Comments on: Shandara's Hunter DPS Spreadsheet – Online!

By: Donovitch

Donovitch — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:35:54 +0000

Ok so it is under “ideal” conditions. I can live with that and though I know if I played survival and marksman that I could do far more damage supposedly, I still love my beast mastery spec. I have always loved my lil cuddlies and with the current feel of BM it is sorta like playing frisbee with my pet over crits and such. What I am trying to get at is even as BM spec can I still do viable damage for naxx runs in a semi-casual guild? And exactly what numbers should I be getting theoretically to get viable dps in naxx 10 assuming I am a decent player and good at watching for cooldowns, buffs and such? Sorry for the wall of text.

By: Torgall

Torgall — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:18:57 +0000

This is great… the only thing I’m missing from the Excel version is the gear planner section where it shows theoretical +/- dps for different pieces of gear in each slot. It’s quick, and it’s handy. But, the one big thing that the online version has is that its tons more user friendly. Really, just load from the armory and you’re off and running. Even though I know my way around the Excel version, it can be daunting to a new user to try and get it up and running even with the instructions at the front.

By: Pike

Pike — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:46:33 +0000

@ Donovitch – The spreadsheet saying 3k in a raid as a fresh 80 with a good spec and set of glyphs honestly wouldn’t surprise me, seeing it tells me 4.5k raid-buffed. As Noah said, the spreadsheet is assuming you are working under optimal conditions (the best possible buffs you can get from every source) and are basically playing like a robot– perfect reaction time, etc.

On my first ever jaunt into Naxx as a Beast Master, wearing my shiny blues, I hit 3.3k on Patchwerk. Of course, that was before they nerfed Beast Mastery =P But getting close under optimal conditions wouldn’t surprise me.

By: Noah

Noah — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:46:46 +0000

Donovitch, the spreadsheet is only a guide and models damage based on more or less optimal conditions (ie zero latency, and a stand-and-shoot fight with no gimmicks, adds etc where you can hit every shot the nanosecond it becomes available – though the Excel version has a field for latency where you can adjust it so it approximates the impact of that on your dps, not sure if the web version has that).
Basically, look at the spreadsheet as calculated theory, whereas the game is the in practice part. Your in-game DPS will not match what the spreadsheet says, but it may come close on a fight like Patchwerk (that’s usually where my DPS is closest to what the spreadsheet tells me, but even then, in-game I’ve got latency to deal with).

So, to answer your question, no, you will not go from 1.5k on a dummy to 3k in a raid. But, in a raid your DPS should probably be around or slightly higher than the 2k mark if you’ve got good buffs and are Hit capped (I’m not sure if the spreadsheet factors in misses due to being under the Hit cap in damage calculations) and you play well.
Dummy damage is always lower than raid damage since you don’t have buffs there, and depending on your spec certain talents don’t affect the dummy (Improved Tracking, possibly Piercing Shots if the dummy is at low health, etc).

Don’t use the spreadsheet as an indicator of how much DPS you will do. The best use of it is to see how different pieces of gear, gems/enchants, talent choices and buffs will impact your DPS. I’m not confident that the damage modeling from glyphs is trustworthy given there are so many variables that cannot really be covered in the spreadsheet.

By: Donovitch

Donovitch — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 06:04:13 +0000

I tried it with my 80 in pretty much fresh stuff, a purple or so and I got 3k+ dps as a bm spec sorta modeled after yours. First of all, is that even reasonable? I know I am skinning and lw so I have the chants and buffs from that but seriously-even with raid buffs I shouldn’t go from 1.5k on a test dummy to 3k+ in a raid….should I?

By: OIlcan

OIlcan — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:25:36 +0000

Thanks Pike! It’s cleaner and more intuitive than Cheeky’s, I think. I tend to keep a couple things in bags to swap in and out (Greatness, Mirror of Truth, and Fury of the Five Flights, for example), and this makes it easy to compare (Greatness> Mirror>FotFF, btw). Also, one of our hunters asked about switching to Marks for Trueshot Aura and how it would benefit the raid, and this spreadsheet means I can tell him it adds 7% to my dps, for example.

Thanks again!

By: Mornhadine

Mornhadine — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:00:05 +0000

Very true Shagrat. In something as volatile as WoW I don’t there is anything that should be treated as “do it this way to win”. The entire idea behind RPGs is that everyone can custimize their characters. Sure some will be stronger & have better synergy in the skills, but that’s where the experimenting comes in to play.

Also, for Noah, I also recommend this for the small group players like myself. It’s a good way to see roughly where you’re sitting at plus its a cheaper way to experiment with talents, gear, etc as compared to spending the gold in-game.

By: Shagrat

Shagrat — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:52:08 +0000

Thank you, thank you, thank you for saying the that shreadsheet should be used as a guide, not treated as gospel. I get extremely irritated by people who use the ‘Spreadsheet’ as a reason to say this is better than that and whatnot. It’s a great tool for helping one determine what gear they should shoot for or to smooth our their rotation but everyone’s playstyle is different and I think a lot of people forget that when they quote it.

By: Noah

Noah — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:19:33 +0000

I’ve had this in my bookmarks for about a week now and I’m pretty much using it exclusively over the Excel version. I run Open Office, so I don’t have the full functionality of the actual spreadsheet though it works well enough for my purposes, but the HTML version is great.

So far I’m just using it to determine DPS fluctuations through gear choices. I haven’t futzed around with talents yet as I’m quite happy with my current spec.
The real eye opener really is just what a colossal difference raid buffs make, and which ones are must-haves (and so hurts when you don’t have them); Hunters really do scale from buffs in an impressive way.

I wholeheartedly recommend that all raiding Hunters bookmark this and use it.

By: Theaah

Theaah — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 08:19:23 +0000

Oh. My. God. I love you forever for pointing this out. Also whoever made it since it is just awesome.

I haven’t had a fully working version of the spreadsheet since, like, the beginning of Wrath. I’ve got a Mac version of Excel, but it’s still missing a ton of the functionality. (Like, none of the buttons work so you can’t import from the armory, re-test shot rotation, etc.)

The nice thing? The numbers I got from the site are actually dead-on for what I do in game as opposed to my half-working spreadsheet giving me over-inflated numbers.

This site makes the min-maxer in me squee with joy. XD (And the site feels so much less clunky to use than the spreadsheet does on my computer.)