Was just discussing this in Alliance, but it seems like MOBs only max hit. Perhaps AC isn't modifying damage correctly? Any thoughts?
Its a well known issue that eqmu servers have issues with ac. Sadly i think the only emu that has a very close tp live ac formula is the EPICEmu sleeper server.
i haven't played on The Sleeper in a long time, but when i did they were touting that their AC code was perfect because they tested it using a level 6 warrior in Greater Faydark or something like that. completely ignoring the existence of the level based hardcap.
I felt like mobs were way too hard at lower levels. Really high chance to double attack / dual wield, even newbie stuff. It started to even out and feel normal around 25-35, and I've heard that mobs actually feel too easy at the high end (50). Also if you aren't a real tank class, gtfo. My monk feels like a wizard when I try to tank with him.
Never played EQMac until this week, so this might not apply but: On live the formula always worked at low levels that a mob could hit for 2x its level, maximum, up to a certain point (obviously it got crazy with dragons and giants and stuff) I see that's not a thing here... at least, not yet. (e.g. whiskered bats in Qeynos hitting for 24)
Yeah they do hit too hard and for max damage far too often while im hitting for minimal damage with weapon skill maxed. I been saying this since day 1. Seems like either the devs dont hear it or care or that they are already aware of it. /shrug
Live damages were modified for most classic mobs sometime after PoP, except raid mobs. On AK max hit for common 'non-special' NPCs in classic era was (level + 1) * 2. I went around and parsed like 800 NPCs before AK shut down. Some NPCs on live hit harder, but most hit weaker. Mob damages and attack delays on TAKP for levels 1-25 are precise. After level 25, some NPCs start deviating from that formula-- things like hill giants, spectres, named loot dropping mobs-- so simple SQL queries could not be used to set them all at once. There are quite a few mobs after level 25 on TAKP that hit slightly harder than they should, but only by a few points. It was just too tedious to set each one. I did check them all for anything way too high though, except for city guards which I have no logs off. (people refuse to give me their logs, so TAKP will have to suffer) Dual wield and double attack rates are based on Live parses currently. I was able to verify that double attack rates are very similar to if not the same as AK, perhaps with some minor exceptions that are difficult to impossible to verify due to AK not existing anymore.
I don't know, it seems like I die ANY time I tank for pet, which I don't remember being the case. Also i think i only get max hit.
The melee damage mitigation formula seems to be unforgiving when a player's AC is low and perhaps too forgiving then the AC is high. I've not parsed this yet so these are just casual observations. It's extremely difficult to try and replicate accurately so any adjustments to the AC functions probably won't happen for some time. I would be interested in hearing from casters who have maxed defense skill and decent AC gear. (like gossamer or something, plus a shield)
Of course this is based on a small and biased sample size, but it surely seems like my Monk is getting the shit kicked out of her on a regular basis. She's got a full set of Freeport newbie Monk gear, minus braces, (which is actually pretty good, era considered), and has a good amount of trouble against an DB con melee type mob. I'd say without Mend, I'm not going to win most of those fights, which includes the minor HP/AC Shaman lowbie buff. Of course it's been ages, but I seem to remember on my old Live Monk back in the early 2000s days, there would be sometimes lengthy delays of neither me nor the enemy landing a hit, like sometimes 3-4 rounds of combat each on occasion. To further expand, a mob getting a few max hits, as few as 3-4 in one fight meant I was in SERIOUS trouble and would often just feign/zone if it happened in the first 25% of my health. It seems, like everybody is saying, that they hit for max too often, and/or hit too often in general. Either one of those being too often could be the major tipping point of mobs being a bit strong vs mobs never leaving the gym and spending all Monday night doing bench.
When my warrior in half bronze/banded type armor at 19 is getting hit for max dmg 95 percent of time from a green greater skelly in Unrest with a 95+ percent accuracy. Something has to be off. Avatar of War misses more than these mobs.
Haven't found the fabled AC level where you actually tank better than you should yet. My Monk actually has significantly more AC than my Warrior due to the weight bonus and still gets trashed pretty hard at 50. The Warrior is just so much better at tanking and even then feels like he takes more damage than he should be. The problem is pretty evident when you're fighting deep green mobs and they're still always hitting for max and rarely missing.
The reason AC isn't working correctly is because it is not calculated at all in PEQ code....its doing a NPC to PC damage roll and then /random roll and that's the damage you take. It is very cryptic code and a bunch of tie ins.....so its on the list....but will take a while with the amount of testing at different levels that needs to be done.
