Auto Attack Behavior

[Haeli]

    Good afternoon,Appreciate you all taking the time to read my post. I am just starting up a 'zerker (and am still pretty noob at the game in general <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />). My question is this. How does auto-attacking behave in relation to using combat abilities? As far as I can think up, there are only two ways it could go down:a) Auto-attack and combat abilties are on the same timer. Say you have a 2s delay on your weapon. You attack every 2s, but if you use a CA your 2 second delay is reset. b) Auto-attack and combat abilities are on a separate timer. If you have a 2s delay on your weapon, you continually attack every 2s. CAs can be used simultaneously with auto attacking.Now I just assumed that the game worked like option A, but then i read a post on one of these forums with people complaining that the game had stopped working like option B since LU24. Just trying to clarify which way the game really works. Thanks for your time. <div></div>

[Cynto]

<P>The way it USED to work, till the bug that has caused the problems mentioned in the other thread you read, is that if you had a 2sec delay weapon, and didn't do combat arts, it would swing every 2 sec. If you chained combat arts in however, you would cast the combat art, do the attack after the spell cast, and get an auto attack in as the next combat art started casting. Right now, with the bug, if you are chaining your combat arts you no longer swing your auto attack.</P> <P>Basicly it is supposed to work that combat arts "pause" your auto attack, but that between different combat arts casting that you would get a round of auto attack. It is just not working that way at the moment.</P>

[Haeli]

Cynto,Thanks for the response.So i guess its neither A nor B, but sort of in between.Good to know.Thanks! <div></div>

[FightGame]

<P>Another tidbit of info...</P> <P>Our CA's do more damage than auto attack alone, regardless of whether it's option A or B.  Atleast it's always been this way for me, at any level, using a variety of different level spells (apprentice, adept, master), and always had very good weapons to compare with, both duel wielded and 2h'ers.  But then you use more power, and have to wait to power up, so it's kind of a trade off.</P>

[Fazzarya]

My dps actually decreases if I use a lot of CA's. I use a frostwrath and have Buckler reversal with doubleattack % maxed.

[Storm_Runner]

I know when I dual wield and I use the Short Sword of Yekesha and the Polished Granite Tomahawk I pause between hitting CAs.  I want the procs on those weapons to go off.  What I do is I hit a CA and then count to 3 before hitting the next one.  I do the same thing when I go 2 handed with my Electrified Bone Bladed Claymore.  It also helps conserve power.  If I continuously spam CAs I tend to blow thru my power fairly quickly.

[Hor]

<DIV>An interesting benefit of the recent botch of all melee's auto-attacks, was that I got to see just how much our auto-attack is capable of.  For those who haven't seen, the last LU made it so that if you chained your CAs, no auto-attacks would go off in between, really borking all melee damage output.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>However, it did allow for some interesting comparisons.  I don't run a parser like some, so these are just my impressions, but it seems to me that our auto-attacks are putting out quite a bit more damage than our CAs.  At least on single target encounters, I noticed that when I chained several CAs together, it took much loner to bring them down.  When using just auto-attack or a stun followed by auto-attack, I could still slice through them fairly quickly, but using more than a few CAs would result in low power and HPs and a much longer fight.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>It was nice to see that we're still fairly effective even without CAs, but I'll sure be glad when they get this lil problem fixed( think they said today, but who knows).</DIV>

[Haeli]

Sorry to bring this up again, but hey thats what the forums are for eh? <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> So, lets assume that I dont want to use a shield (max DPS or not, i want to use a 2h for "fun") and the STA line is out.   Lets further assume that i am not going to take an ultimate, and that the 4th level mitigation skills arent that appealing to me. (oh and i want 8 in the +CRIT AP)So with 4 / 4 / 8 in STR i have 33 points left over.So I can get 2 of the 3 of the follow:~+25% DPS, ~+25% haste and ~+25% chance to hit up to 4 targets near me.The AOE one seems like it could be interesting, because i hear we get a bunch of AOE powers and that would compliment it... not sure on the other two. Hmmmm.<div></div> 

[Razan89]

IMO your best bet for the next two AA choices would be the 25% DPS and the AE Attack.  As you get higher up, it becomes easier to cap haste (or at least get close).  The final self Berserk spell we get in the 60s at Master 1 adds about 28% to Haste and DPS (Forget exact number off the top of my head)  Add that to Open Wounds which for me adds 45% Haste, and Im already looking at 73% haste, w/o any items.  Add FBSS in and your looking at 88% haste, which would obsolete half of the 25%.  <div></div>

[Haeli]

I appreciate your response Razan. I was wondering if our berzerker ability started granting bigger bonuses, and you've answered that.So picking +DPS would give you +50% dps and +25% haste while berzerked, with a 25% chance to hit 4 people (and all of that affected by 25% to crit).Yikes. Sounds fearsome. I wonder if raising DPS raises crit dmg.Hmmm. Hehehhe. <div></div>

[hakedu]

i tried out dragoons cyclone but respecced. we have rampage and open wounds, thats really enough AE power. +DPS increases your auto attack crits, but not the CA crits.

[Haeli]

You guys are awesome. Here is kind of a follow up question. THink this through with me...So say you chain CAs like a madman. You've said that in between CAs your attacks go through. So would you want to get the fastest possible attack speed? Or would you want a slow attack speed?Because if you have a super fast attack speed wouldnt you be losing out on damage by using CAs?Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.<div></div>