Stats, Damage, Defense and Killing the One-Damage Phenomenon

Warning!! This post is a DRAFT. It was intended to be published pre-5.8, but obviously was not! I try to talk about the DEF changes but after re-reading the thread there are leaps of logic that don’t get fully justified. If there is specific interest on the forums (or here in the comments sections) I’ll elaborate some more of the theory. Sorry for the mess! (Expect more refined posts on future topics )

Another DEF-rework in Quest? Yes. We’ve learned so much from changing things around in the past and we can make new changes that reflect that learning!

This post is theory-heavy, and not all things are fully discussed. If you don’t agree with some of the assumptions, definitely leave a comment and I can clarify. We’ll improve this even more if you bring up issues here or on the forums.

Armor v Absolute Damage Reduction
In Quest, your equipment reduces damage by a %, we call that the Armor%. To figure out your Armor%, sum up your Chestpiece, leggings, gloves, boots, hat, shoulders, and bracers to get the Armor # you currently have. divide by 10 to get your Armor%. An Armor% of 30% would reduce an attack of 200 down to 140.  Simple stuff.

Absolute reduction (affected solely by your DEF stat) reduces damage by the total number of DEF points you have. So with 30DEF you have 30 “absolute damage reduction” and an attack of 200 is reduced to 170. Basic subtraction.

Now put them back to back. Apply armor% first, then subtract your absolute damage reduction. An Attack of 200 gets reduced by 30% is 140. then subtract 30 to get the final damage of 110. Great.

This Armor% reduction followed by Absolute damage reduction formula is excellent… But I want to point out some things we’ve observed as a result of using it in Quest, and talk about things we can’t do if we keep the Absolute damage reduction.

The Perfect Storm
1. DEFmods are allowed to be unlimited.
2. Players must max-out STR or INT to be able to break the one-damage barrier in PvP against max-DEF players.
3. lower-level monsters yield too much EXP in relation to their difficulty. (A colour coded system of reducing exp for weaker monsters (as found in most MMO’s) would work here.)
4. level-disparity favours DEF builds, punishes non-STR builds harshly (inherent in the system of absolute reduction… unless we de-linerize gains but lets not go there).

Theory –> Reality
Okay, so the absolute damage reduction ‘experiment’ has some untended consequences that didn’t play out in theory, but are very real in Quest. Most notably the demonstrable advantage of DEF-builds, and the forced investment of STR/INT to avoid being forced into a 1-damage pigeonhole. What to do about it? Fix enough of the 4 issues, or try something new?

What we want from a DEF formula
Quest’s development of the absolute damage reduction was sort of haphazard. We wanted a great formula, and in theory absolute damage reduction is up there in coolness. It has lots of armor-piercing and DEF-piercing options went unexplored in quest because if basic attack isn’t ‘working’ then those options are just a cover-up of that flaw. In my opinion, something new is the way to go.

Doing something new requires us to look to the long-term goals of Quest. We can use our long-term goals to help guide or short term focus on DEF… Long term goals: Longer, more strategic battles (boss fights being one of those types of more strategic fights); More cool spells and more cool attacks; Options to build a successful character in many different ways… And of course we want to maintain balance throughout. So looking at game mechanics that enable these types of fights seems like the right place to start hunting for a new DEF formula.

Finding the mechanics…

Quick attack, “wind up”s, desperate lunges, dodge, parry, elemental damage types, shield spells, stances, long-cast spells, short-cast spells, instant cast spells, etc, etc… the list goes on. These are cool mechanics that together form awsome battles. One group in particular is entirely cut off to an absolute DEF formula: quick attacks / slow but strong attacks / casting / channelling. All time-based mechanics are impossible to balance in an absolute DEF situation. Let me explain..
Here’s a quick example of why we need to move away from absolute damage add more variety/options: A quick attack takes, lets say 1.5sec. A regular attack takes 3seconds. Quick should do 1/2 the damage, right? Let hastily try that out with an absolute DEF formula (beware, numbers ahead):
Lets say Weapon% and Armor% cancel each other out.
RegularDmg = 200
TargetAbsoluteDEF = 100
result: Target takes 100dmg.

QuickAttackDmg = 200/2 = 100.
targetAbsoluteDEF is still 100.
result: target takes 0 damage.

Yikes.

Time-based vs Turn-based

Quest has always been turn-based. Your turn. My Turn. Repeat.

However, many of the mechanics above need a different paradigm. Well why do we have to move away from turn based? Well we don’t… but the above situation forces some messy assumption-based balancing for any spell that does not follow the “norm” curve. Fire=Water=Earth… for that reason. We can mix those up by two new variables (cast time, damage) if we move to time-based. Much nicer.

Weren’t we already time-based?
Yes, sort of. But all attacks always took the same amount of time to use. Drinking a potion takes the same amount of time as changing the planet’s clouds into blood-red behmouths that rain rain tears of apocalyptic fire… really? casting spells to end the world can happen in the same time it takes to take a sip of your favorite flask? We can do better.

DEF stat
Okay, we’re time based, with no absolute DEF. So what does DEF do?
Def still reduced damage, but in a new way. Def increases your chance to dodge, parry, and avoid critical hits. Also, DEF can contribute a small boost to your armor %… obviously we know the dangers of locking in a % reduction ( remember the two stat, 95% armor days? “Are you a STR/HP or an HP/STR?”) so your boost in armor and dodge are relative to your opponent… enter FOCUS.

FOC stat
Focus replaces DEX. Focus represents your ability to hit and critical hit your opponents. It can also stifle your opponent’s Armor% bonus. Are you noticing that FOCUS is the opposite of DEFENCE? The reciprocal action is intentional.

Out with the Old… In with the New…
Focus and Defence changes are coded in v5.8.  (Say goodbye to the one-damage phenomenon.)
Time-based Fights are also in v5.8. Little bonuses of going to time-based fights are visible right away. For example, fizzled spells (due to not enough MP) only take 1/3 of the time of a normal attack. Using potions takes longer in-battle (for balance issues). Plenty more benefits to come from the switch to time-based in the future.

I hope I’ve broken down the big picture of why and how these changes are coming into Quest…

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