Is my gear good enough for X?

Periodically I amuse myself by reviewing the search terms that people have used to somehow wind up on my blog.

I feel very sorry for some of those people – either they were sorely disappointed by what they found here or they must be very bored.

A common theme that crops up is the search of “Is my gear good enough for (name of random instance or raid)?”

I’ll give you an easy answer.

No.

You want a more complicated answer?

Fine. Be that way.

It’s like being in a fancy restaurant or high-end store. If you have to ask how much it is, you can’t afford it.

Likewise, if you don’t think your gear is good enough, it isn’t.

The problem really isn’t the gear, it’s the player behind the gear.

It has been proven that Ulduar can be thrashed in blues. I’m too lazy to find Gevlon’s post over at the Greedy Goblin about it, I’m sure anyone that wants to know about it can go look it up.

If you’re asking about your gear quality it indicates to me that you’re attempting to skip content.

On your first character.

You’ve been grinding heroics, you’ve got your T8, maybe some T9. But since you’ve bypassed Naxx/OS/EoE/Uld you’re confused about where your gear fits into the progression.

This means you don’t have raiding experience and should not be attempting to PuG your way into a 25-man Heroic Trial of the Crusader.

On top of it somehow you’ve completely missed sites like WoW Heroes.

Or…

Benefit of the doubt, you’re trying to be responsible with your raiding. What I mean by that is you’re looking for some sort of reassurance that you’ve done enough of the previous content to not hold the rest of your raid back due to your poor ilevel. Here’s the problem: you’re asking the wrong question.

“Is my gear good enough?” is super vague.

“What is the hit cap for fire mages?” would be a much better question.

“How much defense rating does a tank need for raids?” would result in useful information.

See the difference?

“Is my gear good enough?” is the equivalent of “Am I old enough to drink?”

Depending on the laws of your locale, that answer can vary – for legal purposes. It does not address issues such as, “Am I old enough to drink and know when I’ve had enough and stop instead of continuing to drink and end up puking in that hot girl’s purse and waking up naked the next morning in someone’s driveway?”

For raiding that translates into things like “Can I, as a player, get my ass out of the fire? Do I know what my rotation should be? Do I have any understanding of how my class benefits from or provides for other classes in the raid?”

If you’re poking around the interwebz using gear as your gate to content, chances are you’re pinning too much importance on the numbers and not enough on the knowledge.