DPS -- Skill, RNG, or Procs?

[daydayhyphy]

fire mages are all about rng. hotstreak procs makes a pretty huge difference in dps.

[Deleted]

i'd say its a combination.
You need the RNG to get the big stuff going in your rotations/priorities, but you do need a certain low amount of skill to handle the procs well. Though you need a lot of skill to maximize dps in highly moveable fights

[Dânce]

Fire while fun to play is an rng nightmare. Sometimes it's good other times it's horrible, and the last 2 weeks it's been horrible. I miss playing my rogue. Really.

[Eudaimonia]

I'm fairly sure that maintaining a rotation while respecting boss mechanics does equate to skill. Not everyone can do it all the time, and it's something that takes practice to learn.

That said, crit as a stat, at least for rogues, is probably the worst one there is right now. My dps, beyond the obvious that it gets better as gear gets better, depends on making sure I make the best use of my cooldowns, and clipping envenom as little as possible.

[Deleted]

Class 50% > Skill 40% > 10% RNG

[Dunefire]

Ret Pally here, so I'm a slave to the RNG gods for DPS atm, I'm only sitting at 10k on a dummy self buffed atm, 13-14k on the few guild runs Ive been on so far

[Deleted]

Short fight = RNG luck
Long fight = Skill

You'll tend to notice that if you hit a dummy for long enough your DPS will always average out around the same after a few minutes so luck can only carry you so far

[Karkani]

On my frost mage alt, i feel that procs have everything to say for DPS. On my gear lvl (barely hc dungeons gear), my DPS can vary 3k because of procs. But on my holy pala procs don't matter that much. Some times it helps great but all in all, it is not too god help. Procs rarely does that i manage to keep people (especially tanks) alive.

[Mizzet]

Even with procs and such, over the course of a decently long fight (raiding), you will find that your DPS generally stays around the same ballpark, which is ultimately a function of your gear and skill. Do note that being aware of procs and 'lining them up', so to speak, is also a subset of skill and will increase your DPS. If this is heroics you are talking about, then the extremely short duration of fights will naturally see more fluctuation in your DPS, it can hardly be used as evidence of anything.

The gist of this is, if you're disappointed in your DPS after an encounter, nine times out of ten you should be examining your own skill and execution before you blame bad luck. That, or you might be a fire mage.

You may also find http://stateofdps.com/ useful in determining rough figures for expected DPS for your class, broken down per encounter as well.

[Reckognize]

Skill/Overall raid boss strategy. If your strategy sucks you won't be able to maximize yourself and procs, while important, are not what determine your skill. Things such as adjusting your rotation/spec/glyphs according to the fight, using all CD's when necessary and attacking as many targets as possible all lead to more DPS than procs alone.

[blizzardcashshop]

fury is greatly based on RNG, you can't hit the hit cap, crit is under 20% and that means RNG crits and bloodsurge procs = your dps

[Duskstorm]

Your DPS will stack up to others of the same spec based on your gear, how well you manage procs, rng, the unique aspects of each combat itself, and of course the "bread and butter" abilities of your class.

RNG doesn't mean you can't control your damage, it just means that there's a variable element that you can't eliminate. People confuse this all the time.

[DraconusIX]

Both are important. Yes some classes can have RNG that sinks their dps, but nearly every fight now has multiple phases that demand smart movement - and dps while moving. Adapting to changing situations and perfecting ones rotation will likely have a bigger effect on dps then procs. They are trying to minimize the amount RNG matters to dps, but it is still there.

[Shamb]

Skill based . . .

Ever wondered why some players ALWAYS do more damage then others, no matter which class they play... guess what, these ppl are not the luckiest person on earth and always get good RNG ... they are skilled at optimizing their dps, that's all.

Yes RNG affect dps, in a 5 minutes + fight ? not that much. It still does, but nowhere near what ppl might think.

EDIT: As it's been said a lot, it also depends on class though, but it'll always be mostly skill by a ridiculously large margin.

[Mad_Murdock]

I'd go with RNG to some degree, but in some cases it's a different RNG. Somedays we have all the great players on, and thus stuff dies quicker, my DPS is higher. Somedays we have the bench players in, stuff dies slower, my DPS goes down.

A fight maybe like Omnitron, where I may not get the slimes targeting me at all, my dps is higher, a fight where I get the slimes on me 2 times in a row, my DPS lowers. How fast range kills those adds will also play a roll.

There is another Fury Warrior in the guild with and RNG pretty much determines which one of us will come out on top. We're equally geared and obviosly equally skilled. I did a alt run of BH with another Hunter who is slightly better geared, but I squeezed out a couple K more dps and edge by him. Looking over the Parse, I had 6 lock and loads to his 3 and that was about the difference of my damage done over his

WoL top 40 is alot of the same people, but they seem to rotate their ranking spots every week or so, why is that ? RNG.

But has others have stated, the skill level has to be there to maximize output and minimize the RNG aspect.

[Iselde]

Definitely skill.

[Xorkrik]

Dps is based on RNG.
Dp6+min is based on skill.

[MAGAmobile]

A skilled player will always be the best. No doubt, cos he know his class inside and up.
Procs doesn't increase your dps with 1k or 500 dps, skills does.

Oh the amount of wrong in this is so obvious I don't even understand. Fire mage dps can go to as low as 11-12k to over 20k in the same fight depending on rng crits. Saying it's all skill is a laughable joke at best.

[audioslave90]

I picked All Skill, I'm PRO! since skill just doesn't come from being good at your rotation but also itemizing your gear for the correct stats too pull that big dps

[Suffocatingsight]

DPS is based on mathematics, obviously.

You're right and wrong. Using mathematics i can determine what abilities to use when, to get the most damage output. but to me, the absolute best part about dpsing is fights such as omnitron, Giving you short periods of time with increased dps IF you are standing in the right spot. this adds a factor to dpsing that really keeps me interested, with these short periods of time i am able to out dps many of the classes that i should not simply because i can time my damage increasing cooldowns extremely well and surpass my fellow raid members. this to me is the true definition of skill.However you may disagree and say that "YOU ONLY BEAT ME BECAUSE I MESSED UP MY ROTATION, YOU FUCK."