Spoiler:
Why critical hit rate gap causes difference in gameplay
(See at the end of post for the math stuff)
Some tactics/mechanics benefit exponentially from crit rate increase. To give a simple example, let's take 2 Rune Priest called RP#1 and RP#2. Both wanna use Blessing of Grungni's tactic (increase all healing value by 25% for 10s, proc by direct heal crit). RP#1 has a crit rate of 50% (in sovereign); RP#2, of 25% (in annihilator).
Statistically, RP#1 will need upward to 4 casts to crit with a certainty of over 90%. While RP#2 will need roughly 9 casts to achieve the same probability to crit. Hence, often, RP#1 will have 2-5 casts to do something else (hot, cleanse, etc.) while RP#2 is still casting direct heals to try and proc the damn thing. This changes the way to play the class quite a lot. RP#1 can be doing useful things, while RP#2 is spamming Grungni's gift praying for a proc.
Why lowering critical hit rate is a not a solution
(This has nothing to do with the last crit modification on sets/weapons and all. It's just maths)
If RP#1 has 25% crit, but RP#2 has only 10% crit, things get worse. To proc the same tactic, RP#1 needs upward to 9 casts (as per above), while now, RP#2 will need upward to 22 casts making the tactic nearly useless, as it will not proc enough.
Hence, crit in itself isn't the problem. The discrepancy between what crit rate can be achieved by the same class at different gear/renown level is.
Furthermore, crit is the only thing I can think of that has no cap before its maximum value : 100% (it could be achieved on live by RR100 BW with lotd bugged weapons + dirty tricks and IB buff).
Proposition
Implementation of a hardcap on critical hit rate. The value of this cap can be determined, although personally I would propose something between 30% and 50%. It could be adjusted as new gear is added. This cap would have the following advantages :
1- The crit based gameplay would become more uniform across different tiers of gear (people would use the same abilities and get the same proc chance, as they'd mostly all have the same crit rate). Only the means to get to the crit cap would change : career mechanic, buffs, renown points, gear, group composition, etc.
2- The impact of crit reducing ability (à la Kneecaper) would become more uniform. Now, it impacts the low crit rate people a lot more.
3- The value between a crit damage increasing tactic, vs a flat damage increasing tactic would become more equivalent, between 10% and 15% for both. So a choice could be made between sustain (flat increase) or burst (critical damage increase). Right now, there is no choice past a certain crit rate.
Edit :
Other problems would emerge. Simply, as gear gets better, players would hit the cap more easily without scarifying renown points or buffs to achieve it. So this would shift the current crit stacking meta in a way that I personally cannot predict. Maybe people would go for extra stats, more defensive passive ability (armor, resist, parry, dodge, reduce chance to be crit), or stuff like RD and CW. This would be even more true for careers like sorc/bw as their mechanic would allow them to hit the cap much more easily and reliably than other classes.
The MATH !
Even though your chance to crit on each single attempt always remains the same (your crit rate), the probability of getting a crit over the course of multiple casts increases. The probability of a crit occurrence (μ) is a function of N (number of casts) and λ (your crit rate in decimal) as follows : μ=1-(1-λ)^N
So, with a 50% chance to crit (0.5), over 4 casts, we get : 1-(1-0.5)^4 = 0.9375. Or 93,75% chance to crit.
(See at the end of post for the math stuff)
Some tactics/mechanics benefit exponentially from crit rate increase. To give a simple example, let's take 2 Rune Priest called RP#1 and RP#2. Both wanna use Blessing of Grungni's tactic (increase all healing value by 25% for 10s, proc by direct heal crit). RP#1 has a crit rate of 50% (in sovereign); RP#2, of 25% (in annihilator).
Statistically, RP#1 will need upward to 4 casts to crit with a certainty of over 90%. While RP#2 will need roughly 9 casts to achieve the same probability to crit. Hence, often, RP#1 will have 2-5 casts to do something else (hot, cleanse, etc.) while RP#2 is still casting direct heals to try and proc the damn thing. This changes the way to play the class quite a lot. RP#1 can be doing useful things, while RP#2 is spamming Grungni's gift praying for a proc.
Why lowering critical hit rate is a not a solution
(This has nothing to do with the last crit modification on sets/weapons and all. It's just maths)
If RP#1 has 25% crit, but RP#2 has only 10% crit, things get worse. To proc the same tactic, RP#1 needs upward to 9 casts (as per above), while now, RP#2 will need upward to 22 casts making the tactic nearly useless, as it will not proc enough.
Hence, crit in itself isn't the problem. The discrepancy between what crit rate can be achieved by the same class at different gear/renown level is.
Furthermore, crit is the only thing I can think of that has no cap before its maximum value : 100% (it could be achieved on live by RR100 BW with lotd bugged weapons + dirty tricks and IB buff).
Proposition
Implementation of a hardcap on critical hit rate. The value of this cap can be determined, although personally I would propose something between 30% and 50%. It could be adjusted as new gear is added. This cap would have the following advantages :
1- The crit based gameplay would become more uniform across different tiers of gear (people would use the same abilities and get the same proc chance, as they'd mostly all have the same crit rate). Only the means to get to the crit cap would change : career mechanic, buffs, renown points, gear, group composition, etc.
2- The impact of crit reducing ability (à la Kneecaper) would become more uniform. Now, it impacts the low crit rate people a lot more.
3- The value between a crit damage increasing tactic, vs a flat damage increasing tactic would become more equivalent, between 10% and 15% for both. So a choice could be made between sustain (flat increase) or burst (critical damage increase). Right now, there is no choice past a certain crit rate.
Edit :
Other problems would emerge. Simply, as gear gets better, players would hit the cap more easily without scarifying renown points or buffs to achieve it. So this would shift the current crit stacking meta in a way that I personally cannot predict. Maybe people would go for extra stats, more defensive passive ability (armor, resist, parry, dodge, reduce chance to be crit), or stuff like RD and CW. This would be even more true for careers like sorc/bw as their mechanic would allow them to hit the cap much more easily and reliably than other classes.
The MATH !
Even though your chance to crit on each single attempt always remains the same (your crit rate), the probability of getting a crit over the course of multiple casts increases. The probability of a crit occurrence (μ) is a function of N (number of casts) and λ (your crit rate in decimal) as follows : μ=1-(1-λ)^N
So, with a 50% chance to crit (0.5), over 4 casts, we get : 1-(1-0.5)^4 = 0.9375. Or 93,75% chance to crit.
