One of the things that I find most valuable in a raider is the desire to improve oneself. While a lot of players have this drive, at least subconsciously, many of them don't really know how to execute on it. Sure, there are guides on Elitist Jerks and other assorted caches of knowledge on the 'net, but one things these guides don't teach is how to troubleshoot your own performance – just because you can read a rotation doesn't mean you can execute it properly.

WoW Web Stats popularized the idea of combat log parses, but World of Logs (WoL) perfected it. The trouble with WoL reports is that there's just so much data. Reading a World of Logs parse can be confusing and intimidating at first, so here's a helpful little guide to help anyone who's new to the idea.

First off, this guide does assume two things: first of all that you have access to World of Logs reports. If you don't, it's quite easy to start logging and uploading them yourself. Just check out the site for instructions. (Aside: I recommend a mod like LoggerHead if you're like me and always forget to turn the log on). Second, this guide assumes that you are a DPS player and that you know what you should be doing, rotation and/or priority-wise.