Can anyone explain how avoidence REALLY works?

[Shotneedle]

Because I'm sure as hell not avoiding 63% of attacks from white mobs <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Kaoru]

Not even SOE knows how avoidance works.It seems to fall into the same category as Bigfoot, the Bermuda triangle, UFO's and the Loch Ness monster. It is often talked about, and even tho you can find many experts on the subject, no one can really prove its existence.

[Shotneedle]

<p><span style="font-size: large;color: #ff0000;font-family: impact,chicago;"><u><i>¡Nooo!</i></u></span></p><p><span style="color: #ffffff;">So in other words I have to wait for another monk to come along...</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffffff;">okay. I can wait <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></span></p>

[Nokrahs]

if I'm not mistaken, there are two basic values in a combat.one is the defense and another the offense.Monsters and Players either have different bonuses for their offense and defenseskills.a 68% avoidance (calculated trough several stats as a hint) doesn't count in theopponents offensive values.since it is after all a RPG dice based combat system there is a "luck" component aswell.however, I can't call a mechanism bugged without having all values shown in my log.

[Bladewind]

<p>General answer:</p><p>Unless the white mobs you were fighting were solo without any ^'s, your persona avoidance is higher than your true avoidance against them.  In addition, many arts/spells that mobs/players have will debuff various components of your avoidance, so even a solo white con mob can hit you more often if it debuffs you.</p><p>Here's a Cliff's Notes version of how avoidance works because I do not have time to go into depth:</p><p>The avoidance value on your persona tab is actually a composite of up to 4 different avoidance types.  If you hover your mouse pointer over it, you should see it broken down into your individual checks.  The numbers given are against an even-con (same level) solo mob.  Mobs that are higher level, have any number of ^'s, are named, or are epic; will all gain advantages effectively reducing this number.</p><p>So, when something attacks you in melee, you go through multiple avoidance checks (assuming you have the proper skills/equipment).  Here are the different checks in the order that they are made:</p><p>1) Parry (skill-based, fighters and scouts, AA option for some healers and some adornments also give a small parry %)</p><p>2) Block (soley from the protection value of an equipped shield - anyone who has a shield equipped gets a block check - frontal only - wholly uncontested)</p><p>3) Deflection (skill-based - only brawlers (monks/bruisers) receive deflection.  it is active in any direction)</p><p>4)Dodge/Base Defense (everyone gets this, skill-based, modified by your agi score)</p><p>The avoidance value on your persona tab is the cumulative chance that all of your avoidance types have to foil an attack.</p><p>Something that will affect your gameplay at higher levels is the notion of 'contested' vs. 'uncontested' avoidance.  Contested avoidance is affected by both the mob's level and also by any additional hidden accuracy bonus that harder mobs receive (heroic named mobs and all types of epic mobs can have hidden accuracy bonuses that severely reduce your contested avoidance).  Uncontested avoidance is only affected by the relative level difference between you and your opponent - hidden accuracy modifiers are ignored.  Naturally, this makes uncontested avoidance superior to contested.</p><p>Sources of uncontested avoidance:  Shield (all shield protection is uncontested), brawler stances (a brawler's mixed and defensive stance both provide a limited number of uncontested avoidance), AA's, spell buffs, adornments, and item buffs that have the syntax "caster/target will riposte/parry/deflect/dodge x% of incoming attacks."</p><p>Everything else falls into the contested category.</p><p>Side note:  What is a riposte?  A riposte is a counterstrike that works like a combination parry/attack.  A small percentage of your normal parries (forget the exact number) become ripostes. In addition, various AA skills and buffs can give you a temporary/permanent uncontested riposte chance.</p><p>Side note 2:  If you want to track your actual avoidance, the parsing program "Advanced Combat Tracker" has a very nice built-in avoidance report that gives you detailed information on your true avoidance for every encounter.</p>