Real-Time vs. Turn-Based Strategy part 2

Subjective Perception
Some aspects of WoW will be seen as real-time or turn-based depending on who you ask. For example, if you're in ToGC25 and a snowbold lands on you, causing you to begin a mad dash to the melee for help in removing the smelly, teabagging rodent - you'd perceive this as a real-time strategic move.

Your raid leader however, would see this as turn-based strategy. How did that ranged DPS react to the situation? Was the response time adequate when he got to the right location? Did he let the raid know of his situation? Would that player improve better with a brief comment on the performance, a whisper or a private talk between attempts? Each attempt on a boss is a Turn to a raid leader. Choices and changes are made behind the scenes each and every attempt to compensate or enhance past performances.

Raiders can start taking this same approach. Not necessarily in the same depth or level of responsibility, but reviewing their own log of the attempt, what they can improve on, who they can coordinate better with, etc. If everyone just tries the same thing each attempt, your only hope of success is very, very good RNG, if you were even close to being with.


Auction House
The Auction House is easily the purest form of turn-based strategy WoW has to offer and the potential for reward is endless.

If you can recognize the time between opening your sales and posting a new item as a Turn, you can start changing your business for the better. It's easy to get caught up in the habit of a cancel/post routine. Instead, use that time to do a little research before blindly posting again. If you got product back in your mailbox, then you're wasting deposits and not reaching your target consumers. Something can be done to improve your turnover.

The same as the raider that doesn't improve his performance each attempt, you don't want to be a goblin that throws his inventory at the AH and hopes for something to stick. You'll still probably make profit or kill the boss, but not as effectively as you could have. Acceptable is not a goal.

Keep track of the quantity and pace of your sales in each market before just posting another batch blindly. Maybe there's too much returned inventory each time you open your mailbox, indicating that you're flooding the market or being continually undercut. Maybe you always sell out and there's room for expansion. This would require you to beef up your production or purchasing of that item or it's mats though.

Use Turns to evaluate who your competitors are, what quantity they're posting in and undercutting values. Get a sense of how often they are refreshing their postings and come up with a competitive counter-schedule.

A main advantage of a Turn-based philosophy is that trial and error is encouraged. It's alright to make mistakes so long as you're aware of the risk involved and keep track of the result. With your progress broken down into little turns, each step along the way affords a learning experience.