Post:Armor -- Neglect Training at your Peril - 12/23/2009 - 19:20:37

Re: Armor -- Neglect Training at your Peril · on 12/23/2009 7:20:37 PM	6914
Heyo! Time for a few more details that will hopefully reduce some of the fears and angst (and, knowing my luck, probably create more). Please keep in mind that there is a lot more to the overall picture, and that what might seem terrible now may not be so when all is said and done, and of course the reverse may also end up being true! The big question so far has been, "Am I safe with my current skills?" That depends. There's a limit to how much I am willing or able to say at this point, but here's a couple of specifics: (1) There is a 10% padding between the armor skill and evasion skill. In other words, as long as the difference between the two is 10% or less, you will be at zero hindrance -- if that were possible. It's not, and that leads us to the next point... (2) No guild can work hindrance down to 0%. This means that you do not need to worry about getting to the point where you have 0% hindrance -- you just need to get to your minimum. Let's assume for a moment that the minimum hindrance on your leather armor is 10% (made-up number; keep in mind the minimum hindrance is skillset based). That means as long as your leather armor skill is within 20% of your evasion (10% padding plus the fact you can't get below 10% hindrance), you are at the lowest hindrance you can possibly achieve. The higher the minimum hindrance of your armor, the more wiggle room you have to maintain minimum hindrance. However, keep in mind that HP may be reducing your evasion by, say, 40% compared to that 10% the leather is reducing it, so don't just assume that having more wiggle room means the heavier armor is a better choice for you. This is doubly true because... (3) All armor types will also have a maximum hindrance -- that is to say, a point at which the hindrance cannot possibly get worse. This is a very significant change on several levels, but the one I want to focus on now is that this means that some armors (cloth, leather, and depending on guild bone) will be less hindering at their absolute worst than (with paladins excepted) LP or HP. This is definitely not true in the live game right now, but will be with the changes. When combined with stealth hindrance factors, this means that the lighter armors will generally be a lot more friendly to survival skills overall. That's enough for now, I think. Mostly I just want to make it clear that this isn't going to be a situation where you must keep your evasion and armor equal, or even necessarily close to even (although that will depend on your armor type to some extent). I also wanted to make it clear that thanks to the new max hindrance we are adding, some of the lighter armors will be both the hardest to maintain at minimum hindrance, but likewise have the least impact even if you have the worst possible hindrance. - GM Dartenian
This message was originally posted in Combat - Weapons and Armor (11) \ Responses to GM and Official Announcements (2), by DR-DARTENIAN on the play.net forums.