Potency makes 'is damage worth it' very easy to calculate. Basically to use CoolCly's bio as an example, at that level you'll have Bio 2 which is 30 potency per tick (every 3s). Ruin does 180 potency. So after 6 ticks (18 seconds, or more than half duration), Bio 2 will have dealt more damage than a single cast of Ruin. Bane does make bio a lot better as well, because it means you're comparing one cast of Ruin to essentially multiple casts of Bio (ie if you apply Bio and then Bane it to 2 other targets, you've essentially cast Bio 3 times in the span it would take to cast 1 Ruin so it pays off in 6 seconds instead of 18)
Same thing applies to AoE calculations only you use targets instead of ticks. (though the general rule is AoE is better to use on 3 or more targets, single on 1-2- there are a few exceptions but it really don't matter most of the time unless you're trying to optimize endgame stuff)
So basically yeah especially early on in dungeons it doesn't actually make sense to bio non-bosses if they are dying really fast, which mobs don't really start living that long until around level 35-40 unless maybe you're grouped with a bunch of newbies. One of the reasons ARR is kind of annoying to get through isn't just the story pacing but for experienced gamers, it's very easy for quite a long time.
You're getting to the point where it does start to pick up both in terms of plot and gameplay fairly soon though, CoolCly. Bosses start having appreciable 'pay attention or die' mechanics around that level 35-40 range (they're still pretty easy at this point, mind, but they'll continue to ramp up from here) and rotations start getting more stuff to them.
(Edited to fix me being dumb at math)
Thanks for this! Potency is something i figured i'd have to look into because it seems like its meant to be a yardstick on how to compare abilities without getting too bogged down in actual current damage numbers, but it wasnt intuitive how to compare them, especially with how low the potency was on Dots. It seems its related to time somehow. for Dots its the potency per tick every 3s.
Is there a translation for cast time spells and instants or are those supposed to be directly comparable?
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