WoW Cardio Raid Manual for WCR version Beta 34
Documentation Version 0.4
By: Darkbubbles of Garithos-US
The manual has been significantly updated to reflect feature and GUI
changes in the most current version of WoW Cardio Raid, release beta
24. Significant changes include:
- Inclusion of a Log Index from the Home Page
- The .wcr file format has changed slightly. However, files from
older versions (before beta version 28) will still load, but the older
versions will not load the newer format
- New damage/healing received in a given time frame feature using Alt-Click
- Overview page added
- Stats page facelift
- Unified toolbar interface
This documentation is a continued work in progress. I appreciate all
comments, criticisms, and corrections you may have to offer and ask
that you please contact me via private message on the WCR official
forums, located at: http://wowcarto.virtuaboard.com/wowcardioraid-f8 ; my username is “genericlifeform.” I will try to respond to your message within 2-3 days.
If you have a bug to report or comments about the program itself, please contact “Tixu” or create a new forum post.
WoW Cardio Raid (WCR) is a tool for the analysis of raids in World
of Warcraft. The program can load a combat log saved from the game and
display information about a fight, such as units' health, damage per
second (DPS), healing per second (HPS), debuffs, casts, and targets,
all in a timeline style.
WCR also have a stats feature similar to in-game meters like Recount
and online tools like WoW Web Stats to track people's aggregate DPS,
incoming damage, and the like. Paired with one of these tools, both a
macroscopic (via Recount) and microscopic (via WCR) analysis can be
done, allowing one to fully see and evaluate a raid.
WCR really shines in the area of understanding mysterious deaths,
tracking the effects of buffs on raid members, and general problems
where you or your raid leader has wanted to say, “Ok, pause for a
moment. Rewind 5 seconds. Ok now, what happened here?”
While WoW Cardio Raid and WoW Web Stats (http://wowwebstats.com/)
are combat log parsers used for analyzing raids (or anything combat in
game, for that matter), they have distinctly different goals,
strengths, weaknesses, and applications.
Here's a quick look at how the two analyze a combat log and represent data for you:
WoW Cardio Raid
- Emphasizes data correlated with when it happened (Time Domain).
- Detailed statistics for a unit are when a spell or debuff occurred,
the unit's health over time, the unit's DPS and HPS over time.
- Able to view entire night at once (with limitations) or a specific attempt.
- Allows creation of filters based on spells id, tags, and event API markers.
- Local Parser
- Does have ability to look at aggregate data via Stats window.
- Great for diagnosing strat and execution issues.
WoW Web Stats
- Emphasized aggregate data (Integral Domain).
- Detailed statistics for a unit are its average DPS/HPS, target healed, abilities used and how often.
- Able to view entire night at once or a specific attempt (ie, splits).
- Most common filters are based class/role, abilities, and pivot tables (ie, Who Healed Who?, etc..)
- Web-hosted Parser
- Does have ability to look at time correlated data via Combat Log Viewer.
- Great for diagnosing a player's performance.
The good news: used together, they are an unstoppable team for
ironing out almost any raid mechanic, strat development, or rotation
theorycrafting problem!
When upgrading from a previous version of WCR, save the pref.ini
file (located in the WCR folder at the base level) before overwriting
with the new version. This file contains the saved filter list, chat
black-list, and other preferences.
In order to use WCR, you'll need to create a combat log. A combat
log is basically a written transcript of the encounter and includes all
abilities used by you and anyone upto a 30 yard radius around you.
Next time you're about to jump into a raid instance, simply type/combatloginto
the chat frame to begin logging. To stop logging, type it again. If you
plan to be recording a lot of raids, you might want to make a macro to
do this or use an addon like Loggerhead (http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/loggerhead.aspx) to auto start/stop the combat log every time you zone into an instance .
Combat logs are saved to the following path:(WoW Directory)/Logs/WoWCombatLog.txtand
“new” logs are appended onto each other. Thus, it's a good habit to
every night after a raid to quickly log off and save your log into the
WCR format, upload it to WWS if you wish, and delete it.
Once you have unziped WCR into its on directory, double-click on
WowCardioRaid.exe. From the home screen, you will see a button “Load
Log.” Use it to select the combat log in the logs directory detailed
above. After a few seconds of parsing the log, the graph screen will
appear.
WCR supports the opening of the combat log during an ongoing raid,
to monitor its status in semi-real time. To set up this feature, you
must first specify the location of your combat log by entering the
absolute path in the “Direct path to live wowcombatlog.txt” field
located in the “Options” screen. From the options menu you can also
select how often WCR updates while in using the auto-update feature
(default: 1 min).
WCR can save files into a proprietary, highly compressed format, a
“.wcr file.” To set up Windows to automatically open .wcr files in WCR,
- Right click on a .wcr file and choose Open.
- Choose “Select a program from a list of installed programs” from the dialog that appears.
- Click “Browse...”
- Browse to and select your WCR executable.
- Click “Ok.”
Now .wcr files will be opened by WCR when you double click on them.
Here's a quick rundown of the WCR window.

Where...
- A – Page Toolbar Each page (sometimes referred to as a “pane”) and its associated toolbar will have its own section, but for a quick taste:
- Home – Contains quick commands guide and a link to the demo log.
- Graphic – Contains a visual representation of the fight (p. 11).
- Stats – Bar graph of damage done, take, mitigated, and healing statistics (p. 19).
- Overview – Provides information regarding dispels, interrupts, spellsteals, and crow control breaks (p. 22).
- Event List – Each row correlates to a line in the combat log. Sorting features (p. 23)
- Options – Program configuration options
- B – Toolbar Different for each view; contains analysis tools.
- C – Graph One row for each unit, sorted with players on the
top and NPCs at the bottom. Lines represent (depending on situation)
health, DPS, or HPS. Colored dots are spells, auras, and other combat
log events.
- D – Context Tools Includes tools which modify the contextual
elements of the graph, such as the viability of units, spells, and
in-raid chatter. These tools will be discussed in their own chapter,
but for a quick taste:
- Unit filter – Choose which players, pets, NPCs, and objects are visible on the graph
- Combat filter – Chose which tags, spells, and events are visible on the graph
- Comparison tool – Allows the import and export of unit and raid DPS lines to compare previous attempts to the current attempt.
- Chat tool – Allows the import of a chat log to monitor raid chatter and boss emotes.
- E – Saved filters screen Any filters you save will appear here. Multiple filters are “ORed” together.
- F – Time Selections (ie, Combat List) If the log contains
multiple bosses, the time of each attempt/kill will be available here.
Also, you can enable the display of non-boss NPCs in this screen by
right-clicking on a unit in the NPC section of the unit list and
selecting “Add/Remove this unit in the combat list.” They will be
colored in purple instead of orange in the combat list to differentiate
them from bosses.
There is also data along the bottom. The most left bar is the status
bar while loading a log. The central message box shows the time
(military, time of the system that recorded the log), unit HP if
available, unit name, and HP deficit/DPS/HPS.
When first loaded WCR, the home page (pane) will appear:
From the home page, you can view the commands quick
reference list, readme, and load combat logs, WCR file format logs, and
live logs. The demo log used throughout some parts of this this
documentation is also loadable from this screen. Finally, the log index
can be accessed through the link at the top of this page. The log index
is discussed next.
The log index is a tool to allow the quick viewing of past logs
saved in the .wcr format. The first thing you must do is set the log
directory to where you keep your past logs.
If you have any logs saved in the old .wcr format, you will get the following message near the top of the screen:
[Change log directory] [Rebuild Index]
Some logs seem to have an old format: do you want to [convert] them?
(this can take some time. Hit 'Esc' to interrupt the process)
Use the convert link to mass convert your logs to the new
.wcr format. This tool will open each log and resave it into the new
format, overwriting the previous file. You may wish to backup your
files before continuing.
|
Important Note: Once your log files have been converted, they will no longer be readable by previous version of WowCardioRaid. |
Once the index has been rebuilt, you will see every log file in the directory with the following information:
[06/10 18:00] 06_10__18_31.wcr [x]
- Hodir (1)
- Thorim (1)
- Mimiron (5)
- Ignis the Furnace Master (1)
- Iron Council (1)
Achelois Aer Priapos Callisto Mormo Echidna Attis Boar Graeae Amalthea Hespera Alcyone Podarge Aiolos Birds Boar Paion Nikothoe Oannes Dike Empousa Hephaistos Salmoneus Deimos Horae Semele Asteria Kybele Menoitos Ouranos Notos
- In brackets, the date and time of the log file will be shown.
- As a link, the name of the log file is shown. Clicking on the link will open the log file.
- An X to delete the file (from both the file system and the index)
- A bulleted list showing every boss (and the number of attempts on that boss in parenthesis) that was encountered during the combat log.
- A list of all raid members in attendance.
This main graph screen is the most distinguishing feature of WCR as
well as the most daunting. There is a high concentration of data in a
very small space, but we'll try to go over it piece by piece.
The most revolutionary – although admittedly confusing – aspect of
WCR are the unit graphs (sometimes, called the EKGs). Let's have a
quick look at how to read one.

From left to right, each toolbar icon means,
- Load Log With a drop down to load from either a WoW Combat Log/WCR propitiatory format log or a live log.
- Save Log Save this log, or the currently selected time frame, to a .wcr file.
- Live Update/Resume Enable or disable the automatic updating
of the graph from a live log file (no use with a static log file;
default disabled). To change how often the log is updated (variable
between 30 sec to 30 mins), change the “LiveUpdate Timer” in the Options pane.
- Manual Update/Resume Forces an update of the graph from a live log file (no use with a static log file)

This group of toolbar icons affect how filters affect the display of
elements of the EKGs. Starting from the magnifying glass with a cross
though it,

- HP Lines When enabled, the lines for all units will be their HP. HP lines are a gray-blue.
- DPS Lines When enabled, the lines for all units will be
their DPS. DPS lines are red. Use “v” to decrease the interval over
which DPS is calculated, “b” to decrease it. Default interval is 5
seconds.
- HPS Lines When enabled, the lines for all units will be
their HPS. HPS lines are green. Use “v” and “b” to change evaluation
interval similar to DPS lines.
- Relative Ratio Explained on page 15 in section 5.2.1.
- Line Foreground/Background When enabled, HP/DPS/HPS lines are drawn over the buff squares.

- Toggle List and Detailed Views When used in the unit
detailed view, returns to the graph. When used in the graph, returns to
the detailed view showing the last unit inspected.
- Toggle Cast and Received Auras Usable only in the detailed
view, changes whether the detailed aura list shows received auras
(default, button not depressed), or auras cast on other targets by this
unit (button depressed).

- Apply filter to lines When this button is depressed
(default), DPS and HPS lines use only spells visible per the current
filter to show the line. For example, if you wanted to see the DPS from
a mage's Living Bomb spell, you could select the spell from the filter
list and, when this option is enabled, the DPS line would show only DPS
caused by Living Bomb. When the button is not depressed, DPS lines
remain the same regardless of the filter used.
|
Important Note: If, when looking at the graph, there appear
to be no DPS/HPS lines and/or way too few line, make sure that it isn't
because of this feature. Its easy to be looking for some buff, using a
filter to find that buff, and then decide to look at some DPS/HPS line
and forget that the filter is still engaged. |
- Count absorbed damages/heal as effective damages/heal
Applied only to raid members, this option when depressed (default)
merges absorbed damage dealt or healing dealt into the effective
damage/heal stat. This can be useful for fights like Jaraxxus (absorbed
heals) or Twins (absorbed damages) in Trail of the Crusader.
- Auto-update lines When depressed, lines update automatically
every time the filter is changed, otherwise you'll have to force-update
the lines manually.
- Force-update lines Force the lines to update to reflect the current filter.

This group of toolbar icons affect what is visible in the “raid” row located at the top of the graph. The options are,
- Raid DPS Out Shows the DPS of the raid.
- Raid DPS In Shows DPS taken by the raid. Useful in
combination with raid effective healing line to see how quickly healer
respond to raid-wide damage.
- Raid HPS Out Shows how much healing per second is done
- Effective HPS Out Shows how much healing per second is done that actually heals the target.
Here are some other important features about the graph (ie, EKGs because of their similarity to medical EKGs and “Cardio” in the name “WowCarioRaid”),
- Colored Boxes: Each unit gets a line (in this case, representing its HP) and a series of dots/boxes. The colors of the boxes represent,
- Mustard Yellow – Damage (to or from the unit) / Light Yellow – Periodic Damage
- Blue – Buff / Purple – Debuff / Grey blue – Aura removed
- Light Green – Heal / Dark Green – Periodic Heal
- Orange – Dispel
- Cobalt Blue – Interrupt
- Pink – Cast Started
- Purple – Buff applied onto unit from a different unit / Light Grey – Buff removed which originated from a different unit.
>- White – White Damage/Spell Cast Success / Dark Grey – Miss
- Red – Unit died.
- Vertical dashed lines represent time. Depending on zoom level, each dash could be 1 minute or 1 second.
- To aid in figuring out what was happening at a given time, use Shift-Click to place a turquoise, vertical cursor, as depicted in the screenshot below.

- If a loading related error has occurred you will see three
exclamation marks (!!!) in the top left part of the graph screen. To see the
error(s) that have occurred, look at the error log in the options pane.
- To measure a quantity of time, use Alt-Control-Click at the beginning and end of the time frame. Alt-Click anywhere again to clear the time measuring tool. (Pressing escape will not clear the time measuring tool)

- To apply a time filter, Ctrl-Click around the selected time. Red lines with an orange highlight will appear denoting the time selected.
- To see how must damage and healing a unit received over a time frame, place the mouse at the beginning of where you want the time frame to start, hold Alt-Click
while dragging the cursor and let go at the end. The time duration,
damage received, and healing received by that unit will be shown.

- Hover over the name of a unit to see its statistics.
- Use Ctrl-Alt-A to make your report anonymous, giving each unit a random name.
- To move the EKG, click-and-drag anywhere on the graph left,
right, up, and down. Also, to move up and down, you can use Page Up and
Page Down keys. You can also move up and down by hovering over the unit
names and using the mouse scroll wheel.
- To zoom in and out, use your mouse scroll wheel when over the main part of the graph.
- To cycle between HP/DPS/HPS lines, use the toolbar buttons presented above or the “c” key.
- To toggle the HP/DPS/HPS lines on/off, use the “h” key.
- To toggle the event dots on/off, use the “a” key. This is a very useful shortcut.
- To remove, in successive order, Event/Spell Filters ? Unit Focus ? Time Selection ? Turquoise Cursor, use the “ESC” key.
- Use “v” and “b” to change the calculation interval – up and down respectively – for HPS and DPS lines. Five seconds is the default.

- When using the relative ratios option from the toolbar, DPS
and HPS lines will be for that unit will be relative to that unit's
maximum. When not enabled, the line will be relative to the raid's
maximum DPS/HPS
.

Ex: The mage does very little healing in a fight: the only
time is with a health pot, indicted against as a tiny bump when
Relative Ratio is disabled because a health pot vs. the healing from
healers is small. However, when Relative Ratio is enabled, which plots
vs. the maximum healing done by the particular unit instead of all
units, the mage's healing stands out. Also note how the shaman and
paladin, both healers, have their EKG's relatively unchanged between
the two modes.
- Using the use current filter for lines option, one can
easily discriminate certain types of healing and damage from the total.
For example, to see if a melee DPS was pulling his weight, you might
want to use a filter that displays all damage but “white damage.” To do
this, click the “eventIsAutoAttack” tag filter twice (the first click
selects damage only from that tag, the second changes the filter to be
damage from every tag but that one). If a melee's DPS line all but
disappears, you know they've only been auto-attacking the boss. This
feature is heavily used in conjunction with filters, which are
discussed in their own chapter.
- At the top of the EKG is the “Raid” row. This row can be set
up to display raid-wide DPS and HPS of various varieties using the
toolbar described above. The raid row can also display lines imported
from previous attempts for comparison purposed.
- If you have a/some unit(s) focused, the raid row will display the DPS/HPS line (depending on the raid's DPS/HPS selectors (located on the right side of the toolbar) and not the unit's DPS/HPS selector) for the focus in the raid row and, as a lighter color, the line for the whole raid.
- To move to the next combat block, use the spacebar. To move to the previous block, use shift-space or backspace.
You can also Right-Click anywhere on the EKG to bring up the following context menu:
- Details for: <Unit> – Brings up the detail screen, covered in the next section. Equivalent to the
toolbar button.
- Toggle focus on:: <Unit> – Places the focus on unit.
When a unit has focus, all event dots are removed from the whole graph
except for those which are originated by or cast onto the unit. Units
with focus have a slight highlight.
- ShowOnlySpell: <Spell> – If you right-click on an
event dot, this option is available. This applies a filter which shows
only this spell on the graphs.
- ShowOnlyEvent: <Event> – Same as with spell, but will only show events in this category.
- Set AuraWatch for: <Spell> – If you right-click on an
event dot which has a duration, this options is available. This option
only works when a valid time frame is selected. For example, if you
wanted to see raiders got Storm Power buff to make sure their DPS
increased, set the AuraWatch and look at the DPS graph. Here is what
you might see:

- Remove AuraWatch – Removes the aura watch detailed above.
- Reset – Resets the unit focus, time selection, filter, or time cursor.
- ViewEventInList – If you right click on an event dot, this option lets you jump to this event in the event view list.
- Remove: <Unit> – Removes the unit from the graph.
- Options for: <Unit> – See options screen, covered in the next section. Only available for NPCs.
- Check <Spell> on Web – If used on an event dot, opens
up the spell in a WoW online database. The default option is wowhead,
but any database can be used. To change the database used, change the
“Spell base Web Link” field in the options screen. Use %s in the URL where the spell ID should be inserted.
- EditSpellParams: <Spell> – Allows association with of a spell with a class. Not used often.
- Load Log – Equivalent to the Load Log toolbar button. – Equivalent to the Load Log toolbar button.
When right clicking on an NPC and choosing the Options menu will
bring up the following window. The top two text boxes show the NPC's
name and the Unit's ID.
- Never show this unit on graphic – When checked, this unit
(and units of the same name) will not be shown on the graph. To show a
unit on the graph again, choose Units > NPC > the unit from the
right filters and selections pane, Right Click > Edit Params for
<Unit>.
- DontAffiliate this unit to player – Sometimes boss-summoned
NPCs come in affiliated with a player (Globbulus clouds for example)
which are not actually player units. Check this to make these units
independent. The log must be reloaded for this option to take effect.
- Force this unit to not be friendly – When checked, this unit will not be marked as friendly.
- Set this unit as Boss – This unit is a boss and will be used to determine time selections.
- Affiliate this unit to Boss – Used to affiliate boss adds
(such as Sartharion's drakes). (First select a boss from the drop-down
box, then the check-box will automatically get checked.)
- Force Save – WCR saves NPC options and HP pool together, but
there are times when you want to only save the HP pool but not other
options (such as on drakes for the third phase of Malygos). This
options allows you to save the HP independent of the other options.
From the main graph, Right-Click on a unit and select “Details for: <Unit>” to bring up the detail screen,

This screen shows a Health graph concurrent with a DPS and HPS in
graph, a DPS out graph, and an HPS and Effective HPS out graph.
Following these detailed graphs, is each buff divided out on its own
row. You can change whether the divided out buff section shows buffs on
the unit or cast by the unit by using the
toolbar button,
described in an earlier section.
The DPS and HPS in graph is great for looking at how effectively
your healers are responding to your tanks' taking damage (how far
behind the DPS-in line does the HPS-in line lag?). The individual buff
rows are good for seeing how well a player is keeping up abilities like
water shield, as well as how often clear casting/hot streak/etc...
buffs proc and how they affect DPS.
The Stats Screen is pretty similar to cumulative graphs you might
find in WWS, Recount, and other combat log tools. Viewing of aggregate
data is available for Damage Done, Damage Taken, Damage Mitigated,
Total Healing Done, Effective Healing Done, and Healing Taken. Units
are broken out into raid members, hostile NPCs, and friendly NPCs.

The Stats Screen, sorted for damage done.

The toolbar options are, from left to right are below. The first eight are discussed in detail on page 11 in section 5.1.1.
- Load Log
- Save Log
- Live Update/Resume
- Manual Update/Resume
- Reset Filter
- Reset Time Selection
- Reset Current Focus
- Toggle Focus Mode
- Use Current Filter – If enabled, uses the spell and event filter, shown with spit bars.
- Use Focused Unit – All bars will be split with
Damage/Healing/Etc against the focused unit. So, for example, if you
have Tenebron in a 3-drakes run focused, the DPS bars will show a split
with the colored part showing how much damage from each player was done
to him.
- Merge Affiliated Units – Merges pets, totems, etc... with
their owner. Merged data will appear gray on the bar to which it is
added and the owner of the pet will have an asterisk (*) by their name
to show that their statistics include damage/healing by pets and totems.
- Count absorbed damage/heals and effective damage/heals –
Applied only to raid members, this option when depressed (default)
merges absorbed damage dealt or healing dealt into the effective
damage/heal stat. This can be useful for fights like Jaraxxus (absorbed
heals) or Twins (absorbed damages) in Trail of the Crusader.
- Merge estimated absorbed damage with heals done – This
option allows for damage mitigated by spells like Power Word Shield to
be counted as a heal and merged into the caster's healing statistics.
- No enemy heal – Removes enemy heals from statistics.
- No friendly damage – Friendly fire is neglected from the DPS statistics.
- Toggle DPS/Act. DPS – Toggles the third column in the page between DPS and actual DPS.
- Autoupdate Stats – Updates the chart when the filter changes automatically.
- Secure Stats – Prevents stats from being updated. Increases computer performance.
- Refresh/Updates Stats – Causes a recalculation of stats.
- Adjust Column Size – Resets the column widths.
Besides giving a quick view of a fight, the
Stats screen can show total stats compared to a filter. This example
uses an older version of WowCardioRaid but is substantially the same
process and observations as in the most current version.

For example, this is a screenshot of a stats report showing what
damage was done to and taken by Lava Blazes in a Sartharion 3-drakes
kill. This filter was obtained by toggling the focus on to each Lava
Blaze.
When you click on a heading, everything is sorted with respect to
that heading. If a filter or selection is applied, as is the case here,
the sort will be with respect to the filter. The colored section of the
graph indicates the filter while the grayed out is the renaming total.
Nix, the assigned Lava Blaze tank, has about 60% of his damage taken
from Lava Blazes. (Nix also had to tank a drake because a tank died,
hence why this percent is so low) From this filter, we can see that Nix
is doing a fair job of keeping Blazes off of healers, accounting for
about 60% of Blaze damage taken. However, Daphnaie was the drake tank
and would pick up Blazes in his free time, so its ok Daphnaie was next
in line to take damage from Blazes. Zephyros, a shaman healer, should
be looked at closer next time though; maybe Nix should have a taunt
macro for him or make sure to keep close to him in future runs.
The overview page allows you to quickly view dispels, interrupts,
spell-steals, and crowd-control (CC) breaks that occur throughout the
log.
The overview toolbar is substantially the same as previous toolbars.
To see more information about it, refer to page 11 in section 5.1.1.
|
Important Note: When first loading the overview page, or
after changing the boss selected/time frame, you may need to hit the
button. |
The units are broken out by raid players, hostile NPCs, and friendly
NPCs. Click the arrow next to a character's name will show the detailed
information for that character. For example, in the picture above we
can see that there were 33 interupts and that Thelxinoe had 8
interrupts in this combat log, that 6 of those interrupts were on
Kel'Thuzad's Frostbolt.
The Events List screen provides a near replica of the combat log exported by WoW.
|
Important Note: You may have to hit the button when you first load this screen in order to populate the list. |
Each row is a line from the log, colored by the event type just like dots in the EKGs.

- Load Log
- Use Time Selection – Shows only those events from the time period selected in the graph/combat list.
- Use Current Filter – Shows only events that match the filters on the right side of the screen.
- Auto Update List – Automatically updates the contents of the event list when a filter is changed.
- Secure list – Prevents overflow.
- Refresh/Update List – Manually populates the list. You may need to hit this button when first entering the EventsList screen.
- Export Events – Exports selected events in the following format: TimeStamp|Target ? Source|SpellName|Amount
Filters are are an integral part of WCR and have already been used
to a small degree in this manual up to now. Filters help sift though
the corpus amount of data provided in WCR and reduce it to the most
informative information. Now lets take an intensive look at what sorts
of things you can filter and how they work.

On the right side of the WCR window is the context tool area.
- A – Lets you change what context tool you are working with and, therefore, changes the contests of panel B
- B – For each context tool,
- Units – Units are sub divided into Player, Pet, NPC, and Object categories.
- Filters – Three filter types are available: Tags, Spells,
and Events. Multiple options are “ANDed” together. These three filter
types are the focus of the bulk of this chapter's discussion.
- Line Comparison – Allows the addition of raid lines from previous attempts. This feature is discussed in chapter 10 starting on page 28.
- Chat Log – Allows the addition of a chat log. This feature is discussed in chapter 10 starting on page 28.
For every Filter, clicking on the check box will do the following, in order:

- Before the First Click: Assume this is what your filter list looks like. We will be experimenting with the Blood Pact spell. Note that Blood Corruption is already disabled.

- First Click: Checks only that tag/spell/event and removes all others, allowing you to see only that one.

- Second Click: Checks all other tags/spells/events
except that one (and any other disabled filters), removing it from the
graph. Notice how, because Blood Corruption was disabled before we started it is still disabled now.

- Third Click: Restores the filter to how it was before clicking where both that tag/spell/event and all others that are enabled.
These successive clicks will be shown graphically as the check marks next to each item and disappear and reappear appropriately.
|
Important Note: The tags filter items do not give this visual indication but do have identical responses to clicks as the other filters. |
The units are sub divided into Player, Pet, NPC, and Object
categories. Clicking on the arrow next a unit will show all the
instances of that unit.
NPC units' names are colored to show,
- Black – Standard Unit
- Bold Orange – Unit is a boss
- Orange – Unit is associated with a boss
- Grey – Unit is invisible (will not show up on graph)
If you right-click somewhere in the B pane, you will get a context menu with the following options:
- Uncheck All Players – Removes all PCs from the graph.
- Reset Player States – Places PCs present at the time frame back on the graph.
- Don't Dynamically add NPC – If checked, NPCs (such as adds,
trash, and non-affiliated NPCs) will not be added to the graph. To add
these NPCs, you'll have to check their boxes manually.
- Don't dynamically add Pet – If checked, player's pets will not appear on the graph unless their individual box is checked.
- Don't dynamically add AffiliatedNPC – If checked, affiliated
NPCs (such as mini-bosses in an encounter and sometime adds) will not
appear on the graph unless their individual box is checked.
- Always add Boss NPC – If checked, the Boss NPC for a time frame is added regardless of rules stated above.
- Show inactive raid players – If checked, players who have no activity during the time frame will appear on the graph.
- Hide external player – Hide external player removes any
player characters that may have been superciliously added to your
combat log, but weren't in your raid. For example, a player doing a
daily while you wait outside the instance would show up on the EKG but
is not a player you care about.
- Edit Params for: <Unit> (NPC only) – Brings up the parameter box discussed in The Graph Screen section.
- Add/Remove this unit from the combat list (NPC only) – Adds
this NPC to the time selection combat list. Non-boss NPCs appear in
purple; bosses (automatically added) appear in orange.
- Registered Units (Only while no log is loaded) – Brings up a
window containing a list of every NPC in WCR's database and allows for
quick viewing and editing of NPCs.
Under Filter > Tags is a long list of tags associated with the
API Combat Log Event parameters (to sort on the event types themselves,
use Filter > Event). More information about the API Combat Log
parameters is available at http://www.wowwiki.com/API_COMBAT_LOG_EVENT. The options here are numerous and mostly self explanatory, however let's highlight a few:
- eventIsFriendlyVsFriendly – Used to show heals and buffs.
Great filter to use if you're looking at a tank's EKG and all the
incoming/outgoing damage is clogging up your analysis of “Were healers
doing their job?”
- eventIsFriendlyVsOther – Used to show damage and debuffs.
- eventIsHeal and eventIsOverHeal – Show heals; look for overheals.
- eventIsDamage – Used to show only damage events. “Was your tank not DPSing during Twilight Torment to avoid taking unnecessary damage?”
- eventIsOverDamage – Used to quickly find killing blows.
- eventIsSchool:<School> – “How effective is your resist
set?” When used with the stats tool, “Is it worth using a frost resist
set when 40% of your incoming damage is frost?”
- eventIsEnergize – Show mana/rage/energy/runic power
restoration. These do not show up on the graph but will show up on a
details view of a unit.
- eventIsInterupt – “Where your rogues really interrupting
Kelthuzad's casts every cooldown?” “How often do interrupts overlap; is
more coordination required?”
- eventIsDead – Quickly find when people died by showing only red dots on the EKG.
Under Filter > Spells is a long list of every spell, buff,
debuff, and ability used by PCs and NPCs in the log. There is a search
box near the top to help you find the spell for which you are looking.
Here are some quick examples of how spell filters can be useful.
- How many people and which people stood in void zones and took other avoidable damage?
- Turn on DPS lines and filter for bloodlust (also, consider using
relative ratio). What people are using bloodlust effectively and which
are not?
- Is earth shield up on the tank at all times?
- How often did casters get Spell Disruption on Heigen?
|
Helpful Hint: If you select a character while in the Stats
pane, the spell list will be automatically reloaded to show only those
spells to/from that unit, which can also be useful for sorting through
the list. To further reduce the options, select the damage done,
healing, damage taken bar to show only that kind of spells for that
unit. |
Right clicking on a spell will bring up a context menu with the following options,
- Reset SpellDefaultSelection – Enables all spells but leaves tag and event filters unchanged.
- Reset FullDefaultFilter – Enables all spells, tags, and events.
- EditSpellParams: <Spell> – Allows association with of a spell with a class. Not used often.
- ShowOnlySpellWithParam – Shows only spells with a class association. Use to find common class abilities like Fireball, Chain Heal, Renew, etc...
- <Spell> WCRId: <ID> WowID <ID> count: <#> – Opens the spell in whatever web database service you have set up (default: wowhead).
Under Filter > Events is a list of every event category used by
the WoW Combat Log API. Events are triggered when a spell is cast or
interrupted, or when damage is dealt or taken. These are mostly self
explanatory and will not be discussed.

Located directly below the context tool pane is the following filter list:
This contains a list of predefined filters. Some predefined filters
come with the program and reflect common filters used in WoW. You can
also add your own filters by right-clicking in the pane and selecting “Save Filter.” This will save your current filter selection with a name your provide. You can also rename and delete filters by selecting a filter, right-clicking, and choosing the appropriate option from the contextual menu.
The line comparison tool allows you to compare previous attempts
with the attempt you're currently looking at and see and changes that
stand out. To do this, you save the raid-wide DPS or HPS line(s) you'd
like to compare. For example,

Green = Perfect Kill; Brown = Failed Attempt
The green raid line is a perfect 3 drakes kill and the brown line is
a failed 3 drakes attempt. Interrupting this graph, one may conclude
that DPS may have been a factor that lead to this unsuccessful attempt.
While the DPS substantially increases when Tenebron drops in the failed
attempt, there is not nearly high enough DPS, compared to the perfect
kill, when Shadron drops 45 seconds later. A raid leader in this
circumstance might want to emphasize the need for higher DPS on
Shadron, even if it means a small sacrifice in DPS when Tenebron drops.
To create a basis line,
- Select a time frame for the basis of the comparison. (Please note:
A time frame must be selected, even if the log contains only one boss)
Clear any focuses you may have.
- In the Graphic pane, the “Raid display features” section of
the toolbar (see earlier chapter) allows one to choose four raid lines:
DPS In, DPS Out, HPS, and EHPS. Select which line(s) you'd like to uses
as your basis.
- In the context tools section on the right side of the screen, select the
icon to bring up the line comparison tool.
- Right-click in the large, white box and select “AddRaidLine.”
- A dialog is brought up from which asks you to enter the name of the
raid line. You can also click on the color strip to the left of the box
to choose a custom color.
- The line is now available for use as a basis. You can save this/these line(s) by right clicking and choosing save.
With a basis line, you can conduct a comparison by
- Select a time frame for the comparison. (Please note: A time frame must be selected, even if the log contains only one boss)
- If necessary, load the basis line by right-clicking in the large box and selecting “Load.”
- Check the line(s) you'd like to use in your comparison.
- In the Graphic pane, the “Raid display features” section of
the toolbar (see earlier chapter) allows one to choose four raid lines:
DPS In, DPS Out, HPS, and EHPS. Select which line(s) you'd like to uses
as your comparator.
|
Important Note: In order for the comparison to make any
sense, the DPS/HPS calculation interval (default, 5s) must be the same
for both the basis and the comparator. |
It is possible to save a basis line for an individual unit or group of units by doing the following:
- Set as your focus the unit or units you wish to save a basis for.
- Verify you are in inclusive mode by ensuring the focus highlights are orange.
- Using the raid's HPS/DPS selectors (located on the right side of the toolbar) not the unit's selector, choose which line you'd like to save.
- Save the line as though you were doing a raid basis.
For use in a comparison, make sure you have the same unit(s) set as the focus.
To save a chatlog, you follow a procedure similar to saving a
combatlog. While World of Warcraft is running, and at the same time you
are logging a raid, enter/chatloginto the chat prompt.
Chat logs are saved to(WoW folder)/logs/WoWchatlog.txt
To load a chat log,
- Open up the chat log context tool.
- Click on the “Load ChatLog (beta)” button and navage to the chat log.
- The log is now loaded in the right side of the screen as well as a
series of dots on the graph above the “raid” frame, as shown below.
Hover over a dot to see that chat log event.

Chat log entries that occur outside of the currently visible graph area
appear in grey text; the currently visible entries are in black text.
You can also navigate directly to the point in the graph where a
chat event occurred by finding it in the chat log frame and
double-clicking on it. This will navigate you to that time in combat
and place the torques time cursor at the appropriate time, as show in
the screen shot above.
The chat log saves a large number of superfluous events – such as
the logging on/off of people, loot distribution, and addon channel
“text” – that you probably do not want to view. To remove these items:
- Find an event in the chat log list that is similar to the kind you wish to filter.
- Select it, right-click and choose “send to BlackList.”
- Edit the text in the pop-up dialog box to include the part of text
that matches all the items you wish to filter (for example, “[6.
Channel]” to filter all chat from that channel or “has gone offline.”
to remove all offline status messages).
- To apply your black-list filter, right-click anywhere in the chat log list and select “ApplyBlackList”