The Economics of WoW: Part 3

So now that we've discussed the difference between Blizzard's "item pricing" and what you'd consider your item pricing, how do we take advantage of this? There are several ways to take advantage of the difference in opinion between Blizzard and you. One way is to determine what stat to maximize.

Lets take a DPS warrior as an example. When comparing strength and agility, 1 strength = 2 AP and 1 agility = 1 AP + .03 % crit. Strength by far outranks agility. Sure 33 Agility means 33 AP and 1% to crit, but 33 Strength would mean 66 AP. So strength is better than agility. But we know that Blizzard treats strength and agility as if they are the same. So warriors should be going after gear that has no agility and lots of strength. (Now this isn't necessarily true, but for this explanation assume it's true.) This is because instead of getting a neckpiece that has 15 agility, you could potentially get a similar one with 15 strength that would be worth more to you.

When you start comparing stats like this, you can begin to look for gear that has your very best stat, and start stacking it. For example, subtlety rogues and survival hunters get 15% increase in their agility. Human holy priests and resto druids get a 15% increase in their spirit. Arcane mages get 15% increase in their intellect. So stacking these stats only makes sense since you get an inherent bonus to them.

In my next post, I'll explain why you don't only go after this one stat that is your best (which seems like common sense, but there are some reasons you may not think about.)