Noob timing question

[Zelq]

This may be a horrible question coming from someone who just hit 80 (but I'll be the first to admit I'm a huge noob) but could someone elaborate on the timing of 1h with CAs?  I'm at a position now where I need to maximize my dps, reevaluate my AAs and gear, and anything else that will improve my gameplay/usefulness.  Any info on this would be greatly appreciated.

[Stabbath]

I'm also noobish at 75. Anyway, I've read mix messages. Some say it doesn't matter, others say it does. From my noobish experience, my autoattack seems to say the same. It seems to go off with a CA if needed. I'm still wondering about weapon speed though. Anyone tell us if having the same speed for each hand is good or not? Does the offhand swing slower?

[Margen]

<p>Don't claim to be an expirt on game machanics, but in my guild (not a top line raiding guild, but we raid three times a week and have fun), I usually am in the top 5 on the parse, most nights top 3. </p><p>Weapon speed, one you want to have slow weapons and if your doing the dual weild style, you want the weapons as close togeather in speed as you can.  the off hand will be 33 pct slower from what I understand.  I personally am still using the one handed style since I've had poor luck getting a second weapon that I consider good.</p><p>Timeing, I personally trying to space my CA's by a couple seconds, to allow Auto attack, most nights my auto attack is like around 45-50pct of my total dps.  </p><p>If you are using two weapons from what I've seen trying to have two 4.0sec delay weapons seems to be the sweet spot.</p><p>Just from what I've seen and heard, if someone sees some errors please point them out.  Hope that answered your questions.</p>

[PakMonyet]

<p>...as I understand the situation......ideally, what you want to accomplish is to fire Combat Arts off and completed before the Auto-Attack happens.   Well, Auto-Attack is based upon the delay of your weapon or weapons.  You are in control of when your Combat Arts go off (lol....in-other-words...when you mash the button).  Okay, so for example: you have a 4 second delay weapon....this means the weapon will hit once every four seconds, as an Auto-Attack.....consequently, you have four seconds of time to hit a CA, have it develop, and hit the nasty monster/named between Auto-Attacks.  Thats why a long delay weapon is seen as optimal in many cases = gives you time to get off the CA or CA's.  So given this example, you have to inter-weave your CA's with the Auto-Attacks so they don't intefere and cancel out one or the other;  For example: you don't want to have the Auto-Attack NOT go off because you have queue'ed several CA's togather and they extend longer than the 4 second delay.</p><p>So, timing is VERY important between your Auto-Attacks and your CA's.  One of the best ways of learning the timing is to use the ACT parser.   The ACT parser can be set up to "ding" every time your Auto-Attack hits.  So you wait for a ding (signifying an Auto-Attack hit) then mash a CA......wait for the next ding and repeat....realize that you may be able to get two or even maybe 3 CA's off between dings!</p><p>Check out this thread from the Ranger's area..... <a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?start=15&topic_id=399046�" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/...399046�</a> ....note that it took a Swash to help the lil' Rangers....hehe</p><p>Good luck!.....hope this helps out!</p>

[ZerkerDwarf]

<p>The necessity to time your CAs with autoattack in order to maximize your dps should be removed.</p><p>It also disadvantages melee classes in comparison to mages who just need to click their spells in a certain order (and maybe point of time - such as dsipatch or so) to achieve their max dps. Mages also don't have to observe distance and direction like a fighter.</p><p>The biggest question I've been wondering a long time about is: <b><u>How should one be able to time that efficiently?</u></b></p><p>1. Haste changes a lot during a fight, expecially during an epic fight. Procs, short-time-buffs etc. That means your rythm of CA-auto must change all a fight long. (?) In a raid group you may always have the same classes that buff your speed equally each time. But in random groups you have different classes with different buffs each time.</p><p>2. You get stiffled and stunned which disturbs the order of CA-auto which is dependend on 10ths seconds!</p><p>3. There are lags in mmorpgs. Not only big pauses but also unnoticed changes of your ping that effect a timing that is dependend on 10ths seconds.</p><p>4. EQ2 is played in a "remote" style. You don't wield your weapons by yourself, but you just press buttons and wait for the effects.</p><p>5. And finally: which tools can be used to time CAs - autos efficiently? Reading the combat messages in the chat window during the whole fight? Watching and interpreting the animations of your char in 10ths seconds intervals and reacting to them? Thats all illusionary. And furthermore it is quite strange that you have to CALCULATE our CA - auto behaviour with each group anew considering spaces of half seconds, lol.</p>

[Stabbath]

Send your reply into SOE <span class="genmed"><span style="color: #99ccff;">ZerkerDwarf</span></span>. I agree.

[Zapps]

I've heard that for a dual wield, we should be having one low delay weapon and one high delay weapon so that we time the CA's in between. Any one have any comments on this?

[Rippitt]

CA timing is irrelevant now with 5.3 base delays. With sailwind the worst you could possibly do is lose .8s of auto attack time. In T7 when we were all str/wis and using chel'drak's shard losing 1.0s from a 2.5s base was a huge loss in damage for a swing cycle. At this point you can pretty much mash buttons without any noticable consequence in DPS, and with CA 'boe' - maybe you'll see an increase