How Latency Affects DPS

We all know that lag is bad.  But how bad is bad?  I wanted to find out, so I used the best tool available to determine that…. The Hunting Lodge DPS spreadsheet.  Most certainly I’d love to verify the results with live data, but I really don’t have a means to control my latency, so we will just have to deal with theoretical values.

Settings:

Talent Spec

I used our two favorite talent specs to make the comparison: the MM 7/57/7 and the SV 0/14/57.

Buffs

All buffs were cleared, so this is just hunter + pet DPS.

Spreadsheet Version

I used the latest version of The Hunter DPS Spreadsheet, 3.17 which takes into account all changes pre-3.2.  {EDIT} Realizing that this is a theoretical analysis, I decided it was best to include Shandara’s spreadsheet in the mix as well.  I used version 89g and the results have been updated accordingly.

Gear

I used whatever gear I happened to have on me at the time.  The actual DPS doesn’t matter, it is the change in DPS that is the key value.  I think I’m currently wearing a mix of PvP and PvE gear as I’m trying to build my PvP set for the stamina needed to solo Old World instances.  I just finished Wailing Caverns.  Awesome, I know.  I forgot to take a screen shot, but IT HAPPENED!

Srsly, it did.

Pet

The default Raid Wolf profile was used.

Results:

There were really no surprises with THL DPS Spreadsheet.  As latency increases, DPS decreases.  Put simply, more time wasted between your computer and the server instead of being able to smash buttons for more DPS.  I was quite surprised with the results from Shandara’s, but then again I don’t know how her spreadsheet works.  It is readily apparent, though, that you have to consider latency when playing around with your shot rotation because selecting shots in the wrong order makes a big difference!

This analysis does a few things for the casual and min/maxer.

1)      When chating about your DPS, and why your numbers aren’t as high as other hunters, find out what their latency is.  When you are dealing with DPS differences of ~100, a wipe of your raid with 1% left makes a different.

2)      SV definitely has to deal with a tighter rotation, and is less forgiving to lag.  Of course, we know this from practice too.  Chimera automatically refreshes serpent, so that’s actually one less shot out of the MM rotation to worry about lag.  Lack of a sting present on your target is a big DPS loss, as we know.  Also, timing with LnL affects DPS.  And, LnL is on a cooldown, which means the hunter must balance between getting shots off within his lag during the cooldown, yet wait long enough to get that last tick before re-applying.

I was really hoping to see a linear curve, although not expecting one because each shot we use: aimed, arcane, steady, for example, have a different cooldown (or cast time).  Therefore, we don’t have a linear shot rotation.  (You know, it’s called a priority system now.)  But, I was happy to see a fairly linear change up until 200ms lag.  At that point, things go weird.  THL spreadsheet shows a DPS increase.  The reason for this is because lag affects casting time, so the actual shot rotation changes after a certain point.  Take advantage of the lag by correctly adjusting your shot rotation, and you are again maximizing your DPS.

Summary:

Sadly, there really isn’t anything you can do about lag, other than roll a new server with fewer hops or complain to your ISP about latency issues.  But there are a few things.

I don’t have access to a few of the tools I used when writing this, but I’ll try to edit this post or comment with them when I get access again.  In general, do a Google search for “latency tweaks” and go to town.  You will also want to turn off a lot of background applications that are running.  For a good tool to manage your Windows startup locations, I use Autoruns.  A great program and it’s safe.  Well, as safe as any other Microsoft utility.