Today in WoW, you really can’t get away from seeing the acronym “GS”. Where people will post up and say my GS is 2800 LFG. GS or Gear Score was for the most part invented or at least popularized by the site http://wow-heroes.com/. On this site you plug in a person’s realm and character name, and the site will assign a score based on that characters current gear and enchants.
This helps out folks to see who is better geared than others, what gear score doesn’t evaluate is experience or skill. But wait, they have a “Raid Achievements” section, yeah they show what raid achievements that character earned, but was that character lowest on the totem pole? Do they not fully get their class?
What about someone who has had the unfortunate situation where they have not been able to raid and have no raid achievements? Does that mean they don’t have skill or experience?
While the site itself is a GREAT tool, it has quickly become the end all be all for invites. People have gone as far as installing addons like GearScore to find out on the fly just how good someone’s gear is. Just this past week I had 3 people whisper me to apply to my guild, and instead of telling me about themselves they told me their gear score. While thats great, I immediately turned the conversation around and asked them regarding their experience.
Knowing someone’s gear is great to know what instances they are capable of doing, but should never replace someone’s skill. Recently I was running as a tank in Forge of Souls. The healer in there had maybe 3 epics, mostly blues and greens, and he did a phenomenal job, and I told him so. He told me thank you, and that he is usually kicked from groups because of his gear.
Skill is always better than gear people. Gear score isn’t everything. Remember to look at the overall package. Skill and the person behind the toon is more important than just gear.
Heck ya! Skill and intelligence will outweigh pure gear (but no skill) any day. When people make choices for heroics or raids soley on the gearscore of an individual, they are doing a disservice to themselves and the group. My toon doesn’t have a super l33t gearscore -yet- but I am often able to keep up in terms of dps with those who have much better gear.
Of course, if someone has gear and skill….that is a potent match.
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I completely agree with you on the skill aspect, and for the most part it counts more than gear. That said, there are some instance where raw gear DOES matter, MOST notably for tanks. Sometimes a raw stat (again, tanks and def / stam is most noticeable) can make the difference in whether or not someone can effectively do their job. (Healers are mostly exempt from gear requirements in LK because mana regen is way too forgiving right now, this will change with Cata)
The dps example isn’t nearly as strong as the tank, but it’s still there (mostly just in raid environments these days) as if too many dps are undergeared then they simply will not be able to do enough dps to beat that enrage timer. No, gear is NOT (nor would I ever say it is) an acceptable representation of ability, but it DOES however set the maximum limit at which one can perform. (many players, due to lack of skill and fi;;y capable PCs will never reach that limit)
GS is much like money. Money isn’t the problem, but rather people’s greed for it is. GS isn’t the issue, people’s misuse of it as a skill gauge is. ESPECIALLY with how easy gear is to obtain right now. You mention good players with low GS; I’ll mention horrible players with amazing GS.
The other issue GS brings on with…shall I say less educated players? is that there are players out there (and I’ve seen several) who look at an item’s GS to determine if it’s an upgrade or not, as opposed to determine whether they actually need the stats a particular item possesses. It’s amazing how many healers I’ve seen with TONS of +hit gear on, and how many DPS who have way more haste than is practical, sacrificing some much needed crit in the process.
If I had to blame GS for something I’d say it’s that it measures item quality, NOT item quality in relation to the players spec and other equipped items.
I agree with all your points, GS has become the end-all-be-all for pug selection it seems, just horrible. It pains me when I see a group recruiting for like OS or Naxx and saying must have a GS of 2500, really? People finished Naxx with a GS of sub 2K…
Ya, that is always somewhat amusing. The GS reqs are well beyond what they should be. I also find the guild thing you mentioned rather amusing too. GS is fine enough to look at for a PUG, since beyond gear there isn’t much else you can tell about a person’s potential, but for a guild; a guild is a group of players who consistently work together, and as such gear is usually, at most toward the bottom of the list of things to look at. One of the most important is personality. Each guild has its own general feel, and as such each guild has its own personality type that it most appeals to. Amazing how some people think the game is entirely about gear. Lol.