epic patterns should be purchased by each individual.
Shadowmourne should be at least partially purchased by each individual. Ive collected about 13 so far, and have friends helping when they can. Im farming gold and buying them. And using badges. If a guild thinks their awesome DK tank needs insane dps and threat, then sure help him. If you think a DPS DK/Tank would enjoy the item help them. Progrssion will be determined by loot in the zone, and downing bosses.
Epic items on the other hand should be crafted with guild banked saronites and given away for DKP EP/GP Etc.