DPS - What to improve? (high level overview) 2021

[Lynxrob]

While every role is important (Healing, Tanking, Mez/CC, DPS) there is one role everyone can contribute to. DPS. Basically everybody contributes to this in different ways and at different times. A lot of times when we find ourselves short a few members in any of the other roles we can still overcome raid targets if we have people pushing to maximize their output. Healing can only go so far, tanking is limited and cc/mez isn't always needed - but DPS is required and has the most potential to be improved upon. I would strongly recommend that once you have a firm understanding of the basics of your character that you start to look for opportunities to do more DPS. Here's a list of things that you can look into if you're ready to take your game to the next level:

a) Start with discussions with others of the same class. Even simple discussions before a raid starts about how someone generally plans to use their burns or talking about what to avoid helps a lot. Do it outside of raid times too. Raid and group settings can be very different. I think we tend to be afraid to have these conversations for fear of looking like we don't really know our class well enough and I think this is absolutely the wrong mindset (especially if you really don't know your class very well). I would also ask that if someone is asking questions sincerely, no matter how basic it seems to you, that you give a thoughtful response. Too many times have I seen people get snarky, or give a one word uncaring response and shut down the conversation before anybody has a chance to learn anything. We want people to grow and to have a better understanding of their character. It helps everyone in the long run. The opposite side of this coin is that I don't want to see people using everyone else as a crutch. If you have to ask the same question over and over again you may be falling into this mode of relying on other people instead of actually thinking critically. What works for me, and what I do on raids, is I document the hell out of stuff. I keep a google doc open almost at all times (sometimes multiple) so I can really analyze when things are going wrong. I mark down anything that I have questions about and the answers I get. And if the answers aren't sufficient, I bring them up again later. It's how I determine what is and isn't working on raids most of the time - and a lot of you have seen my notes as posted on discord. It's produced amazing results. You don't necessarily have to get as detailed as I do, but if someone is telling you that something is important, it may be a good time to try this.

b) Another way to improve your numbers would be to download gamparse 2.0 (can be found on the SOE forums if you search gamparse) and compare the numbers. There are other parse programs out there but Gamparse in particular is great because it will break down exactly what spells/abilities are cast at exactly what time and it's no harder to install / use than GINA (in fact, it's much easier). Sometimes you may find that you don't hit the numbers everyone else is hitting and be wondering why. If you're using the right abilities at the right times and don't reach the same level of DPS, chances are it's external factors, AA or gear. When I look at performance, it's more important to me that people are firing off the burns at the right time and generally hitting buttons at the same numbers/rates as others of the same class rather than the actual damage % or DPS. At the very least this helps narrow down where you might be going wrong - or illustrate what you might be doing better than someone else.

c) I try to provide resources where I can and we even have a couple youtube videos on the Discord. Feel free to request something you'd like to see and I'll see if I can make it happen. In the meantime, here is a resource for different classes that you may find some useful information from: http://forums.eqfreelance.net/index.php ... board=11.0

d) Another thing that will benefit everyone is just to be knowledgeable of the raids. If you know what to expect going in you can help others adapt when they have questions and you can act with confidence. A lot of times on raids I see people playing very conservatively for fear of screwing up. While i appreciate that you don't wipe the raid, inaction can be just as deadly. This is also why I personally encourage any questions get asked. As a raid leader I do my best to outline at least the basics of the raid to remind people of the key points but I also try to leave some room for the raiders to play their characters. I would prefer to be able to trust that all of our members can act independently and still see success on raids. Not to mention it's just not possible for me to micromanage everything. I have created most of my own docs for the raids at this point but eq freelance has excellent write ups for the general information on each of the raids which we've linked in guild link (use guild management tool to find it) for the most recent raids.

e) As much as I don't want to see distracting unnecessary chatter in mumble, I would like to move away from needing to say anything in it myself. GINA plays a big role in this for many people. I highly recommend that you get familiar with it. It isn't necessarily critical that you know how to create detailed triggers but I think if you spent a few minutes looking through a trigger and maybe making a few basic ones for yourself you'd realize how easy it is. Gina triggers that I've found useful include announcements for when covenant is up/fired, count-down timers for ADPS buffs and abilities so I can match mine up to maximize DPS and make sure to hit the next stages in my burns, invis fading messages, tell message notification (sometimes), and obviously the raid emote triggers. Being prepared helps everyone. I'm just scratching the surface here. It's worth mentioning that it helps everyone on raid when we keep mumble clear so people can hear the gina triggers they've got.

f) There are also in game audo triggers you can set up too. Here are some audio triggers i have set up... Class channel messages so i know when beastlords are asking/announcing raid stuff, Officer channel for the same reason coming from officers, Auto-attack out of range messages so I make sure that I'm not too far and my hits are landing.

g) Setting up multi-binds is super helpful too. This goes along with the general theme that I recommend - streamlining. If you have something you know that you'll just use over and over again and you can just mash away at 1 key to do it, then set it up! I personally have a few combat abilities and 5 nukes set up on a multi-bind (the #2 key). This way I can just mash away knowing that I'll always be doing some damage. The important part is that it reduces the amount of time i have to spend thinking about doing those actions and I can focus on timing other things correctly or making raid announcements. In addition to multi-binding hotkeys/spells, grouping up and using multiple lines of the hotkeys available is a good idea too.

h) I think most of what I've covered above will give you the most bang for your buck when it comes to maximizing your character (without getting too deep into the weeds on any specific class). The next thing that is going to play a big role is your AA. For all classes, look to max out. I estimate 75-80% of your output comes from the buttons you're pushing and the remainder can be attributed to AA and gear. For AA, generally speaking, you want to max out your synergy first (benefits you + everyone in group), then I would recommend your HP AAs (can't dps if you're dead), then go full bore into offensive AA. For tanks the defensive AAs should come first.

i) Gear is next. In my opinion the first thing anybody should buy is their ore/nugget weapon. This is going to have the most impact on your immediate dps. Exceptions to this may be casters/healers who will want to look at focus items first. Each class has a few different focus items and the raid versions are way better than group versions. For beastlords - gloves improve our ice nukes, ranged improve our disease, wrists improve our poison - all these things are cast CONSTANTLY so it helps to improve them. For melee classes in general, The first 3 things you'll want to look at are the arms for cleave, legs for ferocity and chest piece (clicky effect) then belt for improved haste + procs. Other worthwhile mentions are - many classes 2.0 are still useful for the clickies and getting an omens of war breastplate is still useful for many as well - I use both to this day.

j) There are things you can improve outside of raids too. In particular, your type 5 augs, type 7/8 augs and your type 3 focus augs. For most melee Hdex is the way to go for type 5s. As a hybrid, for type 7/8 I prioritize hdex, then bonuses to spell damage/clairvoyance, then HP. For type 3, i aim to get damage increasers or CD reducers on my most used combat abilities/spells. For an idea on how to max augs out, I recommend checking out raidloot.com and setting the filters to whichever heroic stat you are aiming to improve.

k) The luck stat is worth investing in. Items with luck are: rings, back, shoulders, neck, face and earrings. This is most important for DPS types but affects anything that can hit or land critically. I've posted on discord in the #training-material section a chart of how much the luck stat helps at the tiers that you can get it. This is sort of the final thing I look to improve when it comes to gear but I go out of my way to make sure I get as much luck on an item as I can. Current max on any given item is 15.

l) Tribute/trophies. You should at least assign your tribute and be opted into guild trib/trophies. A lot of times people forget to activate these or just don't have the points to use personal tribute - but at the very least be opted in to guild trib/trophies (Free bonuses!)

m) Potions/Poisons - using restless focus for casters, or spider bite xx for melee is one more way to add some DPS with relatively low investment. Also keeping Crusader or Xygoz tonic is useful for quick hp/mana/end replenishment helps.

n) Expendable AA - on raid these can be critical especially when we're not familiar with the raid yet. Most nights I'll use at least 1 per raid dependent on the situation. I put these near the end of the list because I'd rather see people getting their permanent AA first. Also, if you have loyalist points you can buy them from the vendor in POK. 45 AA for the highest ranking of any. And/or you can store an extra one from the loyalist vendor.

o) Current progression and spells at rank 3. This is debatably something that should be moved into a higher priority because some classes (zerk in particular) really benefit from doing progression and improving their composite/dissident/dicho. Ideally everyone would have their rk3 spells as early as they can get them. But at a base level everyone should at least have all their spells and abilities at rk 1 or 2.

p) If you've got all the above on lock, chances are you're pretty solid. The rest of this is icing on the cake.
--You can go back and get all your hero aa - fortitude/resolution etc. by doing progression from TDS onward. Decent benefits and gets you out to see the rest of the game!
--Collectibles. Good for AA but better because they award you personal (as opposed to guild) trophies that you can activate on raids.
--Tradeskills. You can help the guild out by being able to make gear and/or potions and poisons. Generally a good thing to have.
---Once TS are all at 300 you can also aim for the Artisan prize which is the best aug in the game hands down. There's no doubt, this is a lot of work. Doing this says to me that you really care about your character and improvement.
---Along with artisan prize is the evolver earring which is the best stat item in game. This should remain relevant into the next expansion and possibly beyond. Also requires a lot of tradeskills.
--You can get some of the other miscellaneous clickies found throughout norrath. Some basic ones for shrinking, lev, IVU, invis are always useful.
--Rez tokens from loyalist vendor or overseers. If you're not a cleric/shaman/druid/paladin - these can be super useful in a pinch when we're trying to get people back up. I try to keep some on me for when we lose a lot of people in a short period of time. For the non-cleric/pally rez types we should look to get their quick-cast rez stick from old man mckenzie missions.

This list is somewhat high level but hopefully can give you some direction in looking at where you can improve next. From my perspective it's fairly in order as far as priority goes.