EQ2Luv
03-24-2008, 10:27 PM
<p>Given the overall increase of melee hit rates in testing, I believe it is necessary to re-evaluate the strikethrough effect that is currently on the monk mythical epic. The effectiveness of strikethrough decreases as melee hit rates increase; thus, the increased hit rates on test weaken the strikethrough effect. I would like to emphasize that this is in fact an in-testing issue because of this relationship between hit rates and strikethrough. My goal here is to demonstrate that if the strikethrough effect was previously balanced properly, then with the changes in testing it becomes imbalanced in that it provides a smaller bonus in hit rate with these changes. I would propose either changing the strikethrough mechanic itself, or replacing strikethrough on the monk epic with a different effect altogether. As I do not have the tools to give empirical results from test, I will instead look at it theoretically based on what is known about the changes on test. </p><p>Simply stated, with the new changes to hit rate, the difference in hit rate between a monk wielding mythical and other tanks wearing mythicals (assuming the same melee skills etc) will be smaller (both the raw difference and the ratio of the two hit rates). The difference in hit rate between a monk weilding a mythical and a monk without a mythical is also smaller on test than on live. Considering that the sole advantage of strikethrough is increasing hit rate, this means that the strikethrough effect is on the whole less useful on test than it is live. </p><p>As an example, suppose a mob previously parried 20% of attacks from a tank without strikethrough. With strikethrough, the tank would score hits for half of those parries, and thereby have a 10% higher hit rate. It is very plausible that with the new changes, a tank will gain 10% or more accuracy (for example from a dirge, if the change to base hit rate alone is not 10%). Assuming a gain of 10% accuracy for each avoidance check, the mob which previously parried 20% of all attacks will now parry only 10% of all attacks. This means that only 5% of attacks will 'strikethrough'. Hence, a tank with strikethrough gains only 5% accuracy in situations where he would prevoiusly gain 10% accuracy. </p><p>This example illustrates that strikethrough will increase accuracy by a smaller amount on test than it does currently live. The degree of difference will increase dramatically whenever a monk is grouped with a warden, dirge, and/or ranger. Given that strikethrough is purely a tanking tool already, it is unlikely that a monk tanking would ever be without a dirge in a high end raid, because most guilds use multiple dirges and because they are crucial for boosting survivability and aggro of a tank. The accuracy bonus from strikethrough will become smaller still whenever additional accuracy effects are added to the game. </p><p>An easy response might be 'well hey, youre still gaining hit rate overall in these scenarios', which would be true. However, I am questioning the *balance* of strikethrough and the monk epic when compared to other tanks. For this, we must look at the difference not of how monk was and now is, but at how the tanks currently stack up against eachother. Assuming that the strikethrough effect was previously balanced to put monks on par with other tanks, there is no conceivable metric in which the monks would now be balanced, since their hit rate is now closer to all other tanks. (It could in theory, but cannot given that the dps potential of a monk at 100% hit rate does not differ significantly from other raid buffed tanks.) It's also important to consider the 'awe' factor; even if the classes overall are 'balanced', the epics should have effects that make you excited to have them. </p><p>Many class epics will gain effectiveness with increased melee hit rates (notably the assassin epic, which will multi-attack more often.) Strikethrough in contrast becomes less effective, adding less accuracy on test than it does on live. </p><p>Even prior to the changes on test, most if not all high end monks have stated a dislike for the current strikethrough. For one, its usefulness is limited to tanking only, which is not their primary role on most high end raids. I believe that with the new changes, strikethrough will become even less useful, and will indeed be useless in a large number of encounters and situations. </p><p>With the current test changes, strikethrough will be less than awe-inspiring for those monks who conquer the many challenges in order to obtain these mythical weapons. As such, I would ask that it be re-evaluated to consider ways it can be improved, or barring that replacing it with a new effect on the monk epic. I won't go into particular suggestions, since they are already discussed in other threads. However, I'm sure there are plenty of monks out there who would be glad to provide suggestions at developers' request. I will, however, point out that strikethrough working on a successful dodge (which it did before the previous GU) may not be "overpowered" now even if it was before, for the same reason that strikethrough's current effectiveness has dropped. Where hit rates previously sat at 60%, they may now sit near 80%. Thus when strikethrough used to give 20% accuracy boost against dodges, it would now only give 10%. Hitting 90% when others are at 80% is much less significant than hitting at 80% when others are at 60% (a 12.5% advantage instead of a 33% advantage). Indeed, it is so much less significant that some monks might prefer an entirely new effect over reverting it to its old functionality. </p>