Yeah, that's assuming that ONLY this one guy has taken the un-optimal covenant for his class. Now imagine that 10 dps-ers in the raid do 2% less than they could. Now imagine there is some really cool armor and 15 people of your raid chose it over a 2% increase. If you think that doesn't matter you obviously are full of shit and haven't played MMO-s "since 1999".I know you like to assume you're a wise old dude and stuff, right? But I'm a wise old dude by the same standards. I'm 41. I've been playing MMOs since 1999. I've been in every kind of guild, group, and game, from the cutting edge to the super-casual, from pure-FFA-pvp to pure pve.
Do you really want to have some sort of wise old man-off? Because if not, don't give me stuff like "travel and open your mind maaaaaaan". I am traveled. My mind is open. I understand what you're talking.
But I can do math.
This is the problem. Most people can't do math. They're cargo cultists. Most WoW players are cargo cultists. Checkboxers is another word for them. They don't actually understand how WoW works. They definitely don't understand what makes you lose, and what makes you succeed. They don't understand basic math. They just follow the holy guides, and then they rage out when they see something that isn't in the guides. Doesn't matter if it's not in them because it's the result of incompetence, or because they're out-of-date or using bad guides, they rage out. These are the sort of people who blame one guy for the wipe, when his DPS was 2% lower than it could be.
People who can't do math.
You say:
Don't move the goalposts. This is nonsense. You're trying to move it from a 2% or similar difference in DPS output from a covenant choice, to a guy having completely the wrong gear, or completely the wrong build, which might mean a 30-50% difference in DPS. That's a totally different issue. And it's one that people who can't do math don't understand is a different issue. I think you understand perfectly well that it's a different issue, though.
We're not talking about a DPSer showing up with no pots, and crit-stacked when crit is his worst secondary, some dude who is doing like 30%+ less DPS than he should be.
We're talking about an otherwise perfectly well-optimized character who has made a covenant choice that gives him 2% less DPS or the like.
If you want me to agree that there is a line, I agree, there is a line. But it's not this close in. It's fine if you want to self-impose choices to those which you feel help the group most. It's fine if you want to critique Mr Critstacker. But don't give me that it's okay to shit on some DPS who does 2% less because of a covenant choice, when other DPSers in the group are doing 10% less because they have stubby little fingers and can't reach the keys, or shit key-binds, or keep standing in fire because they have slow reflexes, or don't have the right mod installed.