Who Noob?

Noob, an atrocious word that is generally used as a synonym to either newbie (a new 'player') or more often used as a synonym to 'damned idiot'.
But since the word never made it any further than the urban dictionary we will simply use our artistic freedom to re-define the word for the purpose of this blog:

Noob: A person lacking knowledge of a certain subject matter.

Whether or not the person is willfully ignoring the information, is simply too new to know the information or doesn't have the time to familiarize himself/ herself with the subject matter seems completely irrelevant to me.

No matter how long you have played any sort of game you will always encounter people that call you a noob even if you are the archetype of perfection (which of course everyone here is).

And this is misapropriation of the non-existing word 'noob' is more often than not the direct result of people thinking that they are superior to you in one way or the other.

Ironically in any game environment whose 'state' is not consistent (I.e. things change be it organically or through artificial patching) most people can be considered noobs after every state change (patch).
Game developers always attempt to strike some kind of 'balance' where 1 type of character is approximately equal to another and 1 style of play doesn't exclude the other.
They do this to prevent their content from getting consumed too fast. The more balanced things are the more you increase the replayability of your game, thus the longer you play and the more you pay.

But that's not what people think. People simply assume that in order to fit your role (i.e. tank, healer, dps) you are required to meet certain standards in gear and you are required to have certain skills to even be considered a tank, healer, dps.

Even worse people often base this knowledge upon somebody else's opinion who scrounged up the information from some obscure blog like this one that often bases it's information on patch information that is no longer relevant to the game.

Sure, the recommended 'tanking', 'healing', 'dps' specs can be a good basis for your own build, but they are never the holy grail of knowledge.

Never make the mistake that information represents any form of truth until you have verified it yourself through practical application. Even if this information is called current and displayed in a shiny pie-chart chances are that you are looking at an outdated piece of rubbish bound together by conjecture and creative writing.

So the next time someone calls you a noob, thank them... because it means you still have the potential to do better whereas they will never be anything more than what they are now (a relic of past patches).

You will earn the respect of your peers if you stick to your own strategy. Never turn down good advice, but in the end it's your character and if you want to tank as a mage and can do a good job at it more power to you.

Don't let the bastards grind you down. Who noob? Me noob!