I Was Never Unlucky

So a very good friend of mine (lets call him Bob) recently tried to make it into a raid group. He was passed over for another player of the same class and spec. Why? Because this other player was able to demonstrate the same ability to not stand in fire, interrupt enemy MOBs (yes it is capitalized, because it is an acronym for Mobile Object Byte, not a word that brings to mind peasants with torches and pitchforks), perform the gimmick of a strat, and consistently pulled an average of 2k more DPS than Bob. From a guild master and raid leader standpoint, the choice is clear. If you ask Bob... he claims he was unlucky.

I have never been unlucky in WoW. I have fallen victim to the RNG just like everyone else, but I have never been unlucky in the way that Bob is claiming here. I asked Bob what he meant by "unlucky". He said that the other player has more gear (I will write a post on that later; it is a whole other can of worms). I asked Bob how that makes him unlucky. He claimed that he has been trying to get gear like everyone else and it just hasn't dropped.

Let me spare you the play-by-play of our conversation and just tell you the results. Bob did not run a heroic every day, let alone more than one. He only ran about three heroics a week. He did not purchase any justice point gear. He did not PvP for honor gear to fill in the gaps. He did not craft gear or purchase crafted gear. He did not buy any reputation gear. He did not even run regular dungeons at all once he had the item level for heroics.

What did Bob do, then? He ran the bare minimum of normal dungeons to get the gear for heroics. He ran about six heroics over the course of two weeks. He spent plenty of time on an alt. He complained that he was unlucky with gear drops.

What did Bob's competitor do? He ran multiple heroics every day. He purchased both justice point and honor point gear to fill in the gaps where he didn't get something to drop. He gained the rep necessary to buy epics and the bought them. In short, he worked for it. Did Bob's competition get every single piece of gear he wanted? No. The RNG decided to not drop that gear for him. Did he have much, much better gear than Bob? You bet your panties he did.

Luck is not a big factor in WoW. Yes the RNG exists. Yes it has an effect on your play. When you look at the big picture, though, you are not lucky or unlucky.... you are skilled or unskilled, hard working or a slacker. If you are one of those people that always has an excuse for why it isn't your fault, then you do not have what it takes to compete at the highest levels.

The attitude of a winner is to adapt and overcome. No gear? Figure out how to get some and do it. Keep getting killed by the fire? Figure out how to not get killed by the fire and do it. Can't keep your DPS high enough? Figure out how to DPS properly and do it. There is always a solution, and hint: it has something to do with you... not Lady Luck.