Many MMO players are familiar with logging or at least what a DPS meter does. I’ve recently discovered the logging capabilities in ESO and it is truly a wealth of information.
Logging is built into the game – to start/stop, just type /encounterlog in the chat box. You should see a confirmation message. Logs are written in your ESO directory. The file is simply a text CSV file and records just about everything you can imagine for the group.
To interpret the logs, most players use a site like ESO Logs. If you make an account, you can upload the logs and have a fantastic graphical UI to search around for all sorts of info.
I enjoy healing and dps, and am also trying to get more comfortable tanking. What I use the logs for, besides just randomly wandering through the info at whatever seems interesting, is gauging my “uptimes” when I’m healing.
Basically, healing in ESO means the usual thing of restoring health to players. But a significant component to the job is to buff the group, debuff the boss, provide resources or recovery, and perform misc tasks as needed. That last category depends on the trial; as an example, there are at least 2 trials where it is useful to have a “kite” healer who stays at range in order to deflect various boss mechanics. In certain situations, it is useful for the healer to have a taunt (!!) in order to draw attention (what also works is for the healer to slot a ranged interrupt and heal through the damage).
In a recent trial I did as a healer, Rockgrove, we were victorious at defeating the invaders (whew!) and afterwards I went to check my uptimes. One essential skill for all healing builds is Combat Prayer, a morph of Blessing of Protection which is a Restoration Staff skill so all classes can take it, provided the player uses a resto staff (and it is hard to imagine a healer not using a resto staff because class skills only go so far).
This skill is crucial because it provides Minor Beserk and Minor Resolve, giving the group +5% damage and boosted resistances.
I checked my contribution and I am providing this buff about 50% of the time. (Those huge gaps are non-combat times where we go over the mechanics for new folks. I drilled down into each boss fight and it looks like ESO Logs does the smart thing and ignores the non-combat times for the overall calculation).
So, that’s decent but could be better. It lasts 10 seconds so I am roughly only casting it every 20 seconds. I’m not an expert log reader but another possibility is I’m only getting roughly half the group in the cast, I think.
However it works out, I could be more careful with positioning and with refreshing, so for future trials I’ll concentrate more on that and see if my uptime goes… well, up.
Combat Prayer is just one of the skills, there are others skills and effects to look at too of course.
Sometimes I tank as well. I was in vet Sancum Ophidia as the off-tank, and I can do that same thing, check uptimes:
Hm… there’s that 50% thing again, I am “only” keeping the Powerful Assault buff up about half the time I could be. Something to work on. Another thing I can check is “Threat”:
I’m not sure how these numbers stack up – I have less experience as a tank. The Lamias I had ~48% tanking time on are adds in the final fight, and it did take me some time to locate and taunt them. (I have since remapped the controls for cycling enemies so it should be faster next time).
The ~1% tanking on Ozara – that’s one of the bosses along the way. The main tank died so for a few seconds I taunted to keep her from picking some random healer/DPS to attack. Then they were rezzed and took aggro back.
Finally, sometimes I DPS. 😉 One thing I really like about ESO is you can perform all roles on the same character. That doesn’t stop me from having alts, but I do appreciate the flexibility. Even as I enjoy healing in groups, you can’t take that same healing build and do solo or overland content without being miserable.
At a recent Cloudrest trial I went to check on how I did:
Pillar of Nirn is the jewelry/weapon set I am using, from Falkreath Hold, Stormfist is the monster set I am using, from Tempest Island, and those two are contributing a fair amount of damage for essentially being passive effects (triggered by critical hits).
I’m basically a data geek and I just love looking through logs after we finish a trial. 🙂 There’s always something interesting and I play all 3 roles so I can get some good info by looking at how others do, what skills and gear they have, etc.
MMO Juggler 