AC softcap and low level hardcap discussion

[DeathsSilkyMist]

After taking a look at Haynar's post on AC softcaps, I decided to test if the formula given was a hardcap formula or a softcap formula:

I added a low level raw ac cap of level * 6 + 25.

To test this I put a Fungi and some AC gear on my level 5 Bard mule. I had two level 5 skeletons attack me so I could get some hit data. I did one test with 55 AC, and one test with 178 AC. I sampled 400 hits from each test.

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55 worn AC ("raw ac cap" of level * 6 + 25)
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DV = Damage Value

DV, Count
01, 167
02, 19
03, 25
04, 17
05, 27
06, 23
07, 28
08, 11
09, 34
10, 25
11, 18
12, 6

Total Damage = 1731

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178 worn AC (123 AC above 55 cap)
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DV = Damage Value

DV, Count
01, 160
02, 28
03, 27
04, 4
05, 32
06, 30
07, 31
08, 12
09, 24
10, 33
11, 12
12, 7

Total Damage = 1728

As you can see, the amount of damage is basically the same, as is the number of hits for 1 damage.

Therefore, the following formula is a low level hardcap (I don't know what level range this is):

I added a low level raw ac cap of level * 6 + 25.

Going off of this quote:

And we use a softcap system, not a hardcap based system.

This means there is a separate softcap system that is used as well.

The only things I saw that Haynar confirmed are the following:

Warriors get a 45% return above softcap.

Adding a shield increases ur softcap.

Using the information above, I will show what some of the EQEMU values are:

ClothACSoftcap = 75;
LeatherACSoftcap = 100;
MonkACSoftcap = 120;
ChainACSoftcap = 200;
PlateACSoftcap = 300;
WarriorACSoftcapReturn = 0.45;
KnightACSoftcapReturn = 0.33;
LowPlateChainACSoftcapReturn = 0.23;
LowChainLeatherACSoftcapReturn = 0.17;
CasterACSoftcapReturn = 0.06;

These are supposedly "old" values, but this is probably in the context of the EQEMU itself going past Velious. As you can see here, the Warrior AC softcap return is also 45%, so this is probably a good starting point for further testing.