I've seen the feedback and currently, players feel that once you get past the Lunatic, Ironclad, Capped, and Protection sets, the attack power boosts from power boost will just feel minuscule unless you decide not to accessorize (but really accessorizing is the name of the game, so why would you decide against it?). Like, let's say you have more target audience-oriented gear like the Lunatic set and a Spiked Reptile Shell. Also, let's assume you put in 2 strength points a level. I would assume that if you keep the gear until Level 50 when you're basically meant to go into the Nature Factory, you would have something like this:
Base Strength Stat: 102
Lunatic Set: 18+18+18+9=63
Spiked Reptile Shell: 20
102+63+20=185
All fine and dandy, but let's say you wanna upgrade to the Ancient set, which is basically the strongest warrior gear you can equip at Level 50. Now the weird thing is armors are more expensive than equal-staged weaponry (in the Ancient set's case, Ancient Axe and Death Bringer). This is especially true with warrior equipment, For real.
Ancient Helmet (representative): $1077178
Ancient Axe: $357911
Death Bringer: $527499
Let's say you're carrying a Caliburn, which has 58 power. Upgrade that to an Ancient Axe (doesn't have to be two, just one) and you would get a 20.7% power increase lickety-split for, well, $357911. If you go for a Death Bringer Instead and you would just have to pay $527499 for a 55.2% increase.
As for armors, well, given players mostly go for the extra power, well, here's what you get from getting... One piece of Ancient Armor. Bear in mind, you gotta buy each piece of armor one part at a time. One piece of Ancient Armor minus the boots grants you 24 power. As a result, here's what you got.
102+24+18+18+9+20=191
191/185=1.0324
So only a 3.24% increase in power for... $1077178. What? Now that isn't to say the armor is entirely useless. 101 defense per piece is definitely better than 49 defense per piece, for instance, but here's the kicker...
Lunatic Set defense: 49+49+49+25=172
Spiked Reptile Shell defense: 45
Ancient Helmet defense: 101
Player defense isn't lumped in with equipment defense, don't you worry. Now... what would that lead up to? Well...
49+49+49+25+45=217 (With full Lunatic gear)
101+49+49+25+45=269 (with Ancient Helmet)
269/217=1.2396
So roughly a 24% increase in defense for... $1077178. You can get more bang for your buck upgrading from a Caliburn to a Butcher's Cleaver for power than from upgrading your Lunatic Helmet to an Ancient Helmet for defense. No really.
101/49=2.061 (defense difference between Lunatic Helmet and Ancient Helmet)
116/58=2 (power difference between Lunatic Helmet and Ancient Helmet)
Their multipliers seem identical at first, but the difference is you only need one weapon as opposed to 5 pieces of armor unless you can and feel like dual-wielding (dual-wielding warriors and dual-wielding mages are tied for 2nd fastest base attack behind gunmen; I tested it out).
There are three solutions that I have to fix this: one drastic and two moderate.
Solution 1: Moving the Base Stat Over to the Weapon's Side of the Damage Formula
Here's the drastic solution. Currently people complain about the damage formula, primarily the player-to-monster damage aspect of it. While the damage formula to me is significantly fairer than everything we had dealt with before thanks to its better calculations and ease of providing a challenge to players, there are some intricacies that may throw people off, primarily how the base stat contributes to the player-to-monster damage aspect.
Suppose two players have the same gear. Let's say... Lunatic set (or its power-equivalent: the Paladin set) and Spiked Reptile Shell. While we're at it, let's give them both the Caliburn as well. Player A is Level 50 while Player B is Level 60 and put 20 points into strength after Level 50. Here's how their stats would work.:
Player A:
58*(18+18+18+9+20+102)=10730
Player B:
58*(18+18+18+9+20+122)=11890
11890/10730=1.1081
Okay, so that's a 10.81% power difference.
Now, let's say we swapped their base stats over to the weapon's side. Here's how it would go.:
Player A:
(58+102)*(18+18+18+9+20)=13280
Player B:
(58+122)*(18+18+18+9+20)=14940
14940/13280=12.5%
That's a 12.5% power difference.
Now, let's do the same, but with Ancient Set and Death Bringer on the table, of course leaving the Spiked Reptile Shell alone.
Player A:
90*(24+24+24+12+20+102)=18540
Player B:
90*(24+24+24+12+20+122)=20340
20340/18540=1.0971
Okay, so that's a 9.71% power difference.
Now, let's say we swapped their base stats over to the weapon's side. Here's how it would go.:
Player A:
(90+102)*(24+24+24+12+20)=19968
Player B:
(90+122)*(24+24+24+12+20)=22048
22048/19968=1.1042
That's a 10.42% power difference. It seems that the base stat's involvement in the modification was slightly improved. But what about the armors? Well...
Player A:
Lunatic Gear: 18+18+18+9+20+102=185
Ancient Gear: 24+24+24+12+20+102=206
206/185=1.1135
Okay, so upgrading from full Lunatic to full Ancient gear provides a 11.35% boost in Player A's case. Now what about Player B?
Player B:
Lunatic Gear: 18+18+18+9+20+122=205
Ancient Gear: 24+24+24+12+20+122=226
226/205=1.1024
A'ight, so it's a boost in power by 10.24%. Cool. Now what about... if we did the switch?
Player A:
Lunatic Gear: 18+18+18+9+20=83
Ancient Gear: 24+24+24+12+20=104
104/83=1.253
Okay, so upgrading from full Lunatic to full Ancient gear provides a 25.3% boost in Player A's this time. Now what about Player B?
Player B:
Lunatic Gear: 18+18+18+9+20=83
Ancient Gear: 24+24+24+12+20=104
104/83=1.253
Whaddya know? It's the same case.
Now, what you just saw here is armor boosts are buffed by a great deal and the base stat is given more influence in how damage works. However, weapons are nerfed as a result of this change, and sharpening will take the hardest blow unless it's handled differently. Like so...
(Weapon Power+Base Stat)*1.1^(Sharpening Stage; 0 for unsharpened weapons)
That should be doable. Of course that would wind up needing a price tweak for Sharpening and Hardening Stones. Hmm... Ah! I made a thread on how to handle the pricing of Sharpening and Hardening!: https://eliatopia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4836
While nothing would need to be changed with monsters from Rafflesias onward (though I seriously think Steel Blocks and Znakes need to have their defenses nerfed), the resulting change may wind up making monsters before Rafflesias need a bit of tweaking.
I think this idea shouldn't be done just yet as it would require some analysis and preferably peer review. Granted it would reduce the effects of whatever this nonsense is...:
...but I dunno, people are apparently bad at reading math in the Elia community.
Solution 2: Just Buff the Armors' Power Stats
Really this is the simplest out of all the solutions. No need to worry about messing with the formulas or anything. Just buff the power stats of post-Renegade armors up and you're good to go! Here are the stat changes I've provided to at least start making armors feel a bit more useful.:
Paladin Set (1 piece): 18->20 strength; 9->10 strength (boots)
Fiberglass Set: 18->19 magic (10 for boots)
Horned Helmet: 24->26 strength
Cone Helmet: 21->23 strength
Bronze Set: 20->22 strength; 10->11 strength (boots)
Relic Set: 20->22 magic; 10->11 magic (boots)
Magnesium Set: 23->25 strength; 11->12 strength (boots)
Ancient Set: 24->26 strength; 12->13 strength (boots)
Skullcrusher Set: 25->27 strength; 13->14 strength (boots)
Wrangler Set: 26->27 artillery
Barbed Set: 26->30 strength; 13->15 strength (boots) (bout time warrior sets started catching up to other class sets)
Bone Pirate Set: 27->29 artillery; 13->14 artillery (boots)
Alloy Grape Set: 30->32 archery; 15->16 archery (boots)
Jester Set: 30->32 magic; 15->16 archery (boots)
Pricing's kinda inconsequential, I mean come on. What exactly is a $6146 increase to an armor piece that costs $1.25M, huh?
Speaking of pricing, I think there should be a price modifier for warrior gears that reduces their prices to 0.7x their normal price. Just sayin'.
Either way, this is just quick-fix territory to me unless every armor piece from here on out increases attack power by 10%+ per pop (preferably 12%+, but I digress).
Solution 3: Allow Hardening Stones to Also Boost Armor Attack Power
Why don't Hardening Stones provide boosts in attack power in armor, anyway? That would've made those things more useful to players.
Personally, I think combining Solutions 2 and 3 would work best for now. Until then, this is about what I can do.
