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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsSpiritual Guidance: The GearScore is a lie, Page 2
by Fox Van Allen 
Apr 28th 2010 at 9:00PM
Shadow priests are fairly lucky -- it's hard to screw up a lot of our gear without actively working to do so. Most cloth items just don't have stats on it that are absolutely useless to us. (Compare that to a shaman like mine, who is carrying around an ugly mix of elemental spellpower gear and attack-power-loaded enhancement gear.)
If there's anywhere we're going to make mistakes, it's in trinkets. It's a pretty forgivable error, since most trinkets deal in procs. It's hard to guess which is better than which with a quick glance. Let's get something straight now, though: The trinkets you can buy with emblems stink for shadow priests. Read that last sentence again. Memorize it. Save your emblems.
The item level 245 Talisman of Resurgence is one of the banes of my existence. So many spriests wind up using it simply because it's easy to buy with Emblems of Triumph. The passive intellect part of the trinket provides virtually no benefit to us (it's worth approximately 28 spellpower). The real benefit from it comes from the on-use part (ugh). Overall, it theorycrafts out to be worth approximately 128.0 points worth of pseudo-spellpower. If you take a look at a good, up-to-date gear list (like the one at shadowpriest.com), you'll see that it's bad enough to not even rank in the top 20.
It is noticeably worse than the farmable Abyssal Rune (Trial of Champions regular), the Nevermelting Ice Crystal (Pit of Saron heroic) and even the blue quality Forge Ember from heroic Halls of Stone.
Choosing the Talisman of Resurgence makes your GearScore better, but it makes your DPS worse. (Even the item level 264 Purified Lunar Dust performs worse than the level 200 Abyssal Rune.) Is it really worth playing under your ability to appease someone else who values you so little as to reduce your self worth to a simple number?
There's got to be a better way to do things ...
Yet another column on this topic here at WoW.com isn't going to change the world -- that I know. Still, a large number of you all are regularly pugging content, and this stupid GearScore metric is a constant part of your world. As someone who pugged his way through most of Wrath, I have some advice.
- Never chase after GearScore. Others will use it to judge you -- don't use it to judge yourself. When I think that someone felt pressured into buying the Talisman of Resurgence despite knowing there were better options out there, I feel like throwing up. You'll always be better served in picking gear that maximizes your performance, not what some lazy PUG leader thinks of you.
- If a PUG is built solely on GearScore, it's going to be a bad PUG. Okay, sure, that's a broad generalization, but there's a lot of truth to it in my experience. Anyone can get decent gear these days with emblems -- even ICC-level gear is purchasable through emblems. A PUG built solely using GearScore is a PUG built solely around people who do nothing more than meet the minimum requirement. And while the 35-year-old meth addict next to me on the bus may meet the minimum requirements to be president for the United States ...
- The real information is found by reading between the lines. Gear is, of course, always going to be important. But did you know that a smart PUG leader will also take a quick look at your enchants and gems, and actually value your knowledge of your class over your four-digit GearScore? True story, kids. Neither enchants nor gems contribute to the traditional GearScore rating, but most raid leaders don't want a 5500 GS shadow priest with a plus agility enchant in their raid.
- Reputation is everything. There are plenty of successful PUGs out there, and they don't revolve around randomly picking people based on GearScore. The best organized PUGs revolve around reputation. My shammy has a horrendous gear score. Based on GearScore, I barely qualify to run heroics. Still, because I've performed well in PUGs before on other characters, because my guildies know me. Because I've built some cursory relationships with regular PUG raiders and leaders, it's not hard to find a group. ("We need one more? Hold on, I know this writer from wow.com we can get. No seriously, he's a good player, even though he works for wow.com.")
Perform to the best of your ability, don't be a jerk to the people you're randomly thrown into groups with, and make smart gear choices. Do those three things consistently, and your GearScore will be irrelevant. I promise.
Hunger for more information about bending the light to your advantage? More interested in watching health bars go down than watching them bounce back up? Think it's neat to dissolve into a ball of pure shadow every few minutes? Hate gnomes? The darker, shadowy side of Spiritual Guidance has you covered. Filed under: Priest, (Priest) Spiritual Guidance
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 8)
Docp Apr 28th 2010 9:20PM
I find it surprising that you say that in your experience PUGs using Gearscore fail more often than those that do not. I find the opposite to be far truer.
I mean if GS really did reduce the chances of a pug being successful surely no one would use it. GS runs on the basis that people, generally, are lazy. Most PUG leaders are too lazy to go through the gear of each person they want to invite, plus they lack the knowledge to accurately assess all thirty one specs in game, and therefore wouldn't know if that 245 trinket is good for you or not. (Case in point once on my mage I was in a pug being formed by a feral druid before GS, after an hour he still hadn't invited any melee, when we asked him why he told us that everyone who'd whispered him had really low AP values and therefore sucked. He wasn't aware that Cats get a massive AP boost compared to most classes). Then there's the fact that people lack patience when joining a pug, if the group isn't formed within 20-30minutes people start to leave, taking your time to properly assess your players will leave you without a PUG.
GS is a pretty crappy solution to the general problem that most people are impatient and lack knowledge of every single spec in game but it is a vaguely workable solution, just be smart about how you use it. I don't really see how GS is that different from the old days where a PUG would just ask for my AP/Crit/Hit. Instead of 3 pretty arbitary numbers I'm 1.
nwoods13 Apr 28th 2010 9:38PM
They don't need a lot of knowledge of the specs. just general. for example. i was saw a hunter in an ICC 10 on saurfang in a def rating neck and gemmed with green gems for stam, MP5 and spellpower. IDK much about hunters but i do know that there's something wrong there.
Anathemys Apr 28th 2010 9:38PM
I have my own personal solution to GS: I-DO-NOT-CARE. Literally, I don't have the mod, I don't know how it works, I don't look at item levels, and if someone points out my gearscore, I say (and here's where I got the name) "I DON'T CARE."
Sure, I've been thrown out of a couple places, but, though reiteration may be unnecessary, I don't care! I know the intricacies of my class, I know the approximate stat values, and if I like an on-use effect (and the other stats are good) I get it. I know my class.
(And if someone insists on talking about my GS, I just say: "My real gearscore is 1337")
Docp Apr 28th 2010 9:51PM
I just think you can write great and interesting articles like this one all you like, argue till your blue in the face and foaming at the mouth GS is not going to go away. It achieves reasonable success with very little input. We all have stories about some way overgeared person really failing to perform and some undergeared guy kicking ass and taking names but that's because these things are more extraordinary and extreme. Most of the time the people with more gear do better. It's not 100% by any means but that is how it generally works.
I'm not really a fan of GS, I see the problems but I do think generally, it works and that it's not going anywhere soon. Rather than trying to argue to get other people to stop using it, which is futile, just learn to adapt. You could maybe start your own PUGS where you check gear personally, develop a high GS set and an actual DPS set and swap just before the boss starts, or just do your best to ignore it.
brian Apr 28th 2010 10:55PM
The thing is, all GS does is look at what tier the item is. Sure, higher items will have higher points, so a chestpiece at ilvl 200 will probably be worse than ilevel 232. But that's not the whole story. I do agree with you though, that most leaders don't want to have to look through every persons' gear and stats to see if they're up to par for the instance.
There are other addons that do this better, though. Elitist Group at least looks for appropriate stats, looks at past experience through achievements, and even has something where you can write a remark about a certain player after you've pugged with them. Even that has its flaws, but at least it's looking at more things than some single number.
The one thing that kills me, though, is LF (Achievement), when it's the Achievement for the instance you're looking to do. Oh hey, I'll just run the instance and then hop into your group once I've gotten the achievement. Oh wait.
Hoggersbud Apr 29th 2010 2:38AM
>The thing is, all GS does is look at what tier the item is.<
Wrongo.
Try /gs with somebody targeted in inspection range. Look at all the useful information you get.
Yeah, the tooltip just shows you one thing. But how much information do you want in your tooltip?
But don't knock a tool for not doing something when it does it, you're just ignorant of its functions.
WaterRouge Apr 28th 2010 9:21PM
This doesn't relate to spriests directly but for an example of how great GS is with determining a player's skill is, let me refer you to last night's 25man ToC (weekly) PuG.
I joined it on my druid who's gear must not be that great considering the highest level of tier I have on him is seven (the lower one and not even full). However, I completely out performed the other druid healer who was in or above tier nine. This could be he just sucked overall because he never battle rezzed and refused to use tree form but I don't necessarily think so. On the twins I was 3rd best healer out of six (three restoration shamans, two druids, and a priest who switched between disc and holy), losing to two very geared shamans.
But I completely understand about spriests having it somewhat easy. The only caster stat they don't "need" is mp5 right?
nwoods13 Apr 28th 2010 9:35PM
Right
SP>=haste>crit i believe
comedown Apr 28th 2010 9:51PM
Haste>Spellpower (till your haste is at 856, unless you pick up Celestial Focus in the balance tree, then its 735). Lowering your GCD to 1 second will result in more throughput than straight SP till that point. Once you're there... Sp > Haste > Crit. Hope that helps.
Of course you can get situational about stats, but overall, thats where you should be aiming - but its good to remember - there is no cap for stupid. If you're getting the job done, your gear is fine.
nwoods13 Apr 28th 2010 10:02PM
i was talking about spriests you were talking about boomkin =P fail.
loop_not_defined Apr 28th 2010 10:52PM
Your fellow druid healer certainly sounded like a bad player, but I was under the impression healing meters were a poor tool for measuring Healer performance, not even counting absorption issues.
Kinda' like how a DPS meter might show someone doing less DPS than others, but it doesn't show him interrupting, CCing, properly targetting mobs, properly avoiding fires, etc. As an example, who is better: the dude with higher total DPS because he's AoEing five mobs, or the dude with lower total DPS because he's single-targetting the mob that can one-shot your tank?
Saeadame Apr 29th 2010 6:00AM
Druid not in Tree Form? Scandalous. It's not even Cata yet =\. If he's like that then I'd say he's just a poor player, and I guess then that's the point where GS sucks. It can tell you what a player COULD do, but it doesn't tell you what a player WILL do.
Gothia Apr 29th 2010 9:02AM
Twins is not a good example of healing or dps because of the stat boosts especially if you get empowered. Raid healers excel on twins because of this, but the fact is most of the numbers are overheals. Was your fellow druid that you threw under the bus tank healing or blanketing the raid with regrowths or just had bad rng because you were hording all of your colored balls? I am not trying to slam you, but it was someone during faction champs that called me out for only healing 805 hps, he forgot to mention that I threw 72 shields and had 88 dispels - hardest I ever worked only to get slam dunked by a meter watcher. Raid awareness is a bitch.
Be Imba or its equivalent work more effecively than a gearscore addon if you are not familiar with the class / specs.
Nazgûl Apr 28th 2010 9:26PM
The stick analogy was a tad disturbing. His stick is lesser than yours so he can't play with you?
I know I'm not the only one who went there.
Anathemys Apr 28th 2010 9:42PM
Just wait for the ol' little league baseball memories...
*shiver*
Little league...
Fox Van Allen Apr 28th 2010 10:07PM
I am indeed a different kind of pirate.
Dave Apr 29th 2010 9:26AM
There is a butt pirate joke somewhere in here, but it can't be made without downrating.
Sometimes WoW.com readers have a (15 point) stick up their ass.
Angus Apr 29th 2010 4:14PM
Dave:
In the interest of giving you that joke, I will gladly accept the down-votes.
YAAAAARRRR!!!!! I be a Butt-Pirate! Ah've come fer yer BOOTY!!!! YAAAAR!!!!
nwoods13 Apr 28th 2010 9:29PM
This article made my day. As a shadow priest I do around 8k on deathbringer 10 man. usually around seven on marrowgar. Im forced to heal the plagueworks so i havent gotten to test dps there. I have about a 5300 GS. We have a boomkin in our guild with a 6k GS. hes a nice guy and all, but TBH hes not the best dps. He topped at 7k. Usually does around 5. A Hunter at 5700. Usuall does around 4k. What im saying here, as said many times before is GS =/= skill.
And im afraid to drop my abyssal rune for the spyglass. so much tasty haste its disgusting.
Magicslime Jun 10th 2010 8:57PM
On my server, we actually all came to an agreement about GS.
Here it is:
GS =/= Skill
GS is what limits your dps, like the maximum amount of dps you can do if you have a perfect understanding/rotation.
Skill is what you actually use to dps.
To do good dps, you need both skill and good gear, for example someone with a 5700 GS that's not very good might do the same damage as a 5200 GS person who is skilled. To say that GS is bad because it makes people unable to join groups is wrong, GS is just a tool to measure someone's gear (mainly item level). Like any other tool (such as the achievement tab) it can be overused and abused.