I keep hearing this and can guarantee it came from the tryhard population of the game, but I don’t know what it means
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Minimizing your loss, while maximizing your gains.
It’s really a simple concept.
Also, the term was not invented by Wow. It’s not a gaming term at all.
In fact it’s a business term.
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In game terms, it means modifying your talents, stats, and gear to get every last ounce of dps or healing you can get so that you can do the hardest content. Nothing wrong with it, but I play to have fun, not to conform to a meta. For example, if getting another 2% dps means that I have to run arena for six weeks, I’m not going to do that. Or maybe there’s a trinket you can get in a mythic raid that will give you another 5%. Do you pug that raid every week until it drops, or do you just roll with the gear you already have?
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In WoW, it generally means doing anything you can to get that percentage increase in damage/healing so that you can be as optimal as possible for the content you’re trying to clear.
On GD, it just means anyone I don’t like
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It’s just a term for the process of character performance optimization and includes a whole host of behaviors. On the simple end it can be anything from learning which skills to use and at what time to what talents are typically strong or useful. On the more complex end it can involve feeding your character through a simulator to figure out what your optimal stat distribution is and what gear combination will increase your throughput even if it’s just marginal gains.
People do it for a variety of reason which can include playing competitively for money and status or because you just enjoy optimizing your character at whatever level of play.
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All those try hard businessmen.
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Changing talents, gear, essences, corruptions every fight in the raid.
Being upset because someone didn’t pre-pot.
Uttering the phrase “Muh parses” over and over.
Now everyone at work wants to know what’s so funny lol!!
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This is pretty accurate in today’s gaming environment.
However, to the OP, min maxing on a broader sense is a way to engage in power fantasy. Don’t let salty casuals fool you into thinking this is a bad thing. Getting better gear, reviewing upcoming fights and equipping the best skills, talents etc. to overcome challenges is something players have been doing in every RPG game since the beginning of time. It’s what game companies expect. If that’s not what you or others want to do, that’s cool … you do you. But dismissing it completely and making fun of those that enjoy it is as stupid and immature as elitists that disparage those that don’t play that way.
Somebody’s gotta sling cabbage on the block. Might as well be me.
It’s not even an extra 2% or 5%. The hardest core min-maxers will read what’s recommended on Icy Veins, and then independently verify that the suggestions there match up with what they have, just to get an extra 1% damage or healing.
I mean, theorycrafting is a perfectly legit way of enjoying the game, but it’s definitely not may preferred way to play.
I feel like this was said with such anger haha. I mean, even if this were a real “rpg” would you not want to use an axe when you’re fighting a troll vs a shield against a dragon.
The bigger question - why so salty at what other people do in game?
I’ve always read it as minimising your weaknesses and maximising your strengths. Front loading your character with as much overpowered skills/stats/strategies as possible at the expense of everything else.
In RPG games like this it originated in Tabletop Role Playing like D&D where you would build a character that was extremely powerful in one specific area and extremely weak everywhere else instead of making a well rounded character that could handle more that one situation.
Like making a Fighter that took every possible skill/feat/etc to make them as powerful as possible and put every point into strength so they could one shot any enemy. But in doing so the character ended up so dumb and antisocial that they were completely useless in anything but combat.
When translated to WoW it means like just about everyone here has said, trying to optimise your character as much as you can to be as powerful as possible. Because really, combat is the only thing in this game.
It’s not just this.
You need to minimise your losses, that is play a class, spec or role and build it to fit in with how you play so you can raise your lowest points and minimise your downtime to ensure long term gain.
For example playing a sub rogue would give you amazing burst, but unless you know how to use all the stuns and defenses correctly and can ensure enough energy gain by balancing your secondary stats you will very likely have a great opening burst, but won’t be able to sustain it for longer fights and are probably going to die. Therefore you would change to assass or outlaw.
Like if you want to play range, a mage or warlock hits hard, but they also have cast times and if you struggle to place yourself correctly you might want to swap to a hunter as they can cast while moving all the time to minimise your downtime.
Do you trust your feelings to guide you in life? If so stop…
Umm… yes?
So you “feel” I was salty for giving my accurate description of min/maxing (something I do on my main), and it’s left you so perplexed you want me to explain why you feel how you do (which is wrong)?
Ain’t going to bother to explain you now.
Happens in every hobby when someone wants to be good at it.
You implement proven behavior/techniques and technology to get the most out of your performance.
Ralph has literally spoilt the forums. Now everyone uses this word.
Just based on previous things you’ve said, yeah.
Also:
This just reads salt 
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