"DPS Doesn't Matter"

The argument that, unless a fight is a DPS race, DPS doesn't matter is used very frequently in the general applications of this argument:

"I'd rather take someone who does less DPS, but takes less avoidable damage and doesn't die over someone who did more DPS, but kept dying."

Well, obviously, because the person who's dying is actually, in fact, not doing as much damage as the guy who did not die. Dying is the worst thing you can do to your DPS. If he's dying, he's actually not doing more damage, so you are, in fact, taking the person who is doing more damage.

Let's look at this argument from another angle - let's say, what if no one is dying? Who would you rather take:

1. Jim Bob who does 25,000 DPS, takes little avoidable damage, and doesn't die.
2. Bob Jim who does 33,000 DPS, takes little avoidable damage, and doesn't die.

Assuming we have no further information about these two people, that neither one of them brings a unique buff you need for your raid, and that you couldn't just take both, you would take the person doing 33,000 DPS.

What I'm getting at here is that DPS is, in fact, important - all the time.

shock and horror - disagreeing with a popular opinion

People act like the true statement "staying alive is a priority over DPS" simultaneously negates the importance of actually dealing damage. The statement says nothing more than "you can't do your job if you're dead." Tanks and healers are also expected to stay alive. 'Not dying' being a priority over dealing damage does not make dealing damage less important! This mindset treats DPS as if their only job is 'not dying.'

The shorter a fight is, the more time you have of your raid night to clear more bosses, or get to your next up progression boss as quickly as possible for maximum attempts. The shorter a fight is, the less time you have for something to go wrong - the more heals healers can put out, the less you have to worry about running out of mana or tank/raid cooldowns, and fewer/shorter phases to deal with.

While it's true that a dead boss is a dead boss, a well executed, no casualty fight that takes 12 minutes is not as good as a well executed, no casualty fight that takes 7 minutes. Getting bosses down faster is well received by everyone in a raid group. A significant improvement on a boss kill time is something to celebrate - clearing more bosses in a single night is always an accomplishment and having more time to work on a progression boss is the easiest way to stay ahead of the curve.

High DPS makes the fight easier on everyone, which means you are more likely to succeed. It's entirely still possible to succeed with lower DPS, but that your hardworking DPSers make the fight shorter and less stressful is not something to overlook. We appreciate the tanks who keep the monsters from hurting our fragile little bodies and we appreciate the healers for babysitting us - so all I'm asking is that people stop pretending like it doesn't even matter if we do our jobs correctly.

No one wants to spend 10 minutes on a 5 minute boss, stop kidding yourself.