You're right that gear is only a part and I like your car analogy. But if we carry it one step further, race cars have to qualify before even being allowed to race. If they don't meet certain minimums, their inclusion in the race might not only be dangerous to themselves but to other competitors. What I didn't realize until yesterday was that I'd risen to the point where I'm pretty well qualified for our guild's race.

But now you introduce another interesting variable: That of preparation. Up until now, I've never spent much time studying fights ahead of time to know what I'm supposed to do going in. That's another factor I'll have to consider: Do I have the discipline and desire to put in the study prep time especially when you all know some of these instances quite well and I hardly know where some of them are.

But I'll have to disagree with you somewhat on the role gear plays. Certainly a bad player can scuttle any group regardless of gear. But just how far can a good player elevate beyond the level of their gear? Maybe a half a tier? Maybe one full tier? At very best one and a half tiers I would think. Beyond that, you simply don't hit hard enough, or absorb enough or in my case, throw big enough heals and mitigations to adequately contribute or in many cases, even survive.

I think you were the tank the first time I tried to go into Heroic Tournament of Champions. Remember that debacle? Hats reminded me of it the other day as we cruised through an H ToC run. What's changed in between the two runs? Am I that much better a healer? I don't think so. But my gear has certainly improved a notch or three in large part thanks to you and Jaileth.

Anyway, my main point here is that I'm at a stage where I can no longer use inadequate gear as an excuse. Hopefully, you'll be happy about that because it means I'll be looking to run 10 and 25 mans with you as well as 5 man heroics.

You can get new tires, put on a spoiler, improve your fuel efficiency etc, and that stuff will all be helpful at increasing the top end of what you can do. None of it will replace the knowledge of how to approach a tight curve, or what to do when you’re hydroplaning, though. It will certainly show up on the straightways of the “race”. You’ll see a big difference in gear on a fight like Patchwork when all healers are just putting the pedal to the metal.

That all goes out the window on most of the fights, though. The real differentiation comes in preparation, practice/experience, anticipation, communication and situational awareness. To put it in proper perspective gear is one aspect of preparation and to a lesser extent practice/experience (as in gear is often a function of where you’ve spent your time).

If you’re trying to squeeze out your best possible performance all the time, working on gear will be a part of that, and thus gear score can sometimes be a proxy for evidence of effort in preparation. Like any shorthand, it can miss a lot of important information and context.

Two 3-4 hour slots a week isn't so much the problem as is two 3-4 night time slots. If raids happened during the day, I could see my way clear more easily. Still, I'm considering it now that I know I'm geared well enough to be "qualified."

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

I don't know how much you limit your time online, but if you think about it, most of our raiding groups raid two nights a week, for about three hours each. Depending on how much time you can spare, it could be easily do-able. (Especially if you only play for 3-4 hours a night, a few times a week.)

Anywho, just my 2 copper