Overview

I’ve been working on a plugin for ArcDPS using its realtime combat api. The plugin shows a realtime list of failed mechanics for players. The mechanics are determined by the skill id of the attack a player/npc is hit by. It shows a timestamp in ‘min:sec’ since entering combat and ‘X was hit by Y mechanic’.

This plugin is not intended to breed toxicity, but instead help show players mechanical areas where the players can improve. This is in the same way that arcdps shows how dps/boons could be improved.

Here are some example screenshots (with names redacted):

log

chart

Known Issues:

  • Clearing the mechanics chart breaks the chart MerlinAesalon#4
  • Sunqua Peak Fractal mechanics are not complete, some are still missing.

Since i updated to a new imgui version, some graphic glitches could occur (overlapping text/elements also count). Please report them, so i can fix them.

Mechanics Logged

Raids

  • Vale Guardian
    • teleport
  • Gorseval
    • slam
    • egg
    • touching an orb
  • Sabetha
    • time bombs
    • sapper bombs
    • standing in cannon fire
  • Slothasor
    • tantrum
    • bomb (holding)
    • standing in bomb AoE
    • flame breath
    • shake
    • fixate
  • Bandit Trio
    • throwing bees
    • throwing oils
  • Matthias
    • reflecting shards (that grant Matthias a damage buff)
    • corruption (to fountain)
    • bomb (to wall)
    • sacrifice
    • touching a ghost
    • fire tornado
    • storm cloud
  • Keep Construct
    • fixate
    • touching the core
  • Xera
    • triggering orb explosion
    • standing in orb AoE (after orb explosion)
    • magic
    • teleport
  • Cairn
    • teleport
    • missing a green circle
    • slap
  • Samarog
    • shockwave
    • slap
    • bludgeon (vertical smack during last 33%)
    • fixate
  • Deimos
    • oil
    • smash
    • picking up a tear
    • teleport (having the green circle)
  • Soulless Horror
    • standing in the inner/outer ring (the attack avoided for Necro Dancer)
    • standing in torment aoe
    • standing in pie slices
    • touching a scythe
    • taking fixation
    • gaining the tanking damage debuff
    • CCing a Tormented Dead
  • Soul Eater
    • puke
    • spider webs
    • picking up an orb
    • throwing an orb
  • Broken King
    • getting a green
  • Eye Cave
    • CCing the eyes
  • Dhuum
    • touching a messenger
    • getting affliction
    • affliction explosion damage
    • shackles
    • cracks
    • dip aoe
    • touching center during suction
    • cone
    • snatch (on CM)
  • Conjured Amalgamate
    • squash (arm slamming down on player)
    • using swords/shields
  • Twin Largos
    • shockwave
    • waterlogged stacks
    • bubble
    • getting a tidal pool
    • standing in whirlpool
    • geyser
    • boon steal
    • dash
  • Qadim
    • shockwave
    • arcing fire lines
    • teleport
    • being inside the hitbox
  • Adina (Earth Djinn)
    • was blinded
    • looked at eye
    • touched pillar ripple
    • touched a mine
  • Sabir (Air Djinn)
    • big tornado
    • shockwave
    • bubble
    • bop at phase
  • Qadim the Peerless
    • is tank
    • touched lava
    • expanding lightning
    • purple rectangle

Fractals of the Mists

  • flux bombs
  • Nightmare
    • MAMA
      • flaming whirl
      • cone knockback
      • giant leap
      • standing in acid
      • knight’s hammer smash
    • Siax
      • standing in acid
    • Ensolyss
      • lunge (being run over)
      • smash attack with the 5 adds
  • Shattered Observatory
    • Arkk
      • standing in pie slices
      • cone knockback
      • getting a bomb
      • getting a green circle
  • Sunqua Peak
    • Ai, Keeper of the Peak
      • Red Circle
      • Windspheres/Fireballs/Whirlpools/Laser (summoned during dashes)
      • Wind blades (intersect center of arena during split)
      • Call Meteor
      • Firestorm

Strike Missions

  • Icebrood Construct
    • Ice Arm Swing
    • Ice Shatter (Ice Orbs)
    • Ice Crystal
    • Ice Flail
    • Ice Shock Wave
    • Deadly Ice Shockwave (knockdown)
    • Shatter Arm (knockdown)
  • Voice and Claw
    • Hammer Slam (knockdown)
    • Hammer Spin (launch)
  • Fraenir of Jormag
    • Icequake (knockdown)
    • Frozen Missile (launch)
    • Torrent of Ice (freeze)
    • Ice Shock Wave/Seismic Crush (knockdown)
    • Ice Flail (knockdown)
    • Shatter Arm (knockdown)
  • Boneskinner
    • Grasp (AoE at player's feet)
    • Charge (knockdown)
    • Death Wind (launch)
  • Whisper of Jormag
    • Chains of Frost (target and hits)
    • Spreading Ice
    • Icy Slice
    • Icy Tempest (tornado)
    • Lethal Coalescence
  • Cold War
    • Lethal Coalescence
    • Call Assassins
    • Flame Wall
    • Charge! (knockdown)
    • Detonate

If you have any ideas for things I’m missing, please let me know.

I have no current interest in mechanics detection for PvP / WvW. I’m not even sure what kind of things would be useful to show from those game modes. I don’t PvP / WvW much myself.

Installation:

This requires a recent version of arcdps . When in doubt, get the latest from here.

Put the .dll file in the same folder as arcdps (Program Files/Guild Wars 2/bin64 by default).

To disable, just remove the .dll or move it to a different folder.

This plugin shouldn’t need to be updated with Guild Wars 2 updates, but arcdps must be compatible with Guild Wars 2.

If arcdps updates the combat api, this plugin might need to be updated for compatibility.

Usage:

Don’t be a dick.

Open the arcdps options panel (Alt+Shift+T by default) and enable the “Mechanics Log” or “Mechanics Chart” checkboxes at the bottom

or use the hotkeys Alt+Shift+L (Log) / Alt+Shift+N (Chart)

Troubleshooting:

Be sure you’re running the latest version of arcdps.

Ensure directx9 june2010 runtime is installed (needed for arcdps and this plugin)

Ensure visual c 2015-2019 x64 redist is installed (needed for arcdps and this plugin). Microsoft Download Page

Ensure the .dll file is in the “bin64″ folder, not the “bin” folder

Right click on the .dll file -> go to properties. If there is an “Unblock” button, click that button and apply changes

If options are not being saved, manually create a file named “arcdps_mechanics.ini” next to the arcdps.ini (Default file location is “C:\Program Files\Guild Wars 2\addons\arcdps\arcdps_mechanics.ini”)

Notes:

If an attack is successfully blocked, evaded, or invulned, then it is not listed.

Attacks that interrupt (Gorseval slams, Samarog slaps, etc) are not listed if the player has stability.

The combat api has a small delay (~2 seconds) before the mechanic will be shown.

All the combat data used by this plugin are in the arcdps .evtc log files anyway. This simply parses it in realtime.

Some of the mechanics are not necessarily bad. Getting a bomb on sloth is normal, but if the bomb is then dropped in a bad place, you can see who had it.

Vapor Form / Illusion of Life do not count as 2nd downs in the chart

Reading the Chart:

A “neutral” mechanic is a mechanic that a player might have to deal with during the fight. This isn’t bad, but it might lower that player’s personal DPS to do the mechanic (e.g. Matthias corruption, Dhuum shackles, etc)

A “failed” mechanic is a negative mechanic that a player was hit by (e.g. Vale Guardian teleports, expanding a Deimos oil, etc)

Some mechanics are not necessarily the hit player’s fault. If 1 sub-group gets slammed on Gorseval, that might be the chrono’s fault (depending on the group’s strategy).

FAQ:

Q: Is it Terms of Service compliant?

A: Yes. I’ve talked to Chris Cleary from Anet and he did not see any issues with compliance. (part1 part2)

Known Issues:

If a player has a magnetic aura, reflecting distortion, etc and reflects a shard on Matthias, it will say the player with the buff reflected and not the player that granted the buff.

The chart will track downs/deaths of players in open-world PvE / WvW squads. This can get spammy. For now, I recommend clearing the chart before starting instanced content to avoid the clutter.

Send bug reports, feedback, hate mail, etc in a new issue here or join the Elite Insights discord and write in the channel #killproof-me-plugin.

Special thanks to:

  • deltaconnected for arcdps and the combat api
  • [KA] Karma and Omg Its Kayla.6479 for testing, feedback, and encouragement

Changelog:

February 22 2021
    Added support for ImGui 1.80
September 21 2020
    Removed game links from tooltip as they don't all work
    Added tracking for:
        Fraenir of Jormag
            Frozen Missile (launch)
            Fixed tracking of Frozen + Unfrozen as 2 Frozen hits
September 20 2020
    Added in game links as the tooltip for abilities in Strikes and Sunqua Peak when available
    Added tracking for:
        Icebrood Construct
            Ice Shock Wave
            Deadly Ice Shockwave (knockdown)
            Shatter Arm (knockdown)
            Ice Arm Swing
            Ice Shatter (Ice Orbs)
            Ice Crystal
            Ice Flail
        Voice and Claw
            Hammer Slam (knockdown)
            Hammer Spin (launch)
        Fraenir of Jormag
            Icequake (knockdown)
            Torrent of Ice (freeze)
            Ice Shock Wave/Seismic Crush (knockdown)
            Ice Flail (knockdown)
            Shatter Arm (knockdown)     
        Boneskinner
            Grasp (AoE at player's feet)
            Charge (knockdown)
            Death Wind
        Cold War
            Call Assassins
            Flame Wall
            Charge! (knockdown)
            Detonate        
            Lethal Coalescence
        Whisper of Jormag
            Chains of Frost (target and hits)
            Spreading Ice
            Icy Slice
            Icy Tempest (tornado)
            Lethal Coalescence
        Ai, Keeper of the Peak 
            Red Circle 
            Windspheres/Fireballs/Whirlpools/Laser (summoned during dashes)
            Wind blades (intersect center of arena during split)
            Call Meteor 
            Firestorm         
July 9 2019
    Fix Arkk green/bomb mechanics not being tracked if player is downed
    Add tracking for:
        Dhuum affliction explosion damage
        Sabir bop at phase (chart only by default to avoid spam)
            Special thanks to [REZ] Snackrificial Pugs for inspiring the addition of this mechanic
        Qadim2
            pylon lava (forgot a 3rd id. oops)
            expanding lightning
            purple rectangle
June 25 2019
    Add tracking for:
        Sabir (Air Djinn)
            big tornado
            shockwave
            bubble
        Qadim the Peerless
            touching small lava(missed a skill id before)
        Special thanks to the Elite Insights devs for finding the skill ids
    Fix extra separator at top of log (makes copy to clipboard smoother)
June 21 2019
    Add initial wing 7 mechanics (more to come soon tm)
        Adina (Earth Djinn)
            was blinded (chart only by default, quite spammy)
            looked at eye
            touched pillar ripple
            touched a mine
        Qadim the Peerless
            is tank
            touched lava
    Add some additional checks for compatibility with other plugin configurations
June 10 2019
    Redo chart UI
    Consistify capitalization of filter options
    Make mechanic options detailed description [?] only show if a description exists (none yet)
    Don’t show multiple placeholders in a row in the log
    Add account name to chart
    Use arc exports instead of reading the ini
    Add tracking for:
        Bandit Trio
            throwing bees
            throwing oils
        Matthias
            touching a ghost
            fire tornado
            storm cloud
    Add option to export csv on close
    Add dynamic version string instead of being hardcoded 0.3 forever
May 15 2019
    Fix some squad members not being tracked when joining an instance with 9 others already inside
May 11 2019
    Expand log/chart filters to include separate fields for the player, mechanic, boss
    Add tracking for CCing an eye on w5 statues
    Use Ender’s Echo buff instead of damage ticks for tracking Dhuum CM snatches
        This fixes false positive when coming back from a green into the echo
        Special thanks to Aikan for finding this
April 23 2019
    Add tracking for CCing a Tormented Dead on Soulless Horror
        This tracks stun (including Tides of Time variant) and daze. No other CC will be tracked. This will not catch everything, but the meta for SH is such that this will catch most accidental CCs while ignoring intentional knockback skills
March 25 2019
    Show boss name for each mechanic in chart
    Add mechanic description plumbing (not active yet)
    Add tracking for
        Using CA sword/shields
            Special thanks to Google.1364 and CombatEvolve.9238 for inspiring the addition of this mechanic
        Touching the KC core
        Green circle tracking for Arkk
        getting a green on ice king
    Fix Soul Eater orbs being considered failed mechanics
    Attempt to put separators before mechanics that happen on enter combat (mainly impacts fixates as entering combat)
        Special thanks to Izzy.2093 for inspiring this addition
    Misc code cleanup
February 1 2019
    Add tracking for throwing an orb on Soul Eater
        Special thanks to Brokenyew.3901 for inspiring the addition of this mechanic
    Add filter text box to the chart
        (more filter options coming soon)
    Don’t show players in chart who aren’t currently in squad and only have downs/deaths
    Hide UI during loading screens / at character select
January 1 2019
    Make chart export button open the csv
    Change menus to mimic arcdps’s new style
December 18 2018
    Add tracking for being inside Qadim’s hitbox
    Add additional checks for empty player data
December 4 2018
    Remove some non-working mechanics from the options panel
    Rename several mechanics for more clarity
        Sloth
            stood in a bomb aoe -> stood in bomb aoe
        Xera
            touched an orb -> triggered an orb
        Samarog
            was hit by shockwave -> was shockwaved
        Deimos
            was hit by smash -> was smashed
        Soulless Horror
            stood in inner/outer donut -> stood in inner/outer ring
        Dhuum
            stood in a mark -> stood in a poison mark
            touched the center -> was sucked center
            stood in a teleport aoe -> stood in dip aoe
        MAMA
            was hit by wirl -> was hit by whirl
        Feedback on these or any other wording changes is welcome. One of my goals has been to be sure that when someone looks at the log they can quickly understand what they were hit by.
    Add check to be sure the chart csv export path isn’t empty
    Add additional checks for if a player id is 0
        (fixes a rare case where lagging players might get missing/malformed combat data)
        Special thanks to [TK] Toxic Knights for helping me track this one down
    Add tracking for Qadim’s teleport
    Significant performance optimizations
        went from ~3% CPU usage to <1%
    Fix a mechanic rarely appearing twice in the log
    Fix touching a gorseval orb showing up in the log more times than intended
    Misc code cleanup
October 7 2018
    Add UI panel to choose where mechanics are displayed (log vs chart vs hidden)
    Fix wing 6 bosses not having a name in the .csv output
    Add option to only show mechanics affecting yourself
    Add mechanics tracking for
        Twin Largos
            Boon steal
            geyser
            dash
    Fix Qadim shockwave detection only tracking waves from the destroyer and not Qadim himself
October 2 2018
    This version fixes compatibility with arcdps versions from October 2 2018 and newer. Using old versons of this mechanics plugin with new versions of arcdps will yield completely inaccurate results
    Update for arcdps event structure changes
    Change “ate shockwave” to “was shockwaved” in log
October 1 2018
    Add tracking for some wing 6 mechanics
        Coagulated Amalgamate
            squashed (arm slamming down in player)
        Twin Largos
            shockwave
            waterlogged stacks (chart only)
            bubble
            getting a tidal pool
            standing in whirlpool
        Qadim
            shockwave
            arcing fire lines (chart only)
    Fix flux bombs being counted as a “failed” mechanic
    Add experimental ini support for choosing which mechanics are in the log vs chart vs hidden (UI for this coming soon)
        0 = hidden
        1 = chart only
        2 = log only
        3 = both
    Change window names to title case to match the experimental arcdps naming conventions
September 11 2018
    Add tracking for
        WARNING: These require arcdps from September 10 2018 or newer. This is the ‘experimental’ arcdps build at the time of this posting. Using an older arcdps build will work, but the below mechanics will be missing from the output
        When someone GETS the Xera magic, instead of when the magic is used
        Xera teleports
        Deimos teleports
        FotM flux bombs
        Dhuum putrid marks (chart only)
    Fix some mechanics not being detected if a player gets multiple mechanics in a very short time frame
    Fix closing a Deimos tear being counted as a ‘Fail’
    Fix cairn slaps being improperly detected when a player has stability
    Improved Deimos oil tracking
        This should be more robust now. It’s not gonna be 100% accurate for extremely chaotic situations, but it should be easy to know who’s responsible from the output
    Rename “Received” mechanics to “Neutral” mechanics
July 16 2018
    Remove KC east/west fixate tracking
        Unfortunately, the KC changes make the east and west sides now use the same id. As such, they are no longer distinguishable. 🙁
July 10 2018
    Fix mysterious issue where some computers couldn’t load the .dll file
July 10 2018
    MAJOR rewrite of almost all of the internal tracking
        Breakage is possible everywhere
    Add detection for:
        Dhuum cone
        Cairn slap
            Special thanks to Mike the Gemini for inspiring the addition of this mechanic
        Separate detection for KC east vs west fixate
            Special thanks to [Meta] Dungeon Ducks for inspiring the addition of this mechanic
            This was working before KC was broken. This might no longer be accurate/possible. I’ll fix this once KC is confirmed to be stable
            Hopefully they still have separate ids for the different sides
    Use the Arc ini settings for click settings (game restart required on change)
    Fix a very rare crash when too many players are hit by mechanics within 1 game tick
    Lay groundwork for arcdps cbtevent1 change (not active yet)
    Don’t export the csv if there’s nothing in it
April 4 2018
    Add detection for:
        Soul eater puke
        Soul eater spider web
    Fix hotkeys not unlocking when GW2 is not the active window
    Code cleanup
April 2 2018
    Remove April Fools changes in case someone takes them seriously
March 31 2018
    Fix the mechanics log filter field from sometimes stealing input when pressing TAB
March 28 2018
    Fix hotkeys passing input to the game when pressed
March 26 2018
    Add detection for:
        Picking up demonic tears
        Deimos smash during last 10%
    Add (hopefully) better Deimos oil tracking
        This should not list as many people after the initial person expands the oil. Let me know of any issues / inaccuracies. I haven’t had any deviation from dps.report in my testing
    Disable Dhuum dying on green detection
        This should have been disabled for the last release since it doesn’t work. Oops.
    Fix Xera magic listing the person with magic multiple times
    Add hotkey support for the mechanics log/chart
        By default:
            Alt+Shift+L = Log
            Alt+Shift+N = Chart
        Can be changed in config as decimal (not hex) key codes from here
    Add some additional crash safeguards
    Only show some mechanics in the log to reduce spam
        All are still shown in the chart
        Soon there will be an option per mechanic of what to display where
    Misc code cleanup
    Very minor performance optimizations
March 3 2018
    This now requires arcdps from feb.27.2018 or newer
    Code cleanup
    Performance optimizations (especially in boon-heavy environments)
    Fix chart breaking after clearing it
    Add Soulless Horror debuff tracking
    Make deimos smash still count if the player has stability (since stability doesn’t prevent the knockback)
    Mechanics Export
        Add player name to the csv for the mechanics lines (makes excel parsing easier)
        Add account name
        Started work for counting the number of boss pulls (currently always 0, will be added soon)
    Add support for loading/saving settings
        arcdps_mechanics.ini is next to the arcdps.ini file
        Currently saves:
            which panels were visible
            the export location for the mechanic chart exporting
    Always show the people in the same party/squad/instance in the chart
February 8 2018
    Rename SH fixate to say the person took fixation
    Rename KC ‘fixate’ -> ‘fixated’ for consistency
    Add tracking for more green circle patterns on Cairn
    Add gorseval orb detection
    Shorten Dhuum suction aoe text
    Add initial chart exporting as text or csv
        Chart is exported to ‘My Documents\Guild Wars 2\addons\arcdps\arcdps.mechanics’
        There is currently not an option for changing the file path (soon tm)
        You can see an example export here
        Chart is auto-exported when the game is closed
    Use combat notifies to populate player list
    Fix potential underflow with vapor form manual case
January 24 2018
    Fix Dhuum CM snatch detection not working when a player is dropped and picked up again in the same attempt
January 21 2018
    Fix MD5 Generation
    Considerable rewright of mechanic definitions (breakage possible)
    Minor performance optimizations
    Add experimental fixation detection for sloth,souless horror,KC,sam
    Add player merging to the chart (for when a player swaps characters)
    Fix dhuum affliction not registering while in downstate
    Added separate “Clear” button to the chart
    Remove some empty space to the right of the log filter text
January 14 2018
    Add Mechanics Chart
        Shows all mechanics recieved/failed over all pulls until manually cleared
    Add detection for:
        Dhuum – teleport aoes
        Dhuum – touching center during suction
        Dhuum CM – snatch
        Matthias – corruption
        Matthias – sacrifice
        FotM – Shattered Observatory (normal mode) – Arkk pie slice detection
    Fix some mechanics counting if hit while in downstate
    Fix FotM – Shattered Observatory CM – Arkk – bomb detection (skill id changed after the bugfixes to the fractal)
    Make standing in red xera aoes have 1 second (from 2 seconds) frequency for more granularity
    Rename the Dhuum “golem” to a “messenger”
    Rename the Soulless Horror “golem” to “torment”
    Make gui windows non-collapsible (removed the weird triangle that didn’t do anything anyways)
    Add manual case for Vapor Form / Illusion of Life not counting as a down
    Performance optimizations
December 7 2017
    Fix Dhuum affliction occasionally showing the player hit by the bomb instead of the player with the bomb
    Add detection for Dhuum shackles
    Add detection for Dhuum cracks
December 3 2017
    Remove erroneous Cairn shard reflect logging with new versions of arcdps
    Only show who was afflicted of Dhuum, not who was hit by it (attempt 1)
December 2 2017
    Add mechanics detection for various Nightmare fotm mechanics
        MAMA
            Flaming wirl
            cone knockback
            giant leap
            standing in acid
            knight’s hammer smash
        Siax
            standing in acid
        Ensolyss
            lunge (being run over)
            smash attack with the 5 adds
    Added mechanics detection for some of Shattered Observatory fotm mechanics
        These skill ids might have changed with some of the various bug fixes to the fractal. If any of these mechanics are not being correctly detected, let me know.
        Arkk
            standing in pie slices
            cone knockback
            exploding a bomb outside a dome
    Added mechanics detection for some raid wing 5 mechanics
        These mechanics are not as fully tested as normal. I wanted to get a release for everyone to try out and hopefully help find any issues with the detection. I believe these all work in some capacity, but for now there might be some errors.
        Horror
            standing in the inner/outer donut
            standing in golem aoe
            standing in pie slices
            touching a scythe
        Dhuum
            touching a golem
            hitting an ally with affliction
November 4 2017
    Add detection for standing in Sabetha cannon fire
    Add detection for missing green circles on Cairn (ignored when player has stability)
    Add MD5 hash
October 26 2017
    Add Samarog “Bludgeon” detection (Vertical smack during last 33%)
        Special thanks to shootingstar.7160 and [BLCC] (Black Lion Cookie Company) for inspiring the addition of this mechanic
    Re-enable Xera magic detection
        Not fully tested, but it should work now
    Fix potential issue where closing and re-opening the mechanics log would prevent future logging
    Hopefully fix multiple prints for Deimos oils
        It should be good, but let me know of any found inaccuracies
    Use “=” instead of “-” to separate new boss attempts to allow for better/easier filtering
October 22 2017
    Added gui integration with arcdps
        Enable the mechanics log with the last checkbox in the arcdps options panel (Alt+Shift+T by default)
        The mechanics log can be moved/resized
        Text can be filtered by player name or mechanic
    Partial fix for deimos oil print spaming (the 1st person is the one who activated the oil)
October 11 2017
    Use new get_init_addr from arcdps combat api (this now requires arcdps from oct.05.2017 or newer)
    Only show 1 person touching a Deimos oil
    Add “————–” between boss attempts
    Show timestamps as min:sec as time since starting combat
    Added Sabetha sapper bomb, time bomb detection (this will currently be a bit spammy at Bandit Trio and during trash clearing)
October 4 2017
    Initial release