What makes "the best" player?

Well I am rocking a 7 inch goatee and it is where I get my rock climbing powers from but maybe some of the gaming skill comes from it as well!

Like this?

The best player doesn't try to make any kind of parse or worry about making parse, just works their class magic, knows their class, understands the uniqueness of their class, and understands how all the other classes work with their class and their class works with the rest. The best player understands that there is no such thing as a point click rinse repeat anything.

1.) Know the encounters (i.e. don't mess up mechanics)
2.) Know your class (i.e. hit your buttons in the right order)
3.) Be grouped with the appropriate ADPS

Some really interesting viewpoints.

One common thing that several people have mentioned seems to be: 'Excellence without ego.'

I agree.

I am not entirely sure of all the attributes for the best players, but I do know if at character creation you chose gnome, iksar or drakkin... that you are among the worst.

1. Show Up
2. Do their job with minimal explanation
3. Don't complain (private constructive feedback to RL is NOT complaining)

Bonus Points
4. Knowledge of other classes and how they synergize with their own
5. Ability to help others accomplish 1-3

Gnomes can't be a bad player class because they are the only ones that can make T3 belts.

Complaining isn't a bad thing, if noone every speaks up about stuff going on then nothing ever changes. The only time complaining becomes a problem is when everyone has heard the person complaining about something and they all disagree with the complaint and he keeps complaining without ever shutting up..

An average player knows their own class and can do their job perfectly. The best player is ones who know how to play all the classes they don't play so when they get into a group with someone who isn't sure what to do they can help them do their job. Same with any mission etc the best player is the one who knows how to do any event the group starts without being told they need to learn it before hand.

"Player" is not "character".

So all character specific outcomes "most dps, etc'" are irrelevant.

Best players:
0. No/low drama.
1. Communicate well.
2. Don't panic.
3. Are supportive of each other when things go wrong.
4. Are intimately familiar with and skilled in the application of their classes abilities.
5. Are similarly knowledgeable in the abilities of others around them.
6. Quickly recognize, absorb, retain, and incorporate knowledge of the environment (zones, mobs, encounters, etc.) and adapt accordingly.

I've had 'top DPS parsers' who I'd never take into a challenging dungeon crawl.

Not everyone hits all seven I have above. Someone can hit the first five well and be a valuable contributor. The last two though is what separates those who simply excel in a narrow way and the truly great.

But those big ego players are easier to manipulate into doing all the work.

I know what you mean not every Best Buy is the best Best Buy. Now you might ask what makes the best Best Buy the Best Best Buy. I don't know but I like when they are next to a Chipolte.

Anticipation, reaction, communication, execution.

+ cooperation

Enjoying The Game.... thats enough!

The quote about having to have a beard. (Sorry I hit reply on the wrong one, derp)

Not fair, I work in the Big Green Tractor factory and there are too many moving parts around here to safely rock that look. I used to until I seen a guy running a sewer snake one day. Now he had the ZZTOP full beard. Well that snake he was running grabbed hold of his beard and ripped about a 3 inch circle of hair right off his face. Nobody ever seen this guy without a beard so when he came back to work next day we all laughed our arses off. Without a beard he looked like a Muppet. I keep mine trimmed down now.

Adding another one - doesn't try to tell someone how to play their class and doesn't try to tell their own class "I'm doing this so you need to always do the same as I'm doing and nothing else." Sometimes there is a different trick that works equally or better (shock). Samesame is boring and doesn't show the person behind the keyboard brings anything different.

The button pressing in this game is not particularly difficult, even for the most complex classes. The people that are the best are those that actively work on and develop the meta, whether that means developing a single class' setups for current content raids or developing group/raid meta for events or groups of events.

This means coordinating adps, training people, being a positive presence, and sometimes just being the big meanie and telling people their play or setups suck. All while playing as close to optimal as possible throughout raid clears. You must be constantly working to improve and accept collaboration if you're going to be "the best" at anything, so anyone who thinks they're perfect are certainly not the best.

I would assume the better player could give parse or test data to prove that their way is better. If they can use parse or some other data to prove their way is better they should speak up and if they don't they aren't the best.

Given that doesn't always work because I have been in a guild where the leader had friends who kept screwing up achievements etc on the raid and after I spoke up he kicked me from the guild. So being the best player isn't always a good thing and sometimes it is better to just be average and not speak up even if you know how to fix a problem the guild is having with a raid.

In terms of class skill, another saying I like to live by is:

A good player knows what buttons to press.
A great player knows "why" they're pressing those buttons.