Lately I have been noticing something in my guild which unsettles me a little bit; DPS is given god like importance.
I am not a fan of watching or even running with DPS meters, I do because it shows me my uptime and it gives me an immediate indication if I have indeed reduced my movement on a fight. But I honestly don’t care where I am on damage meters providing I am keeping up with everyone else.
(I posted a couple of days ago about increasing my DPS due to comments, but you have to understand I was generally lowest dps and as a Mage I was not really representing us very well 🙂 )
In this post I am more referring to the running commentary of how high they spike before they inevitably die 🙂 it is not unusual for meters to be posted to guild or raid and impressive noises made about it. But surely – the focus needs to be on what is happening to you and others and…I don’t know…the actual boss fights?
I caught myself the other day taking on this mentality about a Mage doing really low dps in a heroic! I smacked myself for that and shall never do it again 🙂
I remember a while ago I banned the use of meters when I was raid leader (of course people still used them) but there was no mention of them, discussion etc and I requested everyone close them until after each fight. In that month I remember our boss kills being much smoother and faster – so what if you do less dps if you can avoid damage and watch out for boss mechanics?
I would much rather be in a group/raid with people who can stay alive and not get caught out by mechanics, than be in a group who can put out high dps but can’t control their aggro or deaths or traps etc 🙂
I totally have to agree with you. I was really bad about this when running in Balance spec and before 4.2 I was something of a Recount junkie. I was doting and trying to find that sweet spot to camp and blast my nukes just to see where I would rank at the end of a fight either in a 5man heroic or even in a raid. Shame to Elune. Thankfully i have reformed my dpsing ways, and now iI try to be more of a utility damage dealer that can still perform for the group. Top of the charts are not helpful when I could cause a wuipe of simply end up kissing the floor with a nice screen shot.
P.S. For some reason the text box to leave a comment is black and I had to keep highlighting the text to see what I wrote porperly. Is that something on my end or in the setting?
I do have a black theme so it could be my end, but not sure since I generally respond from the backend….I shall checkbook out though!
So you used to be one of my favorite players then :p there is no denying they can be useful when used properly, but most people just want to be on top – so much so that hubby and I have also discovered that noone in our guild dispels/decurses all that much! Especially the dps!!!! What a waste of a global…..yeah ok buddy!
It doesn’t make you a better player to be on top, just shows you are not necessarily a team player!
I am glad you have calmed down since then 🙂
You do indeed hit a nail on the head here Ray.
However, there’s also the point that comes, it can be beneficial. Just like you work to improve your game outside of raids, it’s good (for all roles in fact) to work on improving there performance. In this case DPS.
That’s not to say it is a top priority (unless it is really really low). Priority is movement and positioning etc.
Also, it’s usually looked at for the wrong reasons. To boast.
If people genuinely want to improve there performance, GREAT. But make sure that is the reason for it.
Bear in mind, especially in 10 man, that DPS has become as vital as any healer/tank in many cataclysm fights.
– Jamin