I looked for patterns in animation when I first noticed the random 30ms increase. No specific pattern of animations produced it every time, nor did it come at a specific interval - i.e. every 10 attacks or whatever.
As far as I can tell, the only thing that animation affects other than damage is Final Attack speed. I'll play around with Final Attack some more tomorrow.
Tick counts are measured in ms, so yes, they are accurate. Holding down the key randomly produces the difference that I stated. That is, there's no chance for anything else (lag, failure to press the key fast enough in the case of non-charge skills, acts of God, etc.) to be a factor. I also made sure to check every skill I was testing many times over before committing to one number as the proper value after figuring out this randomness factor.
EDIT: On a somewhat interesting note, the only things you can even use faster by rapid presses rather than holding down the key are charge skills. Holding down the key is essentially the same as mashing it like crazy.
EDIT2: Sample output from Pumpkin Spear + Spear Booster + Power Strike so you see what I mean:
SKILLID WSPEED: TICK COUNT (DIFFERENCE FROM LAST)
As far as I can tell, the only thing that animation affects other than damage is Final Attack speed. I'll play around with Final Attack some more tomorrow.
Tick counts are measured in ms, so yes, they are accurate. Holding down the key randomly produces the difference that I stated. That is, there's no chance for anything else (lag, failure to press the key fast enough in the case of non-charge skills, acts of God, etc.) to be a factor. I also made sure to check every skill I was testing many times over before committing to one number as the proper value after figuring out this randomness factor.
EDIT: On a somewhat interesting note, the only things you can even use faster by rapid presses rather than holding down the key are charge skills. Holding down the key is essentially the same as mashing it like crazy.
EDIT2: Sample output from Pumpkin Spear + Spear Booster + Power Strike so you see what I mean:
SKILLID WSPEED: TICK COUNT (DIFFERENCE FROM LAST)
Spoiler