AC is best for solo/group content. It does indeed reduce incoming damage. For raiding AC is less useful, due to monsters hitting harder, faster, and having higher minimum damages.
As for how detrimental the AC penalty is at lower levels, I am currently leveling a monk. From 10-30 I didn't see a huge difference, but I do have a Fungi hehe. It may be a bit different for Monks without fungis, or higher level monks soloing harder content. My monk from 20-30 usually had 25-40 stones worth of weight from coin and fine steel weapons, and I didn't have a problem.
The client AC values I am pretty sure are wrong, and the Server is the one doing the calculations. But I believe the client is correct in terms of when it starts showing your AC being reduced due to weight. According to the wiki my level 30 can hold 16.9 weight before my AC is reduced, and this seems to be reflected in the client.
|