[LONG] Hate, Healing and DPS Parser in Theory

[yumel]

Over the course of the next couple of weeks I may jump into a project that I have been thinking about and that's to create a parser so that I don't have to tab out to look at the results and would have a one-button solution to dump encounters to a chat window.

Would make this available to the public from start to finish provided there is interest in using it.

Been thinking about the phases I want to do this in and it's probably as follows:
Phase One: Single user dps parser with basic GUI.
Phase Two: Single user heal parser.
Phase Three: Single user hate parser.
Phase Four: Expand the scope of the GUI to record data from fights including the ability to save the data to a text file.
Phase Five: Expand dps, healing and hate parser to include the entire group (which doubles as the raid).
Phase Six: Include the mechanics to parse group members buffs (which I know can be done with /targetoffensive <name> )
Phase Seven: Expand the GUI to function much like the raid management tab which would spawn separate raid group windows that you can interact with (right click, left click, mouseover).

The problems that I see moving forward come down to the following:

1. AE encounters. Do you treat the AE encounters as one fight until all mobs in your encounter list are cleared or do you treat each mob ID in your encounter list as a single contest for purposes of a parse? Both? Programatically I believe I can do this both ways but with how I envision my GUI, I want a text list of that I can scroll to and paste to chat based on the encounter. Also I am guessing the client is sent the damage per mob ID some how ... it's just a matter of figuring out how to intercept that data. This is more of a design issue than a problem with programming values.

2. Debuffs. I don't know if there was ever any work done on the straight hate values of debuff spells. It certainly adds to hate but to what extent? If I guess too much on the front end it is going to skew the reports on the back end. Basically, crap in = crap out. So would there be some people willing to help test what it takes to overcome a simple debuff being cast on a mob? I don't have access to all 15 classes with every ability in the book nor every item with debuff procs. This is going to be the most time consuming element of the hate parser.

3. Hate modifying abilities. Feign death has always been a question mark for me. Is it a true hate wipe or does it only add a modifier to a character's hate total which is then removed when the character resumes combat? If you cast FD and then get right back up to using abilities how many times do you regain aggro as a disciple, monk or necromancer within a matter of moments? A warrior's withdrawal, etc. may function differently but it may be the same ... whose to say? Can a dps class's Forget ability be partially resisted? If so how does that change their hate reduction? What to do about item modifiers?

4. Distance modifiers. I probably remember more of this game than I should and the one thing that I do remember from 2007 when guilds were testing APW was the fact that distance was changed from a dynamic modifier on the hate pool to a static modifier per entry. I think this was on Graffe at one time but it used to be that any distance beyond 5 reduced hate by 0.5%. Is this still true today? Again crap in = crap out. I'm not expecting this to be perfect but I would like to get it as close to correct as possible.

5. Runes, wards, reactive heals, blocks, etc. They are all abilities that may or may not adjust someone's hate pool. Is the rune added to the caster's hate pool or is it added to the recipient's hate pool or neither? Same thing with the few reactives that are currently in game. Does a shaman's group reactive add to the shaman's hate pool when it fires off or is it on the individual character?

6. Pets and minions. This is probably something very basic but how do you ensure that pet and minions names coming in on a parse belong to individuals within the group?

Are there other things that I am missing that you can think of would be issues with a project of this size?

Would anyone be willing to help test this if I did the coding for it? And just as importantly would anyone use this over their current parsers if you had an in-game version to go to?

 

[Zandros]

You got my attention on your DPS Parser and I am wondering which step you are on. I do know I built a Parser for the Blood Mage that adds up total damage per ability divided by total seconds the target went into combat.

Healing is virtually impossible to parse accurately and I will give an example to explain why. The BM casts his LifeTap and does damage to the target and heals your defensive target. The damage done will show in your chat but the heal will not show up unless the defensive target is yourself. The BM would parse as lowest HEALs on the parse but in actuality they are probably the highest because of the LifeTaps and AE Heal Crits. Group heals can be parsed because it shows in the chat but the individual heals may or may not show up depending on the ability and class.

I would not know how to calculate a Hate parser unless it's total damage done minus\add any Hate ability modifiers to include any items you used or wearing and buffs you may have active. The classes that have Feign death, like the Necro, wipes Hate. I know because when you come out of Feign Death you are not in Combat. The same is true with Disciples. It could have changed since the last major patch.

The Blood Mage's LifeTap used to not generate any hate. I used to go into APW and would sit back and attack the target till it was 81% health before anyone else began attacking it... otherwise, the target would reset. That got fixed the other year and the BM now generates something like 1 hatred despite the damage we do. When I use any vital heals I would serious crank up hatred to the point of pulling agro.

Count me in, I am willing to help test some theories you have... I have a few level 55 classes that can be used to calculate your parse.

 

[yumel]

Took a bit of an extended break but back to things.

Helping out some friends with a custom-made script but this is still on my radar. Have to figure out what event is sent to the client that renders the heals and damage on screen. It's applied applied to the correct pawn, which is how I planned (conceptually) to do this. May not be possible with lavishscript and isxvg but will get to it probably by the end of the month.