#0 - Sept. 22, 2008, 10:52 p.m.
I would like to describe theorycrafting as a mathematical system.
Which means we have created a theory that says (beacuse we actually have, it's just not complete.):
All events, which means every single interaction between two objects in the world (example: Rogue attacks warrior) could be described in forms of mathematical formulas or equations which in turn can all be linked into a gigantic system with fixed rules to give us the possibilty to "calculate" an answer to almost every single relevant question in relation to the world. For example: Is my rogue overpowered? We would then be able to calculate an answer. for example either YES or NO.
I think this theory is flawed beacuse of several reasons.
1. Such a system would take lifetimes to complete and is therefore not very reliable nor can we answer all valid questions in relation to the system.
2. Such a system would contain so many variables, coeffecients, values and even assumptions it would not have any valid solution according to famous mathematician John Conway. It would collapse in on itself if not given the true complex logarithm for the specific problem or base to be calculated (question asked.)
3. Generally spoken you could say there are way to many things to take into consideration, interacting with eachother to be able to take them all into consideration to answer a question. Thus making the whole theory false.
For example "Is a rogue good in pvp?" The answer could be yes...IF He has all his cooldowns up, his target has worse gear then him, he is lucky, he is focused etc etc.
The answer could be no...IF the opponent has better gear, the rogue is interupted by his mom, the rogue is unlucky with hits, he gets snared in the wrong time.
What im trying the say the answer is dependant on extremely many factors for it to be able to calculate a 100% true answer.
Also the whole base of theorycrafting and mathematics as a whole is built up of axioms. It is all assumptions considered to be true or self-evident. 1+1=2
BUT there is no real way to..hm prove that which might sound strange but is in fact very logic. Beacuse in fact we decided that 1+1=2. It has a reflection in the physical world proving it, but in our world of made up axioms it could really mean just anything.
This impacts theorycrafting in a way that it is all made up of assumptions we can't know for certain either though certain things CAN be proved or are so obvious that they are silly like: 10% critt is better for raid dps then 10str.
The thing that made me post this is when people start writing formulas for how good threat a warrior with certain talents can produce in terms of exact TPS for example. It is most likely a false number, under certain conditions you might be correct but you probably aren't and finding those exact conditions in the game world is near to impossible. There are to many things depending on each other for anything to really be possible to calculate exactly.
Ofc theorycrafting has it's use in some certain cases like "Is it better for warriors to have 1% more critt or 1% more hit if we only want to know how much dps he can produce on a specific target." That is actually quite possible to calculate a somewhat correct answer.
The issue I see is. We use it way to much to decide how a certain function is for example balanced in the game instead of testing it to get a overall perspective on it. The spreadsheet might give you the exact calculation but only in a very rare condition ;) Consider that the next time you start theorycrafting :P
Well this was really wall of text but please give me your opinions on this. Am I right?
