That's kind of what I'm getting at.
I'd like an answer to the question, "What are the main things that will increase an individual toon's raw DPS (not considering group make-up, aDPS, etc.) other than AAs and worn items?"
I understand it's sort of a "but/if" question, since group composition makes a significant impact on DPS, but what are the general "if you do this thing, your DPS will increase" things?
Jann's Veil?
Poisons for melee toons?
Pet toys?
Hero's Fort AAs?
I was hoping to create a little catch-all reference for folks to look at and go, "oh, my BER doesn't use poisons regularly" or "my MAG doesn't have XYZ spell focus buff" or whatever so we can all sort of dip our chips in the salsa and pull out what works for us.
The holistic group stuff is super helpful, but I haven't found a "here's a starting point. Build from there" type of a situation yet. /shrug
I mean if you take away group make-up, ADPS, AAs, and Worn items, you're really only left with clickies, and Augs if you don't consider augs worn items.
This is a game of inches, there's no "one cool trick" to make it all better.
You have to work on all the little things that build up into significant changes.
For example, on melee classes accuracy is a big deal. Especially the higher your level is. If you miss one swing on a berserker then you're losing out on a lot of DPS. If you fail to crit on a swing then you again miss out on a lot of DPS. If you're using a weapon from 3 expansions ago then you're missing out on a lot of DPS. If you have abilities that last 10-15 expansions like someone else mentioned - Knifeplay on a rogue, or perhaps Frenzied Resolve on a berserker, then getting those to Rk. III would be beneficial. So really you need to consider all the features of EQ in a combined environment without removing some things as an option.
You've given us little to no information to go on so it's hard to really give you any specific guidance. Everyone is at a different state of play at any given moment, and so the advice typically needs to be catered to the individual toons that are lacking.
Levels
Gear
AAs
Augs
Clickies
Proper Rotations
Group Synergy - Such as pairing the abilities of group member A with Group Member B to maximize DPS from both at the same time.
Using abilities based on content, such as burning if there is no expectation of a specific encounter requiring you to burn them down to ensure a speedy victory, you could instead burn the trash to mow through them quickly.
At the end of the day there isn't much of a catchall and all these things combined are what make a group or groups of characters have an overall improvement.
In the group game my necros DPS could be low because other characters are dealing crazy DPS, which doesn't allow the necro time for their DoTs to take full effect and thus I appear to have Low DPS when in fact there is nothing wrong with the necro, it's just everything is now dead before they have an opportunity to fully realize their potential DPS.
Perhaps having a character that slows that also gives other debuffs like a reduction in AC or reduction to a specific resist may be the difference in dealing more damage over a shorter amount of time in a combat scenario.
Most of what I heard like pre-burning, using hotkeys, levitating over areas to get to a mob faster, etc all lead to better results, but at the end of the day getting all the characters all the tools that they need to be individually successful while also creating a sort of combo in your rotation with other class will all ultimately lead to a better overall DPS and as a by product kills per hour.
