Here’s to the Theorycrafters

Once upon a time (and not so long ago, at that), I considered the term “theorycraft” and its derivatives to be a term, if not one of derision, certainly not complimentary.

Theorycrafters are those dedicated people who take the time (away from what I consider more “fun” pursuits, like whacking orcs, ogres or gnomes, depending on your persuasion) to actually use the information we’ve all been given to determine just what all the numbers mean in this game of ours. It takes the patience of a saint–and being neither patient nor saintly, it’s simply not something I can do.

Fortunately, I have seen the Light.

About a month ago, when I started reading WoW-related blogs fairly extensively, I would gloss over the theorycrafting articles. Okay…my eyes would glaze over, my brain would hurt, and I’d pray for a 2×4 with which to hit myself over the head. But then I started to read them more closely. And I discovered something: All those numbers really do mean something, and in many cases, something significant.

After all, each time we decide to upgrade a piece of armor or a weapon, we’re doing some pretty elementary theorycrafting, aren’t we? Each time we evaluate DPS vs. damage range, we’re theorycrafting. Each time we sacrifice STA for AGI, SPI for INT, we’re theorycrafting. Each time we give up one trinket for another, we’re theorycrafting. And then we get something like RatingBuster, which does some of the theorycrafting for us.

But that’s not quite enough, is it? After all, we can do the addition or subtraction between stats on item A and item B, or we can let RatingBuster do it…but how do we know if an extra point of INT is better or worse than two points of STA?

Enter the theorycrafters. They sit down with the formulae we’ve been given, or that others have deduced, develop theories, create spreadsheets and plot graphs. Then they actually go out into the real world (well, okay…they go in game) and put those theories and charts and formulae to the test through practical application. Finally, they share their insights with the rest of us.

And if we are paying attention, and really do want to L2P our characters to their full potential, we don’t get all weepy because the other Hunter in the group won the Beast Lord Leggings we once coveted–because we know they’re not as great as we once thought.

So here’s to the theorycrafters: This blog’s for you!