Complex Rotations

Dimski

Looking at the builds suggested by Alcast, Deltia, Dotzz, Masels and others, I see pretty complex rotations. Luckily they seem the number of elements in the rotation has become become shorter with Summerset, but it's still prone to errors, at least for me. Add to this actual boss fight situations where you are forced as a minimum to circle strafe or have to avoid all kinds of red bubbles all the time. To be honest, I can't keep up with that. I am happy when I survive a fight and was able to avoid some of the area damage.

When you are busy avoiding incoming damage, what is your strategy to contribute dps? Do you fall back to a few simpler steps, making things up as you go or do you still have a plan? I guess what I am asking is, are those very theoretical builds and their rotations really usable during everyday play? I am sure there's a need for them to find out what works and what not, but a simple rotation that's good for 90% of the theoretical dps is better than a top rotation that fails half the time.

Danksta

This is why some people spend so much time practicing their rotation on a dummy, so it becomes second nature and they're more reliably able to pull it off while dealing with mechanics.

Preyfar

Easy solution: make a song out of it.

I know what you're thinking-- it sounds silly but it's actually highly effective. A complex rotation can be hard to memorize especially when you're thinking of it terms of skills, and when to proc, when to drop, how long each skill runs. But don't think of your rotation as skill-based, but number-based. Take the skills and write down the corresponding hotkey for each skill, then write out your rotation on paper.

Written down your rotation could look like: 1, 2, 3, 4, Swap, 1, 2, 3, 5, 4, 4, 4, Swap

Try to come up with a lil' song where you sing out the numbers of the corresponding skills. Over time, you'll be able to mitigate damage, pay attention to things going around you, all while mentally humming this tune to your head. If you get interrupted you're not worried about "Oh god, what skill did I just use?" All you have to do is pick up the tune where you left off. It simplifies it, takes the stress rotational stress away. If you think about it most rotations are actually rythym-based so this just takes it to the next level.

Again, I know it sounds stupid but it's much more effective and the mnemonic makes the entire process easier, especially in difficult fights. It helped me on the path to Dro-m'Athra Destroyer and other titles. Maybe it can help you, too.

jypcy

They absolutely are usable in end game content, rotations and all. As you point out, though, there’s often a lot going on. So, your rotation might get interrupted from having to block or shield, or the boss moves and so you have to start the rotation from the beginning again in a new spot. But as others have noted, that’s why getting super comfortable with your rotation can help, because then you know exactly where to pick up your rotation when it gets interrupted, and can focus more on your positioning and responsiveness to make sure you don’t die instead of which skill you need to cast next and when you need to reapply buffs.

Edit: Also, while it helps to memorize a rotation, you can take it to the next level by really understanding the effectiveness of your abilities. Sorry, I didn’t read your whole post, but I gather from what others have said that you want to stam sorc. Sorcs are nice because they generally have pretty simple rotations. The most complex part for a stam sorc is probably hurricane, which deals more damage the longer it’s up. Understanding this, you can have a sense for when not to recast it early, even if it’s next up in your rotation, because you can get more damage out of it by letting it run longer.

eso_nya

Get the Addon: ActionDurationReminder by cloudor. Puts in "cooldowntimers" on skill buttons.
Make a "priority list" of the skills in your rotation.
Use those skills in order from most important to least important.
Fix minor details like shift skill to use before weaponswap.
ActionDuraationReminder will tell u when to recast a dot.

In a real combat situation, u now have a better indicator what to do next when your timing is off due to mechanics.

Dont come back at me when playing DD suddenly becomes super boring, u have been warned xD

s7732425ub17_ESO

For players with incredible amounts of playing time, rotation is second nature. With enough practice, you'll train your brain to keep track of all the abilities you are using, no matter what situation you are in.

Joker99

Here is a video of Colt executing the rotation of Stamblade while mechanics happen on the 2nd boss of vHoF, this should demonstrate that it's possible to do your rotation while moving around.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoMFyjViFoo&t

Dimski

eso_nya wrote: »

Get the Addon: ActionDurationReminder by cloudor. Puts in "cooldowntimers" on skill buttons.
Make a "priority list" of the skills in your rotation.
Use those skills in order from most important to least important.

That's a good one. Thank you. While I am using Srendarr Buff Tracker, the tunnel vision that kicks in when things get tight keeps the buffs outside my field of vision.

DoonerSeraph

Preyfar wrote: »

Easy solution: make a song out of it.

I know what you're thinking-- it sounds silly but it's actually highly effective. A complex rotation can be hard to memorize especially when you're thinking of it terms of skills, and when to proc, when to drop, how long each skill runs. But don't think of your rotation as skill-based, but number-based. Take the skills and write down the corresponding hotkey for each skill, then write out your rotation on paper.

Written down your rotation could look like: 1, 2, 3, 4, Swap, 1, 2, 3, 5, 4, 4, 4, Swap

Try to come up with a lil' song where you sing out the numbers of the corresponding skills. Over time, you'll be able to mitigate damage, pay attention to things going around you, all while mentally humming this tune to your head. If you get interrupted you're not worried about "Oh god, what skill did I just use?" All you have to do is pick up the tune where you left off. It simplifies it, takes the stress rotational stress away. If you think about it most rotations are actually rythym-based so this just takes it to the next level.

Again, I know it sounds stupid but it's much more effective and the mnemonic makes the entire process easier, especially in difficult fights. It helped me on the path to Dro-m'Athra Destroyer and other titles. Maybe it can help you, too.

@Preyfar , playing Bard before it was cool

Preyfar

DoonerSeraph wrote: »

Preyfar wrote: »

Easy solution: make a song out of it.

I know what you're thinking-- it sounds silly but it's actually highly effective. A complex rotation can be hard to memorize especially when you're thinking of it terms of skills, and when to proc, when to drop, how long each skill runs. But don't think of your rotation as skill-based, but number-based. Take the skills and write down the corresponding hotkey for each skill, then write out your rotation on paper.

Written down your rotation could look like: 1, 2, 3, 4, Swap, 1, 2, 3, 5, 4, 4, 4, Swap

Try to come up with a lil' song where you sing out the numbers of the corresponding skills. Over time, you'll be able to mitigate damage, pay attention to things going around you, all while mentally humming this tune to your head. If you get interrupted you're not worried about "Oh god, what skill did I just use?" All you have to do is pick up the tune where you left off. It simplifies it, takes the stress rotational stress away. If you think about it most rotations are actually rythym-based so this just takes it to the next level.

Again, I know it sounds stupid but it's much more effective and the mnemonic makes the entire process easier, especially in difficult fights. It helped me on the path to Dro-m'Athra Destroyer and other titles. Maybe it can help you, too.

@Preyfar , playing Bard before it was cool

Heh. That's one way to look at it. I've taught my method to other guild members and it helped 'em out quite a bit. Most people just have this "You... want me to sing?" reaction. Yes. Go back to second grade music class and re-think your DPS as a rythym, because a good rotation is literally just that. It makes memorizing a heavy/complex rotation rather easy once you do it a few times.

Dimski

DoonerSeraph wrote: »

Preyfar wrote: »

Written down your rotation could look like: 1, 2, 3, 4, Swap, 1, 2, 3, 5, 4, 4, 4, Swap

@Preyfar , playing Bard before it was cool

I figure @Preyfar never played Everquest. I did.

Tasear

I say maybe just take it one day at a time. Learn from mistakes and get better.

In regards to question at hand it helps to know what is priority in kill order. When to save ulitmates, when to interrupt boss, or self heal. It's little mechanical things that will become also muscle memory too along with your rotation. But I say set achievable goals for yourself, so not to get burned out in process.