Dumbstruck & Dumbfounded !!!!

hello everybody,

below are given links to 2 players including me and another player. i have better stats in everything except for MA and Haste....which only relates to a little extra chance for and extra attack and the haste going towards flurry. at leas that what i understand and have been told....being new to the game i still have a lot to learn and i could be wrong, so please do correct me if i am wrong

http://dragonsarmory.com/character/2168963469195

http://dragonsarmory.com/character/2168962922467

we guys went to the heroic zones and were hitting together, after each battle the stats were posted and the other player was doing like 4 times the damage of me....WHY ? all my stats are better than his except what i mentioned above and health, which is of no concern at all from damage point of view.

i just realized that there is another difference and that is the 'ability modifier'....but nothing (in my opinion) justifies dealing out FOUR TIMES the damage that i am doing, especially when my DPS and other stats are higher !

and in another heroic instance also it was similar....another player were doing 2-3 times the damage that i was doing.

where am i going wrong !?!? how is it even possible that this ridiculous difference of 200% or 300% or 400% is there in damage figures....if there was something wrong i would understand me dealing maybe like 90% of what others doing or even 80%....but 1/4th is simply ridiculous and i am just unable to digest it.

i also considered the possibility that i might have fallen asleep and was not hitting the combat arts or maybe having being thrown away and not hitting from a distance as i fell asleep during the fight....but scratched it all off as those things did not happen lol.

i would be grateful if you guys could point out the mistake or whatever the reasons are for this kind of phenomenal variation....or anything else that can explain this thing.

-hash

p.s. i might gt into a discussion once i read your pot....please bear with me as i am a new player who does not know everything lol and please do increase my knowledge through the discussion that follow

Have you spoken with him regarding cast order? Are you timing your combat arts to go off between your auto attack, or are you just spamming away? Are you getting into melee range or just staying ranged?

I'll start by saying I'm not overly familiar with Rangers, but here are some things that jump out at me:
Potency is different by quite a bit, 469 vs 288 which would drastically affect the damage of some of your CAs vs his.
Looks like one of you has a few more mastered combat arts
Multi attack is 120 vs 324
AOE is 70 vs 100
Possibly the largest difference is the order you both use your combat arts.
I would highly recommend downloading ACT so you can parse yours and your group members dps, that may open your eyes as to what is happening specifically. http://advancedcombattracker.com

You may also want to post this or link to this in the Melee Classes/Scout area.

i havn't spoken to with the other person about cast order....but i spam the first use in order of recovery but after that i wait as the arts recover at different times and use them when they have recovered....so i guess that i am doing the right thing in that section.

potency is different but i've been told that for rangers its not an issue.
as for MA i have 120 which gives me 1 additional guaranteed attack and the rest is just a chance for an additional attack and MA is capped at 200 with the overflow going into flurry. all this is from i have been told and some of it from reading as well....please do correct me i am wrong anywhere.
AOE is 100 whereas the other player has 70....which for me is good since it is a 100%

all my combat arts or either master or grandmaster. the only arts which are not master are the ones which i don't use like maybe some stealth action or melee action etc. etc. not sure about he other person as i did not check his skills level for combat arts, but in any cae it can;t be better than me as i have all combat arts at master level.

installed advancecombattracker....lets see what happens (fingers crossed).

EDIT -- what do exactly mean when you say "Are you timing your combat arts to go off between your auto attack"....i use the combat arts when they are recovered and ready irrespective of the auto ranged attacks. is it possible that combat arts do not get used if they are used at the same time as auto attack ? and if that is so then the combat art icon would not be greyed out if in case it did not get used....right !?

This article might help, as well as explaining how DPS can be reduced if you don't pay attention to the timing of auto attacks:

http://eq2wire.com/2009/09/26/maximizing-fighterscout-dps/

I know it's out of date, but it does have a good description of how Auto Attack and CA/Spells interact. As well as tips to figure out how to optimize your timing.

Your Autoattacks, which are a main part of your dps, can get delayed.

For example you are on forced distance autoattack. Then depending on the bow you throw a stick every 4-7 seconds. this is the autoattack. always depending at your weapon and haste modifier.

So if this period between the auto attacks is nearly through and you start an ability which takes 3 seconds to fire, your autoattack gets 3 seconds delayed.


Cheers
Ang

If you are spamming combat arts, then you are PREVENTING your Ranged Autoattacks from firing, which is where most of your DPS comes from. Your goal is to squeeze as many combat arts in between your autoattacks as possible without delaying a single autoattack. I've got my CAs arranged by type and by how long they take to cast, so that I can do 3 fast ones, 2 medium ones, or one slow one between autoattacks.

OP, you said "i havn't spoken to with the other person about cast order....but i spam the first use in order of recovery but after that i wait as the arts recover at different times and use them when they have recovered....so i guess that i am doing the right thing in that section."

Your conclusion does not follow - randomly spamming abilities as they come off cooldown is not "the right thing in that section." I've never played a ranger, so I can't tell you what to prioritize, but it sounds like you don't know which combat arts contribute most to your DPS. Random spamming of CAs also leads to delaying your autoattacks - as many others have tried to tell you.

from all the above posts...it seems like i ought to be preventing my auto attacks from getting in there at all or something like that

i will try out different combinations and other stuff for a day and then get back over here about the outcome of that little period.

would it be safe to assume that if in case i was not to use combat arts at all then also my total damage would go up significantly ? maybe not as high as i would like....but would that be an appropriate assumption ?

i will try the above mentioned scenario as well.

in the mean time i will keep checking this thread and any other input suggestions etc would be much appreciated and welcomed

further more....i've installed advance combat tracker....it is very confusing. there are screenshots on the website which also are sort of greek and latin for me lol. any basic setup to initially check the above or start the above would be welcome....once have understood one aspect of the program....others will follow with hit and trial

It's a case of balance. You want your Auto Attacks to go off as much as possible, as well as getting as many CA's used in between AAs as you can. Sometimes you'll block an AA, sometimes you'll delay a CA to allow one. Depends on situation.

I looked at your aa's and can tell you that i would not run your build, ever. I would really suggest going to the scout forums and asking for some current pointers and if you haven't already find a ranger you trust and ask them for help. The other thing is aa timing is 50% of your parc and if you miss auto atks you are killing yourself, and cast order is a big thing as well, you have some very powerful buffs that you need to time using to get max out of your toon. Lastly procs are very big this x-pac, take advantage of that, drop the tank ear and the wrist that only has a chance to go off after a mob dies...they are not helping you.

Just tested this out ingame. There is an option in the default UI that lets you turn on an auto attack timing window. EQII -> Options -> User Interface –> Game Windows, and check off Show The Autoattack Timing Bar. It's a handy visual to let you know when your auto attacks are going off.

Whether you see 2 or 1 bar in this display will depend on the weapons your auto attack is using. Ranged, 2H, 1H + Shield, or dual wielding are the options. Dual wield is the only option that will display 2 bars, and those will ideally move together. If they don't, then your weapons are of different speeds.

Edit: Just playing with that display on a bruiser, and found that sometimes the main and off-hand get out of step even though they move at the same speed. Not sure the why of that yet, need to experiment more

No. Like the other person said, you want both auto-attacks and combat arts. You just need to learn to juggle it so that you actually get both.

It just takes some time and just browsing and playing with it to understand it all. Once you get it setup, you'll start seeing numbers and mob names/zones showing up and you can look at the entire zone, drill down and break up your dps by every single combat art, regular swings and procs to see what is doing the most damage, etc. You can also look at the other group members and break them down as well. Just spend some time after you are ready to log out each night looking around and playing with it. There is a button to show a mini-window in game that will show dps for each fight that you'll want to keep up while you are playing.

https://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/index.php?threads/ranger-casting-order.4761/#post-49310

I found this post in the Scout area that might help you out some. Its a little old, but usually you can get something out of them.

Make sure your autoattack is set to force ranged auto as well.

i had the meter or whatever it is and found it accidentally when i was getting frustrated with the zoom issues....till now it was only a accessory without any benefits....but now i can see the benefit of having it lol.

all of you are guiding me in the right direction and i really do appreciate it a LOT

if my AA is wrong and i will not be touched with my current AAs....please leave a hint or two to improve it....rest i'll pick up on your hints and try to better from there on. even if nothing....kindly point out why would you not touch my build....that too will be helpful in itself.

the eq2.wire link/post about rangers and dps and other stuff was quite an insight. i will also be going onto the scout forum as suggested.

if anybody has any links (even if outdated as given in this thread) then pleae do post them....even if they are not upto the mark or out of date....they still provide some information and some foundation for a person to proceed and progress on.

any suggestions....anything at all would be appreciated

please do remember that according to my account i've been playing for 29days and if logged in but not around is counted then that time could be halved or so lol....so anything that you suggest,pleae keep in mind my experience of eq2 and go easy on me with a little more guidance

land once again....i thank you all, it has been overwhelming and i really do appreciate the support/guidance that you all have provided

please do keep it coming lol.

Rangers can have all their (decent) combat arts used and on cooldown so you just press them as they refresh. Making sure you don't delay autoattack!

You're missing attack speed. This is important. It converts to flurry and also on our single target prestige conversion it converts well to crit bonus.

It is not difficult to get over 40 flurry. Good geared scouts can get higher. Cloak and belts should have flurry in them

What 40 flurry means is 40% of the time you'll hit 3 extra times per autoattack. If you're at 200 multiattack that also means you're hitting twice anyway, with a 25% of a third. So that's potentially 6 attacks where you're currently only hitting twice (original hit +1 for your MA).

Feel free to check out my AA builds and stat priorities. I have two, one for each prestige side. My gear isn't amazing but I never seem to struggle holding my own. Usually top of parse on PUGs anyway!

I'm too cheap to buy the awakened dreadlord gear without the sparkling gems, so that's a conscious decision I've made. As our largest single dps contributer is autoattack, I've got mostly no potency gear as increasing the higher damage things gives better rewards.

Edit - you're only about half mastered spell wise. Bloody Reminder should be #1 to master next. Emberstrike is also good. It all helps.

I'd switch your mitigation charm for something else when you can, and up your attack speed. Go single side prestige for the harder zones, AE prestige for Hive, High Keep, Pickclaw and Fabled zones. All the others you'll get a better return from single target prestige.

http://u.eq2wire.com/soe/character_detail/1301375858242

heheh....Regolas; your above post sort of clarified one question i had in mind and was about to post over here

but just to make it crystal clear i will still go ahead and ask along with another question which has arisen from your post

1) assuming that the auto attack time is 60 seconds (just an assumption), towards the end of the 60 seconds when the auto attack is about attack again and there is a combat art being used during that time....will the 60 seconds timer start all over again or is it just paused till the combat art has triggered and immediately after the 'paused' auto attack will also triger ? assuming it is the paused state....then if in case CAs have been spammed, will it remain paused till all the CAs have triggered or with the auto attack trigger after the current CA in progress followed by the other CAs which have been spammed ?

2) what you said about flurry is that it will hit 3 extra times. this is apart from MA or any other passive CA which might induct another attack ? assuming that MA is 121 giving us 2 attacks and 2$ chance towards the third attack....and that third also kicks in....what will flurry exactly do ? also if in case some other passive CAs getting in another 2 strikes (just an assumption)....then what will flurry exactly do....deliver 3 more attacks making it total of 8 attacks or 5 attacks or what ?