So, ive always wanted to know just how much protection my armor is giving me, and in EQ2, we have that information. My 80SK's like 6075AC is giving me 64.2% Mitigation and all that.... I wish we had that same thing in EQ1... I have been in Crypt of Decay on my SK and tried my Paladin. My SK had about 2000-2070AC and he could fight just fine in there, taking maybe 40% damage in total from a single mob, fighting hard, dotting, life tapping and all that, but after a bit of a fight, winning. I took my Paladin in there when he had about buffed, 1900 AC and he got beat down 30% inside of 3 hits in the first like 5 seconds... I recently got my SK his next set of armor, so he now has 2108AC and I can now pretty much auto attack with my 2hs weapon, chat, push a few life taps and win taking maybe 30% dmg total.... So, in EQ is a 100 point boost of AC huge? It seems to.. And why such the vast difference in outcomes between 1900 and 2070AC? Both my toons are 65, my Paladin even had a shield on, my SK uses a Blade of War 2hs.
Yes 100 points at level 65 is huge There is a point of your AC in relation to mob attack, once you reach a certain point, things become tremendously easier. The problem is that point is different for every mob type in a particular zone due to the fact they often have vastly different ATK numbers. And how large was your sample size comparing the 2? You may have had an extremely out of the norm series of hits (a damage spike). Also AA's would have a large bearing on this.
There was a post several months ago by a dev explaining displayed AC. It made rocket science look easy. Bottom line, the is a LOT more to your survivability than your displayed AC. If you're a tank, defensive AAs are huge.
Here's Dzarn's explanation of EQ's AC system: https://forums.station.sony.com/eq/index.php?threads/ac-vs-acv2.210028/ (Don't try this at home)
Yeah, my SK has run out of AA to get up to 65, hes pretty much gotten all he can up to lv65. My Paladin has only gotten maybe 50AAs total...SK has over 550. As for sample size? My SK has spent number of days, prolly a week or so worth of time in that zone soloing the puslings at the door. Way back when I first started, didnt have my AAs up, it was a bit of a fight, but I was able to win. Now, AA's in place, augments in, better weapons and stuff, its cake. My Paladin doesnt have augments and AA is lacking, I did just now test out how he would do simply with 2089AC, he did win, but it was alot of healing and stuff. It did go better, about as well as when my SK 1st went in. I do definitely notice differences in mobs, even puslings just in that zone. Puslings are easy, the corrupt puslings hit noticeably harder and the greater corrupt are a bit of a fight. All are blue to me.
Yeah, I get COmbat agility and stability on my SK to 8, which is max I can get at 65, ive improved all hitpoint and stat AAs. I imagine there is alot more to it then straight up AC, I imagine dex, agi and the rest all play a part. I just kinda wish we had a display system similar to EQ2. It will show my AC's effectiveness vs a mob of my lvl. As in my OP, my 80SK(EQ2) says his 6075AC gives him like 64.2% Damage Mitigation vs a lvl 80 mob.
There are sweet spots for AC where big differences can be seen, those sweet spots are relative to the specific zone / monsters. +170AC won't always be as good for every character in every situation as it was for your pal vs SK in Crypt of Decay. It will always, though, be good. EQ2's system was designed having learned, in parts, from the mistakes of EQ1. Just like WoW was in various ways, and Vanguard, and literally every other MMO made in the last sixteen years.
I understand you want some mitigation factor to be displayed, but as others have stated, it is mob dependent and not level dependent. Your post seems to be saying that your SK ended a fight with 40% of his hps with no external healing, but the paladin is at 30% hps in the first 3 seconds (with no external healing?). Were you self healing on the paladin? When you throw out percentages, it's also helpful to note how many hps each character has relative to the other. Having a healer merc should also help some for your paladin. Additionally, if you aren't already using them, stuns will help decrease the damage you take. Finally, the AAs could be making a large difference, especially if very few of the paladin's 50 AAs have been spent on defensives.
I get its mob dependant, as im sure it is in EQ2. I notice the differences in mobs in both EQ1 and EQ2, like WoS mobs? I cannot even begin to touch them, while mobs in Lxanvom I can auto attack and win, despite both being blue. It would just be nice to see a general idea of what my armor is doing. My SK used to end the fights with 60% HP left and his healing was his own procs and stuff. When I first took my paladin in there, there was no chance for healing, it was 1 bub or more a pop. I took him in there the other day and it went much better. GOt my highest set of Defiant, buffed up, it took a long time, but I did win. Yes, I always use my healing. Start with my 300pt(42s duration) celestial heal and stun, quellious, the like all fight long. I do suppose that once I get more AA my paladin will last just fine. As it is, those however many AAs hjave been spent on Combat agility and stability up to 3 each, most has been in healing gift and other healing improvement AAs as well as buff duration AAs. I will keep increasing them.
Here's the thread where Dzarn explains AC. Kinda... https://forums.station.sony.com/eq/index.php?threads/ac-vs-acv2.210028/
Yeah as folks have noticed, your SK is vastly Higher AA'd Higher geared/augmented and The spells being used are more correct for SK play than what you have and are doing on the paladin (at this point in time/aka your level and where you're fighting). and all of that is leading to the differences you saw in staying alive.
I like the description of AC vs Atk from the evilgamer forums http://www.evilgamer.net/forums/showthread.php?t=3506 The mobs in WoS have more atk (stronger midgets) than the mobs in Crypt of Decay. There's no way in-game to tell this without getting hit a bunch and parsing your hit spread. In general though, the older an expansion a mob is from, the weaker it will be. Exp mods on later expansions tend to be better, but they might not outweigh the difficulty increase if your gear isn't good enough to handle the extra damage and hps.
