GINA triggers for detrimental effects
 

So, I'm pretty new to using GINA. Until recently, I only played au naturale p99, using only the default UI and even extremely minimal macros. I just recently installed GINA and spent several hours setting up triggers for a ton of buff timers as well as warning popups, but then I came to detrimental effects.

What I want: duration countdown timers for debuffs (primarily dots, mezzes, and fixed duration debuffs)

The immediate two options that come to mind for tracking debuffs/dots would be:

1) log message when the debuff is applied to a target (can't distinguish between mine and others debuffs)

2) use the start casting message and modify the duration to include the cast time of the spell.

I'm leaning toward option 2, but wondered if there was a better way to show time remaining for detrimental effects. I'm a total GINA noob, so I'm sure there is a ton of stuff that vets know about that I don't.

Somebody school me plz

I use gamtext triggers, and I am pretty sure the two bullet points are the only way I've ever done what you're asking about.

It usually doesn't matter that much (it can be a pain if you start casting, trigger your timer, get interrupted, etc.)...but usually it works very well.

If your program is doing anything other than reading the log file then it would be against the rules, and I'm pretty sure those are the only two ways you can see that information in a log file. So, I'd be surprised if there was some other way of legally doing it in GINA or another program.

One thing you can do, is set up different filter profiles (you can do this in GTT, not sure about GINA) so I rarely have so many duplicate detrimental filters at any one time on a single character. Roots, slows, tash, etc. all have similar and sometimes identical messages, but I usually delete the old filter as the character levels and save the profile to be specific to character I'm playing...so when I log in my baby shaman on green and he casts slow his profile is different than my 60 shaman on blue (even though both filters are set to "yawns").

Yeah, there are cancel triggers in GINA too, so I'd set it to restart the timer if there is another entry of the cast message to avoid duplicates on fizzles/interrupts.

There are a few ways to handle what you're doing:

For option 1: You get to see the debuffs on your target (and any other targets) regardless of who casts it. The benefit here being if you see your target is already Mezzed, you wouldn't re-mezz the target, same goes for other dots/debuffs. From a grouping/raiding standpoint, this is ideal

For option 2: You control and see only your stuff, which you can equally use cancellation macros (as you stated), however those would be impacted by future casts as well. Example is you setup your timer to have a cancellation trigger for "Your casting is interrupted" or "Your spell fizzles". When you cast Mezz on the target and it lands, then attempt to gate out and it fizzles, all debuffs will disappear, despite them not actually being off the targets anymore.

Option 1 is the safest, utilizing the cancel triggers as well. Since you don't know what target drops their debuffs, you could setup to drop after a certain time period, as well as when the target is killed (by you or someone else) or the message that "Your {spell} has worn off". The problem is if you have 3 or 4 mobs, that last option (worn off) will cancel all debuff messages, so I typically recommend against that, and focus only on the killed messages.

Would be happy to discuss more. I love working with Gina, as it allows me to clear up a ton of on-screen crap!

Good points there. Certain spells that are often cast on multiple mobs should maybe be excluded from cancellation triggers like mez and root, though early breaks would leave some countdowns ticking. Hmm.

I almost exclusively use option #1. Reasons
- you can include the target name in the timer. So if for example you are mezzing a Ghost and a Goblin, you can have a mez timer running for each by including the mob name in the countdown timer
- Fizzles and interrupts will give you false information if you are using Option #2
- If you are raiding, you can go into Options and filter out non-group spell messages. That will limit the number of extra timers that creep onto your screen.

Example of a timer for mez:
Trigger text: ^{s} has been mesmerized
Timer name: <<Mezzed>> --- {s}
Timer duration: 24 seconds

Note however that Dazzle gives exactly the same trigger text, which is annoying:
Trigger text: ^{s} has been mesmerized
Timer name: <<Dazzled>> --- {s}
Timer duration: 96 seconds

This is the downside of Option 1. There are a couple of other examples too, such as the Lull/Calm/Pacify line all give same message, several necro dots, etc. I find I get more utility out of using option 1, and I just put up with the occasional conflicts.

What would be really cool, would be if Gina could span multiple lines for triggers. So if perhaps you could search on
^You begin casting Dazzle
and then within a few lines of text, also search for
^{s} has been mesmerized

Now Gina could discriminate between Mesmerize and Dazzle, and other similar conflicts.

Good luck.

Consider using Nparse. And Nparse comes with a sweet map to help you get around. I still use Gina for some audio alerts, but Nparse it much better at keeping track of buff/debuffs

When I tried nparse briefly, sure it was easier than gina but I didn't like that it tracked EVERY spell. But maybe there is a way to have not track certain spells. I also couldn't get the map to stay up while I played the game. I've seen streams though where they have the map up the whole time. I know all of this is unclassic and arguably cheap, but the permanent map seems like an even deeper level of cheap to me for some reason.