The "Shadow Stars" experiment

[Kawasari Mimoto]

Doing this to test to see how long a Night Lord can last at bossing with lv 1 Shadow Stars vs lv 0 Shadow Stars, and this will benefit me as well:

Shadow Stars, at lv 1, is 62 seconds of infinite stars. So to round it up, it'd be about 1 minute, because nobody really uses the last 2 seconds, because as soon as it blinks, most likely, you'll tap Shadow Stars again.

So I did a small test, and stood still and spammed Triple Throw (w/ Shadow Partner), I started with 800 Balanced Furies, my end result was 242 stars. So if you did the math, 800 - 242 = 558 stars used in a single minute. Only problem here was, I ran out of MP at one point and had to pause for about a sec to hit my MP-pot key. But I think you get the point.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/KGM/Testing-1.jpg

Then I did a 2nd test, this time, jumping back and forth and tapping my TT. Started with 1200 Steelies (lol), and ended up with 732 left by the end of a single minute. That's 1200 - 732 = 468 stars used. Apparently, as you can see, I use less stars when I jump. I think there's a small delay whenever you jump-shoot, but it's not very noticeable.


http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/KGM/Testing2.jpg

Just made this thread to see if anybody cares, but I think most of you already knew about this.

[Dusk]

Conclusion: 1 Shadow Stars multiplies your effective number of stars by somewhere around 2.5, more if bossing, less if training.

If you had spammed TT for a full minute without pausing, you should have used 600 stars exactly.

[Kawasari Mimoto]

Conclusion: 1 Shadow Stars multiplies your effective number of stars by somewhere around 2.5, more if bossing, less if training.

If you had spammed TT for a full minute without pausing, you should have used 600 stars exactly.

Yeah, that's what I assumed too. I paused for about a slight second to pot.

[RoxStarz]

OK, I did a test last night. I am dexless so I get the "faster" claw. I attacked Headless Horseman and turned on "Meso Up" when I started. After Meso Up expired I stopped attacking to see how many stars I used. Meso Up lasts for 120 seconds.

I had 4 stars left on my 1st set of ilbi, and 772 or so left on my second set. The math comes out to 1224 stars in 2 minutes. I was able to keep up an almost constant attack of HH, sitting there spamming TT repeatedly probably wouldnt have gotten more than another throw or two in.

Another test I tried awhile back used up about 1740 or so stars in three minutes fighting HH. I had to jump around and other normal fighting techniques are what caused the slight drop in star usage.

I think we can see that Shadow Stars increases your star time by about 3 times, unless your fighting a boss that constantly dispels you.

[Trust]

Adding 1 into shadow stars is really only efficient for bossing, i myself have spammed my triple throw without shadow claw and have used around 700 stars. In my opinion shadow star at lv 1 wasn't mean't to help anything other than bossing anyways. I'm not sure how many stars you actually have but, even with shadow stars, i'd suggest you downgrade a bit to get more stars and maybe you wouldn't have to worry about calculating how many stars you use up lol.

[Kawasari Mimoto]

Adding 1 into shadow stars is really only efficient for bossing, i myself have spammed my triple throw without shadow claw and have used around 700 stars. In my opinion shadow star at lv 1 wasn't mean't to help anything other than bossing anyways. I'm not sure how many stars you actually have but, even with shadow stars, i'd suggest you downgrade a bit to get more stars and maybe you wouldn't have to worry about calculating how many stars you use up lol.

I have way more than the stars you see in my screenshots. =X I don't plan on downgrading anything, that's how I fucked up last night when I tried to downgrade to scroll a FS. I'll just work up the ladder and get Ilbies/Steelies (lol, yuck) and supply myself that way.

[Dusk]

OK, I did a test last night. I am dexless so I get the "faster" claw. I attacked Headless Horseman and turned on "Meso Up" when I started. After Meso Up expired I stopped attacking to see how many stars I used. Meso Up lasts for 120 seconds.

I had 4 stars left on my 1st set of ilbi, and 772 or so left on my second set. The math comes out to 1224 stars in 2 minutes. I was able to keep up an almost constant attack of HH, sitting there spamming TT repeatedly probably wouldnt have gotten more than another throw or two in.

Another test I tried awhile back used up about 1740 or so stars in three minutes fighting HH. I had to jump around and other normal fighting techniques are what caused the slight drop in star usage.

I think we can see that Shadow Stars increases your star time by about 3 times, unless your fighting a boss that constantly dispels you.
...you used more stars in 2 minutes than is possible by spamming TT. Needs more precise timing.

[RoxStarz]

I use a dexless faster claw. I guess I could go buy a cheap low lvl normal claw that I can wear and see what the difference is.

[Dusk]

I use a dexless faster claw. I guess I could go buy a cheap low lvl normal claw that I can wear and see what the difference is.

There isn't one. A Faster (3) claw is the same speed as a Fast (4) claw if you have booster.

[Stereo]

...you used more stars in 2 minutes than is possible by spamming TT. Needs more precise timing.

Every time I've run tests on Fast(4) or Faster(3) weapons it disagreed with the speed thread and found 102-104 attacks per minute (rather than 100 flat). Which would indeed lead to ~1220-1240 stars in 2 minutes.

[Dusk]

Every time I've run tests on Fast(4) or Faster(3) weapons it disagreed with the speed thread and found 102-104 attacks per minute (rather than 100 flat). Which would indeed lead to ~1220-1240 stars in 2 minutes.

Are you using a buff as a timer? That's never accurate. Buffs usually last a second or two longer than advertised due to lag.

Edit: If not, remember that Bui said that there were random 30ms increases, possibly due to an internal attack speed that wasn't divisible by 30ms and very slightly faster.

[Trust]

Are you using a buff as a timer? That's never accurate. Buffs usually last a second or two longer than advertised due to lag.

Edit: If not, remember that Bui said that there were random 30ms increases, possibly due to an internal attack speed that wasn't divisible by 30ms and very slightly faster.

I understand the possible inaccuracy of using the buff as a timer, but if it were in terms of how long your shadow stars last in comparison to how many stars you use/save, wouldn't it be useful to use the buff as a timer since as long as that buff is *active* the skill is active therefore you are not wasting stars as long as it is up.

[Dusk]

I understand the possible inaccuracy of using the buff as a timer, but if it were in terms of how long your shadow stars last in comparison to how many stars you use/save, wouldn't it be useful to use the buff as a timer since as long as that buff is *active* the skill is active therefore you are not wasting stars as long as it is up.

Point taken.

[Stereo]

Are you using a buff as a timer? That's never accurate. Buffs usually last a second or two longer than advertised due to lag.

2 methods
1) Metronome (104bpm) matching attack sounds perfectly
2) FRAPS it all then count the average length of attack

[Kawasari Mimoto]

I timed my Lv1 Shadow Stars using an actual clock, and I timed it only at 1 minute, instead of exactly 62 seconds. I don't count the last 2 seconds because no one really uses it at a full 62 seconds. <_< But everyone does things differently, maybe?

[Dusk]

2 methods
1) Metronome (104bpm) matching attack sounds perfectly
2) FRAPS it all then count the average length of attack

Well, that's depressing. It's possible that the entire speed system could have been revamped since the Pirate patch.