Novel pct/basis-points dual encoding for
bonusQualityChance: stored on disk as raw uint16 basis
points (0..10000) for compactness and integer-precision
math, but exported with both forms — bonusQualityChance
(int basis points, authoritative) and bonusQualityPct
(float, derived = bp / 100). Import accepts either form;
when only bonusQualityPct is present, converts pct *
100 to basis points with rounding.
This pattern is novel for the catalog set: most
percentage-style fields stored either as int (precise,
unfriendly) or as float (friendly, lossy round-trip).
The dual form gets both: byte-identical round-trip from
binary, AND human-friendly editing in JSON.
itemLevelDelta serializes as signed int16 (Heroic
modes can technically downgrade ilvl, though the
validator warns on negative). dropChanceMultiplier as
plain float.
All 3 presets (5man/raid25/challenge-mode) byte-
identical roundtrip OK. Pct-form import smoke-tested
with 7.5%% -> 750 basis points conversion. CLI flag
count 1182 -> 1184.
Novel replacement for the implicit Heroic-mode loot rules
vanilla WoW encoded in dungeon/raid script systems: a
Normal-mode boss drops items from one loot table, the
Heroic-mode version drops the same items at +N item
levels with M× drop chance plus an optional Heroic-only
currency token. Each WHRD entry binds one (mapId,
difficultyId) combination to its scaling rules so the
loot-roll engine can layer the modifiers over the base
WLOT loot table at encounter death.
Six tunable fields per scaling: itemLevelDelta (signed
int16, typically +13 for 5-man Heroic, +13 to +26 for
raid Heroic), bonusQualityChance (basis points 0..10000
for the probability of a +1-quality-tier bonus drop),
dropChanceMultiplier (float, 1.0 = same rate, 1.5 =
+50%), heroicTokenItemId (per-tier currency reward like
Emblem of Frost), bonusEmblemCount (extra emblems on
top of base 1× per boss).
mapId=0 is a wildcard that applies the scaling to ANY
map at the given difficultyId — used by the
ChallengeMode preset to define generic Bronze/Silver/
Gold tier scalings without naming each instance.
Three preset emitters: makeWotLK5manHeroic (5 WotLK
5-man Heroics: Utgarde Keep, Nexus, Azjol-Nerub,
Ahn'kahet, Drak'Tharon — all +13/2× Emblem of Heroism),
makeRaid25Heroic (4 25H raids: Naxx +13, EoE +13,
Ulduar +26, ICC +26 with corresponding Conquest/Triumph/
Frost emblems), makeChallengeMode (3 anachronistic
challenge-mode tiers as a template for custom servers
backporting MoP-era systems).
Validator's most novel checks are bounds-aware:
bonusQualityChance capped at 10000 basis points (above
that would guarantee multiple bonus drops), no negative
itemLevelDelta (Heroic shouldn't be worse than Normal —
warning, not error), no >50 ilvl delta (beyond canonical
range — warning), no zero or excessive dropChance-
Multiplier, AND (mapId, difficultyId) tuple uniqueness
unless mapId=0 wildcard (multiple scalings binding the
same instance+difficulty would make loot-roll lookup
ambiguous).
Format count 107 -> 108. CLI flag count 1175 -> 1180.
