Question on Critical Damage (and a follow-on)

[BoolaYa]

<DIV>I have a question on critical damage mentioned in the AA line.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>In our Wizard AA list, one of the options appears to guarantee that a spell casts critical damage.  Does this mean that (a) it won't be resisted, (b) when it hits, it will always cause damage at the highest number in the range, or (c) both (a) and (b)?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>My follow on (and I realize this isn't a Wizard-specific question): I've gotten different answers in-game from various people on the concept of gaining xp relative to the levels of other characters in a group.  For example, consider two groups going through SoS:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>1. All lvl 63</DIV> <DIV>2. Six people, lowest at 63 and highest at 70, with other four in-between</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>From the perspective of the lvl 63 character, will he/she gain xp at different rates?  Assuming there is no difference in number of kills/unit of time?  If there is a difference, is it completely offset by the increase in number of kills/unit of time?  Lastly, is group two advantaged or disadvantaged depending on whether the level 70 in the group turns off XP?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Thanks.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I need to change my signage...Brownshoe is now a 63 Wizard, and I quick the PvP server....</DIV>

[Jezekie]

<div><blockquote><hr>BoolaYale wrote:<div></div> <div>I have a question on critical damage mentioned in the AA line.  </div> <div> </div> <div>In our Wizard AA list, one of the options appears to guarantee that a spell casts critical damage.  Does this mean that (a) it won't be resisted, (b) when it hits, it will always cause damage at the highest number in the range, or (c) both (a) and (b)?</div> <div> </div> <div>My follow on (and I realize this isn't a Wizard-specific question): I've gotten different answers in-game from various people on the concept of gaining xp relative to the levels of other characters in a group.  For example, consider two groups going through SoS:</div> <div> </div> <div>1. All lvl 63</div> <div>2. Six people, lowest at 63 and highest at 70, with other four in-between</div> <div> </div> <div>From the perspective of the lvl 63 character, will he/she gain xp at different rates?  Assuming there is no difference in number of kills/unit of time?  If there is a difference, is it completely offset by the increase in number of kills/unit of time?  Lastly, is group two advantaged or disadvantaged depending on whether the level 70 in the group turns off XP?</div> <div> </div> <div>Thanks.</div> <div> </div> <div>I need to change my signage...Brownshoe is now a 63 Wizard, and I quick the PvP server....</div><hr></blockquote>First of, Catalyst just ensures that the next spell you cast is a guarentee Critical hit. Which means it'll do damage between max dmg of spell + 1 to max dmg of spell + 30%.You can find a much more indept description of critical hits <a href="http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=combat&message.id=111347" target=_blank>here</a>.As for the EXP part, from my own personal experince while leveling up I would keep levels similar, no more then 1-2 levels apart for optimal exp gain for all involved. Unless you're being powerleveled by a higher level, and you're barely in range of gaining EXP then it's a different scenario. But in the example you mentioned, without any hard facts (dev post or otherwise) to point to, I'd say the lower level would gain less exp, and you'd need to fight yellow cons to the lvl 68-69 players for it to be worthwhile to them, ie. lvl 70-72 mobs.</div>

[BoolaYa]

<P>I'm a little more up to speed on this, but still not 100% clear.  Making this wizard specific, and having looked at some of the other posts:</P> <P>Let's assume my spell damage ranges from 2,700 to 5,000 (the 2.7:5 ratio mentioned in that linked post).  </P> <P>Let's also assume Catalyst's 100% critical damage means that the result will be between 5,001 and (1.3 * max=6,500), ala Moorguard's post.</P> <P>The question that remains unclear to me is, what is my average expectation for the result of using Catalyst on this particular spell, relative to the high end of the range?</P> <P>It could be that you roll 1-100 for between 5,001 and 6,500, giving you an average expectation of a 5,750 hit, which is, on average, 15% over the high end of the range.</P> <P>Or, it could be that it is set by [max(5,001, 1.3*(pre-Catalyst result)).  In this case, with a 30% improvement, you'd expect about half the pre-Catalyst results to be "raised" to the maximum 5,001, and about half to range between 5,001 and 6,500.  On average, you'd see a ~5,385 hit, or a 7.7% improvement over the high end of the range.</P> <P>From the other posts and people's apparent "real world" experiences, it looks to be the latter.  </P> <P> </P> <P> </P>

[duuf]

Brownshoe wrote:<p>The question that remains unclear to me is, what is my average expectation for the result of using Catalyst on this particular spell, relative to the high end of the range?</p> <p>It could be that you roll 1-100 for between 5,001 and 6,500, giving you an average expectation of a 5,750 hit, which is, on average, 15% over the high end of the range.</p> <p>Or, it could be that it is set by [max(5,001, 1.3*(pre-Catalyst result)).  In this case, with a 30% improvement, you'd expect about half the pre-Catalyst results to be "raised" to the maximum 5,001, and about half to range between 5,001 and 6,500.  On average, you'd see a ~5,385 hit, or a 7.7% improvement over the high end of the range.</p> <p>From the other posts and people's apparent "real world" experiences, it looks to be the latter.  </p>__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ _______________________________________________Cat alyst crits are just like any other crit, the damage is calculated within  the range of the spell multiplied by 1.30 and the larger of max + 1 or the 1.30 is your damage.  I crit Ice nova A3  along with freehand at 24 pct and I know by heart from the approximately 1/3 times it floats up the 10,425 damage of max plus 1. Duffus lvl 70 wizDuufuss lvl 70 pallyEverfrost<div></div>