AC vs HP on P99

[Naerron]

I was hoping to start a thread that had nothing to do with drama. Discuss what you guys think compared to live, and maybe someone can act like yoda from TheSteelWarrior.whatever and give us some parse numbers?

[Matalus]

gonna post before someone posts that no longer plays and wants his 2cents in

[azeth]

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

gonna post before someone posts that no longer plays and wants his 2cents in

got me.

[Mardur]

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

gonna post before someone posts that no longer plays and wants his 2cents in

Got me!

Thing is, I'm very familiar with the stock eqemu formulae, but it's very modified here.

I'm still assuming (also based on experience playing a warrior) that AC is super important. Hybrids also (should) have lower AC softcaps than warriors, although if it's anything like live it's hard to notice until Velious when item AC values become absolutely insane (like 80 AC on weapons and shit).

A simplified version of the stock code is that if your AC > mob's ATK then you are nearly invincible, but if your AC < mob's ATK you get raped. I'm assuming the p99 code is a bit more refined so that every mob you fight doesn't have some magic AC value you need to not get boned. But still, I'm assuming it's similar.

Unfortunately this doesn't help the question at all, but I'm just sharing some knowledge. On some servers that set mob ATK way higher than you could feasibly get your AC to, HP would be more useful.

In short, my methodology is to stack my AC as high as possible. But you just have to have good sense in choosing gear. For example, I'd much rather use a 5 AC 55 HP ring vs. a 10 AC ring. 110 HP is gonna absorb a hit or two, whereas I'm not sure if 10 raw AC would provide a similar benefit. Thankfully, Kunark class armor is very high in AC.

From experience, AC deficits are very noticeable. A tank who is a couple/few hundred AC behind an equal level tank is going to visibly take much more abuse, more so than any amount of HP gear currently available could make up for.

Just strike a good balance and be intelligent about gear choice. With only 2 expansions, there usually aren't a whole lot of options fortunately, which makes picking the better piece of gear easier.

[hdawg06]

I know 5hp=1ac during luclin+ eras, but not certain about how that works this early in the game.

[nilbog]

Originally Posted by hdawg06 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I know 5hp=1ac

Never heard this before in my life. I think 7 agi = 1 ac (?), or something close to it.

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

Knights tank as well as warriors on P99 for the most part.

Working as intended.. right?. AC is ac, hp are hp. Warriors made better tanks later on from hate proccing weapons, discs, AAs. Correct me if I'm wrong, I played a paladin and not a warrior.

[Extunarian]

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

Never heard this before in my life. I think 7 agi = 1 ac (?), or something close to it.

I think he was referring to a certain rule of thumb that people would follow when determining if you how much of one stat (HP or AC) you should be comfortable giving up in order to realize a gain in the other. For example, losing +30hp from one item in order to get +7ac from another.

[Alkorin]

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

Working as intended.. right?. AC is ac, hp are hp. Warriors made better tanks later on from hate proccing weapons, discs, AAs. Correct me if I'm wrong, I played a paladin and not a warrior.

Not entirely sure, to be honest. I'd have to go back and check. I wasn't raiding high end content at this point on Live.

I do seem to remember the AC soft caps being drastically different for knights and warriors, even as far back as Classic, but again, I have no definitive source for this at the moment.

[Alkorin]

No one has done this for P99, and anything you see at this point is likely wrong anyway. Damage formulae have changed over the last couple (few?) patches.

My own feeling on the subject, having not gathered enough math behind it, is that AC doesn't work nearly the way it did on Live. Knights tank as well as warriors on P99 for the most part. AC formulae were part of the warrior's distinct advantage for raid encounters on Live. Paladins and SKs just couldn't cut it for quite a while, but they have no problem doing so on P99. YMMV. Maybe one day, I'll actually collect the data to refute this.

[greatdane]

Knights tank as well as warriors on P99 for the most part

That's how it should be. Warriors were never more than a few meager percent ahead of knights in raw tanking power. It's pretty much just defensive discipline that sets them apart in that regard.

Never heard this before in my life. I think 7 agi = 1 ac (?), or something close to it.

He probably means the unofficial rule of how much AC is worth when judging gear.