Damage Meters in SWTOR – WE NEED THEM RIGHT %&*$ing NOW!


Okay, I got into a tiff with a little punk in SWTOR last night about DPS. It was the end of the Boarding Party instance and we kept hitting the enrage over and over. It was clear that the dps was simply not high enough. So I pointed this out in the group… of course I got severly flamed. This brought out the entire elitest arguement that is currently all over the SWTOR forums – Are damage meters needed? By the end of the arguement the two DPS players decided to drop and leave with “Well I guess you’ll never know if its bad DPS, tanking or healing…. will you?” I smiled behind te screen, quickly recruited a couple of pugs from the general chat and proceeded to one shot the boss we were struggling with. So I figured it would be as good as any blog to get started so…

Whenever I think of combat logs I think of the old gun analogy. How guns don’t kill people, but a person behind the gun does. For example You give Hellwolf his level 80 epic version of shadowmorne in an ICC run and he can still stay competetive with some of our pugs? Pretty gnarly, eh?

Tools will be used by people as much as the tool allows it to be. I don’t think it’s fair for someone to be treated like dirt because of how they are performing, or under performing. But by that same standard, is it fair for the group to have to spend time and credits on supplies/repair because someone doesn’t have a good rotation? Do you think it would be fair if I simply spammed two buttons, over heated, and then whined that we weren’t killing things fast enough?

No it wouldn’t. Unfortunately there are a lot of players who don’t take the time to read and learn. Who try to say they shouldn’t have to because it isn’t supposed to be a “second job.” While that assessment could be correct, their failure to educate themselves affects the greater good. This is a problem that has plagued many games in the MMO genre forever – the difference here is that we don’t really know without a meter to show us!

It’s not hard by any means to read basic strats and guides. But a lot people rationalize that if they only have 2 hours to play a night, they shouldn’t have to spend half of that reading. They also rationalize that they should be allowed access to the same amounts of items/rewards as those that do spend that time learning. How many of you have spent nights learning to reforge your gear or challenge stats to be able to contribute as much as you can to the group? I remember back when we first started Deaths Desires – we had a druid tank named BX that use to pull her hair out because we couldn’t get our players to gem and enchant their gear. Why wouldn’t you? Well because the logic was that it wasn’t worth the time / gold to do it.

I don’t believe a combat logs is bad. I would love to know how my dps is doing in ops, so we can figure out how to help someone, and more specifically who needs the help. That being said though, once logs come out I will probably not run in many pug groups either.

The people who have been abused/afraid of logs just need to find a friend, a guild, or a good website. Read up, bond a little, and put their best foot forward. I find that 90% of the time if you tell the group your learning, or that your trying your best just working out some kinks, most people are willing to help and not ridicule. Heck, on WoW I usually tanked on my pally, and not once was I criticized for dumb mistakes – I cite OS 10 man with Blarghe and Kildara as my reference here -. When I decided to learn healing, not once was I berated. Several times I did receive helpful tips and hints, and even made a friend to have casual conversations with. As I got better, those people were more likely to want to run with me, because they knew I wanted to learn.

Essentially, we need logs. Not because I want to see dps numbers (well except for my guild :P) but to weed out those who are willing and want to learn, and those that don’t.

** END RANT **

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