Character initialization

I keep a close eye on my DPS and play a melee character and I have been having a repeatable issue that I am interested in sharing to find out if anyone else has this type of experience.

Normal DPS for me in my usual scenes averages about 350 dps. This is long term, it is what I expect. Sometimes for no apparent reason my dps hovers around 250 to 300 after log in. Same buffs, same build, same scenes. Then I will log out, wait a few minutes and log back on to find my dps is back to normal. I would not post this if it was a one time, but it happens so often the I am curious. My theory is that somehow my character just initializes wrong at times. This low dps continues for the whole play period unless I relog. I have taken time of day into consideration so that is not a contributing factor.

 

This isn't something that I've noticed, though to be fair I stopped watching my dps a long while back. If this is something new that's been introduced, it might be worth creating some logs using Companion of the Avatar mod (has dps meter and detailed combat logs). If you can track it for a while and get some data to submit to the devs via the bug report forum page, it might be worth looking into.

 

I have the feeling this happens to me as well... but I have no evidence to back such claim. I tend to think it's only bad RNG, but maybe there's some bugs lurking the character initialization.

I'm interested to see where the DPS reduction comes from. Can you share some data from the "normal" and "low DPS" runs? Some useful info could be:
1) Crit ratio;
2) auto attack mean / min / max;
3) auto attack crit mean / min / max;
4) skills (regular and crit) mean / min / max.

I'm assuming here that cast time and attack speed aren't part of the problem as any change on them would be very noticeable.

 

My apologies at not furnishing the logs and etc. I was just curious, not complaining lol. I have a big aversion to collecting data, especially if I have a good work around. My playtime is limited in duration and I would rather play than work at these things. Like I say, all factors being equal, I am seeing this enough I am suspicious as to the initialization process. There are other things that seem corrected by relog, including for example the progress bar when charging a skill. Often times the audio clicks do not match up at all with the visual incremental on the skill icon. In fact sometimes the audio track does not click 5 times as expected, worst case being only one or two uneven clicks. This too is corrected by relog but surely not important because the skills do actually get charged to the visual indication (and even here, I choose to accept that they are fully charged rather than investigate).

 

I’ve also seen this on rare occasions, even following my normal combat routine. But it’s just so random, I’ve just chalked it up to “player observation error “. And just assume it’s RNG. Would need really detailed hard data though to see if it is really happening (still think it’s rng).

Some other factors to also consider, Sun Worship and Moon Worship, as those can also contribute to this as well and vary at times.

 

I took sun and moon effects into consideration. I usually relog within the same time of day so both measurements should have the same effect on performance.

 

no, time of day affects sun worship, but not moon worship. moon worship is active when the moon is up. sometimes that is during the day.

 

I have seen this before as well. Its something to do with scenes and the loading of your equipment and the math behind it. sometimes it does not register properly until a scene reload or change. I also think swaping gear in and out can fix it. As mentioned above sun and moon affect some things like str etc too if you use any of those skills.

 

Maybe @Winston can help look at some data for you folks?

 

ghost in the machine

 

Maybe we could offer an Orb of reinitialization in the Store. Click on it anytime to reinitialize your character. Sort of a Ghostbuster.

 

Just to contribute today's experience with this subject. I teleported from Aerie overworld to the Panopticon. I cleared the lower two levels, collected the quest reward. I had a very unsatisfactory experience (for me) doing it. I was having to use healing potions and focus potions in nearly every fight with three or more mobs. A couple of close calls, and when finished clearing everything reviewed all my buffs, time of day, and noted a DPS of 240. This was low for me. So I stepped out to the overworld and logged off. After relogging in a few minutes, I buffed up (my food and pot buffs were still active) and headed back to clear the bottom two levels again. I fought 5 to 7 mobs at a time, did not have to refresh health or focus. When cleared, I went back to the entrance, checked to see if everything was the same status as the first trip and it was, all buffs the same and it was still daylight. But this time my dps for the trip was 354. This is repeatable for me every time my dps falls off. A relog resets my character to expected performance. I apologize for not documenting as I do not use third party apps to post pictures or videos here on the forum. @Winston

 

fyi, some caster mobs now cast debuffs which could be the issue. I noticed some of the mages casted blind and not sure what the one ghosts use now that saps str down so much which I see alot now. something to look for when you are fighting. but does sound like from a scene load issue. mind you if they end up fixing what ever it is it may do other things as some people found that using some gear than switching to other gear sometimes keeps boosted buff stats of some skills which would most likely be corrected if they find this bug. I know a few high level people I think that do this buff up in some gear than switch to other to keep some stat. most likely related.

 

I've not seen this in relation to "dps" specifically but there are a lot of oddities that crop up that forced re-initialization (such as relogging) correct. Issues with items going weird (red) in inventory between containers, or still showing weight/encumbrance after you've put things in a box, or even attunement/stat/resistance values not being right (as Xee said, swapping equipment seems to force it to fix itself) - my guess is, that if something like this happened and you weren't getting full benefit of gear, it would certainly filter down to affecting DPS. Thing is its hard to always trust the UI, its telling me the right attunement number but I can tell that I'm not hitting as hard as I should. Buffs all on, check. Stats where they should be. Something not right. Relog/scenechange/gearswap - suddenly everything is fine, killing the same mobs I was a minute ago. Usually I just blame lag, crappy internet, being in Europe, sunspots, the full moon or my cat rolling over onto my spacebar, give the game a quick relog, and get on with my business. :x

 

an example the shield def buffs bolster balance stays if you cast and than switch out shield long as you dont change zones. pretty sure there is a slew of things like this...

 

I wanted to throw one thing in. I saw that Aldo was discussing panopticon. There seem to be two different levels of difficulty there. Most of the time it is very casual fighting, but about 10 to 20% of the time, all the mons seem tougher. I think it is a monster level difference. I just want to be sure that this isn't what you are really seeing. If mob is tougher would your dps dip?

 

Yes, I am definitely aware of this. The higher DPS was in difficult mode, at least as to mob difficulty and quantity. However did not really notice what was going on before I relogged.

 

If they're more resistant to the type(s) of damage that you're producing, yes.