Balancing AC and HP (For Paladins/ShadowKnights)

[Splorf22]

Nice work Saz. Gonna copy my post from the bug forums:

http://www.project1999.org/forums/sh...33&postcount=1

OK, I am guessing that Kanras directly implemented the formulas Treats found. Lets assume this is so. In that case

Originally Posted by above link

Melee Mitigation = (Buffs/4) + (Defense/3) + (Equipment * 4/3)

So we can assume that since Warriors and Monks have almost the same defense skill, their mitigation should depend almost entirely on equipped AC. The really good part about this post is the part we can take as more or less gospel by Kahvok, an EQ designer. They ran some tests around Luclin before the monk AC nerf:

Originally Posted by Kahvok

Class War Pal Mnk
Level 51 51 51
Raw Item AC 184 181 107 (effective: 163)
Avg Hit 72.6 72.9 74.6
% Hits for Max 10.2% 10.5% 11.5%

Class War Pal Mnk (prenerf)
Level 60 60 60
Raw Item AC 296 281 163 (effective: 228)
Avg Hit 107.3 109.9 113.6

Class War Pal Mnk (postnerf)
Effective: 295 281 195
Avg Hit 106 108.9 121.3

Since warriors and monks both have the same defense skill, if the information in Treats' post is correct, then we can compare them directly. Going from 195 to 228 was good for a huge 6.5% reduction in damage. Going from 228 to 289 was good for an additional 5.5% reduction in damage. If there is some sort of diminishing returns (logical) then going from 155 to 195 as I did in my test should be MORE than 6.5% (40 vs 33, and in a higher part of the curve). That's well out of the range of error of the test. Again, these are the kind of numbers that make sense. AC was supposed to be good; no one would have figured out how to stack AC if +40AC was a 2-3% decrease in damage.

If you run the numbers, you'll find that 1AC is good for about a 0.11% increase in damage. 5000HP * 0.1% = 5.5HP, which is exactly the kind of ratio people used to quote. It's probably a bit less for ubermobs with huge attack values, and a bit more for XP mobs with lower values. A bit more if your AC is lower and a bit less if its higher. You get the idea.

Actually this thread is too depressing, lets just let it die. On Live Iksar warriors didn't have to go 3 years without armor upgrades. RAGE

[pharmakos]

when did that monk nerf happen?

[jijii]

Luclin, a bit after release

[kaev]

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

Shield bonuses came later in the game. Not classic.

iirc, according to that old (PoP-era?) dev post, the shield "bonus" (i.e. shield AC ignores the AC softcap) came in with the mid-velious melee combat revamp that brought Monks back down from demi-godhood. [edit]was monk nerf really not until Luclin?[/edit]

[koros]

Not til the end of Luclin in fact.

[pharmakos]

i was having this discussion with someone in guild chat. i swear the melee revamp/monk nerf happened towards the end of velious. guess i'm gonna have to do some research soon.

[Splorf22]

Your next toon should be Pharmakeus Escapegoat

[pharmakos]

next one is probably gonna be Escapegoatse, as per an <Azure Guard> guild chat in-joke [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Treats]

Monk nerf happened just before Planes of Power was released.

http://www.tski.co.jp/baldio/patch/20021016.html

[mtb tripper]

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

next one is probably gonna be Escapegoatse, as per an <Azure Guard> guild chat in-joke [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]