Infraction for Matari: Useless Post

Kaubel · 08/18/07, 11:37 PM

Post: [Rogue/Warrior] Weapon Skill Adjustment Discussion
User: Matari
Infraction: Useless Post
Points: 1

Administrative Note:

Message to User:

Read thread, do homework, THEN post.

Original Post:

I would like to propose a new model for the effects of increased weapon skill versus "Boss" level mobs. Let me state that I am fully aware that the is based purely off of speculation, meaning that I have done no testing of my own. The motivation then, is to propose a model which maximizes the consistency of the various odd reports that we have gotten from Blizzard about increasing weapon skill. The following quotes are the basis of this new model:

[From WoW patch notes]

The player will gain 0.1% to their critical strike rating per weapon skill against monsters above their level.

[From WoW-Eu Forum CM]

Let's say you increase your weapon skill by 4. Against a mob 3 levels higher than you, you get: 0.8% lower chance to miss, 0,4% lower chance to get dodged, 2,4% to be parried, and a 0,8% higher chance to crit. That means a 4,8% net increase.

[From WoWWiki, no references given]

If the monster's defense is 1 to 10 points greater than your weapon skill, you suffer 0.1% chance to miss per point. If the difference is more than 10, the penalty is doubled to 0.2% per point.

Increased weapon skill offsets this penalty directly - i.e. reducing the difference from 10 to 9 by equipping an item which grants 1 weapon skill will result in a 0.1% reduced chance to miss.

Note that this creates a "sweet spot" when attacking a mob 3 levels above the player (including "skull" bosses). Equipping an item that grants 5 extra weapon skill will effectively increase the player's chance to hit by a full 1%. 4 weapon skill would only grant 0.8% to hit, while 6 skill would give 1.1%.

My assumption is that the 2nd two are correct and that in the first, there is a typo in that the word "rating" does not belong. Assuming this, the 3 quotes are completely consistent with each other. Let us examine what they say.

Against a "Boss" level mob, the player begins with a 15 point deficit. Define the "Base Chance" as the player's chance to miss, be dodged, be parried and to crit with +0 weapon skill. According to the WoWWiki quote, the first 5 points of skill added will result in percentage increases at a rate of 2*R. After 5 points, percentages will increase at a rate of R. This mimics the behavior mentioned in both quotes two and three. At +4 skill rating, players percentages will be increased by 8*R, at +5 10*R and at +6 11*R. We can now use the specific values in quote two to find out what R should be for the different swing outcomes.

to Miss: Decreases at R = 0.1
be Dodged: Decreases at R = 0.05
be Parried: Decreases at R = 0.3
to Crit: Increases at R = 0.1

This is likely the source of quote 1, which states that each point of weapon skill grants 0.1 of *something* related to crit.

In this model, let's see what the talent weapon expertise does. It grants +10 skill for two points, so the first 5 give 10*R percentage points, while the second 5 give 5*R, so the total increase is 15*R. This means that for +10 Skill, the player gains:

+1.5% to Hit
-0.75% to be Dodged
-4.5% to be Parried
+1.5% to Crit

Which seems like a very good bonus indeed. How does this compare with other talents that give +Hit% and +Crit%? One immediately knows that such talents give 1% per point. Given that weapon expertise is much higher in the tree, and has a prerequisite, an increase of 3% for two talent points is not totally out of line.

One final comment about the differing values of to be Dodged and to be Parried. I propose that these values are what they are to give the advantage to the player. Thinking about dodge, Warriors gain the ability to overpower if their attack is dodged, so being dodged is more valuable that simply missing. Thus it is harder to reduce your to be dodged with +skill. Thinking about parry, when a mob parries an attack, it gains an attack speed advantage, so to give a better advantage to the player, it is easy to decrease your chance to be parried with +skill. Also consider that in the vast majority of "Boss" level situation s, players which have +skill items are likely to be attacking from behind, where the to be Dodged and to be Parried portions give them no benefit.