D.P.S.

[Joshex]

D.P.S. stands for Damage Per Second.

 

in CoH the term D.P.S. is not even mentioned in the official texts. It evolved from players who wanted to get under the hood of their characters, and fine tune what combos and enhancements and powers and slots gave them the best ability to deal out their best potential damage.

 

Every character has a D.P.S. rating. it is an average over time in which a player would consider they have played to their full potential then add up all the damage dealt and divide by the number of enemies. D.P.S. is a number.

 

Further more as players evolved we realized D.P.S. isn't even what you want to go for in this game to max out your potential, instead it's KPS (Kills per second) or XPPS (XP Per Second) you'd be surprised, you could have amazing DPS and still fall short of someone who has arguably less DPS because they have more XPPS.

 

Short of explaining how that can be possible, lets just say debuffs and more targets and move on to the next DPS point.

 

"I'm A DPS"

 

Not only does it sound weird, as the grammar is wrong, and after doing research I found this language did not originate in CoX at all but in WoW and LoL, this mis-use is what some would say is the most understood term for a damage dealer across all games. Not to get into the fact that the origin was from individuals whose native language was not English and they misattributed the acronym to mean Damage dealer.. let's just examine what people think about it.

 

Blasters, Blasters have some of the Highest DPS in game, arguably more so than brutes, scrappers and stalkers. arguably the highest DPS in the whole game as an AT (Archetype), but "I'm a DPS" people wont agree that blasters are a DPS Archetype. *face palm of shame*

 

 

This means that the entire concept of "A DPS" is entirely abstract and depends on the individual perspective of the player(s) involved in usage of the term. and also means it can lead to arguments. "LF DPS" "OK I've got a kick butt blaster, brb" "Blasters aren't DPS bring something else" argument ensues.

 

As an abstract word it does not even classify as slang as even slang has a concrete meaning if even based on context where as DPS depends on the personal viewpoints of a player, which disqualifies it as a valid language article when used in this manner.

 

so Why isn't a blaster "A DPS", apparently some players would assume  "A DPS" must have decent survive-ability to be able to stand on it's own so that it can actually deal the damage it's capable of doing. the acronym D.P.S. does not have the letters to suggest this, as such this abstract concept has been incorrectly tagged on to a term that doesn't support it, thus the meaning is wrong.

 

While I take back and apologize for my use of the word "ignorant" to describe such players. -seriously I really shouldn't rebuke you for it sorry about that. If you are going to argue, fine. guess some people don't care about linguistic accuracy and just want to use things the way others have preset them.

 

But keep this in mind; using such an abstract in-concrete term in such a grammar state, does make players who know better facepalm.

 

So, what? theres no replacement, at least not as well known as DPS right?

 

Actually since the dawn of gaming there has been a term for this, especially since old games often had to abbreviate things to 3 letters to save space. "Dmg" is the global standard gaming abbreviation for Damage. long before DPS was even born.

 

Correct usage is as such:

LV50 DMG LF team

 

TF LF L50 DMG

 

if you want a Tank + high damage or at least something that can stand in a mob and not die while dealing high damage, again DPS is inadequate to convey this. instead we have brutes, scrappers and stalkers. some MMs can do nicely and some trollers can do amazing beyond your expectations. but generally speaking, if you want damage that can stand, though we don't have a zerker named Archetype in CoH, you still can ask for a "Zerker".

 

but DPS just sounds silly, like a bad adult joke. So don't use it. leave that for those people over on WoW and LoL who don't know any better.

 

it's not Dual Pistols, close but I think pistols isn't the word you'd find in an adult joke. "LF DPS", ah. didn't know you liked it that way.

 

 

[Joshex]

The "Enghlish automanufactyurer of Beijing" announced today that it's newest car model would have gas tank access on both sides of the car so no matter which side you pull up to the pump it is correct. they expect thier proud new "Dual Penetration System" to save drivers lots of headaches and time and over take the whole world's auto standards.

Edited May 29, 2020 by Joshex

[Ironblade]

1 hour ago, Joshex said:

in CoH the term D.P.S. is not even mentioned in the official texts. It evolved from players who wanted to get under the hood of their characters, and fine tune what combos and enhancements and powers and slots gave them the best ability to deal out their best potential damage.

You make it sound like the term originated in CoH.  The term DPS predates this game.

On a side note, the term DD (for Damage Dealer) was also used in the past and is commonly used in some regions.

[Joshex]

1 minute ago, Ironblade said:

You make it sound like the term originated in CoH.  The term DPS predates this game.

On a side note, the term DD (for Damage Dealer) was also used in the past and is commonly used in some regions.

Thanks for the info. and notice the "In CoH" at the beginning there, the acronym itself may predate CoH, but in CoH the acronym evolved in usage by these means. yes I'm aware of DD, mentioned that in-game and got flamed. Hence this topic.

[Dragotect]

I don't understand the point of this post. Is it to merely point out the fact that sexual innuendo exists? If so, better just get your giggles out of it and move on. Changing this is an uphill battle that even Sisyphus wouldn't bother with.

[ForeverLaxx]

You're trying to change terminology almost as old as the genre itself. While the concept of a DPS in the scope of CoH has marginal value (indeed, I cringe when I see it or Healer advertised as things to want or be), it's just the most common term people use to denote that their primary job is to "deal teh damages". If I were you, I'd just let it go.

[Primantis]

 

At some point I played an MMO where there were two labels for "Damage Dealer".

 

You had "DD": Which was Bursty damage. These guys would do tons of damage all at once, then lull for a bit. Usually "Thief/Rogue" classes fell into this category. As much of their damage was from sneak attacks etc. Or Warriors with huge slow weapons.

 

You also had "DPS" which was sustained damage over time. DoT users, dual wielders etc, usually fell into this category.

 

It was important to know the difference, because teams would advertise for one or the other. If they said "We need DPS" you knew they wanted sustained damage, not bursty. Hell if I remember which MMO this was though, I've played so many!

 

It seems like it was like that on live for awhile, but I don't remember anymore..

 

Edited May 30, 2020 by Primantis

[Haijinx]

I stopped reading at worrying about people who think Blasters aren't DPS.

 

I can't play with people that stupid. 

[Machariel]

tl;dr

[Apogee]

moar DoTs!

[MunkiLord]

5 hours ago, Joshex said:

 

 

it's not Dual Pistols, close but I think pistols isn't the word you'd find in an adult joke. "LF DPS", ah. didn't know you liked it that way.

 

 

DP/Pain sounds like a good time and a Mind Dom that knows what they are doing can be quite the treat.

[Sovera]

*headscratch*

[SuperPlyx]

I play this game to much...there I said it.... I know I have a problem... Maybe it's a server thing but I do not recall ever seeing "DPS" in any LFG type message. Either "looking for" or offering.

 

TBH, I am wary of any team that "needs" something.

[Joshex]

12 minutes ago, SuperPlyx said:

I play this game to much...there I said it.... I know I have a problem... Maybe it's a server thing but I do not recall ever seeing "DPS" in any LFG type message. Either "looking for" or offering.

 

TBH, I am wary of any team that "needs" something.

It's popped up recently on Torch, I suspect they are migrants from other games who have yet to learn the way we do things here.

[Herotu]

Give this man/woman (I'm guessing a man) a job in Copyright Law. This rant seems to be high-pedantry. 

Edited May 30, 2020 by Herotu

[snerp]

14 hours ago, Joshex said:

and also means it can lead to arguments. "LF DPS" "OK I've got a kick butt blaster, brb" "Blasters aren't DPS bring something else" argument ensues.

I don't believe you.

 

This is a joke right?

 

"Team LF DPS" means the team is looking for a way to increase their combined DPS. Clearly they are looking for a high DPS archetype/build. Similarly it makes sense to advertise your aggressive Stalker/Scrapper/Corruptor/Blaster as DPS if you want to find a team where you can help out as effectively as possible.

 

In what situation would a team want DPS but not want a blaster? That makes no sense ever.

Edited May 30, 2020 by snerp

[Joshex]

52 minutes ago, snerp said:

I don't believe you.

 

This is a joke right?

 

"Team LF DPS" means the team is looking for a way to increase their combined DPS. Clearly they are looking for a high DPS archetype/build. Similarly it makes sense to advertise your aggressive Stalker/Scrapper/Corruptor/Blaster as DPS if you want to find a team where you can help out as effectively as possible.

 

In what situation would a team want DPS but not want a blaster? That makes no sense ever.

as stated, some players want a brute or scrapper, because they want something with primary or secondary armor. survive-ability "high" + damage. It's no joke. I however find the whole thing comes down to the varied interpretations of the term DPS when used as a non-numeric noun object.

 

I've encountered 4 different variations of the term in this context:

 

1: Any damage works, help us build more damage, AoE probably preferred but not required

2: Survive-ability + high damage

3: must be a damage centric AT, regardless your build, so you can't be a tank built for damage.

4: anything with high damage regardless the AT.

 

The meaning is typically one of these 4 depending on the individual using it. but which one depends on the player. That's why I think we shouldn't use it at all. I don't and wont and haven't. except in the context of the numerical noun.

[Dazl]

DPS (damage), tank, and healer (support) are terms that go back to the beginning of MMOs and most gamer's understand what is meant when asking for them. It doesn't mean as much in this game, but sometimes it helps to fill certain needs of a team.

[Joshex]

1 hour ago, Crimsonpyre said:

DPS (damage), tank, and healer (support) are terms that go back to the beginning of MMOs and most gamer's understand what is meant when asking for them. It doesn't mean as much in this game, but sometimes it helps to fill certain needs of a team.

In this case DPS can have 4 meanings. Which do you mean? it's far too ambiguous. My tank is built for damage does that make it not a tank? would you argue it is a tank but not DPS?

 

Sure it doesn't mean much in this game. and that's because it's not suited to this game. It evolved into "a DPS" in other games and has no relevance to CoH at all. just like we wouldn't talk about "your class role" we would say "your AT".

 

DPS itself as a game acronym may go way back but not in this usage of "a DPS" that's rather new.. DMG goes way back before DPS (before online games). And as stated the original meaning of DPS was "a number" as a noun. To call yourself  or your AT/class "A DPS" back then.. would not have been understood. Just use DD or DMG, LV 50 DMG LFT.

 

but yeah the ambiguity of the acronym when used as a class type is bolstered by your post.

[pulpstress]

6 hours ago, Herotu said:

Give this man/woman (I'm guessing a man) a job in Copyright Law. This rant seems to be high-pedantry. 

That's precisely the term (pedantic) several users on Torchbearer used to describe the OP when the topic was brought up the other night. HOURS were spent discussing it. It was rather amusing.

[Greycat]

To be honest, I pretty much read this and went, "...ok, and?" Call them groucho, harpo and chico for all I care. Honestly I don't worry about what's on a team as long as the people aren't jerks.

[Zep]

DPS can be a good ruler for finding out how big something is, however, IMO - like something else men measure with a ruler having a big one doesnt really mean anything unless your looking for a modeling career. 

 

In COH more so then other games I have played individual DPS in much less meaningful.

 

If my Fire/Storm controller drops Freezing Rain on a group while my friend the Fire/Kin uses Fulcrum Shift the blaster will get some really big numbers but is it really all the blasters DPS? 

 

If I am on my FF/Dark defender I have almost no personal DPS does that make me useless?

 

I am not against checking personal DPS or even discussing it among friend, using it to tweak a build or refine an idea, like the other thing above experience has shown me once your in a group situation personal measurements are nothing more then a novelty or something to brag about if you have nothing better to bring up.

 

Play style, fight/area specifics, AOE vs Single Target, solo, small group, big group, trash mobs, boss/av -- too many variables.

 

Admittedly just my thoughts and oppinions - this coming from someone who has heavily optimized builds in multiple games (WOW, POE, COH, too many to remember).  

 

In closing a memory from my WOW past. Back when Burning Crusades was shiny and new I was in an awesome guild called 'Tempting Fate' and like many other guilds we raided Karazhan for a time. I played an undead Frost Mage whose rival on the DPS charts was a Fire Mage. As we would battle our way through the 'trash' mobs to get to the boss fights the Fire mage would get way ahead on the damage meter. She was awesome at blowing up spawns and quickly. Once we would get the Boss fight every single time I would pass her by the end of the fight. Not because I better AOE - I didnt, or better single target, but because at the time the Frost build had more tools more managing cooldowns and was far more efficient with mana. When the fire spec would run out of gas the frost spec could keep going and going.

 

DPS is fine and dandy but it is just one consideration among many.

[Haijinx]

2 hours ago, pulpstress said:

That's precisely the term (pedantic) several users on Torchbearer used to describe the OP when the topic was brought up the other night. HOURS were spent discussing it. It was rather amusing.

This is why peeps should close the new General Tab.

[Sovera]

Out of curiosity and while we're at it, is there anything else you'd like for everyone to change to accomodate you?

[Outrider_01]

Thread to long.

 

Let's just change the term to

 

BTAD,F - Bet their ass down, fast.