Mathematics
- Damage Per Second (DPS) Analysis (Download the Full Lesson - Word Format) - by Helga Brown - Aligned to NC Discrete Mathematics Standards
- Acquire two different weapons in world used by your character's class. Using the targetting dummies in a capital city, find the average damage over time of each weapon. Using Excel (sample Excel document that goes with lesson), analyze the data, then plot it on a graph. Compare the data with a DPS meter like Recount. You can expand the lesson by trying the same experiment again, this time with gear that changes your character's agility, strength, attack power, or other melee-related statistic. Analyze the new data.
- Probability in Cloth Farming (Download the Full Lesson - Word Format) - by Helga Brown - Aligned to NC Middle School Mathematics Standards
- Students will measure the drop rate of an item in-game (for this lesson we will use Frostweave Cloth) and then compare it with published probability charts. Then students will analyze the data they collected individually and as a class.
- Buff Analysis: Example - Which buff (a spell that enhances a character's abilities) is more effective for your character, Blessing of Kings or Blessing of Might? Collect data at five different points during an encounter and graph them over time. Why is one better than another?
- Healing Analysis: Which types of heals produce a greater number of recovered hit points during an encounter? quick burst heals, slower more powerful heals, or heal-over-time spells?
- Armor Analysis: Compare various armor types with varying levels of AC (the statistic that determines how much damage a piece of armor negates). Which is most/least effective?
- Resistance Analysis: Collect data during an encounter that involves a great deal of spell damage (fire, frost, arcane, etc.). Collect data about the amount of damage done to your character throughout the fight. Graph it. Repeat the encounter with either a resistance spell or resistance armor for that particular fight. How much was the overall damage reduced?
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Comparing Data
There are websites out there that actually give data for all of the things you have here. They basically say – this is the best spell rotation, talent spec, gear, etc…and then give data to back it up. What a great way to compare data found with that available. Also, how cool would it be for a student to contribute their own data to a site like this that gets a lot of views and is considered a very useful resource?
http://elitistjerks.com/
This is a list of math problems Helga came up with while proctoring a Geometry End of Course exam for four hours. She thumbed through a Algebra I book for inspiration.