What is alacrity in star wars the old republic

Until recently, all gearing recommendations were based on the belief that alacrity functioned on a "breakpoint" basis. If the breakpoint for your class' 1. This simple chart illustrates the previous assumption about the behavior of alacrity in SWTOR for the 6. Testing Methodology. My testing methodology consisted of parsing on the Rishi operation dummy for various classes with the 6.

I gathered testing data for nearly every DPS class and some data on tanks and healers as well. My parses varied somewhat by class but in general attempted to come as close as possible to a normal rotation while avoiding any abilities with an activation time longer than 1 GCD 1. Here is a brief summary of the testing approach by discipline. No abilities were used in parsing that affected alacrity. As of the most recent update, the data gathered includes over 57, ability activations.

Here are some of my observations from the chart and looking at the underlying raw data:. Results within 1, - 2, typically ranged between 1. The most consistent GCDs in my testing typically ranged from 1.

Melee classes had the most consistent GCD results and reached that level the fastest, typically only needing extra points of Alacrity Rating to get an average GCD below 1. Ranged classes sometimes realized some GCD reduction prior to the breakpoint of 1, Alacrity Rating but typically needed significantly more Alacrity Rating above 1, to get to a consistent 1. The ability should have an activation time of 1 GCD due to passive skill buffs but consistently takes longer to complete before the next ability can be activated.

Even at over 2, Alacrity Rating over points above the 1, breakpoint , I could not get consistently below an average 1. This seems likely to be attributable to slight animation delays when the cast ability finishes before you can activate another ability, as compared to melee classes where animation delays seem very uncommon.

As such, their gearing targets are different from other classes. This chart is a great comparison of how alacrity behaves for ranged and melee classes.

The previous understanding around system rounding was that the system rounded up and rounded to the hundredth place for casts and the tenth place for instant abilities. If so, we would expect Gunnery to steadily reduce its average GCD as you add Alacrity Rating while Combat would be very flat and drop very rapidly after passing the breakpoint.

This is clearly not the case. I had some odd results close to the 2, breakpoint for a 1. In particular, gearing for the 1. The discipline has relatively similar results to ranged DPS that also have a mix of instant and cast abilities, needing roughly points of Alacrity Rating above the breakpoint to get a consistent average GCD. I was a bit surprised to see a very consistent trend of the average GCD being much higher than other classes.

This trend continued above 3, Alacrity Rating where I saw a 1. I am not certain as to the driver of this result, as the parses were conducted at different times using different internet sources. The discipline has a much lower average GCD at all levels of Alacrity in comparison to tech-based healers and typically reaches a consistent GCD near the target after around points of Alacrity Rating. The discipline shows some unusual drops in average GCD as you move from the 1. Cast abilities that are made instant via passive skills get the Alacrity applied to that ability doubled relative to normal Alacrity levels.

Alacrity increases your ability activation speed but it also affects your energy regeneration. Activating abilities faster would not be as helpful if your energy regeneration stayed constant, as it might lead to running out of energy. All tech classes and some Force classes have a base energy regeneration rate. The regeneration rate is expressed in energy units per second and increases with Alacrity.

Here is a simple example. If we divide 1 by 0. So if energy regeneration scales with Alacrity and should keep pace with speeding up our ability activations, why do we need to think about it?

For classes that have to consider energy management, energy regeneration breakpoints may matter almost as much as GCD breakpoints. Adding some extra Alacrity Rating past your target for average GCD may improve your healing by making your energy management easier. The amazing Mari who runs the Parsely website added a neat feature to let you track your GCD and ability activation speed. The page will then show the total and frequency of each GCD in intervals of 0.

This feature was amazingly helpful in doing some basic research on alacrity for this guide. Many many thanks to Mari for adding this feature. I will update this guide as more testing is completed on remaining DPS classes, healers and tanks.

However, the consistent trend of the data is sufficient for me to feel comfortable making some tentative conclusions and updating the alacrity guidelines for my class guides. Most classes need at least extra points of Alacrity Rating, several appear to need as much as to get a consistent GCD, and in some cases a few classes may need even more.

It is not clear why this is the case. My best guess is that latency seems a more likely result. I also believe some classes have a higher average GCD due to other factors specific to their class, as discussed below in more detail.

It does not ultimately matter. Given the stat budgets for classes in the current game environment and the diminishing returns that impact Critical Rating past around 3, points, investing a extra points of Alacrity Rating to realize a consistent GCD will be a beneficial gearing change for many players. All Alacrity Rating gearing recommendations below are approximate targets.

I would also strongly recommend players test their alacrity build to make sure they are getting consistent GCD results. Depending on your individual latency, connectivity and other unique factors, more alacrity or in some cases less might be warranted.

Primary 0 Alacrity Rating - Tanks should generally only equip Shield or Absorb tertiary stats in their gear.

I do not recommend less experienced tanks utilize an offensive gearing approach for unfamiliar or challenging content. Secondary 1, Alacrity Rating - Tanks running less challenging content or content with which they are already familiar may want to gear offensively. If so, I recommend running around 1, or so. Most melee classes need around extra Alacrity Rating to get a consistent 1. Some improvement was possible with another points but was very marginal in my testing.

This build should be optimal in all capped level 70 content and is a playstyle preference in uncapped level 75 content.

This build will not perform as well in capped level 70 content since it results in a lot more Critical Rating that suffers from diminishing returns. The build will be much more competitive in uncapped level 75 content if selecting lower tertiary stat enhancements to allocate more stats to Power, but will significantly underperform in level 70 content where Power is fixed.

My results were that 1, Alacrity Rating saw a consistent 1. Overall the discipline gets a lower than average GCD at most levels of Alacrity Rating due to the increase in Alacrity applied to abilities procced to be instant cast. This build will be more efficient for most players since it avoids high diminishing returns from too many points in Critical Rating, which will range from 2, and up depending on which enhancements and augments are being utilized.

Secondary 1, Alacrity Rating - Similar to the 1. Running a 1. Diminishing returns for Critical Rating usually begins around 3, points so running 4, is very inefficient. With 1, Alacrity Rating and 1, Accuracy Rating, most players will have 3, or more Critical Rating and relatively little diminishing returns. Secondary 1, Alacrity Rating - I found a consistent 1. I do not prefer this rotation when running Exploited Weakness since it sacrifices extra ticks of damage available under higher Alacrity builds.

The ability is a manually controlled AoE ability and needs to be double-clicked to be activated immediately, which together with the animation causes it to consistently be above the expected GCD target.

The lowest average GCD was around 1. I did manage to get down to 1. As such, I recommend 1, or so and a minimum of 1, should be a reasonable target for most players.

I dislike giving up that much Critical Rating so feel like this is the optimal build. However, I do not recommend that as a gearing target due to how the discipline's abilities and passive skills interact. Section VII towards the end discussed how Alacrity works for the discipline. I have note tested as many builds in detail as Rekui, so list below the primary builds I run with strong results.

Primary 1, Alacrity Rating - I found a consistent 1. Secondary 2, Alacrity Rating - This slightly higher Alacrity Rating build is intend to reach the 5. Primary 2,2 00 Alacrity Rating - I found a consistent 1. As long as you aren't gearing Accuracy then you still have a lot of Critical Rating so sacrificing a few hundred points is not that noticeable to me in exchange for smoother energy management.

Secondary 3, Alacrity Rating - The high Alacrity build aims for as smooth a 1. The trade-off between 3, and 3, is that you begin to lose meaningful Critical Rating that is important to the discipline. My testing indicates you get a significant increase in GCD for those points so it should be optimal, though more testing is needed.

Tertiary 1, Alacrity Rating - I only mention this build as an option for fights where the healer needs to build a full 1, Accuracy Rating for mechanics, such as getting an interrupt on Veteran Mode Revan in Temple of Sacrifice. Running 1, Alacrity Rating resulted in a fairly consistent 1. This build should be optimal in content unless the player struggles with APMs. This build still leaves a reasonable stat pool for Critical Rating and the 1.

I do not recommend this build since it results in a lot of excess Critical Rating with diminishing returns or requires a second gear set for capped and uncapped to use different lower tertiary stat enhancements to shift stats to Power for uncapped.

I also do not recommend the low alacrity build due to how it interacts with the Primed Ignition tactical and it does not realize the benefits discussed above for high alacrity.

I always run and recommend running higher Alacrity Rating unless maintaining high APMs is a very large struggle. So how much alacrity should you place in your gear??? It is very much up to you the player. My recommendations are above but the very short version is that adding some extra points above the "breakpoint" will improve the performance of many players in most content. Since ability activation speed is impacted by individual dexterity, network connectivity, keybinding, system latency and other factors, the optimal answer will be different for every player.

I encourage you to experiment with a few different builds and find what works best for YOU! Please let me know what works for you! If you have any parse data, feel free to email me with your parse link URL and how much Alacrity Rating you have in your gear. I've never been great at figuring out good builds and stuff. I usually just wait for the community to figure out the best builds and stats and follow a template.

User Info: The Trent. User Info: FaYt There are no stupid questions. Just stupid answers, and stupid people. User Info: Gomakii. Yes Alacrity is Haste in WoW terms. However a warning note it's broken at the moment I remember reading on the official forums someone stacked alacrity and it only reduced GCD by 0.

Ex military nerd, turned full time nerd. User Info: brky. Gomakii posted More topics from this board Skipping the main campaign question for the expansion. What does it mean by level shifting? General 1 Answer Is there going to be any offline single player? Plot 2 Answers Wont let me attack controls messed up? Tech Support 2 Answers Master Yoniach? Ask A Question. Browse More Questions. Keep me logged in on this device. Then use 5x cannot be ACC augments and yellow proficient stim.

All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. You are about to leave this website Close Continue. I don't tank, so I don't know the best set-ups there.

And the rest should be Crit, Mastery, Power, but I'm not really up on the best mix. May I ask what class and spec you are playing?

Quote: Originally Posted by Trolltar I believe he's quoting a frequent contributor to these forums. Quote: Originally Posted by Buellzebubba I play mostly dps, which is where my question is directed.

The biggest benefit of alacrity is highlighted in its effect on the global cooldown. Therefore, for the majority of classes, you only need enough alacrity rating to reach either the 1. It is a true statement that a shorter global cooldown means you can fit in more abilities per minute which can increase your DPS. However, the benefit is only going to be seen if there is a fair amount of uptime. If your window to do damage on anything, be it a burst window on an operations boss, or a marked target in pvp, is fourteen seconds long, then you will be able to get ten abilities in that window with a 1.

But you won't see any benefit for that 1. It will need to be 15 seconds to start seeing a benefit of 1. So, at 15 seconds: a 1. Six seconds with a GCD of 1. You'd need to go up to 7 seconds to get an extra GCD from the 1.

Getting all 8 seconds out of a hard stun for uptime is pretty good, definitely someone on top of their game in terms of reaction time and being in position, but I think many pvp'ers would rather have the higher critical for burst damage in 5 globals than get an extra ability in the stun window. Quote: Originally Posted by phalczen a 1. EDIT - note that I'm only speaking generally. I highlight cibacrhome's post for the OP because its important. By " figure" I am referring to the point above which any additional critical rating adds less to dps than mastery.

In other words, if you are a weapon damage white damage based class, you will get a little more dps by using Versatile mastery augments instead of critical ones, as long as your critical rating is at least