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Light vs. Heavy armor

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Light vs. Heavy armor

Postby arriend » Aug 8, 2003 (2:09 pm)

Is heavy armor really worth training?
I've been using a set of heavy plate sense the big skill changes were released, and when compared to others in game who use lighter armor I find that (1) heavy plate moves much slower (2) Dodge moves much slower *understandably* (3) the AC yield for heavy plate isn't comparible to that of light armor with the skill rank trade off...
Not sure if this is a bug, or intended, but thought it should be looked into in efforts to balance the system. If we can't dodge very well in this stuff, better hope it can stand up to quite a beating.
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Postby GDEXXY » Aug 8, 2003 (2:25 pm)

After completely reviewing all of the code to make sure what I'm about to say isn't wrong or buggy...

Heavy Armor skill progressive advancement ("movement") is exactly the same as that of all the other armors -- perhaps you are training on the wrong creatures.

The Dodge skill progresses at the same speed for everyone too, depending on if other factors are involved -- like if you have a weapon out (chance to parry) or shield (chance to block).

The bonus to armor rating for all skills is exactly even. One point of armor class for every 10 ranks you've acquired in the skill. This may change later to a different number or to a curve, but for all skills it is completely balanced and even.

I would definitely challenge your comparisons or at least suggest you fight more challenging creatures -- all creatures stop teaching skills after a while -- but instead of stopping altogether, they gradually drop slower and slower until it's just not worth fighting them anymore.

If you still feel otherwise, please send me all the details at GD-ExXX@XXXXX.XXX and I'll take a closer look at your skills, specificly.
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Postby GDEXXY » Aug 8, 2003 (4:58 pm)

This is part of a private reply that I thought you'd all like to see to help improve your ability to learn certain skills:

The chance to dodge, parry, or block an attack is completely random. We are still 100% based on an Armor Rating system and it's either hit or miss. If it's miss, we randomly determine why (parry? dodge? block?) and then add a little bit of skill XP for whichever happen. Then after a while, skill ranks are added into your armor rating directly, not as a side pool of dodge, parry, and block abilities. Therefor, two duplicate copies of yourself doing the exact same activites and having the exact same combat encounters with just slightly different outcomes can easily have varying differences in defensive combat skills, though overall, the sum of those skills should be about the same.

The following tips will *greatly* improve your ability to learn skills, even though there is some randomness involved:

Armor: wear your armor, fight difficult creatures, do not use a shield, do not use a weapon, try to avoid any bonuses that add to your armor rating. You want to get hit as frequently as possible so that you better understand how to use your armor to your advantage. Fight multiple creatures at a time if you can handle it, as it will help speed things along. You could also consider using a cheaper version of the armor type (Light, Medium, Heavy) that protects for less, to lower your overall armor rating and thus help you get hit more frequently.

Block: wear your armor, fight creatures easy enough for you to almost never get hit -- but that will still teach you skills, use your shield in your left hand, do not have a weapon in your right hand. Try to acquire any extra bonuses that add to your armor rating. You want to get hit as seldom as possible so that you are constantly either dodging or blocking attacks (randomly either). Without a weapon, you have a 0% chance to parry, thus helping your Block skill. Fight multiple creatures at a time if you can handle it, as it will help speed things along.

Parry: wear your armor, fight creatures easy enough for you to almost never get hit -- but that will still teach you skills, use your weapon in your right hand (and one in your left if you like, but it doesnt help your chances unless you're a Barbarian with the Parry feat/ability), do not use a shield. Try to acquire any extra bonuses that add to your armor rating. You want to get hit as seldom as possible so that you are constantly either dodging or parrying attacks (randomly either). Without a shield, you have a 0% chance to block, thus helping your Parry skill. Fight multiple creatures at a time if you can handle it, as it will help speed things along.

Dodge: wear your armor, fight creatures easy enough for you to almost never get hit -- but that will still teach you skills, do not use a weapon, do not use a shield. Try to acquire any extra bonuses that add to your armor rating. You want to get hit as seldom as possible so that you are constantly dodging attacks. Without a shield or weapon, you have a 0% chance to block or parry, thus helping your Dodge skill a lot. Fight multiple creatures at a time if you can handle it, as it will help speed things along.
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