Skeleton Jack

Upcoming Changes (for the good)

Skeleton Jack — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 04:15:39 +0000

Videos and Streaming

I’ve been attempting to create videos on my computer and found a read/write choke point where I can’t get video quality better than a recording of my stream. So that puts me looking at my system and seeing multiple choke points for various video capture and streaming projects for the future. So what to do?

I’ve talked to a few people I know and there is interest in purchasing my current rig. So I’m now looking at building a system designed not just for top graphics gaming, but also streamlined for making videos and streaming at whatever quality I desire.

Idols and Icons

Two pivotal moments for me (fanboism) was when I watched game videos by both Tank Spot and Taugrim. The fidelity and quality of their videos just impressed the hell out of me. And that is something I am going to branch out into. The inspiration of their work has always stayed with me, and I’d like to bring those ideas to fruition for you guys.

Writing Content

I’ve been trying to find a happy medium in terms of producing written content. I’ve been putting up 2 articles a week at FJ so far and making casual posts/tweets here at best. But I’m not 100% sure if that’s the exact direction I want to take. I’m thinking to turn my work here on this website to the more personal level. Where it’s more about me talking to you guys. And then continuing to post on FJ like I am now.

Upcoming Stream Fest

I will be streaming a lot from 2/13 – 2/21 as I will be off of work then. My hours will probably be odd as hell, but as a rough expectation I will likely be around in the afternoon, evenings, and early am hours. I usually sleep around 0600-0700 until early afternoon (CST/GMT-6). This will be temporary as I do still have a full time job.

Theory Crafting & Guides

I put a lot of pressure on myself to compile these 100% perfect amazing guides for our class like I did with Death Knights. But I forgot the fact that when I did that so early on with DK’s in WoW that I had a massive community already there with combat logs, mods, and all of the tools I could ever wish for. That isn’t the case with SWTOR.

I’ve already had to invalidate my personal theory crafting a few times because I forgot to model a proc properly, used an incorrect probability, and various other issues. That’s getting frustrating. I’m not that hot with math. However there are some super sharp people over at Sith Warrior who are *extremely* sharp with math and are figuring out some things that will just blow you away.

So with all of that said I think I’m going to sit back and let the math nuts do the math for us. Because it’s like pulling teeth when I do it, whereas those guys are good at it and happen to enjoy it as well. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not going to tell you the nitty gritty, break things down into layman’s terms instead of gobbledegook, or help you out.

Skeletonjade, Jedi Knight Guardian (The Swiftsure)

I started leveling a Guardian on my server, Republic Side. OMFG pure win!! Loving it!! Even as a lowbie I’m crackin’ dem skulls, guarding up my healer, earning more medals than my Marauder can, and running Huttballs like a pro. Out of all of my alts this one screams Skeleton Jack more than any of the others. You can expect to hear more from me on Guardians/Juggernauts in the future as well.

And yes Skeletonjill is around… Sadly I didn’t make my Guardian with that name, but somehow Skeletonjade fits. Skeletonjill is a level 20 Imperial Agent Sniper and I have to say the Cover mechanics in this game feels awful. The time and method of getting into cover leaves a great deal to be desired. And Skeletonjane is sadly collecting dust. As much as I love my Sorcerer and hurling lightning, Skeletonjade has won the Alt War!

Back to Basics, but Learning New Tricks!

I’m getting back to basics but also learning new stuff. While I love writing, I am expanding into streaming. And once I upgrade my rig into videos as well. I’ll be doing 1-2 articles a week on Force Junkies. And I will be trying to Tweet (@SkeletonJack_) more while putting some stuff up here for you to peruse.

Q&A

Some of my best posts and articles came from questions that readers or friends asked me. If you want to know something, please ask!!

SWTOR Mechanics 103: Crew Skills & “the Infernal”

Skeleton Jack — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:38:02 +0000

Heya guys!! My newest article SWTOR Mechanics 103: Crew Skills is up over at Force Junkies! Head on over for a read! Also, if you have the time or inclination, on the bottom of the Guide at Force Junkies they have several options for sharing, tweeting, etc… Please share the article if you feel like supporting me over there.

Skeleton Jack the Infernal

So I earned “the Infernal” title last night!! We cleared 16man Nightmare mode EV in under 2 hours and got it. It was our first week trying 16man Nightmare mode and we one shot everything except for the Droid, which took a few attempts.

If you’d like to see us tackle Kragga’s 16man Nightmare we’re heading back in tonight 2/2/12 0300 CST (GMT-6). You can catch the stream over at: http://www.twitch.tv/skeleton_jack

Teaser Annihilation/Watchman Priority System

Skeleton Jack — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 12:42:41 +0000

Heya guys!! This is some of my preliminary research on Annihilation and Watchman Priority Systems. Well, there’s pages more actually, but this is all I’m prepared to post before getting everything else squared away. Enjoy!!

DPR = damage per rage (focus)
GCD = global cool down

Damage per GCD Priority (not DPR)

(3)Smash – 3966 dmg (3966 dpr) vs 3 targets
(4)Sweeping Slash – 3168 dmg (3168 dpr) vs 4 targets
Rupture – 2646, 2756, 2866 dmg (*4-6 ticks of Berserk)
(2)Smash – 2644 dmg (2644 dpr) vs 2 targets
Annihilate – 2561 dmg (640 dpr)
Rupture – 2426, 2536 dmg (*2-3 ticks of Berserk)
(3)Sweeping Slash – 2376 dmg (2376 dpr) vs 3 targets
Deadly Saber + Assault = 2347 dmg (*3 ticks of Berserk) (2347 dpr w/o empowerment) (1gcd + 1 rage)
Rupture – 2316 dmg (*1 tick of Berserk)
Vicious Throw – 2298 dmg (2298 dpr)
Rupture – 2206 dmg (2076 dpr)
Deadly Saber + Assault = 2188 dmg (*2 ticks of Berserk) (2188 dpr w/o empowerment) (1gcd + 1 rage)
Deadly Saber + Assault = 2030 dmg (*1 tick of Berserk) (2030 dpr w/o empowerment) (1gcd + 1 rage)
Ravage – 4003 dmg (2002 d/gcd)
Clipped Rupture – 1944 dmg (*5 ticks of the dot) (1780 dpr)
Deadly Saber + Assault = 1871 dmg (1871 d/gcd) (1871 dpr w/o empowerment) (1gcd + 1 rage)
Clipped Rupture – 1682 dmg (*4 ticks of the dot) (1480 dpr)
(2 gcd’s)Annihilate + Assault = 3353 dmg (1677 d/gcd) (1677 dpr) (2 gcd’s, costs 2 rage)
(2)Sweeping Slash – 1584 dmg (1584 dpr) vs 2 targets
Deadly Saber – 1555 dmg (*3 ticks of Berserk) (689 dpr) (no gcd)
Vicious Slash – 1519 dmg (759 dpr)
Clipped Rupture – 1420 dmg (*3 ticks of the dot) (1177 dpr)
Deadly Saber – 1396 dmg (*2 ticks of Berserk) (619 dpr) (no gcd)
Smash – 1322 dmg (1322 dpr)
(3 gcd’s)Vicious Slash x2 + Assault = 3830 (1276 d/gcd) (1915 dpr) (3 gcd’s + 2 rage)
Deadly Saber – 1238 dmg (*1 tick of Berserk) (549 dpr) (no gcd)
Clipped Rupture – 1158 dmg (*2 ticks of the dot) (875 dpr)
Deadly Saber – 1079 dmg (478 dpr) (no gcd)
Clipped Rupture – 896 dmg (*1 tick of the dot) (583 dpr)
Sweeping Slash – 792 dmg (792 dpr)
Assault – 792 dmg (+2)
Force Charge – 732 dmg (+3)
Battering Assault – 433 dmg (+6)

Ataru Form Bugged & Rakata Weapon Fix

Skeleton Jack — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:26:17 +0000

Heya guys!! So I came across a post over at the SWTOR forums by Project Awesome (how cool is that name?!) which also received an official Dev reply. Long story short Ataru Form procs are not affected by the increased hit box size of a mob. So if you are not 4 meters from the standard base size hit box your Ataru Form procs will not hit because you are out of range.

I “felt” a massive DPS gain moving from Carnage over to Annihilation, but without a log could never point to why. And I also could not explain why I’d see some Carnage Marauders do exceedingly well in PvP, but it still felt weaker in PvE. Well low and behold here is at least one major reason why.

Also the Dev’s FINALLY responded to the Rakata Weapon bug:

The answer in underwhelming to say the least, but at least they will fix it in the future. Hopefully before 1.2 releases new content…

Logs, Meters, and Devs – Oh My!!

Skeleton Jack — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:47:35 +0000

Heya guys!! My second editorial is up: Logs, Meters, and Devs – Oh My!! If you’d like to show me your support, if you go to the bottom of that article over at Force Junkies please use the social sharing options on *that* page to share the article!! I’d like to build a strong following and community over at FJ and it’d be much appreciated!

Logs, Meters, and Devs – Oh My!! is about BioWare’s stance and stated plans for Damage Meters and Logs.

I am now sitting down for some finalized research on Crew Skills before putting together my SWOTR Mechanics 103 article. Once that’s finally done I’ll be getting back to work on the highest DPS priorities for Marauders and Sentinels. I’ve been talking to Ezmode who wrote that great spreadsheet over at Sith Warrior. So I’ve scrubbed all of my previous research so I can base everything off of the work he’s been doing. It’s good stuff.

Growing Pains – My first editorial!!

Skeleton Jack — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 00:34:19 +0000

Heya guys!! So my first editorial has been published over at Force Junkies: Growing Pains. It’s about the 1.1 release, BioWare, bugs, etc… Head on over there to check it out!! And if you love me (you know you do) use the options at the bottom of the post to Tweet it, Share it, Like it, the works!!

Seeing if they’re down for me to start a series on Developer posts regarding class bugs, going to revamp my crew skills guide for Mechanics 103, and then I will also be working on the damage per rage/gcd posts soon.

Tonight and tomorrow I will be raiding 8man Hard/Nightmare modes. You can catch me on my stream at: http://www.twitch.tv/skeleton_jack

We usually run around 0300 CST (GMT-6) till about 0700.

SWTOR Mechanics 102: Game Mechanics

Skeleton Jack — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 02:34:51 +0000

Heya guys!! My new article SWTOR Mechanics 102: Game Mechanics is up over at Force Junkies!! You should go check it out, share it, comment on it, twitter it, you know the drill (over on FJ site, not here)!!

I’ve also got an unofficial column starting up tomorrow at FJ as well. I got vetoed on the name for it though…sigh. I’ll be working on some serious theory crafting after we’re done raiding this week and I’ve gotten my “upgrades” that I will get. More on that later.

Taking on too much?

Skeleton Jack — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:32:57 +0000

Heya guys!! So at this point I’ve taken on too many projects at the same time. I still work 40 hours a week doing the blue/white collar deal. And I still like to take some personal time as well working out, talking to friends, watching TV, etc… Add in the blog, writing for Force Junkies, Streaming, making highlight videos, raiding, pvp’ing, researching post material, theory crafting… You get the idea.

I’ve done the burn out thing before and it’s a pretty miserable place in life to hit. So we’re dodging that bullet. As such, that means that something somewhere is going to take a hit. My first instinct is to make that this website. Not to say I’m dropping it, but that it won’t get the same level of detail or attention that you may be used to.

This will be the place I drop articles that Force Junkies isn’t interested in posting. Personal posts, highlighted videos of both successes and failures, and perhaps some day to day thoughts like this. With me talking to you guys. Soon I’m going to be working on some posts over at Force Junkies all about Sentinels and Marauders. And if I can do a good enough job to get a column going then you will have something to look forward to still. And I’ll tell you guys all about it.

For now, we’ll take it how it comes. I’m going to be trying to work on my next article for FJ, and get some highlights done from the past week of playing.

For now, how about I leave you with and epic 1v3 fight?! :)

1vs3 Killed 2 of them and lived!

Watch live video from Skeleton_Jack on Justin.tv

SWTOR Mechanics 101: Attributes

Skeleton Jack — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:50:44 +0000

Heya guys!!

My first article has been published over at Force Junkies!! Go check it out and leave comments there!! :D

SWTOR Mechanics 101: Attributes

Force Junkies & Updates (The future…)

Skeleton Jack — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 23:15:16 +0000

Heya guys!! So I applied to write content for Force Junkies last night and they took me on as a content writer!! :D I’m really stoked and I’ve already got my first project in the works. But that does leave me with the open ended question of what happens here on my website?!

A lot of that will depend on my success at Force Junkies, what type of content they want me to write for them, how far that will deviate from my covering of Sentinels and Marauders, and so on…

But what you can look forward to is me still trying to figure out what our best DPS is, how to get it, and doing the annoying numbers crap for you. Because even if Force Junkies takes up more of my time, those are things I will do for myself no matter what. And there’s no reason to not share with you guys!! :)

So with that said, I need to get working on my new projects. I will be posting here when those articles go up though, so you will still be able to go find my work and know when it’s up!