More questions to make me better

Hoss · 10-23-2007, 03:19 PM

Just some general Questions here.

First off, I am trying to get better about using my 3 temporary buffs. I figure its probably best to try to use 1 each fight whenever they are up, so I setup a macro so there's only 1 button to push. My question is, what order would yall use them? I'm guessing exacting is the best, but not sure if the dps buff or the haste buff is second best.

Second, is there a UI that'll help our DPS? I'm fed up with the default UI and ready to try something else. I was talking to our tank last night, and his UI has all of this avoidance and absorption percentages listed across the bottom of the screen, and he uses that to gauge how good new gear is and whether all his buffs are back on. It got me to wondering if there was a UI that not only used the dynamicdata, but maybe also info from /weap. Or better yet, is there one with a better macroing system? Heck, even if it was the same macro system, but the UI would queue up the macros instead of just the individual spells, that'd kick serious ass.

Third, after it was pointed out to me in another thread that I was missing a lot of dmg potential from my bow, I started playing around with it. It seemed to hurt more than help on fights where I tried to work it in. I figure thats mostly a timing and positioning issue, but any tips will be appreciated. The second part of this question is, I was trying to figure out a way to turn on bow auto-attacks with a macro. I know there is a way to do it, set autoattack to 2, but I cannot figure out the syntax. Any Ideas? I don't want to just put the icon from the skills window in there, because that toggles ranged attack. If I have a macro that turns on ranged attack then casts a bow CA, will the auto attack have time to fire before the casting starts?

-h

Jayad · 10-23-2007, 04:19 PM

1) If the fight is long enough I pop all 4 temp buffs in this order: Honed, Deadly, Exacting, Frontload. If it's not long enough I used honed+dead and exacting+frontload. If it's a real short fight and nothing longer is coming up I'll precast one of them each fight. The benefits of them stack as long as you can get off attacks quickly.

2) I use Profit Reborn and like it. There's not a big difference in terms of doing dps with them (it's mostly positioning and button pressing) but it has all the stats you want. For healers and buffers it's got some nice features.

3) You need legendary ammo (from ichor strand or bazkul from DT) and a top tier bow (bazkul, matron bow, sarik bows, sarnak bow, EH bow, or mayong bow) to make it worth doing ranged attacks. It won't be worth it otherwise. I just toggle the ranged auto-attack button to use it while going in and out. If you use a bow CA it will also turn it on.
3)

Gonzo · 10-23-2007, 04:24 PM

I use Exacting right before I use alot of my short attacks, usually right after debuffs and just before Dots and Masked

uncture. If you got 5 points in exacting like I think you should. You should be able to use this once an encounter (if ur kicking ass than possibably every other). Murderous Focus is nice at anytime. As for Reflexes, I use it when I drop out for Bow shots mostly when 2 of the 3 are not up and im short on CA's. What Bow are you using?? If you got a 6+ second bow and you don't have Reflexes up Ranged auto will hurt you.

The point is with a bow you don't want to be sitting there waiting in between it's autoattack cause that is ALOT of empty space. So either have Honed going, have CA's ready to time, or you just shoot once and get back in with something.

As for you Temp buffs, yeah you want to try to use them at certain points but you don't want to not use them if they are up.

As for Auto Attack Syntax I am not sure if there is one. I know theres one for melee but not ranged. What I do if I am dropping out for a bow shot is wait til I see the Ranged Auto-Attack icon light up and then hit Assailing. If you have a problem with stopping and you see "interupted" message alot try using Spitting Asp instead. You wont get interupted. But like most sneaks you should also make sure you are directly behind the mob when pulling back since Neck Shot requires you to be behind not flanking.

Anyways autoattack from my Torn Ligament hits for about 1k damage and if it crits for about 2.5k. I know there are EoF bows such as Rigid Scale which do alot more. So the real time to use them is when you need to keep your damage up since they do more damage than some CA and definitely more than Melee. If you stay a certain distance away from the mob just before dropping out, you can save alittle time as well.

My suggestion is to keep practicing, it took me alittle while to make it effective (still working on closing range from melee) but once you do it won't hurt your DPS. If you got ACT mini window up or a G15 Keyboard you should see your DPS stay level when you go out for ranged. Sometimes a little spike or alittle drop but should average out to being level with what you had before.

Another issue is if you got top tier weapons compared to a subpar bow your definitely going to see a drop but thats better than the alternative of not doing it. Once your bow and weapons are equally powerful there should be a nice balance.

Hoss · 10-23-2007, 05:27 PM

Welp, my weapons are lucanic saber and Vampiric axe of balance. The bow choices I have are the bow of marksmanship, raincaller, and the one from shard of fear. I've said before, I don't think I'll ever get a top bow unless I save up the jack to buy one of the tradeable ones. Any bow that drops the ranger gets first dibs on, and he hasn't show any willingness to let a bow pass thats a minor upgrade, or even a seeming downgrade. Maybe that'll change once he gets a truly uber bow, who knows. Once a bow drops that he does pass on, then I'll have to fight it out with every other fighter/scout. But thats just me venting again. Loot whores kinda piss me off. Oh, and I'm currently using the bow of marksmanship because it has slightly higher DR and max damage.

So, it sounds like I can't really pick up any damage by using the bow attacks, but maybe I should keep trying just so I'll be in practice should I ever get a top bow?

Right now, I don't run ACT while I am playing. The hamsters in my gaming computer get mad if i try to run auxiliary programs, and I haven't quite had time to figure out how to run act from another computer. So, i just study parses after the fact instead of working.

-h

Vaanir · 10-23-2007, 07:05 PM

I generally use the buffs when they are up, Deadly Focus and Honed Reflexes usually somewhere close together, then Exacting and or Frontload on pull or at start. The duration of the encounter usually decides when to use these, shorter duration fights i sometimes don't bother at all.

As far as the UI is concerned, use Profit UI Reborn, by far the best. Fetish Nightfall is apparently popular also.

You still should use your bow on pull for that slight extra damage. The increase in dps will be minimal with a non fabled T7 bow and non legendary ammo if you're using ranged ca's in combat.

Gonzo · 10-24-2007, 03:58 AM

Dewd plea with your guildies especially the Ranger, go run Unrest, and get the Torn Ligament Bow. Your Ranger should have something better than this or he'll be using it, so he'd have no reason to roll against you. If not, I know on my server it goes for 3-4 plat which is a decent investment if you can't get to Unrest a few times to get this.

Most fighter's shouldn't even look at this bow simply for the Effect. Definitely not a Fabled and you wont see that much of an increase on parse but what your using now is definitely going to be a decrease. Anything over 6 sec delay if your not hasted is going leave open space when u use it and Torn is roughly 15 more DR and the effect helps. 6 sec delay is perfect IMO and Torn also has a +28 STR and INT mod. So no matter how you use ranged in fights, this bow is definitely an upgrade.

Jayad · 10-24-2007, 05:14 AM

If you don't have a top bow AND legendary ammo then it's not a large benefit to try and maximize your ranged dps. The top bow makes for large hits, and the ammo improves your hit %. When you only attack every 4-7 seconds, missing is a BIG hit to your dps. The legendary ammo has a boost to your hit rate (and a small amount of damage increase). You can still do good damage with just the top bow, but then you will miss more often.

Of course, you should use bow attacks whenever you're out of melee range, jousting in and out, or just entering the fight (if not stealthing). Missing a few seconds of auto-attack is bad. (a few hundred or K worth of swings missing adds up over a zone)

Range is also a lot more viable with some good haste and double attack. Having an illusionist giving you haste and IA should make you want to use the bow more.

Hoss · 10-24-2007, 11:27 AM

I think I'm going to try to buy the best bow I can this evening.

Who in unrest drops the torn ligament?

Can someone give me an idea of how much DPS increase I could expect from working a top tier bow into my rotation? For instance, I figured out a dirge in my group is worth about 400, and that was enough info to talk them into trying to make sure I had a dirge.

Also, what is this T8 ammo you keep speaking of. Where do i get it? right now I use the crushing playermade arrows that give a 50% hit bonus. Is T8 better than that?

-h

Raina · 10-24-2007, 11:42 AM

T8 Ammo is the summoned ammo from the DT bows (Bazkul and cant remember the other) and the crafted ammo from EH (I think)

Gonzo · 10-24-2007, 12:51 PM

Torn Ligament drops from the Hemogoblin in Unrest.

I went back and looked for an encounter through ACT that I used the Bow almost exclusively for pierce damage. One that I found was against Corsolander in Labs. Auto Attack did somewhere around to 200 DPS. The CA's made up about 9% of the Outgoing Damage and my end parse was 1523.78 and Fight duration was 3:22 seconds. That was with the Torn Ligament Bow and using Adamantium Bodkin Arrows. Not a great run (short on DPS that night, and not much buffage), but for me it seems pretty accurate for what ranged does.

As for a Top tier 7 bow I have no clue since I don't have one either.