There are several posts in various threads that mention WoW Web Stats, but there isn't a thread dedicated to getting the most out of this wonderful tool. Hopefully this can be that thread.

WoW Web Stats, for the uninitiated, is a Java-based combat log parser. To get it to work, a player edits their WTF file to set their combat log range to max (I believe 200), then types /combatlog (to start logging), engages a boss -- or an entire instance, and then types /combatlog (to stop logging). They then fire up the Java-based combat log parser at http://www.lossendil.fr/serendipity/ and upload the HTML output to your guild's webspace. There's more, as you might imagine, but that's the gist of it.

My questions are several:
- How do you use WWS in your guild? (e.g. do you parse just boss fights or entire instance runs? what are the advantages of parsing entire instance runs?)
- Any tips for using it, or useful UI mods? (e.g. AutoCL, hosted on lossendil's site, will automatically turn on your combat log when zoning into an instance -- is there a similar mod that will turn it on when engaging a boss?)

We've just started using WWS recently; for example, last night's (somewhat messy) Gruul kill: http://humility.subcreation.net/raids/20070424-gruul/ Right now I've only been logging boss fights and parsing those, but it's a bit of a pain to both remember to turn on the combat log and later extract the appropriate boss fight from the log manually.

In any case, I hope this thread can blossom into a rich discussion of how to get the most out of WWS

I think it would be useful if someone could write a parser similar to how WWS separates boss attempts and allows easy file saving. IE: I could keep the /combatlog on for a week of raids, then at the end, I could run this parser and have it cut the large .txt into many smaller ones with date/time and boss name, leaving the rest as trash damage output.

I personally don't see any importance in logging anything but boss-fights. Trash is just trash imo - and if someone is underperforming they are to busy playing Civilization 4 on their laptop etc rather than some tricky in-game issue. Stuff like that can be dealt with on the fly by watching SW Stats or so.

Keeping a track record of how people performe from week to week is pretty nice. It's also a good tool for people to use different gear/specs on easier encounter and comparing from week to week the differances.

I've compared various specs, high hit-gear, high crit gear...etc. The death replay is also very good - to find out what actually went wrong. Did or didn't the tank get any heals - etc.

And then you can find other Gruul fights on www.lossendil.com compare them with the output of some of your classes - like ... I see that all of your mages are frost spec for some reason... Where you to convince them to spec fire because it would up their dmg - WWS'es from other guilds with fire dps'ers maby would convince them.

This is a great example of the kind of analysis we're hoping to get from WWS. I'm the hunter who chugged the FMP (I also had a few elixirs up, whereas Drogen did not IIRC. This obviously would lead to differences in damage output). Knowing that wisdom fell off the mob would have helped Drogen keep his DPS up. Thanks for pointing that out.

Rather than generating a report and manually splitting it up, use the 'Host' feature which puts the report on his server, then post the link on your own site.

It's only out there for a short period of time (like a couple weeks), and there are banner ads...BUT...the functionality is awesome.

It shows the entire log stats, but it also automatically splits it into Boss fights if you want to view those. It even allows you to do custom splits. I've used it to try different spell rotations on trash to see how my overall DPS is affected.

Also, rather than trying to remember to /combatlog on and off, there is a setting where you can add the instance to autolog on and off. In other words, combat log turns on when you're in the instance, and back off when you're out.

Uses:

- Accurately compare effective DPS, split by fight. (Good to know how the make-up of the group could shift to improve).

- Look at the 'stats' of the mobs themselves to see exactly what kind of damage they are doing. For example: is Holy Fire fire damage or holy damage? Check out the Maiden to find out.

- Also useful to determine the percentage and volume of damage a tank is receiving on certain fights, which can help determine whether or not Amplify/Dampen magic would be useful or harmful.

- I've used it to determine how useful a certain spec is. For example, I could look at several weeks worth of Kara runs to find out how much mana Magic Absorption was giving me back before I determined that it wasn't worth the talent points for me at this time.

There's lots more! Especially with the robust splitting that can be done when it's hosted by Lossendil. (the creator)

Oh hey, I was about to make a thread just like this.

Here's my question: Is there an easy way to generate a guild-hosted index page like this one:

http://juggernautguild.com/wws/wws-history/index.html

I can generate a local history directory, but it consists of hyperlinks to my own hard drive. Right now, the way I've been using WWS is to add a log, parse it, and then upload the resulting directory from my own HD to a directory on our FTP server. Guildmates can then browse the WWS directory to view any uploaded WWS parses. But there's no dynamic "raid history" page like the above that ties all the data together, shows player averages over time, etc.

Is there an easy way to do this that I've overlooked?

I'd second the request. I haven't been uploading because I prefer to have the historical index, but if I could have both...

Perhaps it's time to hassle sebudai, all rumors to the contrary he's actually a reasonably helpful fellow. (Don't link me the poster, I'm willing to believe most of his bitching therein is completely justified.)

Regardless, now I have something to do today at work at least.

That isn't included in the default WWS? Wow, Juggernaut must be spoiled =p

If Kamien wrote that index file, I am guessing it is a script-generated directory listing, with a few bits of data pulled from the files themselves. (as the index gets updated as soon as Seb uploads a new WWS log)

The wws-history functionality is a part of WWS. The problem is that I can only figure out how to generate it locally. If I were to upload it to our FTP, all the links would still be to files on my personal drive. I'm wondering if this is the result of a custom script to replace all local filepaths with the appropriate URLs, or if this is built into WWS somehow.

It is built-in, our history was a simple upload without any munging. I tried setting up the log-roller at one point but didn't spend much time messing with it, could one of the paths there influence how the history pathing is generated?

We're a 'medium guild' with the accompanying mix of casual gamers so I use WWS fairly gently. I post the overall raid for the meter whores and then break down individual bossfights to look at the stuff that mattered. I tried to find 'interesting' things in the data, both to satisfy my own curiosity and to maybe get a few other people to do a little theorycrafting and self-evaluation. I think it works, when I slack off and don't post raids for a bit I get more than one tell looking for the stats.

WWS historical records were great when 2.0 hit. Easy to see all kinds of changes. The armor change was a good one, could look back on a boss and see a nice increase in average hit on the tank.

Are you looking at the data.xml file? The "links" I see in there are all relative; they're just the directory names of each parse, e.g.: dir="wws-20070411-2054". I just upload www-history and the newly generated wws-$date-$whatevertheothernumberis folders with no changes. Works fine.