Grazing hits reversed, new uses for heavy armour.

[noinfo]

Grazing hits were introduced for 2 reasons:

1. Players frustrated at NOT being able to hit things at low levels, it was thought that letting them hit for a base
amount of damage 50% of the time would ease the frustration.
2. To lower the upper end to hit so that useable ac would be obtainable to more people while still being able to
damage higher ac characters.
Most people at the time didn't care one way or another for 1 and many held out for the promise of 2.
What actually happened as a result of (2) was that:

1. Most people still could not aquire a worthwhile ac, focuses soley on dps and started wearing robes so they could
quickly swap in gear over heavy armour

2. S/B tanks got a small boost relative to pj wearers in that by using a sheild they reduced grazing hits (only
where they actually gained reasonable ac) The problems is many still think that by going S/B they will have a
meaningful ac at end game. This though supposedly a boost to the S/B was really only a nerf to monk splashes.

3. Elite quests already increased to hit values and damage. Therefore make significantly less difference to a pure
dps toon, they are going to still be hit regulary and for the same amount over an ac toon is not only taking more
damage from the increased to hit and damage but will also be hit regardless by any mob on any level on a 15+.

The bottom line is that Heavy armour that was supposed to be worth something is not, cloth is prefered due to speed of change.
Sheilds for the most part are useless except situationally.
DPS is absolute king.

Now the bottom line with this is that being able to be hit only on a 20 is not conceptually different to only
missing on a 1 and this is where the concept originates. One of my earlier arguments (so many in the past on this
topic) asked the question how pure dps would feel if grazing hits applied to their to hit. So on elite they would
only graz regardless of how high they were able to hit on a 2-5, after all this would allow elite hp to be much
lower on mobs (No I am not suggesting this be done btw) simply showing it for comparison and the origin of this
idea.

Next proposed change...

[noinfo]

Now enough of the background here is the proposal:

Grazing hits on players revised to Armour now gives grazing effects based on type and shield suggested as follows
Light armour grazed on a natural 2.
Medium armou grazed on a natural 3.
Heavy armour grazed on a natural 5.
Light shield adds 1.
Large shield adds 2.
Tower shield adds 3.

Under the new suggestion a pj wearer must rely on their ac to be relevant or take full damage on hits,
The n00b wearing full plate and carrying a towershield without relevant ac is going to get benefit from the set up
by being grazed on 2-8, the kensai in fullplate dual weilding will be grazed on a 2-5 giving much better protection
than the barbarian in medium armour, after all better protection is what heavy armour is supposed to be about.
Many have suggested that all that needs to be done with armour and shields is give them x amount of dr. My issue
with this is how much to give it and how it scales accross levels, grazing is already a mechanic in game.

Impact on the game. Those who want speed change, robes etc will still be the best option. Those who wear light armour for evasion purposes still gain a small benefit, others will have actual incentive to wear heavier armour types to take less damage over all. Pj wearers do get a boost IF their ac is high enough.

Please note that I have not talked about epic at all as that is a whole new level of pain for ac toons (especially chrono with all the orange named)

[Xenus_Paradox]

I was actually thinking about adding a small amount of stacking DR /- to medium and heavy armor, just to make them more useful at endgame.

Something like DR 2/- for medium and 4/- for heavy. This would stack with any other source of DR /-, so adamantine full plate would give DR 7/- while adamantine breastplates would give DR 4/-. Pure Barbarians with Improved DR II in medium armor would have DR 11/- (7 base, +2 from enhancements, +2 from armor), and could use DR Boost IV to get DR 17/-.

This would necessarily make grazes a lot less painful as well.

[Propane]

I like both thoughts -

I would mix them a little...

I would add the standing / stacking DR to anyone who has a shield equiped. It should scale with shield size with maybe DR 5-8 for Tower shield max. When blocking - this would add to the current DR amount.