First, let me thank everyone who has created/uploaded macros - I use a number of them and they’ve been a major factor in helping me get as far as I have. However, I’ve reached a point at which I need to understand something in order to get any further:
I see people in these threads discussing sims, that is, DPS sims, for different macros/talent builds. I want to begin doing this myself, but the problem I’m having is, EVERY simulation addon I’m finding (such as Simulation Craft - which I just did a paid subscription to) is about GEAR. Clearly, I see the benefits of this, but how do I run a simulation comparing one talent build or one AOI macro to another? For example, how would I run a simulation comparing the damage of Lutechi’s macro with Bam’s on a single target?
I apologize if this is a dumb or obvious question, but I was off the game for (no joke) TEN years, and returned a couple of months ago due to the pandemic. Currently, my BM hunter is iLvl 168, and I’m using Details! as my damage meter. Generally, I do OK in Heroic dungeons, but I’d really like a way of optimizing and seeing the output differences of one talent build vs another, or one macro vs another. Is there an addon that does this? When people in the forum say something like “I simmed this macro and got 3,455”, HOW did they sim it?
How do I do a dps sim for a macro and compare that with another macro?
How do I do a dps sim for a talent build and compare that with a different build (using the same macro, for example)?
Again, thanks to everyone who contributes here. I’m grateful for any advice (and don’t worry about patronizing me… please feel free to assume I DON’T know something which may seem obvious.)
A SIM will only tell you what if all the planets align you theoretically based off their guestimates should be able to do.
The closest you can go with this is attack a target dummy for a specific period of time with macro one and then do the same for the same specific period of time for macro 2. You actually have to test these but cant Sim them.
So, does pretty much everyone here make their own macros? To me, it appeared that we had a few people like Lutechi, Bam, ScaryLarry, etc, who were adept at this, and then a population of people who, like me, are not really skilled enough to create something that is equally effective. Are you saying everyone is, in fact, NOT using these macro’s, but are simply making their own?
For what it’s worth, I struggled for hours trying to make my own macros before coming here. I was not successful. It was not until I began using macro’s posted here that I began getting very good results.
I actually thought about doing that before I asked, but I thought “Naaah, that’s too primitive. Those people on the forum must have some really sophisticated way of doing it.”
Seriously though, thanks for answering my question!
No. most users here lazy, IMO, and do not want to put in the initial time and effort to make one and test, tweak and maintain.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with using another one’s macro- BUT as I mentioned, if there’s multiple authors of a macro try them all out, record the number’s and go with whichever one gives you the highest/best numbers. Retest it if there’s a newer version(s) and simply compare them.
That’s how I’ve always done it. Is there a right or wrong way? No clue. I have yet to hear or see anything otherwise and it gives me the baseline numbers I’m looking for.
As Deezyl has mentioned it time and patience. The easiest path is to take someone else’s and deliberately break stuff to see why it does what It does. From there you experiment and see what works and what doesn’t.
Whether you start from scratch or use someone else’s, you need to spend time both with the macro and changing the macro to suit your character and playstyle.