AC softcap and low level hardcap discussion

[bcbrown]

Originally Posted by DeathsSilkyMist [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

One extreme way would involve removing the worn AC * 4 / 3 AC inflation step. While this step was confirmed by Haynar, it doesn't necessarily mean it still occurs on P99. You would also add a step to use spell AC for softcap.
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In this scenario you wouln't hit softcap, or you would just barely go over. I am not saying I am leaning towards this solution. But it was one way I was thinking about it at the time.

Thanks for explaining your thinking. Certainly possible, but I agree it's a little implausible.

I wanna take a step back for a second. The results of my experiment were surprising, and we know it's surprising because it's contrary to what you predicted the outcome would be. Any time that the (made in jest) theory "bcbrown never sees an effect from shield AC but DSM always sees an effect" is consistent with the results, we know there's still a lot we don't know.

What we do know is this: sometimes shields can have an effect, and sometimes they don't. They can have an effect at level 5, and they can have an effect at level 60. I think at this point almost anything else is still speculation. We don't know what impact class has (priest vs int-caster vs melee/hybrid), nor what impact armor-class has (plate vs chain vs leather vs cloth). We don't know how spell AC interacts with caps, and we don't know whether 1 ac from spells has an equivalent impact to 1 ac from armor.

Since my gear isn't great, I won't be able to help much with running experiments to help answer those questions. I did run a small experiment. First side had no Bladecoat. Second side had Bladecoat (37 ac on wiki), and I took off my pants and gloves (17 and 20 ac, respectively). Both sides had potg, and I ended up with 988 and 826 hits. I haven't looked at the results yet. I don't think we know enough to make a prediction worthwhile, but I think we can say that if there is a difference, that's evidence that spell ac is treated differently from worn ac, while if there is no difference, that's not really evidence for anything. And even if there is a difference, the number of hits for each side aren't enough to have really solid evidence. That all sound right to you?