Raid DPS Test Dummies

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Game Designer
#1 - Aug. 14, 2012, 4:42 a.m.
Blizzard Post
As an experiment, in the next beta build, you may find some new kinds of test dummies.

In order to keep them out of way in less travelled areas, they are located in Shattrath. (The Aldor and Scyers miss you!) The dummies have 50 million health, can be killed, and respawn quickly. They are spread out so you don't accidentally cleave or interfere with someone else's test. They won't turn to face you, so you can attack them from behind, if that's how you roll. The dummies also should buff you if you get near them with a full suite of temporary raid buffs, including food and flasks, and debuff themselves. These won't stack with your group buffs or debuffs, so it doesn't matter if you buff yourselves or not. (We're only talking about main raid buffs here, like Battle Shout or Blessing of Kings. If it's an individual buff or debuff, you'll still need to apply it normally.)

We are leaving this thread open if you'd like to post your DPS or link to logs such as World of Logs. It will be very easy to sandbag or cheat in this testing, so understand that we'll have to take all such numbers with a big old grain of salt. However, in order to compare apples to apples, we suggest purchasing a full set of PvP gear, including one on use and one on proc trinket, but no enchants or gems. Reforging is fine. If you use different sets of gear, please state that in your post. Also keep in mind that target dummy DPS is not encounter DPS. :)

Please keep this thread clear of class feedback -- it's just for numbers.

Again, the main purpose of this experiment is to make it easier for you get consistent DPS testing. It is only for beta and may get turned off at any point if it becomes disruptive.
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Game Designer
#95 - Aug. 14, 2012, 5:42 p.m.
Blizzard Post
As many of you have discovered, we were able to get most of this working without a new beta build.

We (and you) found a few bugs:

-- The dummies can parry from behind. This may require a server restart to fix.
-- The Windwalker food buff should now give you Agi instead of Int. This may require a server restart to fix.
-- Dropping combat (e.g. Vanish) should no longer cause them to regen health. You may need to kill a wounded dummy in order to get a fresh one. This may require a server restart to fix.
-- The buffs they give you should no longer break stealth. This may require a server restart to fix.
-- The buffs and debuffs seem to be working, but you can't see them. This will require a new build to fix.
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Game Designer
#137 - Aug. 15, 2012, 5:57 p.m.
Blizzard Post
The dummies appear to despawn whenever a new build is pushed. They should be back up now and we will try to keep them active.
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Community Manager
#260 - Aug. 20, 2012, 11:15 p.m.
Blizzard Post
We're aware of the issue with pets getting debuffed by the dummies and have a fix coming for that.