Loot

This term refers to the items, weapons, crafting materials, gold...literally anything "dropped" by mobs when they are slain. For this reason, loot is sometimes referred to as "drops".

The quality and quantity of loot is fairly random, but is directly related to the uniqueness and difficulty of the slain mob. The higher level the mob, the more valuable/useful the loot is likely to be. The chance of dropping a rare item is greater at higher difficulty levels as well.

In Guild Wars, dropped loot is disbursed fairly equally among all the members of a party. When an item is dropped, the game automatically assigns it to a specific member of the party, and for a period of time, only that player can pick it up. The next item dropped is assigned to the next member of the party, and so on.

This rigid system makes no distinction between players, even if certain loot would be better suited for another member of the party. For instance, a dropped Longbow is just as likely to be assigned to an Elementalist as to a Ranger. Furthermore, the randomness of loot drops is unaffected by the system of loot assignment; one player could concievably get 5 rare drops while the all other members each get 5 common drops.

If the assignee doesn't pick up an assigned item within 5 minutes after it dropped, the assignment goes away, allowing anyone can pick it up.

Note that NPC Henchmen get "turns" in this loot assignment system as well. Although dropped items assigned to them do not actually appear, they are taking their share of loot along with the "real" players.

Dropped gold is automatically divided among all members of a party when anyone picks it up.