WOW Classic: The Elitist Jerks Live Again UPDATED

Probably the most famous WOW guild back in the good old days was The Elitist Jerks.  And they were just that—plus the most amazing theory-crafters you'd ever see.  Many ended up working for Blizzard later.

Their forum website and all the information therein is gone except for traces in the Wayback Machine.  I found an April 2008 listing of blogs members of the EJ created.  (They aren't traditional blogs but appear to be more discussions and short articles in most cases.)  This is as far back as the Wayback Machine goes for this section of the website.  Change the date slider to explore further.
https://web.archive.org/web/20080415041127/http://elitistjerks.com/blogs/all/

Probably most of these are dead links but I'm going to see how many still have information available. Just because….

Ok, how about this—Application of Military Leadership to Raid Leadership.  (The Solo MMO Player is going to laugh himself silly over this one.)
https://web.archive.org/web/20080421233405/http://elitistjerks.com/blogs/malan/101-application_military_leadership_raid_leadership.html

Here's the Small Wars Journal's article referenced above, just in case the link breaks.
https://web.archive.org/web/20080814003544/http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2007/12/fm-30-operations-sams-rewrite/

Again from April 2008, here's the Theorycrafting Think Tank. First link is the intro.
https://web.archive.org/web/20080407040725/http://elitistjerks.com/blogs/boethius/91-finally_birthing_ttt_blogs.html

Here's the meat of the section.  Have fun exploring.
https://web.archive.org/web/20080409231823/http://elitistjerks.com/f47/t21302-theorycrafting_think_tank/

UPDATE:  If you are pining over the loss of the Elitist Jerks, then this site below is for you.  Why do I think that?  Let me quote from the home page:  "Increasing class synergy and the prevalence of proc-based combat modifiers have eroded the accuracy of traditional calculators that rely upon closed-form approximations to model very complex mechanics. The goal of this simulator is to close the accuracy gap while maintaining a performance level high enough to calculate relative stat weights to aid gear selection."

You are welcome.
http://simulationcraft.org

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Amalur Theorycrafting

Builds
http://amalurfoundry.com/theory-forge/reckoning-builds

Talent tree breakdowns
http://amalurfoundry.com/guides/reckoning-guides

Ability calculator (check the Comments for more ideas)
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator

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Rift: Rogue Tanks at Level 50

Here is a tanking build for the level 50 rogue.
http://www.riftjunkies.com/2011/03/04/soul-build-library-rogue-tanking-spec/

More rogue tank information.
http://rift.ign.com/articles/reviews/7217/Sprawls-Scrawl-Riftstalker-Rogue-Tanking-in-RIFT

Here's an explanation of "rogue tanking" for those who think the term is an oxymoron.  There are builds and a bit of theory crafting as well.
http://www.progamercity.net/rift-guides/1307-guide-rift-riftstalker-tanking-explanation-beginners.html

By the way, the little testing that the Solo MMO Player did on a rogue tank build doesn't work well.  This wasn't tested completely but there seem to be problems, perhaps because these things were worked out on beta releases.

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Rift: Mage Builds UPDATED

Here is the Mage Build website that has a great many builds for various flavors of mages.
http://riftmagebuilds.com/

UPDATE:  Rift Junkies has started a multi-part mage discussion called The Magic Storm.  The second link is to the Necromancer.
http://www.riftjunkies.com/2011/03/23/the-magic-storm-a-mage-calling-overview-part-1/

http://www.riftjunkies.com/2011/04/04/the-magic-storm-the-necromancer/

Rift Role Builder has a build-your-mage page.
http://www.riftrolebuilder.com/builder/?calling=mage

UPDATE:  A very sophisticated discussion of the Mage Cholormancer with rotation and theory crafting information.
http://www.etherealshadows.com/rift_Chloromancer.php

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Combat Ratings (Level 85) for Cataclysm

Thanks to BobTurkey, I have a link to what Elitist Jerks has worked out as the combat ratings at Level 85 in Cataclysm.  This is based on the beta, mind.
http://elitistjerks.com/f15/t29453-combat_ratings_level_85_cataclysm/

Here's what ThinkTank thinks about these figures.
http://wowthinktank.blogspot.com/2010/09/generalcataclysm-ratings.html

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Moonkin Theorycrafting: DoTs and Eclipse

Graylo asks and answers the question:  Should moonkins cast DoTs only at the beginning of Eclipse?
http://graymatterwow.blogspot.com/2010/09/fun-w-simulationcraft-wotlk-rotations.html

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Priests: Crit Versus Spellpower (Theorycrafting)

What crit and spellpower do for priests. (Recommended by BobTurkey.)
http://www.wow.com/2010/09/05/spiritual-guidance-shield-spam-and-divine-aegis-a-theorycrafti/

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The Latest Word on Protection Paladins

The Pot summarizes the latest in protection paladin theorycrafting from Maintankadin in an article here.
http://www.mmomeltingpot.com/2010/08/theorycrafting-tldr-protection-paladins-august-2010/

I've added Maintankadin's URL to the Protection Paladin tab information but here's the direct link to their forums if you want to keep an eye on the discussions.
http://maintankadin.failsafedesign.com/forum/

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More Effective Tanking Mechanics

The Solo MMO Player doesn't currently have a tank but has seen a lot of them in action in the dungeon finder.  They are a pretty pitiful lot who have replaced the standard idiot-standing-in-the-pretty-fire ethos with a let's-fall-off-the-cliff-to-our-death mentality.

In other words, tanks need help.  ThinkTank to the rescue!  First up is a forum posting that explains Effective Health, Effective Hit Points, Avoidance, and Time to Live (in ICC as of Patch 3.3.3).  This covers the math of hit points and defines a great many other terms but it will really help tanks understand these topics.
http://www.tankspot.com/showthread.php?66564-Why-We-Do-What-We-Do-(An-in-depth-explanation-of-EHP-and-ICC-3.3.3-tanking-mechanics)

Once you make it through the above, you'll want to read the followup article which explains the advantage armor has over stamina in many situations.  There's more math and more big words but tanking isn't easy!  Dig in and you'll--probably--never fall off a cliff again.
http://wowthinktank.blogspot.com/2010/07/generalthe-dirty-secret-about-armor.html

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Theorycrafting Glyph of Kill Shot (Hunters)

Want to do some math this morning?  Frostheilm walks us through an examination of Glyph of Kill Shot.
http://www.warcrafthuntersunion.com/2010/06/theorycraft-101-glyph-of-kill-shot/

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Understanding Melee Haste (Theory Crafting)

WOW Insider continues its explanations of theory crafting by describing melee haste and how it differs from how casters use haste.
http://www.wow.com/2010/05/25/theorycraft-101-melee-haste/

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Theorycrafting: What's It All About?

Theorycrafting and how it works from Frostheim.
http://www.warcrafthuntersunion.com/2010/05/theorycrafting-101-gathering-data-part-1/

http://www.warcrafthuntersunion.com/2010/05/theorycrafting-101-gathering-data-part-2/

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Caster Haste

How haste works.
http://www.wow.com/2010/05/18/theorycraft-101-caster-haste/

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Understanding Melee Hit Tables (Theorycrafting)

An explanation of the melee hit table which is simply how WOW calculates just what damage is generated from a blow.
http://www.wow.com/2010/05/10/theorycraft-101-the-melee-hit-table/

I've posted an article about melee hit tables for druids earlier.  You can find it by searching on "melee hit table."

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Moonkin Trinkets and Theorycrafting

Gray Matter does some theorycrafting with SimulationCraft to see which trinkets work best for moonkin druids.  Whether you are a druid or not, you may be interested in his laying out of how to use SimCraft yourself.
http://graymatterwow.blogspot.com/2010/04/fun-w-simulationcraft-moonkin-trinkets.html

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Theorycrafting Concepts Made Simple

The math (especially coefficients) behind spellpower calculations explained.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/13/theorycraft-101-spellpower/

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Divine Aegis Talent for Discipline Priests

The Penance Priest discusses Divine Aegis in detail, along with side exertions into Inspiration and Grace.  I am not clear as to whether this talent is available to all healers but it looks like it. Clarification in the Comments would be appreciated.
http://penancepriest.blogspot.com/2010/03/divine-aegis-revisited.html

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Metagems for Healers

A thorough discussion of the options including a theorycrafting analysis and why some are better than others.
http://moarhps.wordpress.com/2010/02/26/healer-metagems-lets-be-frank/

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The Shadow Priest Site (SimulationCraft)

Information for shadow priests.  There is a forum for questions and discussion and tabs about the best raid gear and the best hit (PvP?) gear and more.  However, the "best" lists seem to be end game items for Level 80s.

Theorycrafters will be interested in the "scaling" FAQ tab which is based on SimulationCraft.
http://www.shadowpriest.com/

UPDATE:  WOW Insider describes SimulationCraft (also known as SimCraft) here.
http://www.wow.com/2010/02/01/blood-pact-using-simulationcraft-for-gear-selection/

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Armor Penetration Explained for Hunters

Eddie explains how it works.
http://www.brigwyn.com/2010/01/20/hunter-101-punching-through-armor-penetration/

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