Lemmings of the Light

By Akaryxn

You get yourself ready for the raid; pots: check; buff food: check; bandages for Mac: check...you buff up...fingers poised on keys, ready to attack...then comes the dreaded Raid Warning from the raid leader- "Start your combat logs!".

Er...what?

For those who do not know what this means or entails, read on (for those that do, shoo...go do something interesting).

Combat logs are what we use to generate the stats from raids. It's not an add-on, it's part of the blizzard tools so you need no extra software. But the important thing to note is that the more people that make a log, the more accurate it is.

Making a Combat Log
1. Before the raid, check you do not have a current log. Go to your WoW/Logs folder and check there is no combatlog file there. If there is, move it or delete it (it's easy to spot...it's called...well...combatlog).
2. When you are zoned into the instance but before the killing starts (buffing phase is a good time) start your log by typing in chat /combatlog
3. The log will run until you stop it by typing /combatlog, or you disconnect. If you are unsure whether you started your log or not, type /combatlog and the chat message will tell you if logging has been enabled or disabled. If you disabled it, just type /combatlog to start it again (it will not overwrite what you have, but just append to the end of your current log)
4. Remember to restart your log if you disconnect. Note - even if you forget for a fight or two, restart it when you can. Neti can merge all the logs together, so any information is useful.
5. When the raid is done, stop your log (/combatlog....are you getting the idea?), and you need to log out from WoW. My advice is rename the log in your WoW/Logs folder, then move it to another folder (thereby clearing the log in your main wow folder so you can skip step 1 next time).
6. Zip (compress) the file, and email it to Neti...I'll let him decide how he wishes to divulge his email address, but there should be others online who can tell you, if you have made a log.

It is important that more than one person makes a log, as if, for example, you die and relaese to graveyard only to find you cannot get back in to the boss fight, your log will not show what is going on in the heat of the battle. Also, your range from other players can mean that your log does not pick up what they do. So the moral of the story is....if you want to make yourself look better...make a combat log

I hope this is not too confusing, it is easy to skip basic points when you have done it a few times, so if I've missed anything, please comment.

Oh...and a prize of 10 fish for anyone who can send the wrong log to Neti more often than me

Ary

(Sorry if this is in the wrong place, but I thought it best here, and I couldn't find this info anywhere else on the site)