Chasing the Stat Cap

[Aienaa]

<DIV>I'm not sure if all of you are aware of this problem, but when DoF was introduced there was a change to the way bonuses were given to your stats...  IE bonus damage given for increased strength...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The example I will give only shows what happens from level 50 to level 60....   If like most people, you didn't plan on upgrading your equipment until you reached the new level cap and then planned on upgrading with items obtained on raids, your in for a bit of a surprise....</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Let's say that level 50 you happened to be at your cap for strength....   All of your CAs would be doing the max amount of damage possible....  As you level, without changing your strength, your CAs will become weaker and weaker...  The calculations done on this show that damage will decrease by 1.7% per level unless your strength is increased to the new cap....  What this means that from level 50-60 your damage will decrease by 17% unless you increase your strength by 70...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Let's say at level 50 your assasinate did 6,000 damage.....  Now if you reach level 60 without increasing your strength, your assassinate will only do 5,000 damage....  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Even though you gained 10 levels, you lose 1000 damage on your assassinate if you do not upgrade your strength to the new cap....  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>In other words....  A level 50 Assassin with 350 strength will do the exact same damage as a level 60 Assassin with 420 strength...  As the system is right now, you are penalized for not upgrading your stats to the new cap...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Basiclly there is a hard cap on spell / CA damage and it is calculated using the stat cap...  Damage bonuses via stats are now a requirment not a bonus.... If you do not have your stat capped each level, you lose damage....</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> <HR> </DIV> <DIV>The decreasing damage numbers are due to the fact that as you level, you need to increase your STR or INT to maintain the same bonus. The base damage isn't decreasing, just the bonus. Of course we all see the bonus damage as part of the effectiveness of the spell, so that distinction doesn't really matter. <BR><BR>But in any case, this was not an intented effect. We have no desire to scale down damage as you level up, and we are working on a fix so that this doesn't happen. <BR>=========================== <BR>Steve Danuser, a.k.a. Moorgard <BR>Game Designer, EverQuest II</DIV> <DIV> <HR> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>If you would like to read all about this, you can find it here....</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><A href="http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=spellart&message.id=62665&view=by_date_ascending&page=1" target=_blank>http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=spellart&message.id=62665&view=by_date_ascending&page=1</A></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>So, if you thought we got worse as we leveled, your absolutly correct....</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Gwern - 60 Assassin</DIV>

[Jetblackrogue]

K, Im only lvl 14 so don't crucify me if I'm wrong on this =P.  But that lvl 50 assassin doing 6k is doing that on even (lvl 50) mobs, he wouldnt even be able to touch a level 60 mob would he? The 60 assassin is doing 5k on level 60 mobs, were he to try to assassinate a level 50 he would do the same damage to the level 50 mob as the level 50 assassin.  So technically the damage doesn't go down, but it remains the same.  In the case of the level 60 mob his damage went up (from not being able to hit it (50), to doing 5k (60)).  Is that about right? <P>Message Edited by Jetblackrogue on <SPAN class=date_text>10-16-2005</SPAN> <SPAN class=time_text>09:39 AM</SPAN> <P><SPAN class=time_text>(PS) I do, however, agree that there should be something that levels in-and-of-themselves do to increase you damage abilities, even if its just enough to keep your damage consistant from level to level.</SPAN></P><p>Message Edited by Jetblackrogue on <span class=date_text>10-16-2005</span> <span class=time_text>09:40 AM</span>

[scivias]

<div></div>***just ignore me*** <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><p>Message Edited by scivias on <span class=date_text>10-16-2005</span> <span class=time_text>12:40 PM</span>

[Zeroimagination]

At the risk of looking like the "loser" assassin, how are you hitting 350 STR at level 50?I'm not in a raiding guild, so don't have access to all fabled items. I could probably buy a couple and break the bank.I'm decked out in all legendary items. Took STR bonuses every time I got a choice. With food and a potion, I think I'm at about 220 STR.Is there something obvious I'm overlooking that could get me closer to the cap?

[Aienaa]

<DIV> <HR> </DIV> <DIV>At the risk of looking like the "loser" assassin, how are you hitting 350 STR at level 50?</DIV> <DIV> <HR> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>That is part of the problem, the only way to get strength up that high is to be in a group, and that group needs to be set up with buffing strength in mind....  Back before buff troubador buff stacking was removed, I could easily hit the cap with a Troub in my group, but now I think it would take a Troub, Dirge, Mystic (or other similiar combo) in order to hit my strength cap...  I believe this is part of the reason you see alot of Assassins asking for a strength buff, because of how hard it is to actually hit your cap....</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>At level 60, self buffed, I am only hitting around 285 strength....   Going from 50 to 60 the strength increases I have gotten from upgrading gear, food and ring buffs, only added about 30'ish strength, where the cap was increased by 70, resulting in 40 more strength away from the cap....   So, not only was I not at the cap before, but I have fallen even further behind the cap, resulting in my CA damages being less than they were at level 50....</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>This is also part of the reason alot are complaining about Imbued Cobalt weapons stats being changed to the generic +10 sta +9 str +9 agi....  We need that higher +Str in order to be able to come closer to the cap and increase our CA damage...  I personally carry both imbued and non-imbued Cobalt weapons...  I'll use the imbued while soloing, but grouped I will swap to the non-imbued for the increased Str to increase my DPS...  The Str not only increases you CA damage, but also increases your Auto-Attack damage, which in my opinion, far out-weighs the minimal damage gained by the proc granted by imbuing the weapons (weapon procs generally only account for les than 3% of total DPS, where auto attack usually accounts for atleast 25-30%)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I'm running out of time, as I am at work typing this and it's about time to go...  Just hope this sheds some light on the problem...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Gwern - 60 Assassin</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[Gerrie]

you know "chasing the cap" is considered some kind of bug and moorguard said they are looking for a way to fix it, because they intend you to do more damgae as you level up, not less.

[Zeroimagination]

Ok, well I understand a bit better now.I had known about the "bug"/unintended consequence that the devs are trying to remove to make you not "lose" damage as you level up. I hope that they get it sorted out soon.I like that I'm still some distance from the cap. As far as I'm concerned, caps should be high enough that you don't notice that they exist at all in most situations. To me, that just means that everything I can do to raise my STR just makes me better. If you're near the cap, then you hit the point where there's just nothing more you can do. And that sucks.Just wanted to make sure that I wasn't the only person who wasn't right at the stat cap.

[NerroVI]

Well I can tell you one thing for sure, they sure in the hell didnt help chasing the cap with the stat changes on Cobalt for assassins, maybe for Shaman types cos every fing piece has int wis or agi int or agi wis or stam wis and so far my streength is dropping by using UPGRADE armor to my Ebon stuff. This was my main concern prior to LU13 when the first rumors of the combat changes were starting to float around, then when they said Stats would be a factor the first thing that came to mind was "oh god were fuxxored".  In EQ gear was GEARED towards the class iow there was a BP with wis agi stam + HP + Mana sham dru usable ok THAT makes sense a BP with str stam int hp mana should go for a war SK, but the current way they got armor in EQ2 is so messed up they really need a weapon armor revamp, seriously my Prist Cobalt SS is better then my Prismatic Swiftblade of Scale <yes I know it has been mentioned they are fixing it /cough> this should never of even happened in the first place since the actual weapon quest was already geared into the high 50 range already, I would love to see them institute the following into tradeskills. Instead of a simple pattern, you get molds, we will use assassins since well I AM ONE =p I give my cobalt to the armorer along with the cash and the extract, he then uses the Assassin Mold to make the armor, in this way the stats are geared towards the assassin iow str stam agi are the CORE stats then have wis int fill in and toss the power resists hps as the same for each, if they use a Mystic mold then there core stats would be WIS INT AGI fill in with str and stam etc. There has to be a better way to do this that actually HELPS the class, right now I am currently shopping to REPLACE my cobalt armor because my strength is dropping! <div></div>