Advanced Combat Tracker Interview
A: Aditu - Reading the log file, it records combat actions it observes and attempts to show the data in a way that can be easily read. One of the main points of ACT is detail. Every swing that takes place, every spell that does damage is recorded and can be viewed individually. I wasn't really satisfied with seeing broad statistics but being able to see exactly why those statistics were. Once all of that data is gathered, you can view analyses like DPS or totals.
Q: Akira - What has inspired you to make to make Advanced Combat Tracker and what is your background in programming?
A: Aditu - Primarily what inspired me to make ACT was the lack of other parsers widely available at the time. Back then, over a year ago, there were very few options to be had and none really met my needs. Before this project, I had very little real experience in programming. I had never done it professionally, and I had never made a standalone program to be released. A few months prior, I had started teaching myself a new programming language and used this as an excuse to learn more. In a real way, ACT is an accumulation of all I know about programming.
Q: Akira - What exactly does Advanced Combat Tracker do for a player?
A: Aditu - Reading the log file, it records combat actions it observes and attempts to show the data in a way that can be easily read. One of the main points of ACT is detail. Every swing that takes place, every spell that does damage is recorded and can be viewed individually. I wasn't really satisfied with seeing broad statistics but being able to see exactly why those statistics were. Once all of that data is gathered, you can view analyses like DPS or totals.
Q: Akira - Would you care to discuss with us any future plans or features that Advanced Combat Tracker might see in the future?
A: Aditu - One of the first things I'm looking at right now is the parsing of French server logs. German and Chinese logs are already able to be read which would leave this left. I'm working with a couple people now to gather the information I need, though there are snags. Or maybe road blocks... one of the messages Sony translated leaves out critical information, namely being the name of the attacker. Obviously this message cannot be parsed though there may be a solution to get the client to show this information using a specific setting. -- Other than that I have been thinking of redoing HTML exporting. At the moment, it is very simple, and not very configurable. It seems users are using these exports as simple presentations and I could probably do a better job at making them easier to view.
Q: Akira - Are there any future plans for more documentation on the Advanced Combat Tracker program?
A: Aditu - One of the largest setbacks of releasing ACT was actually making program help, FAQs and the website. At least three months I put the release back while doing those and adding other random things to the program. I'm certainly not against making a more formalized help file but aside from it being a lot of effort, I'm not really sure what to put into it.
Q: Akira - How do you feel about the surge of people who say parsers are the cause of many class balance issues?
A: Aditu - I don't think I've heard of this personally, but I think parsers are probably a poor scapegoat. Parsers are merely tools that look at data you already have. If someone was truely dedicated, everything a parser does can be done by hand. This is probably a poor analogy, but I'll state it: Take a bank statement... it shows all transactions you made in a period of time. You could have written down everything and done the calculations yourself and gotten the same results. Without either of these, you may only have a sense of the balance going up and down but never really know. Parsers only reenforce a general sense that you may already have of what is going on... or they may even prove you wrong. If someone has a sense that their class is unbalanced, I don't think a lack of a parser is going to stop them from voicing that opinion. Furthermore, I don't think Sony would completely out of hand rebalance a class ONLY because people complain, but because there was a real issue.
Q: Akira - When I first emailed you about an interview for your popular program, how thrilled were you?
A: Aditu - At first, I thought this is a very strange question... but really it may not be. I have to say that I'm continually amazed at the attention my project gets me. When I first started thinking of doing it around the begining of 2005, I couldn't have imagined all of this. So yes, I am really excited. I still can't imagine where it'll go from here either.
Looking for more information about Advanced Combat Tracker (ACT)? Head on over to their Home Page.
