Which gear set bonus for a Balance Sage?

[MusicRider]

Nope.

 

33% alac allows you to squeeze in an extra GCD every 3 GCD's.

 

A = (GCD1[1.5 secs])

B = (GCD1[1.0 secs]) [1.5 * 33% = 0.5]

 

 

 

TKT at 0% alac takes 3 secs = 2*A;

therefore 3 casts of TKT with A: (2*A)(2*A)(2*A) = 9 secs.

 

TKT at B takes 2 secs.

3 casts of TKT with B: = 6 secs.

 

9 seconds = 6 GCD.

6 seconds = 4 GCD.

 

Conclusion: If two sages are duelling, one has 0% and the other has 33%, one will cast 4 TKT in the same amount of time that the other casts 3 TKT.

 

Edit: Of course, I'll admit this works best in Telekinetics ([Force potency > ForceWave > Project > TKT] = about 2 secs), but it still puts a lot of pressure on enemies when using Balance too.

 

Nope cause alacirty also reduces the gcd time. So with the never achievable alacrity rate of 33%:

 

9s = 6 gcds (his gcd is 1.5s)

6s = 6 gcds (his gcd is 1s)

 

On your conclusion... that's why I used the normalised measure of damage/gcd and not the un-normalised measure of damage per second... Of course the one with higher alacrity will have higher dps for non-crit hits, but the dpgcd is the same.

 

On your edit I would put TkT first when using potency as the double procs of wave and project can consume an extra potency charge.

[Ycoga]

Haha XD

 

It's too late for me to invest any more brainpower into this. However I will say that you can get 33%:

 

Base 7% + 4% (balance) + 2% (seer tree) + 20% (mental alac)

[MusicRider]

Haha XD

 

It's too late for me to invest any more brainpower into this. However I will say that you can get 33%:

 

Base 7% + 4% (balance) + 2% (seer tree) + 20% (mental alac)

 

OK that is very very different, and I will elaborate in a min. But firstly let me say that alacrity has nothing to do, or not to say big words, has very very little to do about deciding whether stalker or master set bonus is "best".

 

So discussing about alacrity is a different topic so let's sidetrack a bit. So you are assuming that one is using mental alacrity, is taking all the alacrity increase talants and is already setup with his focal point, while the other has nothing.... That is a one-sided massively biased scenario, might as well have a white-barred combat sentinel master striking you during his precision slash window while he is on zen and you have no bubble nor barrier .

 

More realistic and fairer I think is let's assume one has about 13% and the other has 4%, so for the sake argument let's make them one having 10% (actually 9% but nevermind) and the other 0%.... However, to achieve this high alacrity you have less surge, so the one with 10% alacirty will have I think from the top of my head about 67% surge and the other near 76%... For simplicity lets denote A the player with 10% alacrity and 67% surge and S the one with 0% alacrity and 76% surge. Both use 3x charges of potency with 3xTkT (all TkTs crit).

 

For A: 3x TkT will take 8.1s ~= 8s, his gcd is 1.35s so note that in this short window you cant squeeze another attack.

 

For B: 3x TkT = 9s

 

So yes A finishes earlier than B and thats pretty cool, BUT he has 8% less charge so he will do 8% less damage per tick... lets assume both have same WP/power/FP so their base damage is the same, let's say 1200, and let's assume that surge works in a non-mysterious way such as follows:

 

Crit_Damage = Base_Damage + Surge_Mult * Base_Damage

 

So each tick is:

Crit_Damage_A = 1200 + 0.67 * 1200 = 2004

Crit_Damage_B = 1200 + 0.75 * 1200 = 2112

 

So player B does 104 more damage per tick.... BUT, when A finishes he will have channeled 12 ticks while B will have channeled 11 ticks. So at t=8.1s:

Damage_A = 12*2004 = 24,048

Damage_B = 11* 2112 = 23,232

Difference = 816 damage for A

 

However at t=9s when player B also finishes his channel:

Damage_A = 24,048 still the same as he is on gcd

Damage_B = 25,344

Difference = 1296 damage for B

 

BUT Player A will regain the upper hand in 0.45s (his gcd is 1.35s), while B will pull ahead again in 1.05s (his gcd is 1.5s) and so on until A manages to fit in a whole attack in the same period of time which with 10% alacrity that will be in 15s. Then someone might rush and say that A has a clear advantage over B in the dps race.... However, that is conditional... it depends on the rate of crit of player B and the extra damage he has been doing which must be surpassed by the extra attack of player A.

 

TL'DR: Alacrity is a wonderful thing for pvp, but it works better with casted/channeled abilities rather than periodic ones and it really shines when you don't crit .

Edited April 10, 2014 by MusicRider

[Capt_Beers]

There may be many others but only a few are chosen and acknowledged as class representatives by the devs/community which says alot imo , I do appreciate all your thoughts but still there needs to be a best option and a second best. Still pondering over it

 

No, there doesn't have to be a best option, sometimes it's just preference

[Ycoga]

OK that is very very different SNIP

Yep that pretty much sums it up! (Don't forget that you get -15 sec on the CD, which is nice).

 

I guess when I heard him asking which set bonus was best, my mind went 'oh you need potency charges to maximise burst when running in mental alac mode' - which is like the combat sentinel example you gave, which was pretty funny because I do play Combat too and I know how nice it feels to Zen MS someone that has no defences up. It's just as nice as the ForceWave+Project+TKT combo (with potency charges lol).

 

I guess then the 'right' answer to the OP's question is the Force Master set: 'Increases range of Shock and Jolt or Project and Mind Snap by 5 meters' - for kiting.

Followed by the Mystic 2-piece: 'Reduces the lockout debuff duration of Static Barrier or Force Armor by 1.5 seconds'.

 

*Goes back to enjoying the new burst mechanics in 2.7*

Edited April 11, 2014 by Ycoga