The Roguecraft SpreadsheetFollow

Howdy, folks. Normally it's not really my style to cross-post stuff, but since every forum needs some Roguecraft...

(Original post: LINK)

Current version: 0.3.0 BC (07/17/08)
Current version download link: Linked at bottom of original post.

What is it? The Roguecraft Spreadsheet is something I have been working on and using for my personal theorycrafting efforts since last October when I wrote Roguecraft 101. Remember those posts I made in the Hemo thread back around the time of patch 2.3? All of those conclusions were based on a previous version of the Roguecraft Spreadsheet. The sheet has undergone several complete overhauls since then, improving in accuracy and usefulness each time. Its calculations represent our best current knowledge of Roguecraft, and they are designed in such fashion that I can easily extend them (for the most part) to incorporate new features.

What does it model? The Roguecraft Spreadsheet models all current DPS-affecting talents. It models all common types of cycles used by the common builds, and it models Seal Fate's effect on those cycles. It models all current gear and trinkets, including our best current knowledge of all procs. It models all raid buffs and debuffs and all cooldown abilities. Any of the above that have been omitted were unintentional and should be reported in this thread.

So really, what's special about it? This is the key question. Why, really, did I feel the need to release a spreadsheet I have been using solely for personal use for over 8 months? The answer is a bit complicated, but it basically boils down to this: as the author of Rogue: PvE DPS (and previously Roguecraft 101), it is very important for me to be able to quickly and accurately assess the value of a newly proposed ability or talent or change to an existing ability or talent. Basically, I wanted the accuracy of the Gear Sheet, but I wanted much greater extensibility and, in addition, I wanted to build from the ground up to be inclusive of Seal Fate specs with the same degree of accuracy.

The sheet also contains two particular features I'm very proud of, neither of which currently exists in the other spreadsheets:

- Energy pooling. You can specify how much energy you wish to pool before performing each finisher in your cycle. Depending on how much energy you pool before a finisher, the number of combo point builders you can use while under the effects of Ashtongue Talisman of Lethality or Find Weakness will vary, and in addition if you do not pool enough energy before your Slice, you may not be able to use your next finisher during Exploit Weakness or Find Weakness. The Roguecraft Spreadsheet models both of these effects.

- Cooldown timing. You can specify exactly when to use your cooldowns, including Drums and Bloodlust. This feature can be used to model the effect of stacking cooldowns rather than simply using them haphazardly. You can also specify a particular fight duration (maximum of 600 seconds, or 10 minutes) to reflect a specific fight (for example, 360 seconds for Brutallus). Of course, if it's not worth the effort, you can just set the fight duration to 0 seconds and it assumes time-averaged effects for all of your cooldowns, as both existing spreadsheets do.

How do I use it? Basically, the Roguecraft Spreadsheet was never really designed with any users other than me in mind. So, basically the UI is generally accessible but not especially user-friendly. Frankly, I don't think I will change that too much, because I'm far more concerned with the actual accuracy and quality of calculations than I am with the UI. I have no intention to ever include features like Armory Import, or saving talent builds, or things of that ilk. There are also currently no readouts for EP values or anything of that sort. It's very minimal: there is a talent selection sheet with some general settings, a gear selection sheet that should appear familiar to most users of other spreadsheets, a buff selection sheet, and a cooldown settings sheet. All of the calculation sheets are hidden by default; you can find the iterative calculations on "DPS Calc 1," "DPS Calc 2," and "DPS Calc 3," and the corresponding numbered sheets for "Cycles" and "Cooldowns" as well. The final calculations are on "DPS" and "Cycles." All of the gear data is contained in the respectively-named sheets.

Be careful with the sheet, as there is not really any error-checking and it is fragile. Set up your build on the "Talents" sheet, then select a combo point builder (even if you take the Mutilate or Hemorrhage talent, you must specify Mutilate or Hemorrhage as your CP builder; conversely, you can specify one of those as your CP builder even if you don't have the talent for it), a cycle type, and the number of CP to use on each of your finishers. If you wish to pool energy prior to a particular finisher, you can specify that in the column to the right of the cell indicating the number of CP for that finisher. Sorry, but the sheet is not equipped to recommend cycles or gear for you. If you're unsure what cycle to use, you should read Rogue: PvE DPS for some ideas, or just play around until you find something that achieves high DPS. If you wish to take advantage of the more accurate cooldown-stacking modeling without having to specify every single use of your various cooldowns, then set a fight duration longer than 0, and simply change all the yellow-highlighted settings on the "Cooldowns" sheet to FALSE.

What if the sheet disagrees with the two existing spreadsheets? In the case of Aldriana's Gear Spreadsheet, several discoveries have been made in rogue mechanics since Aldriana discontinued work on the sheet. In either case, there are several ways in which this sheet's models differ from those of the existing sheets which may result in differences in its output. As a biased observer, I regard my own sheet as the most accurate currently available. However, if you would like to discuss any differences you find while using the sheet, please utilize this thread for that purpose.

If you have any other comments or questions about using the Roguecraft Spreadsheet, please post them in this thread and I will do my best to answer them.

(This spreadsheet is dedicated to Xiah of <Ruthless> on Emerald Dream (US), for always being awake while I was fiddling with this damn thing and making idle conversation with me.)

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I know a couple people around here had been test-driving some of the early beta versions of my sheet, so the point of this post is to highlight the fact that the sheet is no longer in beta. It's less fully-featured than the popular DPS sheet, but it's also much more accurate and I'd strongly recommend that you use it at least in conjunction with the other sheet(s).

Questions/comments/whatever are welcome.