OK... Exactly how are wards working

[Mercr]

<DIV>I am confused about the current state fo wards.  I once was told that damage that breaks through a ward goes through completely unmitigated.  This means a 5k hit on 1.2k ward results in 3.8k damage.  I was then told that mitigation just doent play into the damage before it hits the ward but afterwards.  Thus a 5k hit on a 1.2k ward with 80% mitigation = 760 damage.  Then I saw somewhere that they had stealth fixed wards where it works the right way.  From above numbers, 200 ward left after hit.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I keep getting conflicting information and don't know which is correct.  I know this will all be moot after combat changes whenever that happens.</DIV>

[Eepop]

Lots of people are using old information. Originally(release) Wards took no mitigation into account at any time.  If a ward was up and a target got hit, the unmitigated damage would take down the ward and the rest would move unmitigated to the tank. As of now (ninja fixed a couple months ago) Wards do not take mitigation in to effect while they are up, but any "spill-over damage" is mitigated by the tank. After the combat rebalancing comes (before Desert of Flames, so before September 12th) Wards will take mitigation into account at all times. <div></div>

[RicoRanger]

<P>The above poster is correct.  I think of it this way:</P> <P>The way it was at launch:  Think of the ward as a bubble of dmg absorption that replaced the protected player's armor while it is in effect.  The bubble takes full, unmitigated dmg until it pops and the spill-over from the hit that popped it hits the "naked" player full on.</P> <P>The way it is now:  Think of the ward as a bubble of dmg absorption over the player's armor.  The bubble takes full dmg until it pops and the spill-over dmg from the hit that popped it is mitigated by the player's armor and the unmitigated portion hits the player.</P> <P>After the rebalance:  Think of the ward as a bubble of dmg absorption under the player's armor.  The dmg from the attack is first mitigated by the player's armor, the remaining portion of the dmg then hits the bubble.  If the bubble pops, the remaining portion of the dmg hits the player full on (since it has already been mitigated before hitting the ward).</P>

[Karlen]

So in the future wards will work better than they do now when you are warding fighters, but not as well as they do now when warding wizards...? <div></div>

[Banditman]

Incorrect. They will work MUCH better on Warriors and SOMEWHAT better on Wizards. Wizards DO have some mitigation, not much, but some.  Even if their mitigation is only 20%, it will still make Wards that much more effective on them. <div></div>

[Karlen]

<span><blockquote><hr>Banditman wrote:Incorrect. They will work MUCH better on Warriors and SOMEWHAT better on Wizards. Wizards DO have some mitigation, not much, but some.  Even if their mitigation is only 20%, it will still make Wards that much more effective on them. <div></div><hr></blockquote>Good point.  So this looks to be pretty much a straight improvement.</span><div></div>

[Banditman]

I consider it to be a "fair" fix.  It allows us to make more direct comparisons between ourselves and other Priests. Those comparisons still need to be made, because while the mechanics of Wards are now fixed, I am yet to be convinced that BALANCE has been served.

[RicoRanger]

Agreed.  They need to do more than fix wards to make the priest classes balanced.  I think all the priest classes should have basically the same base heals and the specialty heals (wards, reactives, regens) should be different but comparable.  True balance will have been achieved when any priest class can fill the role of main healer "equally" well.  Of course there will still be strengths and weaknesses of the specialty heals in different situations but as long as they are close to equally effective on average, I'll be happy.