A small update for the start of March 2 comments
updated 22nd of Mar 2010
posted 8th of Mar 2010
by Aeiedil
Gday all. I know I've been quiet lately, but that's because I just can't seem to find the time to finish the couple of posts that I've been working through about Addons and Macros. I am still here! Just being thoughtful.
I've also started work on a project that goes along the lines of wow-heroes and /spit Gearscore. It will however be Moonkin-specific because Moonkin is what I know, and I really don't want to see another site that just counts the gear levels. More info on this as it happens.
This is why I've been a bit quiet of late though, between moving the website around and working on the top secret Moonkin project above and raiding my evenings just disappear!
On a personal note I just went past the 8000 achievement point mark with a Saurfang Heroic kill in 10 man, and am sat ready to try again against the Lich King in 25 man (normal) tonight.
Comments
I find Gearscore incredibly useful. There, I said it.
Before I installed Gearscore, I would usually browse through players gear *anywyas*, and I would just be counting Item Levels to find an average. Maybe I'd look them up on the armory to see how their stats turned out. Why do this the stupid way?
Instead of me calculating a rough item level, gearscore tells me right off the bat. Gearscore tells me how much SP, crit and haste has, by pressing three buttons. I can even check someone far away, because its likely that I have scanned them in Dalaran. Gearscore even lets me see how many times a player has killed a boss, or how far they have progressed through one instance JUST by looking them up.
How is this not useful? I agree that making groups based on gearscore is silly, but so is making groups based on item level. At the very least, it gives SOME sort of estimate of how valuable a player can be to a group. What else is there to go for? Achievements? Could be that I was on an alt, and that I can execute every tactic in the book, but I just haven't done it on my alt. Reputation? How are you going to know everybody? Skill? How on earth are you going to meassure that?
If you use Gearscore correctly, its a perfectly fine tool for what it can do. If you abuse it, or rely too much on it, you are going to get burned, but other than that, it saves me some time.
It can be useful to get an overview. You can spot a mile off that player that has a GS of 3800 compared to those with 5500+. The problem is that too many players using it rely on just that number.
Without knowing how the stats effect every class it's unviable for someone to know with any accuracy how well a particular player will perform based on that alone, even with the summary stats you get from GS.
Achievements are also, as you said, unreliable. My alt has various achievments that have been got through being boosted largely, for example. Likewise on my alt I find it hard to get into groups when appropriately geared due to a low GS (due to higher GS relying on sub-optimum gear) or due to a lack of achievments (despite experience on my main).
Ultimately this was all summarised in an Ony25 run I was in the other day. I was at the top of the DPS due to outgearing everyone else, but there were 2 other Moonkin. One @ 5200 GS, one at 5800 GS. Due to the one @ 5800 favouring Hit (up to about 20% before talents) and haste (up to 800 haste) with no desire for crit (15% according to armoury) and no tier he managed a massive 4000 or so DPS. Compared to the 5200 GS that pulled off around 7000 without AoE spamming.
It's not so much the addon, it's the way people treat that magic number as equal to skill that devalues what it probably meant to set out to do in the first place that makes me ashamed to have it installed. Yet I do still have it installed.
LFM Hogger, 6200GS+ only