AC issues are starting to be really problematic.

[Adolphus]

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

rather than telling developers how to develope their server why dont u write some code that supports what u want to see fixed

if ur not a coder than this suggestion is pretty worthless as R has alrdy explained everything you bring up

/smh

No need to get on a nerdy powertrip there partner lol. I'm sure the devs don't need a guardian angel looking after them, even if I were being hostile or mean (which I obviously am not).

All I was suggesting was that it might be easier to look into making AC stronger rather than going through the hassle of altering a shitload of NPC's. The idea being: devs avoid X hours doing something when there might be a much faster (though not entirely kosher) way of fixing it. Gerrymandering the AC system to work with the current NPC stats would seem the faster route.

[JayN]

itll never ever be classi we are in a totally rewritten client; our best bet is to jack up Disciplines to offset the broken code

[Rogean]

The client has nothing to do with AC Code and the code isn't broken, the npc's need to be adjusted. See Splorf's latest parse data for proof. I'm done explaining this to people. If you don't have something that actually contributes to the thread, don't post.

[Splorf22]

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

the npc's need to be adjusted.

Is there any way to do this automatically? It seems like fixing the 'default' values should be a high priority if only to minimize staff stress . . .

How hard would it be to write a script to compute the AC of a 'median' tank (I say median, not mean, because the average might be substantially skewed by twinks) for each level. At that point you can match up each a 'normal' mob of each level with an appropriate level tank and just have a script try all ATK/STR values until something reasonable comes out. Maybe give all named +10% ATK or whatnot by default.

[wycca]

Ok, here is how defensive checks worked on live, I was just trying to respond to your original comment of not being sure if how it's working on P99 is right -

1000 NPC swings on PC
Block fires 10% = 100 blocks, 900 get thru to dodge check
Dodge fires 5% = 45 dodges, 855 get thru to riposte check
Riposte fires 5% = 43 ripostes, 812 get thru

[Rogean]

We're not worried about previous expansions right now. We are focusing on velious and getting the system good for those mobs. Once we're happy with where it is, we can go back then.

[Alunova]

AC in eq was never comparable to newer games with significant and noticeable increases for each small gain. It was more subtle, I remember the same arguments on if and how much it really mattered back then as well.

The difference should only really be noticeable in large sample size logs of 10k+ hits. Not short 100 hit logs that can be hand chosen specifically to push your view of how it should be and/or take advantage of the RNG.

[Alunova]

I'll also mention that we do have tank characters with different AC values that we use for testing, some of which have far more hours in at taking a beating from raid bosses then any normal character. AC most definitely works when comparing different AC values on the same NPC over a significant time period.

[wycca]

Side note, if it helps for verifying resists or AC/NPC dps/stats - I've got a lvl 76 monk on Test who cannot die. Can easily parse anything in Velious you want (if I can find it up). I also reset the AA, so those wont be a problem.

While a lvl 76 toon isn't directly comparable to P99, I'm guessing that you guys could duplicate the character/skills & lvl 76. A velious npc parsing/resisting the same on both P99 and live would suggest the systems are very similar.

[Alunova]

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

Side note, if it helps for verifying resists or AC/NPC dps/stats - I've got a lvl 76 monk on Test who cannot die. Can easily parse anything in Velious you want (if I can find it up). I also reset the AA, so those wont be a problem.

While a lvl 76 toon isn't directly comparable to P99, I'm guessing that you guys could duplicate the character/skills & lvl 76. A velious npc parsing/resisting the same on both P99 and live would suggest the systems are very similar.

One of the problems with this is that we will never get all the values.

Attack, multiple layers of AC, accuracy, haste, strength, individual resists, dex, attack speed, hps, special attack flags, agility etc etc. and this is only the value side of it. The code would also have to work exactly the same for both NPCs and players for each value to get an exact replica. This is simply not feasible even if we worked on velious for the next 10 years.

Since that is not feasible, we work to balance bosses and npcs to the approximate difficulty or slightly above through testing.

What is useful is listing comparison data such as so and so is really resistant to disease or this boss attacks superninjafast or like Haynar mentioned, AC doesn't seem to work in this range or for this NPC. We need the little corrections such as "this boss is not supposed to enrage" or "this guy is really easy/hard to hit".

Changing things at this point will mean retesting and rebalancing everything done so far, when we know that AC is working in normal situations.