Alacrity and Arsenal Mercenary

[FunkyMo]

Terminal Velocity

While High Velocity Gas Cylinder is active, critical hits with missiles and Unload have a [50 / 100]% chance to vent 8 heat. This effect cannot occur more than once every 3 seconds.

 

From a comment on Torhead:

 

As the poster above says, Terminal Velocity is a game changer for arsenal dps.

 

It is vitally important that you do NOT gain ANY alacrity on your gear however! What does alacrity do?

 

"Reduces the time needed to activate or channel abilities, so they can be executed more quickly."

 

So this applies to both Tracer Missile and Unload, two of your primary dps abilities, so it would seem alacrity is good for Mercenaries, as it allows them to damage their target quicker, right?

 

Wrong.

 

Heat build-up is the single biggest limitation on Merc dps. If you're reading this, I am assuming you have a Merc and are familiar with what happens when your heat bar fills up - you end up standing there just hitting your default attack. That's because heat management is a vital part of playing the Merc effectively.

 

If you take a careful look at Terminal Velocity, you'll see that it can only activate once every 3 seconds at most. However, Tracer Missile has a 1.5 second activation time, making two of them back-to-back exactly 3 seconds. Even with the ability queue system in place, you can maybe add a few milliseconds gap between them. Unload is handily 3 seconds on it's own.

 

If you gain ANY alacrity at all, then you'll bring a double activation of Tracer Missile, or a single activation of Unload, under 3 seconds and start to lose out on the important proc from Terminal Velocity.

 

* As a note, at max level, it may be possible to gain enough alacrity to bring it down to close to 1 second per activation, which may be worthwhile, but even then, there's still the issue of heat build-up from an additional acivation of the ability.

 

Are there any holes in this logic? Should alacrity be avoided completely for arsenal mercenaries?

Edited January 24, 2012 by FunkyMo

[Daisun]

I've been avoiding it for these reasons. Also because it seems to have such a small impact on actual cast times. To get a noticable differance, you'll be giving up alot of crit/surge.

[Verakith]

Are there any holes in this logic? Should alacrity be avoided completely for arsenal mercenaries?

 

Alacrity is trash for any sustained dmg. Its great for burst if you can stack enough of it without limiting surge/crit. But the bottom line is that Crit/Surge/Power all infinitely more useful stats overall.

 

Crit to ~35%, Surge 80-85% (don't take beyond 88%, huge diminishing returns), drop the rest into power.

[Darth_Creech]

Alacrity is trash for any sustained dmg. Its great for burst if you can stack enough of it without limiting surge/crit. But the bottom line is that Crit/Surge/Power all infinitely more useful stats overall.

 

Crit to ~35%, Surge 80-85% (don't take beyond 88%, huge diminishing returns), drop the rest into power.

 

Am I missing something here or did you forget to mention accuracy to 110% to push off the 10% base defense chance bosses have?

 

-Darth_Creech

[Flotsam]

Actually the real reason for Arsenal to not take alacrity is:

 

Tracer missle is 1.5 second... same as the GCD. Alacrity does not lower the GCD so even if you got missle to 1 sec... you are still waiting for .5 sec to cast again.

 

Has nothing to do with the crit ability to vent heat...

[TempestasSilva]

Actually the real reason for Arsenal to not take alacrity is:

 

Tracer missle is 1.5 second... same as the GCD. Alacrity does not lower the GCD so even if you got missle to 1 sec... you are still waiting for .5 sec to cast again.

 

Has nothing to do with the crit ability to vent heat...

 

Flotsam and others, PLEASE STOP SPREADING BAD INFO!!!!

 

Alacrity DOES reduce the GCD. It looks like (and it may be a bug) that it does not reduce it for instants. TM is not an instant so it does benefit from Alacrity.

[Kunovega]

Flotsam and others, PLEASE STOP SPREADING BAD INFO!!!!

 

Alacrity DOES reduce the GCD. It looks like (and it may be a bug) that it does not reduce it for instants. TM is not an instant so it does benefit from Alacrity.

 

this isnt true, alacrity does not reduce global cooldowns

 

ive tested a full set of alacrity that was able to get my tracer down to 1 second cast time, i still had to wait the additional half a second for global to reach 1.5 total before it would cast again

 

if you are only getting your alacrity to the point where its reduced to 1.3 or 1.4 you probably just arent noticing the 20th of a second difference before the global is reached at 1.5, but if you get the alacrity to shave off a full half second, it will be noticable that GCD is still there after the shot takes place

[Iandayen]

this isnt true, alacrity does not reduce global cooldowns

 

ive tested a full set of alacrity that was able to get my tracer down to 1 second cast time, i still had to wait the additional half a second for global to reach 1.5 total before it would cast again

 

if you are only getting your alacrity to the point where its reduced to 1.3 or 1.4 you probably just arent noticing the 20th of a second difference before the global is reached at 1.5, but if you get the alacrity to shave off a full half second, it will be noticable that GCD is still there after the shot takes place

 

Thank you - I tried this and found the same thing and people are trying to bash me for it.

 

Not to mention, alacrity is a crap stat for us to begin with - it shouldn't even be considered by anyone seriously trying to make their character effective.

[iYukiFox]

Alacrity is trash for any sustained dmg. Its great for burst if you can stack enough of it without limiting surge/crit. But the bottom line is that Crit/Surge/Power all infinitely more useful stats overall.

 

Crit to ~35%, Surge 80-85% (don't take beyond 88%, huge diminishing returns), drop the rest into power.

 

I recommend to about 33% crit and dump the rest below power. I'm stuck at 30% due to gear changes but it will be improving soon, still damn annoying to be that low.

 

The main reason why it is useless for us more so than others is that only one ability will benefit from alacrity - Unload/Full Auto. When Tracer Missle / Grav Round is a 1.5 second cast and the GCD is 1.5 cast..well..it's kinda pointless. I do hope this helps.

[iYukiFox]

Thank you - I tried this and found the same thing and people are trying to bash me for it.

 

Not to mention, alacrity is a crap stat for us to begin with - it shouldn't even be considered by anyone seriously trying to make their character effective.

 

You are very welcome. Forums are breeding grounds for idiots. All it takes is one person to spread false information and the cattle immediately fall in line. This is similar to Accuracy. Some people believe that having over 100% accuracy give you armor penetration..it does NOT.

 

I have also tested this with 1 sec cast times which is stupid easy as a merc due to talents. I had to WAIT for my GCD each time. GCDs are NOT affected.

[Iandayen]

having 100% accuracy makes it so you can't outright miss.

 

over 100% reduces dodge/block/parry

[Gariuys]

You are very welcome. Forums are breeding grounds for idiots. All it takes is one person to spread false information and the cattle immediately fall in line. This is similar to Accuracy. Some people believe that having over 100% accuracy give you armor penetration..it does NOT.

 

I have also tested this with 1 sec cast times which is stupid easy as a merc due to talents. I had to WAIT for my GCD each time. GCDs are NOT affected.

 

I really dont understand what skills people are using that causes this. Not that high lvl yet, but with a 1.4 sec cast time on my power shot, I can cast them back to back without any delay due to GCD at all. so for me atleast alacrity is working just fine.

[TyrellJonez]

this isnt true, alacrity does not reduce global cooldowns

 

ive tested a full set of alacrity that was able to get my tracer down to 1 second cast time, i still had to wait the additional half a second for global to reach 1.5 total before it would cast again

 

if you are only getting your alacrity to the point where its reduced to 1.3 or 1.4 you probably just arent noticing the 20th of a second difference before the global is reached at 1.5, but if you get the alacrity to shave off a full half second, it will be noticable that GCD is still there after the shot takes place

 

If this is true and Alacrity doesn't affect the GCD, then there should be either a tooltip to inform players of this, or if it is supposed to and its NOT affecting the GCD, then yeah alacrity is useless for...well everyone. whats the point of faster cast times (for ANY class) if it doesn't also increase the speed of the GCD so we can utilize how fast are casts are?

[Giantshoe]

If this is true and Alacrity doesn't affect the GCD, then there should be either a tooltip to inform players of this, or if it is supposed to and its NOT affecting the GCD, then yeah alacrity is useless for...well everyone. whats the point of faster cast times (for ANY class) if it doesn't also increase the speed of the GCD so we can utilize how fast are casts are?

 

for healers alacrity is important. that heal going off a half second earlier is the difference between a successful boss fight and a wipe. even if youre waiting for the 1.5 global cooldown your heals are still hitting faster, and suppose you only need to heal someone once? same deal. either they get healed, or they die.

 

also, (for ANY class) there are abilities that are longer than 1.5 seconds. lots of them. lots and lots of them. not having to wait as long for them can really help. but mostly, its a healer stat.

 

lastly! @Gariuys... as stated above, your not noticing the .1 second delay. either its latency, or input lag or an aspect of the mind not noticing a tiny tiny delay like that. if you really wanna test it. set a timer on your phone or something for 15 seconds. you should, in that time, be able to get off 16 power shots/missiles/grav rounds. i promise that in the time youll only see 15..... ammo/heat should last through that spam right? even if your target does not...

[Aggathor]

From this we can see that 'Alacrity' has last prio on the secondary stat list.

 

But what other secondary stats are most important?

 

 

From what i've noticed in the spec, 'crit' seems most beneficial as we're so dependant on heat to have a constant dps, using the default ability will serverly destroy your dps if you have to use it for 15 seconds to vent heat.

 

'Crit' causes our 2 main abilities to vent heat every 3 seconds, so having a 'crit rating' of 33-50% would almost guarantee(if the RNG gods are in a good mood) a proc to vent 8 heat.

 

Maximising a sustainable amount of dps from a long boss fight.

 

 

However, would 'power' alone generate enough dps to allow you to spam the default ability for 15 seconds to vent heat now and again?

Edited January 25, 2012 by Aggathor

[Battilea]

lastly! @Gariuys... as stated above, your not noticing the .1 second delay. either its latency, or input lag or an aspect of the mind not noticing a tiny tiny delay like that. if you really wanna test it. set a timer on your phone or something for 15 seconds. you should, in that time, be able to get off 16 power shots/missiles/grav rounds. i promise that in the time youll only see 15..... ammo/heat should last through that spam right? even if your target does not...

 

Even that would be a pretty bad test, as the 1.4 is rounded. I don't have 6-7% haste on my character, but my PS shows as 1.4s. Why? Because I have 4% from talents and maybe a smidgeon of alacrity on an implant.

 

You'd have to put on a significant amount of Alacrity Gear, push that casting time down lower.

[Yazule]

having 100% accuracy makes it so you can't outright miss.

 

over 100% reduces dodge/block/parry

 

for world bosses you need 110% to not outright miss

 

for raid bosses you need 105% to not outright miss

 

they have extra special bonus's of 10 and 5% respectively

 

and don't forget that tech accuracy isnt ranged accuracy so both would need to be boosted to get a "i don't miss" scenario

[Kunovega]

If this is true and Alacrity doesn't affect the GCD, then there should be either a tooltip to inform players of this, or if it is supposed to and its NOT affecting the GCD, then yeah alacrity is useless for...well everyone. whats the point of faster cast times (for ANY class) if it doesn't also increase the speed of the GCD so we can utilize how fast are casts are?

 

there is a reason alacrity is on medic armor and not dps armor

 

faster landing heals is a life saver, also there are heals that start with longer cast times than the GCD

 

its not intended to make damage per second or per minute go up, at most it can make attacks land faster, but it will never make them land more often

 

there is no high end dps gear with alacrity on it for a reason

 

it doesnt need to be on any tooltips, its blatently obvious just by playing the game and understanding which gear sets go with which trees

[Iandayen]

for world bosses you need 110% to not outright miss

 

for raid bosses you need 105% to not outright miss

 

they have extra special bonus's of 10 and 5% respectively

 

and don't forget that tech accuracy isnt ranged accuracy so both would need to be boosted to get a "i don't miss" scenario

 

Tech = missiles/rail shot

 

Ranged = quick shots/unload/power shot

 

I run around with roughly 112% tech 102% ranged and have never had anything miss or dodged or blocked on a raid or world boss.

[Kunovega]

Tech = missiles/rail shot

 

Ranged = quick shots/unload/power shot

 

I run around with roughly 112% tech 102% ranged and have never had anything miss or dodged or blocked on a raid or world boss.

 

only thing ive seen miss are some shots within rapid shots (which is part of the rotation if not getting lucky crits for enough heat venting or when moving out of the AE's)

 

the offhand accuracy with rapid shots will never reach 100%

 

its a minimal, virtually pointless thing to care about, but the offhand does miss

[TempestasSilva]

I tried to clear something up and not only are people (wrongly) refuting it, but others are calling people idiots for spreading misinformation and then they do it. Then the original spreader of wrong facts spreads more wrong ones.

 

I give up...you guys make my head hurt. The FAIL is too strong for me.

 

To anyone using this thread to gain info and make decisions:

PLEASE, DO NOT TAKE WHAT HAS BEEN SAID AS TRUTH

 

I *think* alacrity will prove to be worthless for Pyro, but have some value while not being a main stat for Arsenal. There may also be a stair step effect where adding alacrity to a certain value is worthless then at a certain number it is huge but going past that is worthless again. Discussing this and theorycrafting it is a good cause IMO. However there are so many people spouting BS & inaccuracies as absolute facts in this thread, that anyone honestly trying to figure it out has no prayer as they will be shouted down by those who maintain that the earth is flat.

 

I am sorry, but I am out.