How are drops calculated?

How are drops exactually calculated in a group?

Is it just totally random? So a person standing there not doing anything will get the same amount of drops from a person whos actually doing something?

from what i have read the person has to participate in some way even if only standing back and casting a heal on one person for experience

drops are random but i dont know of any drops for someone who stays at the start of an area while the others go ahead short handed

there are various "schools" of thought that pertain to your question....
IMHO, It depends on how many people are "farming" when you are on. Honestly the best time I have ever had farming seems to be between 5:00 PM
and 7:00PM Standard Eastern Time

I've been wondering the same thing... With my Mo/W when I was doing "The Wilds" and "Bloodstone Fen" all got gold drops but I did not get any. And I'm most of an Smiting Monk so I dealed alot of dmg but only things I got was like Collector stuff and the Enemies Robes/Armors etc. IMO It's so annoying.

I've gone out to watch my friend demonstrate some things to me before and I did nothing but stand within viewing range of him, out of aggro range of the monsters, and have still gotten gold drops.

I think as long as the person is close they have a chance to get a drop, obviously a higher chance if they participate during the kill.

It seems the types of drops and the amount of rares would depend on how many people are on at that current time, I've gotten around 12 golds in one griffon run at around 3 AM, but during the day I'll only get about 2-3 golds at the most, and usually not every run.

exactly what i meant.

out of all the threads and posts complaining about the freeloader who simply waits at the start while everybody goes on to finish whatever it is there has not been a single post saying it served him right because this great gold/green/whatever with his name on it dropped and we waited for it to become common property .

also not a single post of at least we got his drops since he was not there

Distance does factor in to the equation. I think that people in the compass will have drops allocated to them, whether or not they participate. Once you get far enough away, drops stop being allocated to people not in range.