Advanced Combat Tracker vs Warcraft Logs

Advanced Combat Tracker is a free Windows desktop tool for parsing MMO combat logs through plugins. Hosted plugins are listed for EverQuest II, Final Fantasy XIV, Rift, Age of Conan, Aion, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and The Secret World. It can parse logs in real time, import complete log files, or look up older encounters in its History Database. Tables and graphs show combat from an encounter overview down to individual actions; Encounter VCR and Encounter Timeline provide graphical encounter views. Spell timers and custom triggers can respond to matching log lines, capture part of a line, play sounds, or start timers. Exports include formatted text, HTML, XML, and web pages, with FTP uploads and ODBC connectivity also supported. Its .NET plugin system accepts precompiled assemblies or C# and Visual Basic.NET source files. The download page lists ACT Setup version 3.8.5.288 and points users to Microsoft .NET Framework 4.8.1; .NET Core and .NET 5–8 will not work with ACT. An installer and ZIP archive are available.

Warcraft Logs provides combat analysis for Blizzard's World of Warcraft MMO. Users can record combats, upload reports, and analyze activity in real time; its client monitors combat logs and sends new events to the site as they appear. Reports can be kept in a personal log space or shared in a guild area. Analysis views include Analytical, Events, and Combat Replay. Public boss logs are ranked using measures such as damage per second and healing per second, while guilds and teams can be ranked for fight speed and execution. Linking a Battle.net account gives the service access to a user's characters and guilds. Users can claim characters and hide their parses from public view and listings. A free plan is available. Paid plans include Silver at $2 a month, Gold at $5 a month, Platinum at $10 a month, and Archon Alchemical Society at $25 a month. Gold provides 9,000 API points per hour and access to logs over two years old; Platinum provides 18,000 API points per hour and guild archive access for all guild users.