On progression server (The Combine), in Realm of Insanity, we used an award system. It worked well because we were only in each expansion for a month or two (since we would unlock the next one pretty quickly), so we needed the most bang for our buck. Never heard complaining about loot, either. I am guessing being in each expansion for a month or two made most people not care too much about the current expansions loot.
On live, we used a DKP system where you could bid up to 2x your points, and if you bid at least half the max bid, you would roll your bid. The item could would be half the max bid. I.e. if Item X drops, and you bid 200 points, and someone else bids 500, you wouldn't roll since 500 / 2 = 250 and then the item cost would be 250. If you bid 300, then you would roll 300 while the person who bid 500 would roll 500. Highest roll won and had the item's cost subtracted from their dkp. It worked well and if you were willing to bid more, you had a better chance at the item. The downside was, our first Aten kill, a ranger who was hoarding DKP won the neck quest piece, and I don't think he was not ready to blow all his DKP on it and he never logged in again after that. But I suppose you have that possibility with any loot system.
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