Damagemeters/CombatStats/Recall/etc: good or bad?

[kandrathe]

One useful use of it that has been interesting has been in watching damage output during Onyxia raids to insure that someone is not doing too much damage and threatening to steal aggro from the main tank.

At level 60, much of the time as a DPS class you are careful not to do too much damage at the beginning of an encounter for the same reason. Dropping the boss as a team is much more important than individual DPS. Most DPS focused classes could pour on more damage and threaten the security of the team, but there is no need.

Should a rogue feel bad that under certain circumstances a Warlock, a Mage, or Hunter beats them out in damage output? I don't think so. There are other times, due to LOS when close combat, or immunities require physical close quarters combat and the rogue shines. For a Hunter, when sustained DPS is required (like in the Phase II of Onyxia), it does not matter if my Mana pool is dry, I am still hitting and crit'ing for 200-300 dps.

[Carl]

Again its pretty useful if used properly but open to abuse.

For example, the last raid I was in (15 man on UBRS) there were I think 5 mages in the party. One was top of the damage meter and about double everyone else and the other 4 of us were in spots 2-5 pretty close together.

However , checking the damage taken meter revealed the 'top' mage for what he was, he was second on damage taken behind the MT! This was because he kept spamming AoE and other high damage stuff instead of focussing on the MTs target.

Everyone kept complaining to him about over aggroing, I hope he got the message but yeah I totally agree damage meters are very dangerous in the wrong hands just like firearms.

As a mage I aim to be bottom of the damage taken rather than top of the damage done report. Mobs will drop eventually so long as every stays focussed and does their job, but if a mage over aggros and that causes your healer to use up all his mana, that is how a wipe happens.

The danger of damage meters is that they would show that mage and the priest as 'top' of their respective lists (mage for damage done and priest for healing). But really it would be better for the group if the priest just lets the mage die and concentrates on the MT.

[Arethor]

I like Recap better because of the fullness of information it gives you. But I haven't really looked into how to sync information with another person. Not sure if it even supports it. If it did, it would be my meter of choice.

[Quark]

I like Recap better because of the fullness of information it gives you. But I haven't really looked into how to sync information with another person.  Not sure if it even supports it.  If it did, it would be my meter of choice.
[right][snapback]83831[/snapback][/right]

Well tell me if you figure out the sync thing, and if it has it we can try it out sometime. Until then, I'll stick to DamageMeters just out of unwillingness to gunk up my AddOns :P

[kandrathe]

I like Recap better because of the fullness of information it gives you. But I haven't really looked into how to sync information with another person.  Not sure if it even supports it.  If it did, it would be my meter of choice.
[right][snapback]83831[/snapback][/right]

I use recap as well.

[Concillian]

In SM Library, where all of us were a bit underleveled (33-34) except for Concillian's overleveled tank (41), the mage briefly took flak for not being higher on the list of damage done, until we remembered how much sheeping he was doing, and how often it needed recasting due to level differences.
[right][snapback]83691[/snapback][/right]

d00d I'm only a protection spec warrior, but I totally pwned your n00b mage's damage. I got into the instance and was thinkn 'R these n00bs 4 real? They r doin like no damage, I am pwning over all of them!'

LoL, then you guys asked me how much armor I had and you guys all said you had like half as much defense as me... kekeke I rock at this game, and you guys all suk. The Damagemeter mod proves it.

:D

[vor_lord]

d00d I'm only a protection spec warrior, but I totally pwned your n00b mage's damage.  I got into the instance and was thinkn 'R these n00bs 4 real?  They r doin like no damage, I am pwning over all of them!' 

LoL, then you guys asked me how much armor I had and you guys all said you had like half as much defense as me... kekeke I rock at this game, and you guys all suk.  The Damagemeter mod proves it.

:D
[right][snapback]83839[/snapback][/right]

you n00b, you were teh suk as tank! I barely had to heal you or anybody else so you are a hacker DamageMeters proves it

:D

[swirly]

This thread and seeing people discuss damage in game makes me curious enough to consider trying one of these addons. So far I have seen two listed here: Recap and DamageMeters. I'm wondering what people think of the two, any differences that need to be known, and which they would recommend. Just from looking at those two pages, Recap seems the fullest info wise and so I'm tempted to try it.

[bonemage]

Is it tracking the pet? My Hunter is usually close to 0% damage taken even when I off-tank since it's not me getting hit
[right][snapback]83747[/snapback][/right]

Unsure if it tracks the pet or not. It would be a simple thing to check though. I'll have to try it out tomorrow night. It was my first night out with this mod. It seems unlikely to have been tracking the pets, as I do know the pet was sent in to save the healer a couple of times, but further testing would be useful.

[bonemage]

The meter won't show who falls in the lava either!
[right][snapback]83701[/snapback][/right]

Good thing too! I would be really humiliated if I ever did anything like that!

:blush:

[bonemage]

One comment on this....my protection warrior almost always ends up #2 or 3 in raids in damage taken, even though I *know* she tanked well, because of one thing:  her damage reduction is so much higher than the (usually) rogues who end up higher than her, that she may have soaked up more mob damage than those rogues, but still didn't *show* as taking so much.  Also with approx 16/11/16 block/dodge/parry and 404 defense skill, she's also simply avoiding a lot of hits, but still tanking the mobs.  The numbers can't always show the right things.
[right][snapback]83721[/snapback][/right]

I still see a warrior taking more damage, as aggro on nearly all mobs nearly all the time is much more damage (mitigation included) than aggro on 1 at time for a fraction of the fight. Unless they are very good and things are very desperate, there isn't any reason for them to have aggro on many targets, but most likely they are trying to come out on top of the damage done list and pushing too hard at times. I'd fault the rogues here rather than the main tank.

[NotSoDarklord]

I used to love damage meters. Seeing your name the top really makes your epeen huge :). At least I liked damage meters until I started going into endgame content. Suddenely everything was about damage. I've seen a rogue get 100k more heals than the next closest and finish first in damage and still be applauded O_O. I've stopped usingstening to any sort of recap unless it's just some 10 man instance for fun... they just put an unfair burden on damage dealers in my opinion. People are ridiculed about it... people can be treated with a more ceclebrity status and it's just lame. Not like we go up to the top healers on healing recap and say "WHY THE HELL DID I DIE" whenever we go down.

That being said I do also think they breed sloppy or risky play. While encouraging rogues/mages to find new ways to hit hard and survive can lead to better knowledge of aggro mnagement... it just can be too risky... especially on a boss fight (there is at least one fight in the game where if a rogue/mage steals aggro it's complete and utter game over).