Monk innate shield bonus- Where is it? Why cant I find info on it?

[Azazel-Defia]

<DIV>The title says it all. I searched through the threads from January, I saw many vague and questioning posts about maybe when the shields were removed our deflection was increased, maybe I evade more, maybe I get hit less, I get hit more, on and on. What I didnt find was any definite indicator of what was done.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>When this change happened I seem to remember someone saying that we had received a +5 bonus to our defense score. I remember going back into game and looking at my defense score and seeing that it was highlighted in green, and in fact that it was 5 points higher than my current level should have made it. I was unsure that the +5 was worth the ac of the shield but I was happy to see something. Recently I respecced and I noticed that that +5 bonus is gone. I looked at my skill list before selecting my Human racial traits and realized that for some unknown time I had been playing with 5 defense less than I should have. My Human trait adds 5, I used to have 5 from giving up shields. That would give me a 10 point bonus, but I was only showing 5. So now I need to know.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>1. What did we get as a replacement to shields. Do not answer with any smoke and mirrors behind the scenes multiplier. If I cant see it in my skills, or on my character sheet, it doesnt exist. The official posts are so vague they could have meant anything, no explanation was given as to how the ability worked. If someone can find a good explanation, please provide the link, cause I couldnt find it.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>2. If what we were given was a 5 point boost in defense as I remember, when was it removed?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>3. Why was it removed? Was this a mistake?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>4. What do we get to replace that?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>One of the reasons we may be showing a low avoidance score compared to shield bearing tanks is that our shields are now gone. Our deflection skill alone should bring us to the deflection of a shield bearing tank, our innate shield ability should bump that even further. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Az</DIV> <DIV>Nek</DIV>

[NeVeRLi]

<div></div>You should take that racial trait back that gives the +5 defense <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> A monks deflection is no good, unlike a shield (buckler which always works) our deflection is like playing in traffic! Not to mention the Dev's screwed us on this as there are very nice master dropped and heritage bucklers out there. So all in all we lost out big time on this. <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> <div></div><p>Message Edited by NeVeRLiFt on <span class=date_text>03-22-2005</span> <span class=time_text>07:14 PM</span>

[FamilyManFir]

<P>Sorry, Azazel, all there is is the smoke and mirrors you don't want.  There's nothing on the skills list or your character sheet that reflects that shield bonus.  The Update Notes that refer to what was done just say:</P> <P>- Increased brawler Deflection to provide the equivalent of always having a buckler equipped.<BR>- Increased monk and bruiser Deflection to provide the equivalent of always having a round shield equipped.</P> <P>Since no change was made to the display of your Deflection skill any change was done "behind the scenes."</P>

[Genarhof]

<P>On a sort of related note, any idea as to why I get messages saying I blocked a hit, yet according to my stats I have 0% in the actual block skill?</P> <P>Now they have seperated out the mitigation from avoidance, and they show that stats that make up the avaoidance %, I can see that my block is base rated 0%, yet I still block on a regular basis.</P> <DIV>Could this be where the built in shield is going? but not actually showing up?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[FamilyManFir]

Block messages in the combat logs appear to result from Deflection for Bruisers and sub-types.  You may note that there are no "Deflected" messages.