In Defense of Agility

[Feanol]

Agility has a really bad rap here on Project 1999. It's my understanding that EQ-EMU has some code issues with Armor Class and how it really affected gameplay on Live.

However, I'm here to talk about the measurable effects we can test and confirm here on our server as it is. I thought everyone should know why Agility CAN matter.

Agility should be at least 75 and has a negligible addition to AC. This is what we've all been told over and over, what is listed on the wiki, and what most of us base gear choice and starting statistics on. And I agree, it SHOULD be at least 75 and DOES have a near useless effect on defense in melee.

What people seem to forget is that Agility begins to decrease rapidly below 20% Hit Points and movement speed falls in relation to this loss. My point is that when fighting creatures that can kill you if a spell gets interrupted or an unexpected add joins the fight, most of us will try to run away in order to save the exp loss of a death.

Having high Agility modifiers in this situation has saved me more times than I can count. Being able to retain that extra bit of run speed when fleeing a bad situation is a big deal and can save a load of exp as your character progresses.

I'm not saying that players should prioritize Agility. If you're falling below 20% regularly you may want to reconsider your hunting options. But if there's two items of armor that appear to be a toss up on stats, do remember this post. I just felt like Agility deserved some time in the Sun after a long dark exile as a "useless" stat.