TrainingGrounds 21531 update

TrainingGrounds has been updated for build 21531.
http://wow.curseforge.com/addons/traininggrounds/files/2-training-grounds-demo-2016-04-21a/

We've updated Strike of the Windlord's attack power and cost, and we've also changed the order SotW and FoF appear in the tutorial.

(SE&F was already using build 21531 mechanics.)

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Additionally, we've gone back and updated the old Spinning Crane Kick calculator with the latest numbers and mechanics.

TrainingGrounds demo

We've created a playable demo of TrainingGrounds.
TrainingGrounds is a combat simulator addon which is played inside of World of Warcraft.

It is currently uploaded to http://wow.curseforge.com/addons/traininggrounds/files/2-training-grounds-demo-2016-04-21a/.
Place it in your addons folder, move to a safe place in-game, and type /tg to play.

This demo may be relevant to you if:

• you do not currently have access to the Legion alpha, and you do not mind playing a crude approximation of 7.0 Windwalker Monk with mechanics only as accurate as Wowhead's datamined tooltips.
• you do have access to the Legion alpha, but you would like to see how you play at 50% haste with the as-of-yet unreleased changes to SE&F.

The demo is designed for players who are already familiar with the Warlords Windwalker Monk rotation.  There is a "tutorial" which explains the basic controls, but no attempt is made to teach you how to play effectively.

There are many other features missing from the game.  One such feature is actionbar customization.  You cannot rearrange spells on your actionbar.  Sorry about that.  We wanted to get this demo into a playable state as soon as possible, and this wasn't a priority.

If you decide to play this demo, let us know if any of the existing abilties or game mechanics feel wrong or inaccurate.  (For example, we're not sure if the recent change to Roll is just a tooltip error.)  Our top priority at the moment is fixing any broken class mechanics.

Known issues

Automatic shutdown on Lua Error

The current build will automatically shut down if it detects a Lua Error... even if that error didn't originate from TrainingGrounds.  We recommend using the "Display Lua Errors" option in the Interface > Help menu.

Misaligned text

Occasionally, a fontstring will become misaligned.  In the example shown, the text is incorrectly centered instead of left-aligned.  There is some evidence that this is a bug in World of Warcraft, so we may have to find a workaround instead of fixing it.

Aspect ratio distortion

The game was designed for windowed mode.  Depending on the aspect ratio of your monitor, the game window may appear distorted when World of Warcraft is played in fullscreen mode.

Where do we go from here?

There are a lot of things that need doing before we can pretend this addon is even remotely feature complete.  At the very least, we want to implement the remaining Windwalker abilities (defensive cooldowns), allow actionbar customization, and rewrite the program to be more class-agnostic.  Our long-term goal for this addon is to support different classes and specializations, including specializations that do not, technically, exist.

Spinning Crane Calculator

If You're Reading This, The Page Hasn't Broken (Yet)

Big change to WW rotation recently. We made this calculator. We were bored.

- Disclaimer -

This calculator is designed to tell you whether you could press Spinning Crane Kick in lieu of another button at some hypothetical point in time when you already have an arbitrary number of stacks.  We make no statement on whether it is a good idea to acquire those stacks if you do not already have them.  Because that's starting to sound like Actual Math.

Fill out this form according to your current situation, or just leave in the default values if they sound close enough.  Then click Calculate.

Haste:	%
Mastery:	%
SCK cost (chi):
SCK base damage:
FoF damage:
SotW damage:
WDP damage:
RJW damage:
RSK damage:
BoK damage:
CB damage:

Results

Use the following "damage per chi" table to determine when it becomes economical to substitute SCK for one of your other attacks.
The attack to be replaced appears in the left column.
The number of targets to be hit with SCK are displayed in the top row.
The numbers in the grid represent the number of stacks (read: "unique targets hit within the last 15 seconds") required before SCK is worth using in place of the other attack. A red cell indicates there aren't enough unique targets available to justify using SCK over the ability in the left column.

So, for example, if you didn't change any of the numbers in the form, and you're fighting 7 enemies at once, you could use SCK instead of SotW if you had 6 (or more) stacks.  But you'd never use it in place of RJW unless you had somehow attacked 9 (out of 7) unique enemies.

By the way, Whirling Dragon Punch here is considered to be a 2-GCD attack consisting of RSK+WDP. We're not entirely sure if WDP by itself lasts 1.0 seconds, 1.5 seconds, or 1.5 seconds reduced by haste. Let us know if we need to fix it.

SCK stacks - priority: damage per chi	Number of enemies grouped up for AOE
Ability to be replaced	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Fists of Fury - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Whirling Dragon Punch - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Rushing Jade Wind - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Strike of the Windlord - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Rising Sun Kick - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Blackout Kick - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

If you mouse over any of the numbers in the middle of the grid, a little tooltip should pop up with the damage numbers used in the calculation.

Use the following "damage per second" table if you somehow have unlimited resources and can afford to spam SCK without losing out on any of your other abilities. I don't know, maybe Serenity makes it to 7.0 without any further changes. Anyway, this chart is very much like the previous chart, except it's tracking damage per second instead of damage per resource.

Some of the grid cells contain two numbers. The number on the left refers to how many stacks you'll need with Combo Strikes, and the number on the right refers to how many stacks you'll need without Combo Strikes. A yellow cell indicates there are enough enemies to use SCK with Combo Strikes, but not enough to use SCK twice in a row.

For example, using the default values in the form, if you had unlimited resources and 5+ stacks, you could spam SCK to the exclusion of all else, at least until your stacks dropped off.

SCK stacks - priority: damage per second	Number of enemies grouped up for AOE
Ability to be replaced	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Fists of Fury - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Whirling Dragon Punch - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Rushing Jade Wind - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Strike of the Windlord - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Rising Sun Kick - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Blackout Kick - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Chi Burst - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Go on, mouse over something!  Those tooltips want to pretend they're useful.

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Join us next time, when we'll work on a "when should you press SEF" calculator.  Or not.  Maybe we have something else planned for next time.  Ooh, the anticipation is kil[Lua Error: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value)]

Progress report

It's been a few weeks since our last video and we figured this was a good time to post an update regarding addon development.

That's all for now.