Spells: Dispel system is so screwed up...

[Erati]

Players assuming “junk” buffs default to the lowest buff counter here on p99 is the issue, however I feel it needs to be looked into w more evidence how clickies are calculated in terms of buff counters. Pezy describes it well but the problem is See Invis and illusion buffs have too large of range of counters to roll so they inadvertently will sometimes have more counters than lvl 60 buff spells which should not be the case. Clickies should always roll a lower amount of counters and be easier to get dispelled than casted high level spells, Im almost positive the level of the spell factors here and clickies usually feature low level spells or default a low spell level.

Thats the crux of issue tho, clicky buffs roll too high of a counter and thusly appear to be “ignored” on dispells like annul magic which applies dispell to multiple slots.

[Triiz]

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

My first 2 buff slots also had weak/low counter buffs. Whether the dispel system targets counters or slots, those should have been the ones dispelled. Not Arch Shielding, Skin like Nature, etc that were at the back.

I'm not an expert on P99 dispels by any means, I've just read every "Dispel is broke" thread from the last 5 years. You said it yourself, they are dispelling you multiple times before a buff gets stripped. Haynar specifically mentions that scenario the bottom of the post. There's also no way to know the number of counters your SOW/Lich has compared to your DMF/POTG, the DMF/POTG could have had 1 counter each when you got them. In the post I linked Haynar says it's based on the number of effects but that's when it was still in development and it was changed so each buffs rolls a random number 1 -8.

There is no guaranteed way to keep a buff in slot 10-15 from getting dispelled because you can't control the counters the buffs get, but it's definitely more likely that one of your first few buffs will have low enough counters to get stripped and stop the dispel than like slot 10.

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

Players assuming “junk” buffs default to the lowest buff counter here on p99 is the issue

Yep and the last post I've seen Haynar make about that was in 2014 he said

Originally Posted by Haynar

From eqlive, clickies are not guaranteed a 1.

[Rygar]

I do remember on Live during late Velious / Early SoL I got an AoN and was told to keep it in first slot to help fight dispels (I was a warrior). I remember it barely ever worked as it seemed random, so it didn't really have a guaranteed way to protect my good buffs.

I'm talking in terms of fighting exp trash mobs, not raid encounters.

I seem to recall it would never swing my offhand weapon either which really annoyed me. I don't remember if skeletons didn't have a particular animation setup for the style weapon I was using or if it was graphic bug. I just hated it.

But back on subject, I think more controlled tests with large sample sizes can help Haynar / devs see if there truly is a bug with the dispel system or if it is working as intended.

[Erati]

The system works as constructed, the problem is Haynar stated clickies do not by defaut roll a 1 for their buff counters. We need research on this aspect as I am fairly certain the level of the spell should factor in the type of buff counter roll allowable.

For example, it makes more sense that sub lvl 30 spells (which most clickies will reside in) should roll something like 1-5 while lvl 60 spells should have higher base rolls like 6-10 and can never roll a 1. I strongly feel high level spells should not roll equally in terms of buff counters w a lvl 10 buff regardless if its a click or not. If that wrinkle gets changed, players can keep their buffs tidy again.

Need more research in this area pls!

[Erati]

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

After receiving buffs, manually click off your first two buffs (ostensibly your dummy buffs) and reapply. Problem solved in 95% of situations; the key to p99 is getting around its wonkiness, rather than waiting for a patch in the year 2525.

this is not actually factually correct in terms of the mechanics of dispell however this trick will fix the client buff order bug that does result in some odd dispell behavior.

Even if you do as above, you can still roll high buff counter rolls n have a dispell skip over the top few buffs, but at least they will be in an accurate order in terms of client display