DPS question

[kramgnolx]

This maybe in the wrong area, but I haven't been able to find the answer so I'm asking.1. Is there a list anywhere that tells me how much dps I should be doing at a particular level?2. If not, how much dps should a 32 ranger be doing, on average, ballpark.I'm new to the game and trying to learn the ins and outs of timing my combot arts between auto attack, etc.Sorry If i posted in the wrong spot.Oakz

[Webin]

I'm new to the game and trying to learn the ins and outs of timing my combot arts between auto attack, etc.

Unfortunately, it's pretty hard to estimate what DPS numbers you "should" be getting at any particular level.  It's largely dependant on your skill, equipment, group composition, what you're fighting, and the angle of the sun in relation to the Qeynos Claymore monument (kidding).What I can say is that at your level, if you are already learning to squeeze combat arts between auto-attacks, you are ahead of the crowd.  I know plenty of top-level rangers that still spam combat arts.  My advice would be to keep doing what you're doing, use poisons effectively, and generally be a student of the ranger skills.  You're doing fine.

[Neiloch]

It was my understanding even if chain casting CA's (even queuing one up while another is casting) that the autoattack will go off between them no matter what if the delay on the bow is met. I can see how its useful for CA's that take a while to cast though (sniper shot for example). I don't understand it fully but some detail on it would help.

[NiteWolfe]

Neiloch wrote:

It was my understanding even if chain casting CA's (even queuing one up while another is casting) that the autoattack will go off between them no matter what if the delay on the bow is met. I can see how its useful for CA's that take a while to cast though (sniper shot for example). I don't understand it fully but some detail on it would help.

 the AA will fire between ca's if it happens to fall inbetween the ca's. If the aa is due to fire while a ca is casting it will reset the aa time with out firing. This is where timing comes in Knowing how long you have  to fire ca/s b/4 a AA is due. My ranger just hit 70 today and i been timing attacks from the start. But then my main is a swashy iam used to timing  aa attacks between ca's. Can actualy set up act to play a sound when a aa lands if your not used to seeing the numbers or watching a self only combat window. More experance rangers can correct me if iam wrong on this please.

[Neiloch]

Well I have a 80 SK as well and something similar to this came up there. there was concern if chain casting spells, auto attack wouldn't go off as much as it should. It was later determined iwhen the weapon is ready to fire between spells, it will go off. Even if the casting time is say 5 seconds and the delay is 4, it would simply 'pause' for 1 second until you are done casting, do the AA attack, then cast the next spell you had queued up. Basically meaning if you chain cast every spell you have, you won't force your AA attack NOt to go off.I'm going to try it now with the triggers normally used in ACT for waitign between shot. If I chain cast CA's and still get the beeps for auto attack, it means AA will go off between the CA's like I said.EDIT: Well I just confirmed it, AA will go off between CA's regardless. Was as easy as starting off a fight with a CA and immediately queuing up another attack before the first one was done casting. AA would always go off after the CA was done. With mobs I could kill easily but live longer it would happen down the line too after I chain casted even more CA's, never stopped casting once and 2 AA attacks went off before they died.

[dbmoreland]

While auto-attacks will go off between "chain casted" CAs they will not go off as quickly as they were supposed to. Since a majority of our damage comes from ranged auto-attack this will have the effect of reducing our overall DPS. However you will probably not see this unless the fight lasts for 30 seconds or more, i.e. fighting a non-trivial heroic mob while in a group.

Here is how it works. You start off with a ranged CA. As soon as the CA goes off, ranged auto attack is turned on and a ranged auto attack goes off. The auto attack timer is then set based on the delay of your bow and any buffs/effects (i.e. haste, attack speed, etc) that affect it. Let us say for example that it is normaly 6 seconds but because of my buffs/effects it is 4 seconds. You start "chain casting" CAs. If one of these CAs is in the middle of casting when 4 seconds is up the auto attack will be delayed until after the CA finishes casting and goes off, then the auto attack will go off and the timer will be reset.

So what this really means is that unless I time my CAs to go off between my auto attacks I will loose some of the benifits that I might have gained by improving the delay of my bow. I just made that +1 attack speed bonus on that new set of gloves I got irrelivent. Or worse I have made some part of that Haste 26% cloak I just bought irrelivent.

Now is this going to matter in those fights vs solo mobs that take 10-15 seconds, not really. Is this going to matter in the 50+ fights that take 30 sec or more during a "instance run", you bet.

Hope this helps,

[Neiloch]

Now thats what I originally thought dbmoreland. Because in my experience attacking around my AA on raids helps a lot but when soloing or killing mobs that go down quick in general, like in a instance group that has lots of DPS even when not counting myself, pumping out those CA's before the mob goes down in 10 seconds helps a lot more. I've tried attacking around AA in a high DPS group in the Court of Korucust, the only person that wasn't DPS was the templar because our tank was a swashbuckler set up as a tank, made me look like a real slacker until I just chain casted CA's because each mob was dead in 10 seconds or less either way.

[dbmoreland]

Neiloch wrote:

Now thats what I originally thought dbmoreland. Because in my experience attacking around my AA on raids helps a lot but when soloing or killing mobs that go down quick in general, like in a instance group that has lots of DPS even when not counting myself, pumping out those CA's before the mob goes down in 10 seconds helps a lot more. I've tried attacking around AA in a high DPS group in the Court of Korucust, the only person that wasn't DPS was the templar because our tank was a swashbuckler set up as a tank, made me look like a real slacker until I just chain casted CA's because each mob was dead in 10 seconds or less either way.

Nailoch, you are correct. If it is a short fight, especialy the VERY short 10 second fight, it is best to just chain cast your CAs. You are going to delay only 1 or 2 of your auto attacks by a second or two. Also your CAs will have the time between fights to reset for another use. For longer fights, expecialy those over 30 seconds where if you spam all of your CAs you will be waiting for many of them to reset DURING the ongoing fight, you will want to time them between auto attacks. Otherwise the combined delay in the auto attacks plus the wait for your CAs will reduce your overall DPS.

As for solo fights all bets are off. You use your CAs as needed to control the fight. The mob is trying to kill YOU, you don't have the luxury of DPS timing anything.

Thanks,