Shots Fired: A Machinist Guide

[Haxetc]

I mean, you should take WF numbers seriously. The higher the damage the more damage you're outputting for your opening rotation regardless of the wildfire. Aiurily is right that there are many things to take into account when you compare your numbers to someone else's. You can ask for similar conditions to see if someone is doing something different and getting higher numbers but in reality it might be that you aren't keeping your GCD on CD and that you're clipping among other things. Just keep trying and your numbers will get better.

[Odowla]

I think he's saying trying to compare WF in raid situations vs. on dummies isnt going to work because of buffs like litany, trick attack, etc.

But, like i said, and hax said, WF is a good way to check how well you're doing because its a cumulative damage ability. really good for practicing.

[Nibiria]

record yourself doing opener, look over it and check for GCD clip then check for any other mistakes

This is solid advice, Aiurily pointed out that I was clipping my GCDs in a video I posted and later that night I reached 1110 dps without any buffs or potions and with just a hive gun. It really made a huge difference, which surprised me. The key after that is just consistency which I'm still working on, but that comes with time.

[Lavieh]

I mean, you should take WF numbers seriously.

Biggest thing about WF numbers is that people usually post their highs and not their averages. saying "I get 9k wildfires" is different than saying "I sometimes get 9k wildfires but most of the time I average around 8.3-8.7". Regardless of outside factors Crit RNG still plays a pretty big role in how big that number will get.

[Nibiria]

Does anyone else have the bad habit of continually staring at their hotbar? So many oGCDs to keep track of I feel like I have to stare at my bars the whole time or I'll miss one. Which is obviously not optimal.

[spelley]

Does anyone else have the bad habit of continually staring at their hotbar? So many oGCDs to keep track of I feel like I have to stare at my bars the whole time or I'll miss one. Which is obviously not optimal.

Not a MCH (well, I have one at like 31-32?), but a lot of it comes down to hotbar placement. Playing with the UI so the bars are closer to the action really helps. Having a large bar that doesn't actually map to anything that sits just under the center really helps. I use it on my DRG so I can easily glance which proc I get (Wheeling Thrust/Fang and Claw). I also plan on the same setup for Slug Shot and Clean Shot, so I can see if they light up.

[Jeckyl_Tesla]

Could anyone explain what you mean about clipping GCDs?

I've been watching how my own rotation goes and I don't seem to do anything along those lines, but then again, I don't know what I'm looking for.

EDIT: Also, is there a way to stop my split shot being a cast after I use it when I drop GB. It really annoys me actually, since I don't know if it's just the server, since if the shot proccs, it proccs during the cast anyways. So I don't know if I'm auto attacking even if my split shot is showing a cast animation.

[Myon88]

I think it's when you're trying to spam a series of actions one after another, and because of latency they kind of end up tripping over each other.

It's most obvious when you're trying to consecutively chain a sequence of instant cast abilties (like BFB > HE > RS for example), and you rush through it too quickly.

You ever get those situations where, in this example, you hit BFB and it goes off, then you hit HE and it seems to go off, but then cancels itself a fraction of a second later and acts like it was never cast (no skill activation, cooldown doesn't start). You get the "Unable to execute that action" message as well.

As you know, even instant ability casts have short GCDs and in this example I suspect it's caused by hitting HE too soon after BFB. Because of latency you were allowed to execute the skill, but it gets to the server who goes "Nope, you actually hit it while still on the GCD after BFB" and you get stopped in your tracks.

There is another kind of anomaly I have seen on occasion where the skill will fire off but then reset itself as if you had never used it, a fraction of a second later. It's very obvious when it happens with something like Ricochet, because you see the obvious gigantic animation fire off, then look down at your bar and see Ricochet still off-cooldown and unused - if you press it again, properly, it will fire off for real, and something like your combat log will (correctly) tell you Ricochet only went off once in total, even though it looks like you were able to magically fire it twice.

Anyway, you'll generally know when this happens to you because the feedback is obvious, something won't fire and it very obviously messes with your rhythm.

[bbkkristian]

EDIT: Also, is there a way to stop my split shot being a cast after I use it when I drop GB. It really annoys me actually, since I don't know if it's just the server, since if the shot proccs, it proccs during the cast anyways. So I don't know if I'm auto attacking even if my split shot is showing a cast animation.

Mine does that too, its really annoying. I sent in a bug report like a couple weeks ago because of that.

[Jeckyl_Tesla]

Snip.

Aye that makes sense thinking about it. It's happened a few times, but only when my actual net has been playing up.

As for the GB issue. I've found using Blank after taking it off is enough of a buffer for me to use my split shot without it being on a cast time. Though I worry I lose DPS due to that very reason.