Psychology in World of Warcraft - Improve your play!

[Berlinia 168]

Hello ladies and gentlemen,

I know this might be tailored to mages specifically but the general gist is the same for every class.

 

I would like to make a short post about  a phenomenon that is common in popular psychology and is applicable to WoW as a whole and the way you play/perceive your class. That phenomenon is that us, humans, give loss far more value than gain. Example can be found here:

on which people where offered to flip a coin betting 10 dollars if they lose and winning 50 dollars if they win. Even then, many people declined the offer, even when statistically the odds where in their favour. They remained foot on their front, even when offered to repeat the bet 20 consecutive times. So now a question, how does this affect your gameplay?

 

On a recent thread someone asked if it was worth to cast Arcane Missiles at 2 stacks of AM and 2 Arcane Charges, in order to ensure that if the third AB cast procced AM and due to reaction times you were to cast a 4th AB, and that AB procced missiles again, that you would not lose procs. The guy involved was so concerned NOT to lose a potential AM proc, that we was willing to play sub-optimaly just in order to ensure that in one specific situation he doesn't lose potential dps. Because yes, in the situation he sketched, by doing what my guide for arcane recommended, he would lose dps. However he fails to see that ON AVERAGE this situation wouldn't arise. Thus if he played as recommended, he might lose dps in certain situations, but on average across all his pulls he would gain dps. 

 

This fear of loss also applies to gearing. People have a Frost Item with Crit, Multistrike AND a socket on it. God item right? Well for it's tier, it's excellent. But then assume another item drops, on a higher diffuclty. A 30 itemlevel higher item with Crit/Versatility. That same player will fail to see that int gained by that item is far more important in what he perceives his best stat. Not to say that Multistrike isn't our best stat, but it is not worth sacrificing 30 ilevels of intellect. So when gearing keep in mind, that you might lose a great stat, but still you will gain dps at the end of the ride. 

 

I think what the conclusion of this short post is, don't overvalue loss and always remain rational. Everyone understands that a BiS stat item with a socket is very appealing to have, but at some point even our Siege of Oggrimar 588 gear got replaced by some shitty green quest reward. So for you out there who are reading this: Always research, always be rational and always do what more often than not gives you the best outcome. There might be exceptions, but ignore those because you want to be consistent. Not to shine when wrong playstyle gets benefited by RNG.

 

Berlinia