Larssen_PM
The Power of One
Many WoW web sites and raid leaders stress the importance of individual improvement. That is, min-maxing every aspect of your character to wring out every last bit of damage and healing possible. This can take the form of seeking out new and better gear, reforging, replacing gems, or tweaking your talent tree. Unless your gear and build had gone terribly awry to begin with, this often yields minimal improvements, along the lines of 5% or so, and often much less. Sometimes the changes are too small to even notice except by poring over Recounts and comparing numbers. Are these questionable upgrades worth all the time, trouble, and wasted gold? In a word: yes, and here's why.
Every member of our Firelands raid group has recently done something to improve their performance, even by the smallest amount, and it shows. Xara and Morte have both topped 70k DPS on massive packs of AoE trash, and both use Mr Robot regularly to optimize their gear and gemming. Some of Mr Robot's decisions are questionable, but even so, using him is far better than not using him, especially if you lack the time or inclination to theorycraft your gear. Along the same lines, I recently switched from my beloved Gag Order to a Deep Wounds build to add a bit of extra threat and damage, and this indirectly led to our first kill of Shannox. Icarrus constantly switches glyphs from boss to boss to ensure he has the right tools for the job. Ice extensively reforged and reglyphed to strengthen his absorb bubbles. Maerd is constantly researching new ideas and ways to improve both his own performance and that of the raid group as a whole. Drew regularly tweaks his rotation and practices on target dummies to wring out every last bit of damage he can. Lurosa helps the group tremendously by bringing in different characters for different boss fights, all of which he excels at, to bring the greatest possible benefit to the group. Derelith has always been a DPS powerhouse, and changing from fire to arcane has only improved his already amazing damage output. However, Derelith's greatest contribution to the group has been his refreshingly blunt analysis of our raid tactics. If someone is doing something wrong, Derelith will tell them so in no uncertain terms, and offer helpful advice on what they should be doing differently. This commentary is an invaluable aid when learning new encounters. Every raid group needs a Derelith!
Special mention here should be given to Kyla. Despite being a non-gamer and a self-professed noob, she goes above and beyond to help the group succeed. She is constantly upgrading her gear, doing research on Warcraft Hunter's Union, and farming materials and supplies for the raid. Kyla pays for a legal ping service that costs more per month than WoW itself, to reduce lag and enhance her performance in raids. She recently demonstrated amazing commitment by dropping her skinning profession to switch to jewelcrafting and maxing it overnight, simply for a gain of 81 agility points. To Kyla, the considerable expenditure of gold and grinding this required was worth it if that tiny damage increase allowed her to help the raid, even just a little bit. Most importantly, Kyla improves by asking questions. She deliberately asks for constructive criticism and takes it to heart, often showing an improvement on the very next attempt. If every raider was willing to give so much to the group, Azeroth would be a far better place.
Not all changes are for the best, of course. A pug raid leader once asked me to DPS in tanking gear simply because my Gearscore was better in tanking gear. Every change should be taken with a grain of salt -- test it and be ready to roll it back if it doesn't work out. But don't be afraid to experiment; even a change for the worst can be a blessing in disguise if it leads you to think more critically about your gear. In the end, gear does not win fights; knowledge and practice does. But once you have the skills you need and know what to do, gear will improve your performance by making all the right numbers bigger, so always strive to improve it. The same principle applies to talents. Don't be shy about tweaking your build to try new ideas, but don't blindly copy a spec unless you know what every talent point does and why it was chosen. Trying to shoehorn a cookie-cutter spec into a play style that doesn't support it will do more harm than good.
As you can see, everyone does little things that help the raid group. Tweaking your gear for a mere 1% increase in performance may seem trivial, and it is. But when ten people do that, it amounts to a 10% increase in raid performance, and that is a difference that anyone will notice. That figure may not be mathematically accurate on every fight, but the idea behind it is beyond question. Little things really do mean a lot, and even one player striving to be the very best they can be does make a difference!
by Larssen_PM on 2011-10-12 06:16:31
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