Game Mechanics: Archery bonus Incorrectly Using Mainhand Primary

[Awsten_Tx]

I posted this in Velious Beta but not sure if it belongs there.

I am not sure its readily known, but archery calculates its damage bonus off whatever weapon is in your primary weapon slot. If it is a 1 hander, bonus is according to 1 hander bonus, and if its a 2 hander, its based on the delay of 2 handers. Thus it is advantageous for rangers to use Earthshaker as a slow 2 hander while using a bow.

I do not remember this being the function on live and it took me some digging but I finally found the below patch notes.

Per patch notes dating January 17, 2001:

- The ranger's "Trueshot" discipline has had its damage increased after
analyzing data from its fix last week. Prior to the last patch, all
bows, while under the discipline, were hitting as if they were 45dmg
bows regardless of the delay. Last week's patch fixed it so that damage
was based on the damage of the bow. This weeks patch increases damage
bonuses in relation to delay (longer delays yield better damage
bonuses).

Trueshot does modify based on the damage of the bow, however this specific note talks about adjustment of the damage Bonus Bows recieve, thus indicating Trueshot should be doubling the damage bonus from archery.

Right now niether the Trueshot, nor the range, stationary non rooted target modifies damage bonus. I suspect because the bug causing the damage bonus to be calculated off primary hand is hitting the equation as a melee damage and not archery damage. This would cause the formula to not double any bonus damage.

This is a signifcant performance nerf bug for rangers as the 2x damage and ultimately Trueshot 2x damage are major contributors to archery dps, however we see no bonus damage modifers in the current state.

[Jimjam]

No one remembers bows exploiting primary slot damage bonus. That said, I'm not sure whether 'damage bonuses' there is in reference to the same thing as what is usually meant by damage bonus.

[Awsten_Tx]

I believe Bows are likely supposed to be on the same 2 hand bonus table as melee 2 handers. I believe this patch note specifically addresses putting bows on a similar function of 2 hand delay bonus.

Previously, September 19, 2000 they released this portion of a patch that adjusted 2 hander deley bonus;

In accordance with our announcement several weeks ago, two low-delay weapons can now only be equipped in the off-hand. Included in this change are the Mosscovered Twig and the Barbed Scale Whip. The delay on these weapons and the associated damage bonus to weapons in the primary hand made these weapons much too powerful for their availability and the risk associated with their acquisition.

In addition, two-handed weapons have had their damage-bonus modified. The damage-bonus for low-delay two-handed weapons (27 or below) created a problem similar to the weapons above and has been reduced. The damage-bonus has not changed for normal-delay (28-39) two-handed weapons. The damage bonus for high-delay two-handed weapons (40+) has been increased.

And finally on April 19, 2000 they released this patch note adjusting the 2 handers to perform better bonuses than 1 handers;

As part of the emergency update completed last night, a change was implemented that increases the amount of damage done by someone wielding a 2 handed weapon.

This change was made due to a statistical imbalance in the way that damage is calculated at the mid-to-upper levels. A person wielding a one-handed weapon of a given ratio was able to do more damage than when wielding a two-handed weapon of the same ratio.

We would like to stress that no change has been made to the amount of damage done by people wielding one-handed weapons. The net result of this change is that people choosing to wield two-handed weapons will now do more damage than they did before.

[Jimjam]

I wonder if this is linked to the bug that to other players your weapon is still displayed as your primary/secondary while shooting a bow and arrow...

[Awsten_Tx]

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

I wonder if this is linked to the bug that to other players your weapon is still displayed as your primary/secondary while shooting a bow and arrow...

I am gonna do some testing, but I am starting to think, archery actually uses the damage of the mainhand as well. I dont notice any difference in damage switching between priceless and war bow...

[baakss]

Bow proc rate is also affected by main hand delay. Likely caused by the same bug.

[Tomacco]

We've been struggling with this problem on red for years - Ambrogio asked us to compile some information. I thought I would post it here since this is the same bug.

Here is a video demonstrating that archery bonus damage comes from the delay of the main hand weapon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ1iw6lOJ-8

The warrior testing here has a Weighted Axe and Bow of The Huntsman equipped.

This is obviously not how archery should be calculated - there is a flat 100 unmitigated bonus damage on each hit.
Using a fast bow and vendor junk mainhand produces vastly more DPS than end game "Best in Slot" equipment.

[Awsten_Tx]

I have been scowering the web for old parses of damage, it seems bows your have their own damage bonus just like 2 handers.

[Solist]

Does this apply to throwing?

Why no shuriken of the tranquil+shovel of the harvest Test of Tactics sillyness if so :/

[Awsten_Tx]

Believe tranquils were banned from ToT...