Quote (Ultimor @ Mar 21 2017 05:14am)
Hey fellow slashers,
I need to know some of the deeper theories in ls - the value of the different armor classes.
Since I been playing I realized people prefer scales and leathers and padded robes.
Of course, some armors can not be worn by every class but I think that is not the whole storry.
I just made a few excel calculations and realized that all armors have a summ of the average defense values (phys + magical) of 63.
So if the incomming damage is equally distributed - each armor should be equally good.
But somehow it is not? Please help out a poor nub ^_^ and explain me the idea behind the strong preferrence for scales.
Cheers!
I could talk about this for hours!!! Lemme just start off by giving you my rankings of utility and price which are qualitative, but should give you a general feel for differences between the types. Note that the values are based on pure EE armors. The story changes completely with padded and even robe being of much higher value if you start to add stats
Defense value:
Scale >> Chain >>>>> Leather >> Plate >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Padded >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Robe
FG Value:
Scale >>>>>> Leather >>>>>>>>>>>>> Chain > Plate > Padded
* >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Robe
Rationale:
Defense value is mainly based on the ratios of monsters in cata that use physical attacks vs magical attacks. Now, all monsters in cata can-and given enough time, will-use physical attacks. But only some monsters will use magical damage. Also the natural random composition of monster attack types is skewed toward physical. Therefore it is more beneficial to stack physical defenses than magical defenses. This is the main reason why plates, chains, scales and leathers are so much more effective than padded and robes, and why generally character classes that can wear at least medium armor tend not to use ee paddeds/robes. However, except for in special circumstances ( ask pun_godlike about this
), plates are not usually the best choice for tanking because they have nearly no magical defense, and so they get shredded as badly by magical attacks as robes get shredded by physical ones. Even chains are quite susceptible to this, but they have double the magical defense of plates, and so aren't quite as weak against magic.
As you guessed, FG values do not align with defense values because of armor type restrictions based on class. EE padded robes are actually valuable because monks and ninjas cannot equip medium or heavy armors. And medium armors are considered the highest value ee armor types because they have some of the best mitigation and can also be used by more classes (especially because they can be used by headhunters, which tend to be the main tanking class in a lot of climbs).
Some reservations:
The exact defense value of each armor type is strongly influenced by the amount of vit (multiplier for phys defense) and int (multiplier for magical defense) on the character you are tanking on. Because of this and because compositions of mob attack types can vary a lot, there will be some healthy controversy over which ee armor type among the top 4 is best (scale, leather, chain, and plate). As a general rule, if you are stacking int, an armor type that has higher physical defense is preferred, and if you are stacking vit, an armor type that has higher magical defense is preferred. Doing this will basically balance your defenses, reducing your vulnerability to one type of attack. ( This can change completely based on situation, especially at absurdly high levels, but I digress...
)
*Also, for the 3 armor types in the middle of the fg value scale, simply stating chain > plate > padded is not exactly the whole story. At lower level and ee values, it seems to be that chain = plate > padded for value. However, at the highest ees and highest levels (think lvl 55 and over 200 ee), padded outstrips its heavy compatriots in terms of value. It would appear that this has mainly to do with the fact that most slashers looking for lower gear have not yet unlocked monk, ninja yet and the first 3 classes can all wear all armor types making heavies much more valuable to them
Hope this helps. And I hope I didn't scare everyone away from giving their opinions, since I would like to read about what others think too
This post was edited by BWConformity on Mar 21 2017 05:40am