f13.net

As this seems to be a running theory, I figured I would post to clarify.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Demonologist (or Necromancer) magic ratings. You will notice that the buff from either of the specialized fire/electrical/unholy/cold buffs added to your base magic rating will equal your resist rating, or any other "target" rating for your level.

For instance, the target at level 80 is 317 ratings, which is achieved with the base value + the buff value from either school rating buffs. (Obviously, if you have Archmage, the buff will also apply to both schools instead of just one.)

So, in the end, it is Magic Rating + Specialized Magic Rating vs. Resist Rating for the purposes of combat calculations.

Additionally, no stats were intended to apply to magic (or attack) ratings, and this was simply an error in the tooltip text until it was corrected last week. Intelligence increases magic damage dealt, not magic rating.

Fruthermore, Magic, Attack, Defense, and Resist ratings do not apply in PvP at all, to provide a more even playing field for all players of all level ranges.
__________________
System Designer
Age of Conan

Attack Rating, Defense Rating, Magic Rating (this includes specialized Magic Ratings) and Magical Resist are the "big 4" stats in terms of comparing attackers to defenders in the game.

The opposing stats are, as may be obvious:

    * Attack Rating vs. Defense Rating
    * Magic Rating (+Specialized Rating) vs. Magical Resist


In normal combat, if the attacker's offensive rating is lower than the defender's defensive rating, the damage will be reduced. Likewise, if the attacker's offensive rating is higher than the defender's defensive rating, the damage will be increased.

When attack and defense ratings are equal, the damage dealt will be the "normal" value of the attack, spell, or ability.

Heroic rating works mostly the same; however it is limited in when it can apply. It only applies if that rating is lower than an opposing rating.

For example:

    * Player A has 250 Attack Rating, NPC B has 300 Defense Rating, outcome is -50 for the Player
    * Player A has 250 Attack Rating + 100 Heroic Attack Rating, NPC B has 300 Defense Rating, outcome is even
    * Player A has 250 Attack Rating + 100 Heroic Attack Rating, NPC B has 400 Defense Rating, outcome is -50 for the Player
    * Player A has 250 Attack Rating + 100 Heroic Attack Rating, NPC B has 200 Defense Rating, outcome is +50 for the Player


For specialized magic ratings, as with Demonologists and Necromancers, the specialized rating is added when using a spell of the school that one has specialized rating for. For instance, if one has 100 Magic Rating and 50 Electrical Magic Rating, the effective magic rating is 150 with Electrical spells and 100 with non-Electrical spells. (The Archmage feat in the Mage general tree will make the buffs apply to both schools for the class, so all spells will effectively be cast with 150 Magic Rating.)

---

The last point is simply, these 4 stats do not apply in PvP. Thus, in PvP positive or negative damage multipliers normally associated with offensive and defensive rating comparisons are completely ignored. This is to allow players of all levels to compete on a fairly level playing-field, and not have them dealing artificially reduced or increased damage due to rating differences.

All other stats work normally in PvP. It is simply that "scaler" functionality which is normally in place to dynamically adjust gameplay based on level differences (for instance, the fact that you will evade more against a lower-level NPC) is removed in PvP to allow for a fairer matchup of player skill and ability.

To answer the questions of "why heavy armor?" or others along that same line: all players of all classes have the ability to reach the "target" ratings for a given level. They are a way to control your "virtual level" when compared against NPCs, not to provide a specific advantage to certain classes. All classes should be able to reach, for instance, 317 in all 4 rating statistics at level 80.

Heavier types of armor have higher innate invulnerability ratings, greater resistance to knockback effects, and dramatically increased health modifications. (Heavy armor, for instance, has over 3 times as much health available compared to medium armor.)

---

As I mentioned in another post last week, we will be releasing a bit of a guide to statistics and their general functionality in the near future. We would like to make this and other information a bit more easily accessible than it is currently. Obviously, we will not go in too much detail about advanced parts of the system (for instance, the non-linear formula which controls the actual offensive vs. defensive rating multipliers) but we would like to see players having a greater understanding of how stats are intended to work.

Hopefully this was helpful.
__________________
System Designer
Age of Conan

Those bonuses were converted to +damage bonuses, although it's possible the text is not updated yet in the quest.

Intelligence (for Mages) and Wisdom (for Priests) contribute to magical damage instead of magic rating. It being displayed as magic rating was a typo in the text description. (Stats were revamped in Beta 6 months or so ago, but the text was not properly updated.)
__________________
System Designer
Age of Conan

What's that mean exactly? Every guess I have I think is wrong  :-)

I meant in more detail. Like, if two magic casters separate by 30 levels go at it with the same exact spells (ie each one uses Rank 2 of a spell even if one can use higher ranks): do they do the same damage against each other?

If so, that's pretty damned unique.

That's what it is reading like to me. Norweiglish is pretty tough though.

Link (http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showpost.php?p=446303&postcount=24)

I think its sweet.

Read: Fruthermore, Magic, Attack, Defense, and Resist ratings do not apply in PvP at all, because we don't fucking know how they work. You know, just like Stats.

When I post Nerd Rage, you'll know it.

So right now, it would seem that classes that get the most armor drops that have bonuses to Health, Mana, and Stam have higher survivability, since the other thing that isn't being taken into consideration at this time is damage mitigation based on armor type. I guess the ratings not applying is part of what allows a couple of mid-20's players being able to take on a 60-ish player with a good chance of winning.

And hey, Stats got fixed today.

I meant in more detail. Like, if two magic casters separate by 30 levels go at it with the same exact spells (ie each one uses Rank 2 of a spell even if one can use higher ranks): do they do the same damage against each other?

If so, that's pretty damned unique.

Those who want an equal term gameplay should stick to FPS games.

NERD RAGE INC.

Ok fuck this game and its PvP. Stupidest shit I've seen in a game ever. Funcom are officially clueless. This is the final nail in the coffin for me and I had major plans with my guild to be nr.1 worldwide in PvP, now after I showed this to the other guys... I'm pulling the plug. To clarify a bit and to those who think that I want my epics to dominate a poor casual guy, wrong. I want my epic gear to do the same it has done in other PvP games, give an excellent player with magnificent micromanagement skills, reflexes and FULL control and understanding of his and every single class/specc in the game the ability to take on 2-3-4 skilled players on his own. At a certain point in the curve, skill has a bigger limit than gear has, skill can only take two players |<----->| this far, past there other factors that start kicking in. Naturally now gear (and to a minor degree, some luck) is one of them. Now in Conan at 80 it takes me eternities to kill a Soldier class and taking on multiple players is just a thing I can forget and memorize doing at lower levels. Bah I'm so disappointed that I have nothing constructive to say at the moment.

Battle for Mount Hyjal

    * Archimonde

            [A] Forte [Migrated]
            [H] Last Resort [Migrated]
            [H] Showdown
            [A] Vortex
            [H] Converge
            [A] Coalescence
            [H] Sons of Temujin
            [H] Misanthrope
            [H] Incorporated
            [A] Apotheosanity
            [A] Aether
            [A] Impulse
            [A] SlashCry
            [H] Pwnanza
            [A] Confined
            [H] Horde Paralympic
            [A] svinkallt
            [H] Fang
            [A] Enduring Allegiance
            [A] Pandora Project
            [H] Death Note
            [H] Order of Sargeras
            [H] Nightfall
            [H] Systemet
            [H] Wayward Sun
            [H] of Doom
            [H] Untamed Brutality

The Black Temple

    * Illidan Stormrage

            [H] Last Resort [Migrated]
            [A] Forte [Migrated]
            [H] Showdown
            [A] Vortex
            [A] Coalescence
            [H] Converge
            [H] Misanthrope
            [H] Sons of Temujin
            [H] Incorporated
            [A] Apotheosanity
            [A] Aether
            [A] SlashCry
            [A] Impulse
            [H] Pwnanza
            [A] Confined
            [H] Horde Paralympic
            [H] Death Note
            [H] Fang
            [A] Watch this Space
            [A] Pandora Project
   

Sounds like you need to play a real PVP game (http://www.eve-online.com/).

Sounds like you need to play a real PVP game (http://www.eve-online.com/).

And what's more PVPish than politics?

There's no way of increasing the power of your character.

Jesus photek, and I thought I made PVP plus guys look bad. Actually, you are describing exactly what Schild rags on about 'Hardc0re PVPers'

You like having your big advantage over people. I personally would rather it use a UO type loot system (making crafting important, and a possible economy) and full item drop. UO's loot system doesn't have soulbound shiny purples, so it is not worth attempting again. (well, it didnt when the game was worth a shit).

Plus you call yourself the top 0.1% ... jesus E-peen boy, get a grip.

I don't know... it seems to me that you should gain in power with your items. Otherwise, there's no progression once you ding grats 80. There's no way of increasing the power of your character.

And yes, I like my Ashkandi to swing way harder than your Arcanite Reaper. Why shouldn't I?

Unless I'm misunderstanding, the stats that the dev mentioned are just the ones that affect whether stats/spells actually hit.  Which'd mean that your gear still affects how much damage you do and how well you can heal.

Intelligence increases magic damage dealt, not magic rating.

In reality if that was the case, classes were balanced and terms were near equal it would make a decent system. However that reality is not even in the Twilight Zone. Not even in the vicinity. Some stats will be far more important than others since you have a limited stats that your character will directly benefit from in PvP. One of them will be HP. HP gap currently at 80 is massive between the lowest and the highest players, even at base. With the epics I've seen from several raids, it isn't near equating, its just making far further gaps. A pair of Guardian gauntlets or boots I saw had 468HP. I don't have +418 HP on all my items combined

Yep such as this line here


Magic rating being a non-used in PvP stat.

Okay I'm seriously confused. Doesn't MAGIC RATING increase the damage you do with Magical attacks ? And doesnt stuff like +Damage increase your Magical Rating ?

So, in the end, it is Magic Rating + Specialized Magic Rating vs. Resist Rating for the purposes of combat calculations.

Additionally, no stats were intended to apply to magic (or attack) ratings, and this was simply an error in the tooltip text until it was corrected last week. Intelligence increases magic damage dealt, not magic rating.

No, read the post.  Magic Rating is used to overcome Resist Rating.  Attack Rating is used to overcome Defense Rating.  Those 4 stats will not work in PvP.

Intelligence increases damage, not rating.

Ok I read it five times now, it still makes little sense. In game scrolling over my GUI it says "Magic Rating increases the amount of damage you do with Magical Attacks". Am I missing something ?  :oh_i_see:

Yes this I know, that is for Mage classes, Priest classes get damage from wisdom. Fair enough, but what the hell does +Electrical / Electricity / Volta damage do ?

I imagine that that is a Norwenglish way of saying that the more you hit the more damage you do, thus the better your magic rating the less likely it is you will be resisted thus the more you will hit.

In the linked post, he specifically says that increased magic damage is NOT increased magic rating, and that magic rating (and resist rating) won't work in pvp.  He never says anything about whether or not magic damage will work in pvp, though obviously the post implies that it will.

They didn't fuck around with the English in the game, at least.  I've only seen one typo but the way the game is written is pretty stellar.

I like the potions I have that say 'Potion: Lasts 1 hour', yet I don't see any benefit when I drink it and no icon shows up to explain what it did to me. 

Don't be a retard.

If you can't read the description on a potion, it's useless to your class. Like a rogue drinking moonspill (a mana potion) will do nothing.

You need a new sarcasm detector. It was le joke of my humiliation of previous retardation in misunderstanding Norwenglish.

My sarcasm detector is fine. Had your post come before I posted mine, I might have - in fact - chuckled. Posting it afterwards just made you look like an ass.

All other stats work normally in PvP. It is simply that "scaler" functionality which is normally in place to dynamically adjust gameplay based on level differences (for instance, the fact that you will evade more against a lower-level NPC) is removed in PvP to allow for a fairer matchup of player skill and ability.