Is base damage slice/puncture/impact in this? Do we know what is more heavily weighted (is a point of balance/suitability better than a point of damage)?

>Don't get me started on this. I will just say that when I PvP I only backstab, because even using a haralun scimitar with great slice against light armored opponents I outclass, it is still a papercut fest. The current status quo is the heavier the weapon the better.

I may be wrong, but I think the primary reason for this is barriers, so there's probably a solution on the horizon. Whenever I test stuff with others without barriers up, all weapons seem pretty balanced, except maybe large edged (large edged almost feels like the brigandine equivalent skill in the weapon skill set). Whenever I test with others with barriers up, it's laughably frustrating for them to cause damage to my primary character using small weapons without backstab.

>>I thought accuracy = OF

I wanted to clarify some things I just happened to see here...


In general mainstream buffs will affect only skills or stats.

Very short duration buffs and abilities that have a build in buff will affect OF. An example is a 5-20 second OF debuff from a roar, or the OF buff from a combo.

The ratio of OF to DEF determines a to-hit % and the potential damage cap. For most of combat players have the full normal cap available. It is intended to cap the blows of stuff beneath you that gets lucky hits.

Weapon stats determine the base damage range. Strength and Weapon suitability add heavily to the minimum and somewhat to the maximum of this range. This range is then scaled to the cap set by the OF to DEF ratio. Since most folks are getting the full cap, this doesn't tend to change very much and so your damage is determined more by weapon stats and strength, then by skill.

Agility and weapon balance directly bonuses OF.

Accuracy buffs are also a thing, though I cannot recall offhand if anyone is using them. Accuracy buffs chance the to-hit tables regardless of the OF to DEF ratio. They reduce the chance of a critical miss and increase the chance of a critical hit.

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"I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories instead of theories to suit facts."
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes

Last I checked, the game engine doesn't allow skill debuffs for critters, so no. We've kept them as OF/DEF debuffs so they actually work in PvE....

Because skill is the underlying base for OF/DEF, penalizing OF/DEF is essentially the same as penalizing skill except for the fact it would stack with any normal skill buff/debuff. I don't believe we have any outright skill debuffs aside from predictions, so that hasn't been an issue yet.

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"I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories instead of theories to suit facts."
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes

There are a few ways to debuff skills out there, not many - it's not an area we've explored a lot in the past - but they do exist.

What Kodius is saying is correct, however. Creatures don't have skills in the same way players do. They just don't. What they do have is combat values that approximate skills and we can buff and debuff those. Those cover what you'd expect - most of your offensive and defensive values, perception... that sort of thing. On the player end it looks roughly the same but the mechanics under the hood are vastly different. We can actually do the same thing to players, and in the past we often have which is another reason skill debuffs are very rare.

(Don't ask how many hoops I had to jump through to get Tezirah's Veil to look like it's doing skill debuffs to creatures. There are very good reasons you can't use the normal prediction system on them).

-Raesh

"Ever notice that B.A.'s flavor text swells in direct proportion to how much one of our characters is getting screwed?" - Brian Van Hoose