Druid AC caps and shields

[Vexenu]

What's the current worn AC cap for Druids? Is it worth throwing in some higher AC items (i.e. Crystal Chitin Gauntlets with 20AC) to get near the cap when charming?

Also, does the shield AC bonus (i.e. going over the worn cap) apply to casters as well? Wondering if grabbing a Sarnak Battle Shield for charming would make a noticeable difference when taking hits.

[PestilentCancer]

The shield ac overcap thing was a post-Velious feature, iirc. Something like Orb of the Infinite Void may be a better investment.

[Jimjam]

The cap on AC in the Velious era wasn't a soft cap; it was a hard cap that had been there from day 1. After a certain point, which differed for each class, the benefit of more AC didn't just diminish - it dropped to nothing.

The change I referred to, just before PoP, changed that from a hard cap to a soft cap. You get a percentage of the amount over that soft cap. Shields increase both your total and your soft cap, making them more effective than any other item with equal AC. Your mitigation AAs, level, and class also affect the cap and the percentage return for AC over it.

Separate from this, there are diminishing returns if your AC is much greater than the NPC's attack. This is due to the nature of the formulas that produce the probability distributions that have been well documented on this board.

Does that help?

- Kavhok, SOE

https://web.archive.org/web/20041209...?threadid=7643

I found this really lovely post explaining how shields are counted after the game changed to AC softcap (from hardcap) system.

Obviously p1999 is set before this change, however it is reverse engineered from a system which included this change, and as other posters note above, p99 doesn't seem to perfectly emulate the pre-luclin AC system.

Note: the era that post was made was a really interesting time for learning EQ mechanics as SoE were just beginning to pull the veil since statisticians were managing to parse and twig how things work (one poster mentions "This "AC softcap" that we have just learned about in these two threads is clearly not the same as the "AC softcap" that people talked about back in Velious days" - the velious 'softcap' was an emergent quality due to characters being able to stack enough AC to completely squelch mobs attack values .... with the exception of AoW - mob attack values, and achievable AC on p99 is WAY over tuned).

[Vexenu]

So if I'm understanding correctly, AC scales in a linear fashion and shield AC is not treated differently from normal item AC?

[Jimjam]

Okay, while I thought you may be interested in historical iterations of AC on live, I reckon you are most interested in how it works specifically here in context of your characters. No mention of what the return after softcap is for druids, but some of your questions are answered in a post I found for you.

I found a post for you from one of the Devs who worked on p99 AC system.

https://www.project1999.com/forums/s...8&postcount=13

There is a component to your defense rating based on level.

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

Warriors get a 45% return above softcap.

Adding a shield increases ur softcap.

Based on new formulas from soe, i am removing the level part from defense rating. And increasing the ac component by 4/3. This helps ac mean more, and you get hit harder naked.

Other changes that are on beta, is iksar ac bonus is moved to be equal to level, 10 min, 35 max. Previously it was level/2. Not 15 like wiki had i guess.

At low levels the softcap is more level based than defense based. I basically doubled transition so at low levels ac means more.

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

It looks better now and i can see ac scaling damage up to soft cap, and lesser reductions above softcap.

H
__________________
Haynar <Millennial Snowflake Utopia>

Hope this helps.

[Vexenu]

Originally Posted by Jimjam [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Hope this helps.

Somewhat.

I searched through some old threads myself and even saw this one you linked, but I wasn't sure how much has changed in the ten years (!!) since that post.

I guess I'm really just trying to figure out the practical benefits of stacking up AC/HP on a charming Druid, and if it will actually make a noticeable difference in survivability (also wondering if the shield AC bonus is still a thing or if an 35AC Orb of Infinite Void would be better).

My Druid now is mostly WIS/mana geared for quadding (and outdoor charming where it's easy to avoid getting hit). But I've been thinking of attempting some Kedge charming, so I'm wondering if it's worth beefing up with high AC stuff like Crystal Chitin, HP jewelry, SBS, etc...

[Jimjam]

Isn’t orb of the infinite void a shield? I assumed it was. Maybe I’m wrong.

Kurrat’s All in One Magician Guide on wiki has a couple of short parses tanking a couple of mastadons looking at about 630 vs 1330 AC and the low ac build takes about 50% more damage. Now, there may be a point of diminished returns where worn AC is basically squelching mob attk (and adding ac beyond that won’t really do much) but I suppose the question remains: when is that point reached? Is a shield helpful to reach it?

You’ll have to run your own experiments to know for sure.

[Vexenu]

Originally Posted by Jimjam [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Isn’t orb of the infinite void a shield? I assumed it was. Maybe I’m wrong.

I was under the impression that there was a special category for "shields" (pretty much limited to items that actually look like shields and have the word shield in their name) and that this special "shield" designation allowed for all the AC on the item to apply above the normal AC cap (similar to Iksar AC bonus). The practical result being be that a good shield would, by itself, make the user noticeably more tanky (much more so than wearing the equivalent amount of AC in other items).

Is this mistaken? Maybe I read this about TAKP at some point (i.e. it was a post-Velious change) and erroneously applied it to P1999?