Quote Originally Posted by Sky../ View Post
Also, the armor increase of 18.35% does not equate to lasting 18.35% longer.
I understand it may not a direct correlation, but having better armor does increase your survival duration. If you have 18.35% better armor, then you can withstand 18.35% more damage points. if the dps of the mobs remain the same this does lead to a correlated survival rate, and in my opinion (which could very easily be wrong) this leads to a 18.35% longer survival time. I'm not sure if this is a 1:1 ratio, but would be intrigued to find out more.

Quote Originally Posted by Physiologic View Post
I'm only good at archer stuff but here's some input:

Hit% MAY be negligible considering that this value is capped to some degree (I've only tested this in AO3: Close Encounters, so it MAY variable across campaigns as well), as having 100 hit% does not mean you'll hit 100% of the time - you will still MISS (DODGE is completely different, as this is dependent on enemy's DODGE value).

I've been looking at the mage stuff and it looks like its not as clear cut as Archer's lv 50 vs Balefort Sewers equips (in that certain BS gear totally outdoes lv 50 gear). Royce pointed out skill damage is important (something you forgot to mention) but crit IS valuable as well to skill damage (something Royce forgot to mention). 8% crit on MM vs 25% crit on Shadows, while 225 damage on MM and 186 damage on Shadows is quite a hard thing to weigh the pros and cons against. Maybe you can calculate skill damage accumulation WITH crit for both sets.

Of course, this is all on paper as Royce said. When I tested out lv 50 archer sets, they differed in stats but all performed similarly on the field And I've played with too many mages that sucked with MM gear and mages that were awesome with Shadow gear, and vice versa. But for pure discussion's sake we'll just leave player skill out of it.
When you talk about DODGE and MISS, DODGE varies on the enemies dodge %, but MISS depends on your hit rate? if so, this does change my calculations quite a bit.

Next, what do you mean by this? "Maybe you can calculate skill damage accumulation WITH crit for both sets."

Also, leaving player skill out (I know that is the main factor of better playing) was exactly my point. I just wanted to see which set (on paper) would perform better, and I just can't conceptualize (unless my calculations are incorrect) how the MM would be much better besides for better armor, and M/s.

Unless the devs are lying to us, and labeling the gear with false stats!

And I am not trying to prove Royce or anyone wrong, I am simply seeking information on a large purchase, and want to know the mechanics behind said purchase.