DPS Failing and Troubleshooting

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

I Super Suck

So, raiding did not go well for me on our first try.  When we got to that stupid council, I started my rotation as perfectly as humanly possible.  I made us fail the encounter because my mob would not die.  When we finally succeeded, I came in dead last.

I was completely demoralized.  I’ve been anxious about switching to DPS from healing already – so I researched like a big nerd.  I have read everything there is to read (that I could find) and practiced my rotation as much as possible without a target dummy.  And still came in last.

But, as we know, there are no combat logs.  What went wrong?  Anecdotal evidence is all we have.

  • According to anecdotal evidence, my husband’s geared-to-the teeth guildmate who is same spec as I am came in dead last too.  Hrm.
  • My guildies thought they saw the mob I was hitting evade or bug out and not register damage taken.  Interesting.

Theory: Watchman Spec and the Council

In the last week since that demoralizing raid, the husband and I have developed a (reasonably sound) theory that triggering Zen in Juyo form, which procs a raidwide trickle of healing, causes the Watchman Sentinel to get the encounter’s “do not damage” debuff.  The husband’s guildmate was successful on this encounter only after switching to a “dumb rotation” (build and spend focus with basic abilities available early in the game, such as slash) in Watchman spec.  Using this “dumb rotation”, the target was taken down easily within the time window.  After identifying Zen as the most likely culprit, a Watchman would probably be successful using a mostly-optimal dot-based rotation but avoiding using Zen.  However, omitting Zen obviously lowers DPS and might be problematic on hard/nightmare modes.

I Fix the Suck

(That is, my plan of attack before I discovered that I didn’t suck and that it was most likely a bug or design issue.)

After QQing and moping, I came up with a plan to do better.  Remember, changing all the things can be just as bad as changing nothing if you’re doing it blindly.

1) Change spec from Watchman to Combat.   Actually, it was a bit of a nervy thing to do because most theorycrafters right now put Watchman as top DPS and dismiss Combat as merely “viable” (you know, as much as they can without logs).  But from actually doing the encounters (ignoring Council), I found that while Watchman may have the highest theoretical dps, it could not live up to its single-target tank-n-spank potential because of how the encounters are designed.

  • More than once during the night, I found a DoT-based class is not well suited to the motion-heavy encounters because I could not keep dots “rolling” effectively when jumping in and out of range to avoid “the bad”.
  • Force leap was not available to get back into range when I needed it.  This is a hypertechnical thing… the Watchman spec uses Force Leap every CD to generate focus.  Which means that it’s usually on cooldown when I need it after a knockback.  And if I don’t use it on CD to generate focus and I “save” it for getting back into range, then I am gimping myself (making myself focus-starved or using inefficient focus-generators).
  • Force leap “in place” still repositioned my toon.  Again, something I use in my rotation regularly would change the position of my character, leaving me vulnerable to cleaves and/or knockbacks.  I’d have to reposition over and over.
  • DOTs + reflect shields = OUCH OUCH TICK TICK OUCH.  Enough said on that one.  Extra strain on the healers is fail.

2) Adjust action queue window.  Why not?  If it helps me string abilities together, yes please.  I had put it to zero when there was a significant ability delay.  Now the ability delay seems to be less of a problem and, to be honest, I’m old and don’t have the reflexes of a coked-out ferret.

3) Reevaluate position of keybindings.  Duh.

4) Practice.  Respeccing to something totally new right before a raid is completely fail.  You’ll be slow and pitiful.

5) Continue gearing.  Again, duh.   I was going to do this anyway but it did give me the kick in the butt to finish the crazy-jumping-adventure that is a green datacron cube thingy.

Result

Guys, I pwned the everlovin’ shit out of my assignment on the Council.

I failed to take a screenshot, but this is a totally accurate depiction of what occurred.

In the rest of the encounters, I felt a lot more in control of my output and with no ramp up time I was able to burst damage while I was near the boss and not get too frustrated when I was cooling my jets waiting for the boss to stop doing Bad Ability That One Must Avoid.

Now that I know that Watchman is probably bugged/gimped on the Council encounter, I feel better that I was probably not doing craptastic DPS last week.  If I so desired, I could go back to Watchman and put out very good DPS on all the things.  However, I’m finding Combat preferable for the encounters we’ve done so far.

In conclusion, don’t be afraid to go against “conventional wisdom” and try a different spec if your current spec isn’t working for you. And bugs suck.

Legacy Perks Blathering

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

So… new stuff is coming via the legacy system, including:

  • Unlock combat abilities for other characters via legacy system
    • the class’s buff
    • a signature spell such as force lightning (Thankfully usable during “heroic moment” only so you could only use it with a companion out – whew!)
  • Unlock race/class combos via legacy system
  • Improved crew skill abilities purchaseable
  • Stuff on your ship (mailbox, GTN, vendor)
  • Unlock a “small stat boost”
  • A bunch of other social/cosmetic stuff

My thoughts on all this junk in no particular order.

I Was Here First

The legacy system creates a tiered community where people who are there first are privileged and have access to significant benefits.

“On launch day blah blah”

“On the first day of early access blah blah”

“I was in beta and blah blah”

“Well in alpha it was blah blah”

And then you are ready to punch those pretentious assholes in the face because being there first doesn’t mean shit right now. Or does it?

First you have the founder title.  Then there are legacy perks that have to be earned by being on the server a long time (well, a long time AND doing stuff during that time, but you know what I mean).  Isn’t that just reinforcing that people who are there first are better than everyone else?

Barriers to Entry

In SWG, hitting max level in crafting didn’t mean ANYTHING because you were only as good as your mats.  And the mats that were available shifted every week.  So if you weren’t here 3 months ago to harvest that awesome blahblah iron, your stuff will never be as good as the stuff made by the dude who was here 3 months ago and did harvest the blahblah iron.

See where I’m going with this?  How can I, as a normal just-hit-50 Jedi Knight, compete with a Jedi Knight who, due to a an alt, has the smuggler buff too?  There would be a long haul to catch up.

And, when there’s an advantage to be gotten… the high-end raiding guilds will want it.  Especially the “small stat boost” because a buff is a buff.  These perks will become “mandatory” for the hardcore weirdos out there.

Mobility

What if you want to play with a friend on a different server?  Nope, no perks.  You start from scratch.  Not only your character from scratch, but your legacy as well.  That’s a major deterrent to mobility.  Unless you want to shell out extra money for a transfer.  Yay..?

Things That Are Generally Dumb

I get that people want to play all the races, and to a certain extent that works.  Why not have a Mirialan bounty hunter? Or a Rattatouille smuggler?  Sure, that makes sense.

But it seems a little strange to see a bunch of tentacled sithies wandering around on the Republic Space Station. Yes, you’re a special snowflake.  Get their canon-violating red heineys off my damn space station.

Oh right, I won’t be on the space station.  I’ll be in my ship with my mail and GTN terminal.  I won’t have to interact with you peons.  You know, I was in beta…

Reverse Engineering Priorities: Bracers and Belt

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

Quick tip:

People love their orange armor and they love to mod it up.  Buuut, orange bracers and belt are so rare, most people don’t have em.

Now, when your guildies hit 50, what do you think they will need, besides mods for their existing oranges? What not-moddable gear pieces do you think will sell on the GTN?

That’s right.  Bracers and belt.  Start your reverse engineering there.  Guaranteed those pieces will be popular.  Epic win.

Little Jedi’s Adventures Playing SWTOR

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

Lately Joun (the husband) has been letting Little Jedi play a level 8 smuggler alt (named Cornelius or some alternate spelling thereof).  She hangs out on Ord Mantell in the newbie area and “pews the guys” using the spammed basic attack.  And sometimes she wanders around.

Last night on IM…

me: so [Little Jedi] says “look i have a friend”
me: i look and she’s managed to accept a group invite
me: from [Joun’s Guildmate’s] ALT
me: he had no idea it was her
me: it was lulz

Joun: wait what?

me: he was confused at first
me: i explained that it was [Little Jedi] me: the 4 year old
me: funniest. thing. ever
me: remember, cornelius is guilded
me: so it said cornelius [Joun’s Legacy Name], he assumed it was you

Joun: I didn’t think cornelius was guilded. I knew he’d have [Legacy Name] as a last name

me: apparently he is
me: unless she got a guild invite while I wasn’t looking
me: which is entirely possible
me: since she got a group invite too!
me: omg he guilded our kid?
me: hahahahhaha

Joun: I am going to guess yes

That’s right.  I turn around for 2 minutes and she’s grouped and guilded. WHAT THE HELL?

A First Look At SWTOR Mr. Robot

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

OK, boys and girls, get psyched because we now have Mr. Robot for SWTOR.  Those of you who used it in WoW will say “oh yeah that” but for those who are not familiar – Mr. Robot is a simulation tool where you can evaluate your current gear, spec, and other stuff (datacrons) before making changes in-game.  You can share these profiles with your guildmates and get feedback on your gear, spec, etc.

Right now, it’s pretty labor-intensive to input all the things because there’s no armor to import from.  But that’s not Mr. Robot’s fault.  Think of it as an unfair reward for nerds who have a second monitor (cough husband cough).

Let’s get started!

Your Profile

Look at your profile, than back to mine.  Now back to your profile, then back to mine.  Sadly, your profile is not mine, but if you started failing really hard, you could do lame DPS like me.

I’m on a speederbike.

I’m aware I still have crappy speeder piloting and a crappy bike. I spent all my cash on RE’ing things that weren’t even for ME.  I should get a medal or something.

So, starting out, it’s pretty easy.  You pick your toon’s professions, input spec, and you’re ready to start adding items (by slot).  You can input the stats and gear of your own character or a hypothetical/generic character.

Also, you can choose to list your character in their armory (I did).  But I totally get if you want to remain unlisted and just use your profile to get critiques from your friends or guildmates.

Adding Gear

Remember, there are 2 basic functions: SORT and FILTER.

  • Sort = the order in which results are displayed.  You get to sort by 3 criteria, in order.  For example: Sort by level THEN quality THEN source.
Here we have all the options for the chest slot, and I’m sorting.
  • Filter = narrows down your results. If you want to show only purples, for example.
Searching for my apprentice’s vest.

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Adventures In Fashion: Raiding Edition. I Mean Ops. Totally Ops.

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

Yay I got a pants token and it’s awesome and OH SON OF A MALFUNCTIONING HYPERDRIVE…

If I were to wear a leaf butt, nobody would pay attention because they would be STARING AT MY SKUNK CROTCH.

Sing it again, Darth Meatloaf. “I would do anything for stats, but I won’t do that.”

Although the set bonuses aren’t good, they are still bonuses.  My compromise was to keep the pants as-is and trade out the shirt for a robe LONGER in the front that fully covers the offending codpiece.

More Jumping And Falling And Failing

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

I have a couple of stories of fail…

First, as I mentioned in the comments of a previous post, I did manage to fall through a railing crack and fall off Coruscant.

Derp.

Second, Datacrons.  Fucking datacrons.  I follow my guildie to Taris and I have to activate a console to launch him up into the air.

Me: Did you make it up there?

Him: Yeah.

Me: So you’re on the platform?

Him: Nah, I have to do some Super Mario to get there, no big deal.

Me: [Your Favorite Expletive Here]

Then thehusband, who deserves a medal for this, reminds me that you can duel to get places… and while my guildmate doesn’t have a harpoon, I most certainly DO have force leap.  It felt like cheating, but the alternative was to waste my guildmate’s time while I fell, failed, and swore more.

Now, I did not take screenshots of the awesomeness, but through the magic of MSPAINT, I have recreated a perfect replica of this momentous event.

It's just like being there...

We’re Gonna Raid. I Mean Operations.

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

So Friday is our first raid.  And the anxiety monster is full speed ahead in my little brain.

1. Did I completely fuck us over by choosing DPS?  Now, when I chose to switch to DPS from healing, there were 3 healers for 2 spots which would mean someone offspeccing… and there’s no dual spec!  Argh!  But now the healers can’t ever go on vacation because there are exactly 2.  And since I cannot offspec because I’m a sentinel, that forces someone ELSE to offspec and I feel kinda guilty about having someone else offspec when it used to be me who was doing the ofspeccing on a toon that I had sworn was for dps. In conclusion, I feel selfish even though I’ve healed for the last 2 MMO’s I was in, for like… 8 years, and goddamnit I deserve to DPS for a change.

2. But Dps Is Gonna Be Hard!  Way to go, me.  With tight enrage timers, DPS has to be even more on top of everything and I’m a DPS noob.  Of all the freakin times to change roles, was this a good one?

3. Do we have enough warm bodies?  Oh, we’re going into our first raid one short?  Maybe 2 short?  Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.  If we had more people than spots, people would be sitting out and that’s no fun.

4. The UI.  I’m still struggling and fighting with the UI.  I can’t even imagine trying to interrupt ALL THE THINGS without a reasonable cast bar.  Or having target of target.  Or a focus that works.  I’m so glad I’m not healing because I might drop dead without mouseover macros and other UI necessities.

Ok, that’s about it that are major concerns.  Also, I’m a little worried about fashion.  I absolutely refuse to wear the leaf-butt or anything similarly hideous, regardless of how awesome the stats are.  To quote Darth Meatloaf yet again: “I would do anything for stats, but I won’t do that.”

Little Jedi’s Impressions of SWTOR

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

Little Jedi is 4.  She really wants to be like mommy and daddy on the computer, but she isn’t quite there yet.  Right now she can move around a little and do one attack.  And drop us off the edge of Coruscant.

***

LJ (learning about moving with WASD): W runs FORWARD.  S runs BACK.  E runs THIS WAY.  Q runs THAT WAY.  F does NUFFING!

***

LJ: Momma are you pewing the guys?

(“pewing” is her term for blaster fire or lightsaber-ing.)

Me: That’s right.  Momma’s pewing the bad robots.

***

LJ: Daddy where’s your cat friend?

(Companions are “friends” and Aric Jorgen is a “cat”.)

Joun (husband): Cat man is getting me money.

LJ: Oh. Ok.  Mommy where’s Kira?

Me: Kira’s on the ship. My friend is a doctor.  He’s right over there.

LJ: Some doctors are boys and some doctors are girls.  Daddy has a girl doctor (Elara).  Mommy has a boy doctor (Doc).

***

LJ: Mommy, who’s your friend?

Me: His name is Lord Scourge.

LJ: I don’t like Lord Scourge.  He’s gonna bite us.

***

LJ: Seven-Tee (T7-01) is a good pew-er!

LJ: Seven-Tee is a hero!

LJ: Seven-Tee is R2-D2’s grandpa.

(If you have a better way to explain “droid model predecessor” to a 4-year-old, I’d love to hear it.)

***

LJ: Daddy where’s your speederbike?

Joun: Daddy put it away…

LJ: I want a speederbike.  We buy one at the store?

Empire Wanderlust

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

OK, what do I do once I finally hit 50?  I lust after the empire.  I don’t think the empire is necessarily “better” but it seems like the flavor of it is … exciting?

For starters, the snark.  Whether I’m doing the right thing or the wrong thing, I have a chance to mouth off to people for funsies.  That’s pretty cool coming from a force-user (in this case, Inquisitor).

Example: The overseer gives my rival the task of translating something in the  library while he tasks my character with going into a dangerous tomb full of bugs and stuff.  Totally fair, right? My inquisitor’s response: “Better than the library.  Yawn.”  I almost peed myself.

In contrast, my Jedi Knight has the personality of a wet napkin.  I would choose a dialogue option like “yeah I’m awesome” to spice things up and it comes out “the force was with me.”  It’s really wooden, even when being BAD (dark side).  Good thing her companions are interesting.  The only snide or snarky character on the republic side is the smuggler.

Second, from the little I played, it seems “smoother,” at least inquisitor compared to consular.  Force lightning just flows, compared to the awkward, delayed, and slightly glitchy rock throwing.  Besides, where the fuck do those rocks come from all the time?  There isn’t debris everywhere…

Meet the dirty imps

Njessi, Bounty Hunter. I think everyone should have a “to kill” list.
N’jessi, Inquisitor. Look at those awesome scars.
Lord Zash, N’jessi’s boss.

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