Threat (or, why WoW is pretty much D&D)

As a tank, I'm pretty much responsible for making sure the mobs don't kill anyone else. Or me, for that matter--but that isn't so much of an issue, as the best classes for tanks are generally high on armor and hit points. However, the duty I don't have to deal with (so much) is damage. Other classes do much more DPS (Damage Per Second) than I do, but it's still my responsibility to keep them safe by keeping the "aggro" on me (aggro is simply a term for the attention of the monster--if I have aggro, the baddie is attacking me)

How does this work? What algorithm does Blizzard use to decide whom the mobs attack? Turns out they use a relatively simple system of "threat," a number that is calculated based on a number of factors, but mostly on DPS. So, in order to keep the mobs from transferring aggro from me to other players (like cloth-armor wearing casters, for example), I need to use threat to my advantage; because I can't match the DPS they're putting out, using the modifiers is key.

So, in essence, to be a successful tank, one must intimately know the amount of threat (especially the percentage modifiers) generated by each attack to maximize not only DPS, but TPS: Threat Per Second. Knowledge of these calculations is helpful for other classes, but essential for a tank.

I knew a little bit about threat starting out from a quick explanation that a friend gave me, but all I understood of it was that if someone gets more threat than you, they pull the aggro (which turned out to be close, but not exactly true). So, I looked up threat guides on FreeWarcraftGuides.com and found this guide: The WoW Warrior Guide to Understanding Threat. Bingo! Although Blizzard doesn't publicize their algorithms, these players rigorously tested their hypotheses on threat and came up with a great resource. There are some sections in the bottom in which they use their analyzed data to make suggestions of which attacks are more or less effective, but the simple percentages were all I needed.

So, I made a map that I hope can intuitively explain or help calculate threat. It doesn't take into account all the Warrior threat-modifying skills individually; that would be cluttering and doesn't help intuitive understanding. This is mostly for a Warrior as it includes Stances--a Warrior must be in one of the Stances at all times.

All this number crunching is basically what the fine-tuning of the game is all about (especially in endgame, where gear, huge raid parties, and special abilities come into the mix). In fact, the stand-and-hack model is remarkably similar to D&D. Maybe Blizzard knows its audience after all.