AC and p99

[Troxx]

I guess I am just old school and too tied down to all my research on live. Granted … my research and extensive parsing on live did not start in earnest until some time well after Gates of Discord.

But I digress …

I got 2x Hammered Golden Loops on my warrior here. Then I got 2 for my Pal. Then another 2 for my necro then another for my bard and sham.

The casters I understand but for the plate tanks I will be honest - I held off for a LONG time as I didn’t want to suck the -15ac hit per.

I really haven’t noticed a difference other than I have 8 more stamina and 75 more go per ear. Perhaps this is simply because I am really only considering the raid mobs they are tanking and the ~100hp more I have per ear. Clearly this is a unique time in eq where complete heals are complete and more hp is always good …

But is ac broken?

I mean I have a 60 Ranger and ac doesnt seem to mean shit for her. But for the tanks? Does it actually help?

My experience thus far with these earrings is that negative xp be damned the hp is amazeballs. But they are also xp capped so not slumming on “trivial” targets found in xp groups.

I guess my question is for the raid goons amongst us who have experienced both HIGH hp and “meh” ac and HIGH HP and HIGH AC …

Does that extra armor class mean anything?

Or on p99 is ac a wash?

[Eisai]

/watch

[Snaggles]

If I was spending a lot of time soloing blues and crawling I’d prob have an AC set to swap for some of the more painful items like HGL’s. At least with the pally my bags are full of garbage like ragefire armor, CHA gear, and clickies so no room for extra AC stuff.

IMHO, most blue stuff is painful to slog through. The AC loss sucks but the HP gain is bonkers. Anything I have a CH on me the earrings won’t matter. Anything slowable matters even less. That said, I haven’t used my full lull kit in like 2 years so maybe it makes more sense to pack an Ivandyr’s and some other junk than for the lull I’m too lazy to swap for anyways.

[Snaggles]

In short, AC scales for all classes. It is more apparent classes with real defense skills. For my ranger it’s all MR with hps when I don’t sacrifice SV’s.

It’s not going to make a cleric’s life easier unless you are severely getting bruised up over long play sessions. In that case an extra 50AC won’t make things much better.

I’ve duoed Trunt before with a beefy monk. He took maybe 4 CH’s that were no where near scrapping the bottom of the HP bar. With c2 we ended the fight at like 75m. I expect with 300less AC and no avatar it would have been more difficult but two earrings isn’t going to make any difference.

[Eisai]

earrings make ALL the difference!

[Crede]

I was told get to 1200ac on a knight then focus on hp after that. Never tested on Ranger, pretty sure they still get rocked with 1500 ac.

[Jimjam]

I like to imagine these are huge gypsy hoops, like a hula hoop in size. A ring, being symbolic of infinity, pump the wearer full of vitality potential, but their great size makes it easy to snag and tear off with a weapon, doing terrible damage to the ear and trauma as they detach.

AC always feels very odd to me from level 40ish. Can’t wrap my head around it.

As to raid mobs? On most gear doesn’t really seem to matter that much provided you’re raid buffed. The stand out instance in which I was very disappointed was a 55 war in largely hate armour tanking Dagarn without issue.

[Duik]

Mittens of Ogre Strength.
+25 str - 50 dex. ALL/ALL Precludes bard instrument playing. 12% chance any proc affects the wielder.

[Ripqozko]

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

I was told get to 1200ac on a knight then focus on hp after that. Never tested on Ranger, pretty sure they still get rocked with 1500 ac.

Ranger ac is broke, doesnt work. Knights do, i noticed a nice change at 1300

[DeathsSilkyMist]

It depends on class and what you are fighting. Monks get extra benefit from max HP due to Mend. Ranger AC is apparently broken.

I stack AC and Resist gear on my Shaman over Max HP, as I am usually well below 100% HP when tanking mobs with Slow + Torpor + Cannibalize. I do have some HP/STA items of course, but I don't like using loops on my Shaman due to the -30 AC. I also have capped STA, so I am not getting the extra HP from the STA on loops.

Remember that many people use HP/STA earrings already, so the HP gains from 2x loops aren't as big as you think.

Lets compare 2x Hammered Golden Loop to Pearly Sarnak Bauble + Earring of Essence:

1. 150 HP, 16 STA, -30 AC, and 10 MR
2. 65 HP, 10 STA, 2 AC, and 10 MR

You are trading 32 AC for 85 HP and 6 STA. A 60 Warrior that isn't STA capped would be getting 121 HP at best. So you are trading 32 AC (a breastplate's worth of AC) for 121 Max HP, which is a little less than 1 max hit from a mob.

Generally speaking I wouldn't use loops, as 32 AC is probably going to reduce more damage than 121 Max HP (assuming you start every fight at 100% HP and/or are getting healed to full often). There are some exceptions of course. If Ranger AC is broken, loops may be better. Monks may like loops for the extra mend HP. Tanking raid mobs like AoW need HP over AC, etc.