If you're at all interested in the world of WoW blogging

If you're at all interested in the world of WoW blogging, there's a good chance that you're already familiar with the one run by the inimitable Perculia and Hamlet. If you're not, Hamlet's most recent post is a very good reason to change that. One thing I've always enjoyed about Hamlet's writing is that he has a very good grasp of buy gold on wow perspective, and this latest entry is par for the course. This is a post about how to be a better raider, and it's not about DPS or meters. It's about correcting personal errors, specifically the kind that kill you, and in particular, about not standing in the fire.

Hamlet's principle thesis is that raid awareness is a skill that can be learned and practiced. That sounds simple enough in plain terms, but awareness and how to improve it isn't something I've seen often discussed seriously in WoW circles. Sure, I've heard many complaints (and made plenty myself) about people who die to easily preventable things such as fire, or void zones, or whatever, but it's usually talked about as if it's a done deal--"so-and-so pisses us off because they always die in the fire." Not "what measurable steps can so-and-so take to stop dying in the fire?"

I tried to shorten this down, but I want to quote this entire paragraph from early on in Hamlet's post, because it deserves to be repeated in its entirety:

The MVP of your raid group isn't the person at the top of the DPS meter; it's the person who hasn't died by standing in fire in 3 months. Doing elite DPS is rare, but doing quite good DPS is somewhat common. A player who does quite good DPS and dies regularly to avoidable mechanics is nothing special. A player who does quite good DPS and dies very rarely to avoidable mechanics is the best prize a guild recruiter can find in their applicant pool. Because a raid full of those players, even if none of them are at the top of worldwide log rankings, is going to succeed at what matters. They're going to win boss encounters.

I smiled at this analysis, because it reminded me of the philosophy at the center of the movie Moneyball, based on the book of the same title, which documents a specific evolution in the way baseball teams were formulated. The basic idea is that the most effective baseball team won't necessarily be composed of stars with the most home runs. It will be composed of the players who get on base the most. Because getting on base is ultimately what matters. A player on base is a player who can get around all the bases and score.We here in the gold is very cheap! https://www.wly.com