Hear Ye, Hear Ye! We've been Shang-hai'd

[Warwizz]

<DIV>Does everyone remember reading the patch message about AC showing the TRUE value.  We all saw an increase in our AC numbers, which for a tank is like looking at a holy shrine of budda.  We praise it, share it with others looking for "WOW", and keep dumping plat into it so it stays high.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Now after/around the 3/16 update/reset/patch thingy, I have found I am 600 AC LOWER than I was before it.  Nothing in the patch message about AC, or items getting revamped.  My Shiney Brass Shield would be one example: Prior to patch = 400 AC at level 28, After Patch = 357 AC at level 29. While this does not seem like a lot, when you take AGI modifiers and Def modifiers into account, it is a HUGE number.  I noticed all my armor took hits like this.  I am not the only one, check this thread.</DIV> <DIV><A href="http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=items&message.id=26447" target=_blank>http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=items&message.id=26447</A></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Something has happened and it has made me take more damage than before.  I only have 100 ac more than my favorite cleric, which really merfs me.  To listen to that pummeling is obscene!  Guardian HP/AC should be very high, especially if we are keeping up with our equipment.  I just bought a lot of gear recently just to find out it is useless junk. I went from 3647 unbuffed at level 28 to 3100 at level 29.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Everyone, check your AC...very fishy things here.  I wish I had a parse before the change and after the change.  The butt dynometer shows I am taking more damage. Thoughts?</DIV>

[Andalla]

Yup, got a pretty big drop on the number, altho I havent had much of a chance to test the difference its made, only play my Guardian as an alt when im bored...stealth nerf or SOE patch-caused [Removed for Content]...my money is on the latter <div></div>

[Ravendarth]

Search through the Dev TRacker. There is a very nice explanation for the apparent change. To sum it up for you, our AC is in some way based on the strength of NPCs of the surrounding levels. The NPCs in the game from level 20-35 (or something close) got the stats nerfed down a bit. As a result our AC seemed to have changed when in reality it has just kept us at the same relative level we were before. Don't get too caught up in the numbers as they are going to change the way AC is shown very soon. They plan on breaking it into two parts; mitigation (Guardian's bread and butter) and avoidance (for folks like my Swashbuckler). This , along with the coming changes on the way quality of equipment is shown, should help clear things up a bit. <div></div>

[OgApostrap]

<DIV>How did you get almost 4000 ac at 28? You must be rich.. I cant find a guardian near 30 without more than about 3000ish</DIV>

[Moontayle]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> OgApostraphe wrote:<BR> <DIV>How did you get almost 4000 ac at 28? You must be rich.. I cant find a guardian near 30 without more than about 3000ish</DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR>Full suit of Steel will accomplish that. It's essentially the stats of the T4 common armor but one tier earlier. I'm level 33 with a full suit of Feysteel (*waves good bye to 2p*) and I'm sitting close to 4300. Fully buffed I've hit over 5k but that depends on the people I'm being buffed by. At any rate, it's possible but you're going to pay through the nose for that type of protection.

[Oidan]

There is a big misconception when looking at shields. Shields do not provide an ac value towards mitigation. Shields provide avoidance only in reference to blocking.

[apme]

This was explained by a dev: http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=items&message.id=26660#M26660 You haven't been nerfed or changed in any way, the value is 600 lower due to the way AC is calculated now after the patch. So stop worrying! <div></div>