Looking for Equilibrium

When using the Dungeon Finder to find a group, damage-dealers (dps) endure long waiting times, while tanks and healers enjoy a much shorter time in the queue. Since the facility was introduced, this has remained the case.


One may wonder why the average waiting time for a dps has not decreased, but instead even increased, since then. Having economic insight, one may envision the three roles as three choices a dungeoneering player decides on as part of an economic decision, and also that the the three choices, on the large scale with several people, tend to economic equilibrium with each other.

Cost and benefit
When faced with a choice of activities to perform, a person makes an economic decision whenever they try to gain the most satisfaction by choosing the best activity for them. For each activity, they need to compare the costs incurred with the benefits gained. The excess of the benefit over the cost is their (accounting) profit from the activity:

Accounting profit = Benefits - Costs

How to Catch Crawfish

As part of the Cooking daily quest (daily) Crawfish Creole, the player is required to "catch [sic]" Muddy Crawfish. Due to the likelihood of a player's doing it with the day's Fishing daily, they may interpret the instruction incorrectly.

When a person obtains a fish using a fishing rod, they are said to 'catch' it. In the circumstances, the player may apply that same definition to the word as used in the quest text. Of course, doing so is erroneous.

To interpret the instructions correctly, the player must read it somewhat more literally. The literal meaning of 'catch' does not imply the use of a fishing rod, in which case, the player is encouraged to use their hands (as they would for a slow-moving ball in flight).

A baseball can (literally) be caught using a special mitt.

Technically, the Muddy Crawfish NPC is to be looted in order to obtain the namesake item for the quest. Mousing over the NPC model reveals that it can be looted. To catch it ingame, the player must enter looting range and right-click.

EDIT 14Nov11: Appended hard copy version.