AC itemization and a way to improve it

[WurmBurned]

Currently I see little difference in miss chances between a character with moderate AC and a character with high AC for their level. It would seem that there is little benefit in increasing AC through bracers, cloaks, trinkets, goggles, neck items, helms, or anything other than shields or armor given the current state of items, spells, and class enhancements.

Here’s a rough breakdown of the miss chances AC can provide against a mob with an 107 attack bonus:


60 = 02% 100 = 41% 140 = 58% 180 = 67%
70 = 16% 110 = 46% 150 = 60% 190 = 69%
80 = 26% 120 = 51% 160 = 63% 200 = 70%
90 = 34% 130 = 54% 170 = 65% 210 = 72%


If one or two of the AC bonus types were changed to provide a percentage increase to AC, the difference between a +4 and +6 in the other bonuses could be made more meaningful.

Here’s an example of what we would see if luck(recitation) and insight were changed to provide a 3% increase for every static point that they provide now:


Actual AC AC after 4 INS AC after 2 Luck AC after CE
15 16.8 17.8 19.5
17 19 20.1 22.2
80 89.6 94.9 104.4
120 134.4 142.4 156.7

[WurmBurned]

The example from the last post shows that the difference between being 27 points bellow such an attack bonus and 13 points above it would actually be narrowed. Furthermore 3% doesn’t make a large enough dent to increase the overall difference between similar scores, but only raises the miss chances of both. Increasing this to 5% does roughly the same.

In short, this approach simply wouldn't work unless many more sources of AC amp were added. It would seem that the math of the new system will more often than not result in marginalizing incremental improvements regardless of other actions taken. I would also guess this why “Combat Training” was removed during beta.

If you’ve read this far, I’m sorry for wasting your time.