efficiency

[Voragath]

sympathetic alleviating burst procs stack, each with 10% chance to return mana. these were not included in clickie nukes.

Could someone please clarify this for me. If I have a primary with Sympathetic Alleviating Burst VII and an aug in said primary with Sympathetic Alleviating Burst III, do the mana returns stack (150+80 = 230 mana returned)?
Also, according to lucy, this is a 100% chance to trigger, not 10%. Is that not correct?

Alla/Lucy is a bit confusing. It has a 100% chance to trigger that spell on a proc. The procrate is ~6ppm. If you proc two different procs, their effects will stack. Now, if we can only get a twinproc aa like the melee have.

[Voragath]

i didn't put rs or the clickie pets in here because they don't have listed damage on alla, basically. swarm pets definitely have a role in this, it's just not as obvious. this is something i threw together before work the other day. percentage based effects, such as crits and scm, will have a larger effect on larger numbers, so they will skew the higher damage and mana cost spells to be more efficient than base values. i wouldn't be surprised to find that the voa spear receives enough of a boost to be comperable with fickle, for instance, but that burning sands never will. i suspect that based on having evocation specialization, i'll find the new summoned pet clickies will be best saved for a burn, although the summoned blazing orb and paradox will still be worth using regularly. surge looks to be a keeper. (where are you worn off message?)

here's what i have to factor in so far.
AA:
SCM
crit percentage
crit increase
twincast (not improved)
primary spec
secondary spec
(not using gom because might as well get max damage rather than think about efficiency.)

worn effects:
fire focus
magic focus
mana preservation detrimental
mana preservation beneficial
mana return aug
mana return weapon

what am i forgetting? things like first spire and fire core i use for burns, so i dont think i want to include them at this stage.

You don't need to worry about those. The increases don't change the order because they are doing the same % increase. They will change the amount of damage for sure but not the order.

Quick check by math. We'll say spell A and spell B for simplicity. We'll also assume a 100% dmg increase from focus type effects. So, 100% is effectively double dmg so now A and B are doing A*2 and B*2 in damage. So if A does half the damage of B then A = B*2. Well, they are focused so A*2 = B*2*2 => A*2 = B*4. We divide both sides by 2 to reduce them so we are back to A = B*2 which is where we started.

[bluejaye]

just to give you some background, i'm a numbers geek. background in math, and at the time i was preparng for a mathematical modelling exam that required the use of a graphing calculator. i hadn't used my graphing calculator for anything substantial for years. when faced with the task of practicing modeling, eq seemed like a fun way to do it.

i've kept some things. i use the clicky nukes and surge a lot. the clickies i find useful for running mobs, or for the last 10% when i'm the only dps in voa. i've taken to casting a fresh surge between pulls to help the tank establish aggro earlier so i can start nuking like mad at 90%. i'm still playing around in game with spear/spear/bolt and bolt/fickle/spear on a multibind. thanks for the feedback, all. i use rs a lot more than i used to, which i think annoys the tank i usually group with both because of the graphic and the push. he hasn't been too vocal about it yet, though. the biggest help has been upgrading detrimental mana preserve and maxing subtlety again. it mostly comes down to what my group is up to. if i'm duoing and the only dps, i burn my mana like there's no tomorrow. i usually duo with a cleric/tank merc/healer merc, and we spend the med times chitchattin or afk. if i'm in a steady grind group, i'm more focused on efficiency. i wouldn't be surprised if i drop this efficiency bug up my bum all together sometime soon. take all my numbers with a grain of salt. i was just playing around on a sunday afternoon. as much as the statistician in me wants to count on expected values and mathematical models, i've played eq long enough to know that any such model would be an oversimplification of a complex rng structure where hundreds of tiny things add up.

[Voragath]

That, and there are sometimes hidden things in the formulas we don't know about =) Fun times!

[bluejaye]

update, i passed! don't let anyone tell you that eq isn't an effective way to study for math tests.