Hi all, I am a super noob to this game so bear with me. Love the game btw. So i rolled a bunch of chars to see what i liked and finally started a monk and liked him. Then i find out his pp atribute is str but without agi he dies so ok im upset but i hear gear can upset this problem. So im playing him some more then i see that a swashbukler is a agi char as well + there agi goes to there pp and they get the same absorbtion and dodging abilites (basic not skill wise) that i do as a monk and they get to wear med armors. So im just a confused noob here anyone who can straighten me out would be greatly appreciated.... I just want to roll a char i can call my main lol.
As you reel me in... the chant to remember goes something like this: Fighters tank Scouts stab Mages nuke Priests heal Monks are fighters, they are better for in front and facing down the mob, keeping it's attention while the scouts stab it from behind and the mages nuke from afar/behind. Swashys are scouts, they get a lot of attacks that require attacking from the side and behind, and while they get a few taunts, it is mostly as extra utility for them then as an indication they should be a regular tank. Dont let the agi vs strength thing phase you... I have a monk with a 96 agi.. but only about 56 strength... and a buddy of mine has almost the reverse... both of us are viable tanks.. I dodge a bit more, he hammers them down faster due to a bit more dps..but in a properly configured group we both work fantastic as tanks... When doing short term tanking with my swashbuckler, I get hammered down faster and avoid less than I do with my monk.. so the higher level armor doens't make up for the tanking abilities of the monk.
Monks/Bruisers get something like an internal 25% deflection bonus added beyond other classes. It basically allows us to dual wield or use a 2 hand weapon and still get the benefit of having a small shield equipped. Many monk abilities increase mitigation and avoidance skills further, where i *think* most swash abilities focus on doing additional damage/adding states. I am pretty sure we have more abilities for generating/controlling aggro. As a rogue, you might be able to 'steal aggro' from an inept tank or gain initial aggro by using your highest damage arts right away, but try peeling something from a nuking wizard/warlock deep into an encounter. I also do not think any of the swash taunts are encounter-wide, which makes controlling an encounter very difficult. I'm at work, can't think of other reasons right now... I am pretty sure monks also have higher hit points/health. I must qualify my statements by saying that I have had minimal exposure to the swashbuckler class, and am going on knowledge I have from scout classes in general; particularly bards, assassins, and rangers.
that answered mst of my question, ty not that i would want to tank with a swashbuckler mmore looking for my ideal main but you raised another question you said your swashbuckler gets hammered down more... i can see that the swashy wouldnt be as good at keeping focus but does an items ac or your agi stat affect the monks mitigation/ avoidance % differently than it does the swashy?
I haven't checked Agi per avoidance on the two in comparison.. I know for my monk at 96 agi, adding another point isn't a big jump in avoidance... but the monk has the deflection skill built in that gives more avoidance... its been a few days since I played my swashy, but I recall about 50% (ish) avoidance on her but about 72.5% avoidance on the monk.. and that 20% difference is more than the 15% or so difference in mitigation, enough to notice real fast.... getting hit more means I go down more... I -can- take a hit with the swashbuckler... but the instant that mob starts looking at me I am doing my darnedest to shift the agro BACK to the tank ASAP... because I am not going to last long if it is a higher level mob than the swashies level... If it is lower level (or even con) I might be tempted to ramp up the DPS more to take it out fast and not worry about agro, but yellow and up?? nope I will turn off attack, toss out my deagro stuff and hit every avoidance buff I have and pray the tank pulls it off me..
Agi affects avoidance regardless of your class. Monks/Bruisers get a 'behind the scenes' boost to deflection, which essentially works like avoidance but is a different roll. So, you have a chance to avoid and deflect on any incoming attack. As far as I know, the only other things that effect deflection are having a shield equipped or having some special item/buff that adds to deflection. AC/Mitigation effects how much damage you take once you are hit (ie, when avoidance/deflection both fail). If you have 40% mitigation vs a lvl 30 opponent, and one hits you, you will take 60% of the total damage rolled. So, in summary, as a monk, you want high agi to boost your avoidance. If avoidance fails, you have a boosted defelction roll that can also save you from taking any damage. If both of these fail, your mitigation determines the amount of damage you take from an attack. A plate tank will have higher mitigation and varying levels of avoidance and deflection depending on how they choose their gear. edit - oops forgot that dodge/deflect are all rolled into the 'avoidance stat on the persona sheet now The basic ideal is that avoidance is a chance to take no damage and, if avoidance fails, mitigation determines how much damage you take. Message Edited by Bladewind on 04-12-2005 01:09 PM
ha you guys are great so i have another question for my monk on the racial abilities when it says +5 to blunt which is what i use thats % or just points and does this make a big impact if i chose an off char say one that was +5 to piercing instead
I *think* skills like blunt/piercing/slashing determine your competency with weapons that do that respective damage type. So, if you have a racial bonus like that, it would mean you have a modestly higher chance to hit and a potential to do a little more damage than someone without such a bonus.
whats wrong with the typing, i mean i type just like that all the time, which is probably why i can read it just fine...:smileyvery-happy:
Bladewind, your description of Avoidance is very close, but a few details are off. - Monks (and Brawlers and Bruisers, but I'll refer to them all as "Monks" from now on) have three factors, all skills, that make up their total Avoidance: Defense, Parry, and Deflection. - Plate tanks (and anyone else who can use a shield) have three factors, two skills, one gear, that make up their total avoidance: Defense, Parry, and Block (from a shield). - Defense, Parry, and Deflection are all affected by Agility. Block may be also but it's hard to tell because the Block percentage is too low (in the 15% range). - Deflection is considerably better than Block, no matter how good a shield you end up using. - Gear has no direct influence on Avoidance except for shields; it can have an indirect influence if it buffs Agility. - Agility benefits grow more and more slowly the higher your buffed Agility gets; this starts at 100 Agi. - All tanks have buffs that increase their Avoidance skills. It looks, after a brief glance, like scouts get a few similar buffs, but not many nor for much. When a mob strikes at you your Avoidance defenses are checked in sequence. Curiously, due to the way odds work, it doesn't make any difference which order they're checked. Let's say they're checked Defense, Parry, Deflection. If the strike isn't stopped by your Defense skill, then Parry is checked; if Parry doesn't stop the strike then Deflection is checked; if Deflection also fails then the strike hits. When a strike hits, the Mitigation of all your gear comes into play. As you said, if your Mitigation is 40% versus that mob then you'll take 60% of the mob's rolled damage.
It wasn't The OP just was new and wanted to know how our avoidance worked. And thanks family man for the detailed explanation
