I hate math.

Are you hearing me, Blizz? I freaking hate math.

Yeah, I know my job makes me do lots of it, that’s fine, they bloody well PAY me to do it.

But I got some loot drop for me in Kara last night, coupled with loot I got from Kara last week that I still haven’t been able to equip ’cause of Defense rating issues, and as I crunch the numbers on different gem loadouts, weighing the value of a +12 Agi enchant against a +12 Stamina enchant for boots, +8 Agi gem versus +12 Sta gem, etc, it suddenly occurs to me.

This shit ain’t fun.

Let’s break this down a bit.

• Playing the game? Fun.
• Chatting with friends while clearing trash? Fun.
• Pondering leet loot drops that MAY happen? Fun.
• Playing your class well? Fun.
• GETTING the leet loot? Fun.
• Spending 30+ minutes juggling numbers to figure out how best to use the new loot? TOTAL FAIL.

Le sigh.

Look, I understand. I get the picture. Blizzard has things designed so that, if you’re serious, you have to put some effort and thought into how to get the most out of what you get. And I know they have item level rankings, etc, in a supposed attempt to help us.

And I appreciate that Blizzard gave us sockets so we can have a solid baseline of gear, with some wiggle room for customizing.

But damn it, the gear has so many different stats that are all important to one damn thing or another, and it seems clear that Blizzard is designing it with the idea that we all know the math, and the formulas, and how stuff likie +Defense and Defense Rating and Agility and all this equates to Dodge and Critical Strike Immunity and what have you. Well, I’m calling shenanigans.

The only reason we have any of the core math to work with is from PLAYERS that do in-game analysis of how the stuff actually works IRL, and then reverse-engineer the math.

For the serious player that spends tons of time all over the internet researching his gear, looking for a way to get better, okay. Thank god for players that do that research.

But what about the poor damn players that think that all they need to know to get the most enjoyment from their game is freaking PLAYING it?

Can someone, somewhere, tell me how a player that sits down, fires up WoW, plays a few hours and then logs off is EVER going to know that a Bear Tank at level 70 needs 415 Defense to be crit-immune to level 73 bosses? Or that bosses in end-game are even RANKED at level 73? I look at the boss portraits, and those look like little SKULLS to me.

I’m dialed in now, my sad little life has me so into the game that, yes, I sit on my ass writing a blog about playing it, and constantly browse websites looking for info that might help me play better, or at least have a better idea of what the hell I’m supposed to be doing.

But come on, guys. Let’s have a little reality check, here. I’ve looked all over WoWWiki, Thottbot, WoWhead, Elite Jerks, and I’m just not seeing where any of the core math we use on how stats work actually comes from Blizzard. It’s all inferred from actual playtesting by the players themselves. And all the theroycrafting on how stats works, and why, comes from the players.

But our itemization from Blizzard seems based on the idea that we just magically KNOW this shit. And once we get it down… they start changing it up. Almost as if, nah, couldn’t be… they want to keep the players that raid end-game constantly off balance and refiguring gear and stat importance.

Just, damn them.

Okay, rant over. Now I get to go back to fiddling with socketing my Gloves of Dextrous Manipulation.

Hmmm… [mutter]…. gotta socket and enchant the Gloves before I equip ‘em…. if I put one +8 Agi gem in and one +12 Stamina gem in… but Agi is worth more for Mitigation, while Stamina helps brute Survival… hmm… is it better to increase Dodge to avoid a blow entirely, or increase base Health to help absorb the ones that get through? Is a +8 Agi more valuable on average than a +12 Sta? Maybe I should go with two +8 Agis, and to hell with socket bonus. Oh shoot, wait, I got Zierhuts’ Lost Treads last week, as soon as I get a Ring of Unyielding with the Defense Rating to cover what I lose from Heavy Clefthoof Boots, I can equip em… but I’m going to lose a lot of Stamina when I switch out the Heavy Clefthoof Boots, maybe I should take two +12 Stamina gems on the Gloves to compensate…. But then I could get also the +12 Stamina enchant on the boots instead of the +12 Agi I was intending…. but the +12 Agi is just solid WORTH more than +12 Stamina on a point-by-point basis….

DAMN IT!!! I need a beer…. or better yet, a bottle of Captain Morgen and a two liter of Coke, it’s gonna be a long night….