I've been doing some testing on my Enchanter. I have just about BiS AC items as far as enchanter goes(not 100%, but pretty close). Unbuffed, I have 539 mitigation AC and 492. Not that this really matters, but shows that I can show a wide range of AC values. I stripped completely naked(unbuffed) and start at 170 Mit AC. I started equipping items in an effort to determine the softcap. The first thing I noticed is that I was getting MORE Mitigation AC per item than is listed on the item. It appears to be around 30% more Mit AC per item for whatever reason. For example, I tested adding a 10 AC earring at 170, and went to 183. I added a 25 AC helm and went to 203. None of these items had any Agility (shouldn't matter, because Agility only impacts Avoidance AC anyway). This continued until I hit about 375 Mitigation AC. I could not pinpoint the exact softcap since I didn't have enough 1-2 AC items in my bags at the time, but this could easily be tested. Regardless, I noticed that I stopped getting full Mit AC+30% at 375 - 378 Mit AC. After this, the displayed AC started to diminish, effectively making the AC softcap for Enchanters at lvl 60 to be 375ish. After reaching the 375 mark, any item equipped was giving me around 30% of the items value. For example a 35 AC item was giving me 11 Mit AC. That part makes sense - I get diminished value above the soft cap. I should also mention that I do have the Combat Stability AA which adds 13% to the soft cap. This would make the soft cap around 330 without CS 3. My main question is why am I getting 30% more AC per item(based on the Mit AC display) up until the soft cap? Do the rest of the calculations make sense? Not sure if I am missing anything.
Level 60 ENC is 344 softcap (and since PoP is around the corner 65 is 352.) And you are incorrect that AGI has no affect on mitigation AC, it does. List of things that affect mitigation AC: AC on items, AC on buffs, Defense Skill, weight if monk, extra AGI bonus for rogues and beastlords, AC bonus for iksar, and the normal AGI bonus that everyone gets.
Ok, point taken on Agi, but how did you obtain 344? How do you explain that I am getting full mitigation AC values up until 375?
Resources/ACMitigation.txt line 1426 "14^60^344^.25^" class 14 (ENC) level 60 has a softcap of 344 and an overcap returns of 0.25
So then the in-game display is wrong then? Because I had an unbuffed AC of over 344, put on an item, and received full AC mitigation value from the item. Also as noted, once I reached what appeared to the be the soft cap(regardless of exact number), I was definitely getting more than .25 returns. I was over 500 AC, put on a 35 AC item (which would be 8.75 AC @ .25 returns) but was getting 11 Mit AC. This would imply returns of 0.3.
Mitigation AC is (4 * AC on item) / 3. That's why you see 30% more AC on sheet than AC on the item. It's 1/3rd (33%) more rounded down I believe.
The only way the client would be using 0.3 for an ENC is if it failed to initialize the class that uses the ACMitigation file. But your effective softcap at 60 with CS3 is 378 (344 + (344 * 10 / 100)) It should also be noted that after the client sums together all the AC on items (and before the softcap) it does AC * 4 / 3. Without taking this into account, you will see different results (and if you do 8.75 * 4 / 3 truncated is 11)
Got it! So my initial testing was correct, I just didn't realize the AC * 4 / 3 formula was applied before being displayed, so my math was off. Thanks
Whoa whoa whoa... I mean Fippy is a TLP sure... but Vulak... Vulak is just a TL. There ain't no progression happening on that server let me tell ya.
While I agree with your point that a percent value would be better, the new numbers are not meaningless. Before we couldn't see the difference between mitigation and avoidance AC and now we can. Before we couldn't tell if we were over the AC softcap or not, now we can. I still wish they would just list the softcap on the character sheet. And who came up with the idea to list the numbers like HPs and Mana are listed, with a forward slash between them. Anyone who sees that is going to think the left number on AC is the current AC value and the right number is the max value, same with attack. They are 2 different numbers and should be listed as such on different lines. Or at the very least put a dash or a pipe in between them instead of a forward slash.
They could have made the UI less confusing AND made everybody happy with the following: AC: TOTAL [AVOID / CAP] [MITIG / CAP] For those who liked it the old way, the old number would still be there. TOTAL is the same value it was before, and in the same place it was before. The new information would have bee added after that, and includes the current calculated avoidance component, and it's corresponding maximum or cap, and then the calculated mitigation component, and it's corresponding cap. If you are at the cap, the numbers will be the same. Furthermore, the / above follows the same UI metaphor established 18 years ag for HP and MP: "CURRENT / MAXIMUM". The new change does not, and is thus, a UI faux pas. That has all the information you need, in one place, without getting rid of anything that was there before. It's better than what we had originally. It's better than what we have now. If space is at a premium and it won't fit, then only show the bracketed information on mouse hover. Bam. Done.
ac doesnt mitigate damage by a flat % per hit the higher your ac is. its a number used in a calculation vs your attackers ATK value. the gist of it is the higher your AC is, the more likely you are to be hit for less damage.If you want to get in to the nitty gritty, there are things like Damage Bonus, Damage intervals that make alot of peoples eyes glaze over. the new numbers are the actual numbers the game uses in its calculation, rather than some inflated number that was never used anywhere and meant nothing.
This guy has to be a troll. Bottom line: Old AC # gave you less information than new AC #'s with the breakdown between mitigation and avoidance. The fact that it doesn't give you all the information you might possibly like to have does not change this simple fact. More information = better. Less information = worse.
The new numbers aren't necessarily a bad thing, they could just be confusing. Which is very understandable seeing as we were all accustomed to seeing that one number, which you could gauge to see if tanking a mob was a good or bad idea, which is how I at least looked at it. If there was possibly a little more info and that number that we're all used to was still there, maybe it'd be a little better for everyone.
Look at it from the perspective that you just started playing everquest. The old way gave you numbers you had no idea what it meant, the new way gives you numbers you at least have a clue on what they do.
Before the change my AC was higher than all the warriors. Now some warriors have higher AC than me. WHY YOU DO THIS TO ME? I CALL HAX
I donno. Originally I looked at AC and thought to myself "This number equates to less damage" Now I look at 2 numbers and think to myself "These numbers equate to less damage". Sure I can point to one and say this one actually mitigates a hits damage, and that one makes a hit miss more often. But I still have no idea what the values really represent in terms of gameplay. Or how much raising either number helps me. Apparently the only way to know that is running parses or lots of math on effective hp etc. One way or the other, all that I know is the numbers mean less damage to me, with zero information as to how much. So nothing has really changed other than I can visually see there are 2 factors involved in mitigating damage instead of 1. I know if I'm over a softcap now, but with zero information on how effective the ac is, under, or over the softcap, it feels pretty meaningless. That being said. I don't care about the changes. I'm glad some people like them. In either system t's just a number I raise 'cause it makes me take "less damage".
The grammar in this post is incredibly painful. I agree 100% with Jaime - it's only more information in that it's two numbers instead of one. Their exact value relative to other sources of character enhancement is difficult to see or understand. I also can't seem to raise the number on the right side with any of my gear choices.
