FORWARD:

This was originally posted at TKASomething. I have found it to be an excellent reference guide, and very useful for understanding my own DPS performance, the performance of other hunters, and raid configurations. I have left it in its original formatting.

INTRODUCTION:

In several of my posts people have asked for explanations of the variables that I used. I have directed them to my earlier post White Paper doll to Raid DPS multiplier (White Paper doll to Raid DPS multiplier - TKA Something), but I have never been quite satisfied with that. It is a great post for theorycrafters; it has some rather lively dialogue that addresses many concerns about using ratios and shows the development of my ideas about using ratios. However, it is a lot of material to get through, and the conclusions and uses of the data are not very obvious. That thread started out as a discussion and transformed into something much more with the discovery of Wow Webstats. It was never intended to be a reference guide for hunters wanting to understand statistics.

I hope that this guide will help hunters understand my work, and will help them to build their own framework for performing statistical analysis of DPS. I have written this in the same format as a statistical dictionary that would be used for financial analysis. I have even copied a couple of definitions from Wikipedia with some links that give further information on those concepts.

In real life I am a CPA and I have often used financial ratios in my work to better understand businesses. When I performed my statistical studies, my models for my work were Leo Troy’s ratios based on tax returns http://www.amazon.com/Almanac-Busine...554083-9567969, and RMA’s ratios based on bank loan applications The Risk Management Association.

When I did my original study I described my ratios in terms of the variables that they were derived from. I have taken a more user friendly approach in this post, and I am naming the ratios in terms of the concepts that they embody. In White Paper doll to Raid DPS multiplier, I never created a variable dictionary and never attempted to systematically explain my ratios. At the time, I did not even know which ratios were the ones to watch, it was very much a discovery process.

There are many more ratios than the ones that I have listed here, and I am very open to adding more upon request. I have listed the most significant ones based on about a year of use and research.





CONCEPTS

Covariance -- In probability theory and statistics, covariance is the measure of how much two variables change together (as distinct from variance, which measures how much a single variable changes).
If two variables tend to vary together (that is, when one of them is above its expected value, then the other variable tends to be above its expected value too), then the covariance between the two variables will be positive. On the other hand, if one of them is above its expected value and the other variable tends to be below its expected value, then the covariance between the two variables will be negative.
Covariance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Proxy Variable -- In statistics, a proxy variable is something that is probably not in itself of any great interest, but from which a variable of interest can be obtained. In order for this to be the case, the proxy variable must have a close correlation, not necessarily linear or positive, with the inferred value.
Per-capita GDP is often used as a proxy for measures of standard of living or quality of life. Likewise, country of origin or birthplace might be used as a proxy for race.
Proxy (statistics) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


RATIOS

Ratio Abbreviation: Armory Auto Shot
Ratio Name: Armory Auto Shot
Description: This is a measure of the amount of damage that the armory predicts an auto shot will do.
Use: It is used in computing certain ratios, such as Auto Shot Realization and the Buffing Index.
Computation: Multiply the armory DPS by armory attack speed.

Ratio Abbreviation: AR
Ratio Name: Auto Shot Realization
Description: This ratio is a measure of how much of the amount the armory would predict auto shots would do vs. how much the hunter is actually doing with auto shots.
Use: It is used to identify the effectiveness of buffing and grouping on a raid.
Computation: Divide the average non-critical auto shot in a raid by the Armory Auto Shot amount.

Ratio Abbreviation: AVGSHOT
Ratio Name: Average damage per shot
Description: This is a measure of how hard your shot hit.
Use: This is used to evaluate overall DPS and locate where a problem is occurring. Low DPS can occur because of a low rate of fire, low average damage of a shot, or low pet damage.
Computation: Divide your total damage from shots by the number of all shots taken.

Ratio Abbreviation: Buff
Ratio Name: Buffing Index
Description: This ratio is a measure of how much of the amount the armory would predict auto shots would do vs. how much the hunter is actually doing with auto shots. Unlike AR it takes into consideration armor penetration of the hunter.
Use: It is used to identify the effectiveness of buffing and grouping on a raid.
Computation: Reduce the average non-critical auto shot by dividing it by 1+ % damage increase from armor penetration and divide that result by Armory Auto Shot amount.

Ratio Abbreviation: Clip
Ratio Name: Clipping Index
Description: This ratio measures how many auto shots that could have been fired are not fired.
Use: It is a measure of the effectiveness of a shot rotation.
Computation: It is calculated by dividing the total auto shots fired by the number of auto shots that the armory would predict would be fired. The formula is as follows: (total auto shots fired) / (Time in combat/attack speed)

Ratio Abbreviation: CShot
Ratio Name: Clipping from Shots
Description: This ratio measures how many auto shots that could have been fired are not fired, during times in which the hunter was firing. It excludes times in which the hunter was bandaging, removing a Naj’entus spine, was in Morogrim Tidewalker’s watery grave, etc. . .
Use: It is a measure of the effectiveness of a shot rotation.
Computation: It is calculated by dividing the total auto shots fired by the number of auto shots that the armory would predict would be fired. A big problem with computing this ratio is identifying the time in combat spent attacking. Doing this requires access to detailed combat logs. The formula is as follows (total auto shots fired) / (Time in combat spent attacking /attack speed)

Ratio Abbreviation: CR
Ratio Name: Cheeky Realization
Description: This ratio is the percentage of the damage that a hunter is doing
Use: It is a measure of the overall performance of a hunter
Computation: Divide the raid DPS of the hunter by the DPS that Cheeky’s spreadsheet would predict that they would do. This ratio does not consider buffs.

Ratio Abbreviation: CR with buffs
Ratio Name: Cheeky Realization including buffs
Description: This ratio is the percentage of the damage that a hunter is doing
Use: It is a measure of the overall performance of a hunter
Computation: Divide the raid DPS of the hunter by the DPS that Cheeky’s spreadsheet would predict that they would do. Buffs and raid grouping are taken into consideration in this computation.

Ratio Abbreviation: CR no pet
Ratio Name: Cheeky Realization without pet
Description: This ratio is the percentage of the damage that a hunter is doing
Use: It is a measure of the overall performance of a hunter
Computation: Divide the raid DPS of the hunter, excluding pet, by the DPS that Cheeky’s spreadsheet would predict that they would do, excluding pet. This ratio does not consider buffs.

Ratio Abbreviation: NRADPS
Ratio Name: Normalized Raid to Armory DPS.
Description: This is like RADPS except that the time in combat has been “Normalized.” Wow Webstats computes time differently than some damage meters. If you are using Recap or Damage Meters this ratio will be the one for you to use. WWS does not count time that you spend out of combat when it computes your DPS, Recap and Damage Meters do count that time.
Use: It is a measure of the overall performance of a hunter.
Computation: It is computed just the same as RADPS; the only difference is in how I arrived at the numbers used in my tables. Divide the hunters DPS does to hostile targets (don’t include shatter at Gruuls, etc…) in a raid by their armory tooltip DPS when they have no buffs in the armory.

Ratio Abbreviation: NRADPS w/o Pet
Ratio Name: Normalized Raid to Armory DPS Without Pet
Description: This is like RADPS w/o Pet except that the time in combat has been “Normalized.” Wow Webstats computes time differently than some damage meters. If you are using Recap or Damage Meters this ratio will be the one for you to use. WWS does not count time that you spend out of combat when it computes your DPS, Recap and Damage Meters do count that time. This ratio compares the hunter’s DPS without their pet to their armory DPS.
Use: It is a measure of the overall performance of a hunter, excluding their pet.
Computation: Subtract pet DPS from raid DPS, divide the product by armory tooltip DPS.

Ratio Abbreviation: Pet %
Ratio Name: Pet % of damage
Description: This is a measure of the damage that a pet does in relation to the hunter’s damage.
Use: It is used to measure the effectiveness of a hunter in utilizing their pet and how effective their spec is in producing pet damage.
Computation: Add up all of the damage done by the pet, including kill command, and divide it by the total damage done by the hunter (including the pet).

Ratio Abbreviation: QBuff
Ratio Name: Quick Buffing Index
Description: This ratio is a measure of how much of the amount the armory would predict auto shots would do vs. how much the hunter is actually doing with auto shots.
Use: It is used to identify the effectiveness of buffing and grouping on a raid. It is less accurate than Autoshot Realization or the Buffing Index, but it is easier and quicker to compute. It relies heavily on co-variance to produce meaningful results.
Computation: Divide the average non-critical auto shot in a raid by the Armory DPS amount.

Ratio Abbreviation: RADPS
Ratio Name: Raid to Armory DPS. Also called “White Paper Doll to DPS Multiplier” and “Raid to Tooltip Ratio.”
Description: This ratio compares the DPS that a hunter puts out in a raid with the DPS they could be expected to put out based on their gear. The tool tip is not a “true” DPS measure, it is really a proxy variable. It does not take into consideration many factors that can impact DPS, for example crit rating, shot rotation and spec. However, tooltip is sufficiently covariant with “true” DPS that it can produce meaningful results when used as a proxy variable.
Use: It is a measure of the overall performance of a hunter.
Computation: Divide the hunters DPS does to hostile targets (don’t include shatter at Gruuls, etc…) in a raid by their armory tooltip DPS when they have no buffs in the armory.

Ratio Abbreviation: RADPS w/o Pet
Ratio Name: Raid to Armory DPS Without Pet
Description: This ratio compares the hunter’s DPS without their pet to their armory DPS.
Use: It is a measure of the overall performance of a hunter, excluding their pet.
Computation: Subtract pet DPS from raid DPS, divide the product by armory tooltip DPS.

Ratio Abbreviation: ROF
Ratio Name: Rate of Fire
Description: This is a measure of how fast a hunter fires. It is the inverse of Time Per Shot
Use: It is a measure of the effectiveness of a hunter’s shot rotation.
Computation: It is calculated by dividing the number of all shots taken by the time in combat.

Ratio Abbreviation: SAR
Ratio Name: Specials to auto ratio
Description: This ratio measures the use of special shots. It compares special shots used to auto shots.
Use: It is used to analyze the effectiveness of shot rotations in producing high rates of fire.
Computation: Add up all of the special shots taken, and divide by the number of auto shots taken.

Ratio Abbreviation: Time Per Shot
Ratio Name: Time Per Shot
Description: This is a measure of how long it takes to fire a shot.
Use: It is a measure of the effectiveness of a hunter’s shot rotation.
Computation: It is calculated by dividing the total time in combat by the number of all shots taken.




LINK TO A STATISICAL CALCULATOR THAT COMPUTES THESE RATIOS

http://tkasomething.com/statcalc.xls