WowProphet - DPS Simulator - UPDATED for 3.2 (8/10/2009)

Holyfury · 07/08/09, 4:03 PM

WowProphet - DPS Simulator

UPDATE:
I have completed updates for patch 3.2. I implemented the new Seal of Vengeance, which replaces Seal of Blood in the rotation. I also made the minor change to Art of War and Exorcism, which will now only cast if the Art of War buff is active with 2 points in the talent.

It's my pleasure to announce the public release of WowProphet: a DPS simulator for WoW. For now, WowProphet can only simulate Retribution Paladin damage. Other classes will be added as time permits.

What is it?
WowProphet is a tool to help players make educated gear and talent choices. What sets WowProphet apart from other similar tools is its intuitive interface, context-sensitive help, and amazing accuracy. WowProphet is different from other tools in that it is an actual simulation--duplicating game mechanics and actually simulating each attack. Other tools and spreadsheets (even Rawr) use simple, closed-form equations. These approximations can't accurately model complex interactions such as GCD interaction with ability use.

WowProphet allows you to change items, enchants, gems, and talents and observe their influence on damage output. WowProphet's results displays detailed information to help you make informed decisions on how you might increase your damage output. The results displays data such as damage distribution over all damaging attacks; detailed data on attack results: damage caused, hits, misses, dodges, glances, etc.; cooldown usage and buff/debuff uptime; and detailed data on hit tables used.

Requires Silverlight
WowProphet is built on Microsoft Silverlight (think MS's version of Flash). The calculations performed by WowProphet are extremely CPU-intensive and would not be possible using a traditional server-side technology. The choices were either Flash, Silverlight, or a stand-alone application. I ruled out a stand-alone application for a couple of reasons. One, for security reasons--Silverlight and Flash run as a sandbox inside the browser and do not have access to your system. I know many people would not be willing to install a stand-alone application that has complete access to your machine. Two, I can push out frequent updates. With either Flash or Silverlight, updates are seamless to the end-user when you visit the site. Why Silverlight? I chose Silverlight because I am an experienced .NET developer and that tremendously lowered the learning curve.

The site will detect if you have Silverlight installed and will prompt you to install if you don't. The plugin itself is small (4mb) and takes about 10 seconds to install. If you're nervous about installing it from WowProphet, here is a direct link to the plugin:
Microsoft Silverlight: Light Up the Web

Feedback
The site is far from finished and I would be most appreciative of feedback, suggestions, ideas, or features you would like to see implemented.

WowProphet - DPS Simulator

I will use these two posts on the WowProphet forums to track issues and things to do. Feel free to continue discussion here--I'll keep checking this thread. It just makes it a lot easier to track things in one place and link from here.

WowProphet � View topic - TODO
WowProphet � View topic - Known Issues

greatrichie · 07/08/09, 4:46 PM

First glaringly obvious flaw I noticed is no place to choose buffs, or even have a set buff set you could use (horde/Alliance) so theres no way to use a gearset with the Draenei hit buff.

Looks liek it's set up pretty decent other than that though.

trv186 · 07/08/09, 4:48 PM

Not sure how many others have tired this but I like the idea. The more spreadsheet type programs out there the better.

I tested it some this afternoon. it is easy to use and the theory behind it sounds interesting at least to compare against the spreadsheets we currently have.

A couple things though.

On the mob type selection it would help if we could specify the type of mob. As a Pally it makes a big difference between an undead, giant and even water elemental...

Also might want to look at some combat options like heavy aoe and time spent in front of a boss. I am also interested in how it times things like avenging wrath and other trinkets along with bloodlust. (potions etc)

Also I do not think this factors in raid buffs at least I saw no mention of it. I also beleive this because it simmed my dps to be 2935 which I have not done lower than 3000 even in my first week of naxx.

I am sure I could think of a lot more but I will start there for now .

Good luck with the application I will keep an eye on its updates

• frmorrison · 07/08/09, 5:08 PM

While more options is always a good thing, what does this project aim to do that is better/different than Rawr? If it is better cross-platform ability, Rawr 3 is planning to use Silverlight as well.

Holyfury · 07/08/09, 5:11 PM

I appreciate the feedback. It's a long way from being done and there is still a lot I want to do--it's at a usable point now, so I thought that I would share and try to start getting some feedback. Raid buffs, racials, and mob configuration are all definitely things that are on my todo list. Some other major things not-yet-implemented include glyphs and item procs. All DPS abilities and talents are implemented (that is the entire ret tree + divine str in prot).

As for ability rotation, it's using the standard FCFS rotation as outlined in the Retribution thread. At the moment, the idea is get a feel for your average sustained DPS. Abilities like Avenging Wrath and Hammer of Wrath have a large influence depending on the duration of the fight. So, to eliminate that variable I didn't include it in the default rotation. When I implement the Rotation Builder, people will have the option to add AW and HoW to the rotation if they so wish.

Holyfury · 07/08/09, 5:15 PM

Originally Posted by frmorrison

While more options is always a good thing, what does this project aim to do that is better/different than Rawr? If it is better cross-platform ability, Rawr 3 is planning to use Silverlight as well.

Primarily, accuracy. It's really an entire paradigm shift--Rawr uses closed-form approximations while WowProphet uses actual simulation.

trv186 · 07/08/09, 5:27 PM

Primarily, accuracy. It's really an entire paradigm shift--Rawr uses closed-form approximations while WowProphet uses actual simulation

a little off topic could something similar to this program used to simulate an entire raid group?

I like the idea. I am assuming you use a random number generator type program to simulate as if were dpsing ourselves? Whereas with rawr we get the best case scenario from formula's etc.

Could be useful to develop a range of DPS. Could it perhaps be programmed to simulate a certain encounter even? and say have a timeline where you could perhaps manually edit when certain buffs go ff? For example have a timeline 100-0% and a user could manually place bloodlust/AW at different points on the timeline and say to proc those at that time?

Would be very advanced but possibly even simulate specific encounters?

Alcapwnd · 07/08/09, 5:29 PM

Does absolute accuracy matter all that much (as long as things are reasonably accurate)? Relative accuracy should be all the matters. I don't use Rawr because I want to know what my precise DPS is given my gear. I use Rawr to tell me what gear I should be going for to increase my overall DPS rating if you will. If Rawr tells me that with my current gear my DPS is 5000 and with these specific upgrades it will be 5200 then what's the difference if another program tells me my current gear is 5047 DPS and the same recommended upgrade would give me 5258 DPS? I need to know what gear i need to strive for and what combination of gear/enchants/gems ect to use. The absolute accuracy if the DPS numbers don't matter.

Now if you could prove to me that Rawr is giving me the wrong gear recommendations based on inaccurate calculations then that might be something.

Holyfury · 07/08/09, 5:41 PM

Originally Posted by trv186

a little off topic could something similar to this program used to simulate an entire raid group?

I like the idea. I am assuming you use a random number generator type program to simulate as if were dpsing ourselves? Whereas with rawr we get the best case scenario from formula's etc.

Could be useful to develop a range of DPS. Could it perhaps be programmed to simulate a certain encounter even? and say have a timeline where you could perhaps manually edit when certain buffs go ff? For example have a timeline 100-0% and a user could manually place bloodlust/AW at different points on the timeline and say to proc those at that time?

Would be very advanced but possibly even simulate specific encounters?

Yeah, anything is possible. But that's definitely getting ahead of ourselves.

I would have to implement all of the other classes before anything like that would be possible.

Rurahk · 07/08/09, 5:49 PM

Bugs/problems:
Judgements have an 18% higher crit chance with Fanaticism which is not reflected in the "Hit Tables" portion of the web site. My character's armory tooltip crit rate differs from the listed crit rate as well. I am hit capped at 267 rating, yet your website shows a .87% miss chance. Having Blessing of Might as a cast is quite unnecessary as it will be up the whole fight for any boss in the game - the only reason why simulators are run for extremely long fight lengths should be to smooth out the RNG, not to simulate rebuffs. Sacred Shield and Divine Plea appear to be missing from the priority system. Base stats do not match my armory page, possibly because of race. Upgrades in the item selection suggest blues and greens which are plainly not upgrades - so either the option is only partially implemented or it is poorly named.

Ideas/enhancements:
For damage ranges, it would be nice to divide up the hit and crit portions, so as to make it easier to verify against combat logs - i.e. show the min/avg/max for hit and the min/avg/max for crits. Including minutes and seconds for the fight length would also be nice, to compare theoretical maximum GCD/ability usage to actual combat logs. There is no % damage done number as a column for the table or in the pie-chart - not strictly required but I'd think it would be easy to add. Having a "back" button on the item selection section would make it easier to select gems/enchants without having to click on the item icon again. On the character stats page, it would be nice to have a % as well as the rating for hit/crit/expertise. Being able to switch between the results and the stats/talents/etc pages and back to the results without having to re-run the sim would be nice - perhaps in a read-only mode.

Artwork and animation are excellent, very creative and well executed. For the title, the kerning of the "o" in WoW is off (yes, a minor nit-pick, it just bugs me).

Holyfury · 07/08/09, 5:55 PM

Originally Posted by Alcapwnd

Does absolute accuracy matter all that much (as long as things are reasonably accurate)? Relative accuracy should be all the matters. I don't use Rawr because I want to know what my precise DPS is given my gear. I use Rawr to tell me what gear I should be going for to increase my overall DPS rating if you will. If Rawr tells me that with my current gear my DPS is 5000 and with these specific upgrades it will be 5200 then what's the difference if another program tells me my current gear is 5047 DPS and the same recommended upgrade would give me 5258 DPS? I need to know what gear i need to strive for and what combination of gear/enchants/gems ect to use. The absolute accuracy if the DPS numbers don't matter.

Now if you could prove to me that Rawr is giving me the wrong gear recommendations based on inaccurate calculations then that might be something.

I didn't really mean for this to turn into WowProphet vs. Rawr. But to answer your question, yes it does matter. When you ask which is better: 10 str, 10 armor pen, 10 crit, 10 hit, 10 haste, etc. you're talking fractions of a percent so you want to be as accurate as possible. The mechanics of all of these influence each other and affect relative value. eg. GCD collisions affect effective ability cooldowns -> effects procs -> effects crits -> effects procs -> etc. The interactions are very hard to predict.

WowProphet can also do things not possible using closed-form equations such as ability rotation modification. Maybe a certain rotation allows for better use of the GCD. Since it is actually simulated, I can generate a lot more data to help you make improvements.

Holyfury · 07/08/09, 6:12 PM

Originally Posted by Rurahk

Bugs/problems:
Judgements have an 18% higher crit chance with Fanaticism which is not reflected in the "Hit Tables" portion of the web site. My character's armory tooltip crit rate differs from the listed crit rate as well. I am hit capped at 267 rating, yet your website shows a .87% miss chance. Having Blessing of Might as a cast is quite unnecessary as it will be up the whole fight for any boss in the game - the only reason why simulators are run for extremely long fight lengths should be to smooth out the RNG, not to simulate rebuffs. Sacred Shield and Divine Plea appear to be missing from the priority system. Base stats do not match my armory page, possibly because of race. Upgrades in the item selection suggest blues and greens which are plainly not upgrades - so either the option is only partially implemented or it is poorly named.

Ideas/enhancements:
For damage ranges, it would be nice to divide up the hit and crit portions, so as to make it easier to verify against combat logs - i.e. show the min/avg/max for hit and the min/avg/max for crits. Including minutes and seconds for the fight length would also be nice, to compare theoretical maximum GCD/ability usage to actual combat logs. There is no % damage done number as a column for the table or in the pie-chart - not strictly required but I'd think it would be easy to add. Having a "back" button on the item selection section would make it easier to select gems/enchants without having to click on the item icon again. On the character stats page, it would be nice to have a % as well as the rating for hit/crit/expertise. Being able to switch between the results and the stats/talents/etc pages and back to the results without having to re-run the sim would be nice - perhaps in a read-only mode.

Artwork and animation are excellent, very creative and well executed. For the title, the kerning of the "o" in WoW is off (yes, a minor nit-pick, it just bugs me).

I very much appreciate the feedback.

As for the hit tables, for now, those are just the base hit tables and don't reflect all talents--it's on my bug list. The actual simulation should be taking those talents into consideration and you should be able to verify that with your observed crit rate by clicking Judgement on the damage pie chart/table.

Hit cap I'll take a look at.

BoM/Seals I'll get to when I implement the ability rotation builder. For now, for convience, they're just an ability like any other.

On item upgrades, those suggestions are actually coming from the WowArmory.

I intend to eventually implement my own suggestions.

As for the % damage done, if you mouse-over the pie slices, the tooltip will display % of total damage for that ability.

Again, thanks for taking the time to post your feedback. I'll definitely make use of it.

trv186 · 07/08/09, 6:16 PM

Does absolute accuracy matter all that much (as long as things are reasonably accurate)? Relative accuracy should be all the matters. I don't use Rawr because I want to know what my precise DPS is given my gear. I use Rawr to tell me what gear I should be going for to increase my overall DPS rating if you will. If Rawr tells me that with my current gear my DPS is 5000 and with these specific upgrades it will be 5200 then what's the difference if another program tells me my current gear is 5047 DPS and the same recommended upgrade would give me 5258 DPS? I need to know what gear i need to strive for and what combination of gear/enchants/gems ect to use. The absolute accuracy if the DPS numbers don't matter.

Now if you could prove to me that Rawr is giving me the wrong gear recommendations based on inaccurate calculations then that might be something.

I use rawr for more than finidng direct upgrades and BIS items. It is nice to simulate a certain fight and see how your dps comes out. Programs like RAWR stuggle to take into account RNG with things like trinket procs and beserking procs. Often times RAWR just figure out an average DPS gain from the trinket proc and then adds that to your DPS. The theory behind this program has the strength that instead of averaging those trinkets you can see them proc in a simulation and how it plays out. Like mentioned possibly down the road timing others things along with those procs. For example I often wait for a pyrite infuser proc at the start of the fight if it procs in a reasonable amount of time and then I proc AW. Of course if RNG kills me after a few seconds I Proc AW just to make sure I get it in as much as possible.

Edit: I suppose you could even turn this into a new and improved target dummy a ways down the road where people can practice dps in a raid simulated environment with all the RNG. Woudl be much nicer than useless target dummies in cities

Holyfury · 07/08/09, 6:42 PM

Originally Posted by trv186

For example I often wait for a pyrite infuser proc at the start of the fight if it procs in a reasonable amount of time and then I proc AW. Of course if RNG kills me after a few seconds I Proc AW just to make sure I get it in as much as possible.

Without giving too much away, that is exactly the type of thing I wanted to be able to do with the rotation building.

• frmorrison · 07/08/09, 6:49 PM

Wow, the site looks pretty neat! I loved the T2 Pally swinging Ashbringer. The only thing I didn't like if you cannot resize the window (I guess that may be a Silverlight issue)

Buffs add a lot of damage (I assume you have BoM in there), so adding those are important. Your sim assumes a 9% miss rate (it is 8, or 7 if Alliance). Against a boss mob, Glancing Blows do roughly between 75% of normal damage. Glancing Blow rate against boss mobs is around 24% (you have 25).