The Theory Behind the Craft

So, like a lot of people I've been visiting Elitist Jerks forums lately to get a better picture of what is happening with hunters, their shots and possible rotations now that patch 3.0.2 has been out for a short bit. My biggest impression of this site right now is; OMFG!

I've been a huge fan of their site for quite some time. I came across their site as I was leveling my Alliance Shaman right after the release of BC and I've been an avid fan since. Thanks to their work my Shaman, at level 70 and way undergeared compared to a lot of other Shaman on my server and I can still do very impressive DPS. I followed several ideas and suggestions that I found from EJ regarding what stats to focus on and how to build upon those numbers. Prior to the release of the Beta, much of the hunter information was also very nicely laid out and the theorycarfting was laid out in technical and laymans terms for everyone to benefit from. This was the reason why I return to EJ all the time when I am researching new information or trying to learn a new class.

Well at least this was true until just recently. Since the release of Beta LK, the EJ site has been filled with so many people trying to figure out the math that they are not even attempting to realize there are other people who are regular users of the site. And when one of these more casual, per se, users makes a post asking a question the response is disheartening. For a group of people to not only epitomize the EJ moniker, they have taken it to a new level that leaves me wondering if the people here have totally lost touch with reality. I have seen several posts where people have asked for a summarization, much like what has been done in the past where the information is compiled into a logical and understandable manner, and these very same people have been put down, chastized and even in some cases banned.

Now what kind of sense does this make? Why would a small number of people distance themselves from the regular gaming community by handling perfectly sensible and logical questions in this manner? I totally get wanting people to become involved in the theory and math behind the game, but taking the mental masturbation to this level is beyond extreme. Given what I have read lately (and no I am not going to wade through 120+ pages of this stuff to find supposively answered questions) I have become quite disgusted with this particular community. Why? Because any group of people that isolate themselves in a way that does not allow outside contact or influence is a group of individuals cannot understand the truth.

The truth? This is first and foremost a game. Which means this at most it is a hobby and more likely, it is just passing recreation for most players. I like many other can do the math and learn all the dirty little secrets if I choose to spend my time that way, but RL really doesn't allow me that luxury any more, thankfully. So in turn I like to visit sites where people can constructively discuss the mechanics and math behind the game to get more insight and knowledge so that I can play more smartly. What EJ fails to realize is that not everyone spends all of their time reading the forums at EJ. In fact this is likely an impossibility for most people. So, having a consice summarization at the beginning of each category or thread would be very beneficial to everyone else. Why the regulars on EJ refuse to understand this is beyond me unless they are just being lazy.

A friend of mine recently made a post asking a simple question in attempt to get clarification on the usage of a certain spell for another class. While he did eventually get an answer, it took all day of being put down, berated and threatened before someone finally offered an answer. This is sad, really sad. I have come to have a lot of respect for the posters on EJ for the time they took to test many different things. During the course of BC, they did show an 'Elitist' attitude, you could still generally ask questions and receive answers or at least receive a link to the answer. This is far different from being flamed and harassed for having questions and posting those questions. I don't know what has changed, but something definitely has, and when the posters at EJ flame people for not wanting to read over 100 pages of their mental masturbation I cannot help but believe that the change is for the worse.

Putting the rant aside I wish someone would write some sort of summary so that the rest of the gaming community can look at what is being proposed as the best possible build talent wise and such so that we can begin to test for ourselves what works and doesn't. I have my thougts on what would work, but I would like to see some good discussion happening on this subject in a constructive manner. On another note as well, I really am reluctant to begin to post actual numbers and such until after the release of the expansion for several reasons. Foremost of which is that change will be a constant in the game for a while and at this point, where most everything is speculation anyways, why not discuss the merits of the different builds based upon observance and use until we get the expansion and can get to level 80. Then we can begin to discuss the hard numbers and the affect of gear, enchants and other enhancements on those numbers.

This to me would be a better use of my time and effort with regards to theorycrafting and I feel it would be more productive than what I have been seeing on EJ. Since I'm not level 70 as of yet, the spec that I am building towards when I hit level 80 is: 56/15/0 and I cannot decide upon going for 51/10/0 or 56/5/0 at level 70. Neither of these builds is using the talents for group buffs yet since I am more focused on leveling. Once I hit 80, I'll probably respec to include the group buff talents. And this is one area I would like to see discussed more fully, do we receive more DPS benefit from these talents or talents like Serpents Swiftness?

My 2 cents,
Happy hunting all
Zuluki