Transformation Card - Why do people claim it is so good?

Transformation Card - Why do people claim it is so good?

Ok, please correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm still scratching my head wondering why people claim the transformation card is so good.

Some maths:

Assuming your char spends 20/40 skill points respectively in crit chance and crit damage in skill point allocation.

Your char sheet shows 25% crit chance, 105% crit damage.

1) With no transformation card artifact

Assume your char does 100k damage
25% crit chance means 25% of 100k = 25k dmg extra crit damage
105% crit damage means that 25k damage is multiplied by 1.05 = 26.25k crit damage
total damage inclusive of crits = 100k + 26.25k = 126.25 k

2) With transformation card artifact at rank 200

Originally your char does 100k damage, now it does 85k damage
45% crit chance means 45% of 85k = 38.25k dmg extra crit damage
135% crit damage means that 38.25k damage is multiplied by 1.35 = 51.6k crit damage
total damage inclusive of crits = 85k + 51.6k = 136.6 k

Percentage increase in damage with a rank 200 transformation card artifact
= [(136.6 - 126.25)/126.25] x 100%
= 8%

Whereas for artifacts like Grimorium Verum, even at rank 120, I found that it could increase my character's single target dps by around 20%.

So why do people swear by the Transformation Card artifact?
I don't get it.

Your math is a bit off. At rank 200 the average damage increase should be around 13% for any ability or attack that can crit.
As for why that's so good,

• You don't need to change anything about your load out or change your play style.
• It's like having a 25% supercharge that never expires and doesn't take a load out slot
• Though there's a nerf to non-crits, on average it's a bonus so there is really no penalty for using it.
• It works as a healing artifact also.

which part of my math is off?

That is true. It works for more then just dps

I tested it with berserker that give another 50% crit change and the 15% damage reduction is just 2 much of a nerf for what it gives.
I personally prefer: EOG, Venom(Prec), scarp.

I know right. No matter how many times I tested the Transformation Card at rank 200 on the test server, the results were too dismal to justify using it over other dps artifact alternatives. Why do people claim the transformation card is BIS?

Which power? The chance-based aspect of the transformation card means it works best on powers that have a lot of damage ticks going off instead of just a few large ticks.

I personally have asked the same question myself. I ranked it up on a healer toon figuring to put it to double use, however I only notice a real difference when using something that has a lot of ticks (damage or healing). The additional crit chances pay of more if you are hitting them a lot with smaller hits/heals vs less big dump hits/heals. Meaning you might have to change your loadout to maximize it's potential.

But yeah, a bit of buyers remorse after all that XP/seals I threw into it.

I don't think it is for all powers. I got on test Server and played around with different loadouts and builds on my Quantum toon. I noted all my rotations, Artifacts and stats. It was weird but just changing some of the order of powers seemed to significantly change crit chances for the power. Ultimately I decided that my damage was better without it, especially because I was using Time Bomb on single target. I decided on Philosopher's Stone instead.

I put it on my Earth toon and I don't think it makes much of a difference. Probably should have stuck with Scrap/EoG for more SC spam.

Its best in slot for Might DPS but like it was said, it depends on the Power. You also have to factor in the Damage reduction at Rank 200. While the Crit chance/damage go up, the damage goes down by that % and thats where most folks see more of a damage loss but again, depends on the Power. On Nature, it melts everything. On Rage, it does alright.

Thanks for the replies Black Jaq, Reinheld.

The thing about the Transformation Card is that it depends a lot on RNG.

If you get a string of good crits, your damage/heals becomes noticeable because the numbers get much larger, so you think its performing great.

Over the long run, the numbers smoothen out and we can calculate it with the math shown above.

I did factor in the damage reduction at rank 200.

If you read my math above, I compared 100k normal non-crit damage without the Transformation Card to 85k non-crit damage with the Transformation Card at rank 200.

Ah okay I see it but I also think i see your other maths is off too.

Crit Chance doesnt equal damage. The Crit Chance just means the frequency you'll get crits. The Crit Damage % is the multiplier to the Damage you do when you crit.

If your example the 25% crit chance just means you get a 25% chance to crit on your attacks. The Crit Damage % comes into play when that Crit takes effect so it'll take the damage and then multiply that by the 105% crit damage bonus.

OK let me work through this with you.

A normal attack hits for 100K. You maxed out your crit skill points. You have a 106% crit magnitude, which means when you crit, the damage is 100k+106%*100K=206k. You have a 25% crit chance. That means that 25% of the time, you do 206k, and 75% of the time, you do 100k. Your average damage is (25% * 206k) + (75% * 100k) = 126k

With the transformation card at rank 80, your base damage is nerfed by 21%. That means that your 100k attack now does 79k.
Your crit magnitude goes to 136%, which means your attack does 79k+136%*79k=186k when it crits. You also get a 45% crit chance. This means that 45% of the time you're doing 186k damage, and 55% of the time you're doing 79k damage. Your average becomes (45%*186k) + (55%*79k)=138k.

That's at rank 80.

You're off here:

This means that 45% of the time you're doing 186k damage, and 55% of the time you're doing 79k damage.
Agreed with this.

Your average becomes (45%*186k) + (55%*79k)=127.15k, not 138k

This was an increase of 1.15 k damage at rank 80

Yeah...but people do like seeing those crit bubbles...when you are seeing an explosion of them it's impressive...regardless of the numbers. BTW...I'm only half joking on that.

Fair enough. I remember it working out to around 13% at 200. Working through, it might be closer to 11%.

This goes back a long time. When you had limited SPs to allocate to your stats and such, which provided the better results:

1. Maximize your critical chance and magnitude then allocate the remainder to Might (or Precision)
2. Maximize your Might (or Precision) and then allocate the remainder to your critical chance and magnitude

The observed answer was always the first one... people who maximized their crits outperformed those who maximized their Might or Precision.

Its actually closer to 8%.

Going by your argument (same as mine btw),

With the transformation card at rank 200, your base damage is nerfed by 15%. That means that your 100k attack now does 85k.
Your crit magnitude goes to 135%, which means your attack does 85k+135%*85k=199.75k when it crits. You also get a 45% crit chance. This means that 45% of the time you're doing 199.75k damage, and 55% of the time you're doing 85k damage. Your average becomes (45%*199.75k) + (55%*85k)=136.6k

Increase in dps: [(136.6-126)/126](100) = 8.4%

You got me thinking that Grim and Source Shard might be the strongest artifact pairings in the game. What do you think?