Return of Reckoning

The game's defense mechanics were changed in the new patch.

In the patch note forums, we have been discussing with the devs how the new mechanics work. Without going into (much) mathematical detail, I will use this post to summarise some of the main points. Note that I am not a dev and that all of the information below is based on the discussion in the patch note forum.

Your chance of defending (parry, block, dodge, and disrupt) are based off contested rolls. The contested roll is based off your defensive stat and percentage defensive modifiers versus the attacker's offensive stat and percentage strike-through modifiers.

The opposing stats for each type of defence are:

Parry: defender's weapon skill versus attacker's strength
Block: shield rating versus attacker's strength
Dodge: defender's initiative versus attacker's ballistic skill
Disrupt: defender's willpower versus attacker's intelligence


In summary, the effects of the new mechanic are:
(All of the figures quoted are for level 40, but the results apply similarly at other levels.)


1. Defensive stats now provide more defence.
Formerly, a weapon skill of 450 would have provided 3.2% parry against a strength of 1050. Now it will provide 12.2% parry.
Formerly, willpower of 900 would have provided 6.4% disrupt versus an intelligence of 1050. Now it will provide 24.5% disrupt.
Formerly, a weapon skill of 500 would have provided 4.7% parry against a strength of 800. Now it will provide 14.6%.


2. +x% modifiers are effectively nerfed by between 15-30%.
Formerly, a +10% parry bonus from abilities, tactics, dual-wield, gear, etc would have increased your parry chance by 10%. Now, it will increase you parry chance by 7.2% against an attacker with 1050 strength. This is a 2.8% reduction. An attacker with only half as much strength, 525, would reduce the bonus by half as much, 1.4%. So the bonus would now be worth 8.6%.

This effect is linear, so a +20% parry bonus would only be providing +14.4% against an attack with 1050 strength, etc.


3. +y% strike-through modifiers are being treated the same way as the % defence modifiers
So, a +10% strike-through tactic will reduce the opponent's defence chance by only 7.2% if your offensive stat is 1050, etc.


4. The above summary applies to parry, dodge, and disrupt. Block was not discussed in the forum thread but it has apparently been changed to work in a similar way. The block rating on the shield should provide more block than previously but % modifiers should add slightly less block.


Comments
1. The big winner is healers versus casters. The healers disrupt chance should improve by 15%-25%.

2. Defensive stats are now more valuable while +x% modifiers are slightly less valuable. This balances out when the % modifiers are in the +20% to +30% range in most cases.

So a SM will notice better base parry, they get less added parry from using Eagle's flight (a +25% parry buff), but the total of their base parry and the buff from EF will give them approximately the same parry as previously. However, when they use WoDS, they will have maybe 5% less defence than previously because large buffs are receiving a larger effective nerf than small buffs.

3. Dps healers and defensively specced tanks aren't being disadvantaged because of their lower offensive stat. The improved defence chance is based on the defensive stat becoming more important. So differences in offensive stat produce only a few percent difference in defense chance, and this is something that dps healers and low-strength tanks were already encountering in the old system.


A simple formula that can be used to show how defence now works for level 40s is (this applie to parry/dodge/disrupt. Block would use different numbers and give a larger value):

defense% = 100% x (defender's defensive stat + 26.25 x % modifiers) / (attacker's offensive stat + 2625)

For example, working out parry%:

defender's weapon skill = 450
defender has +10% to parry from the renown ability
attacker's strength = 1000

defender's parry % = 100% x (450 + 26.25 x 10) / (1000 + 2625) = 100% x 712.5 / 3625 = 19.7%

this is all very interesting

i've been playing around stacking WS on my tanks. not had enough time or resources to do it properly yet, but i see 2 handers, especially with the recent punt/CS changes becoming a lot more viable if they opt to raise parry via WS... if it works. i must say in the limited tests i've done that WS still does next to nothing to help your DPS if your DPS is already middling

my other idea is an init/ele res stacking mara, but a WL may do it better because ridiculous flashfire

Big thanks for working that out!!!

I was brain afk while reading the recent changes and had no clue what it all was about.

I feel like healers are disrupting 70% of my attack atm....Sorc with max Int.

I have the same observation as Geezereur. Unless I am just unlucky with the randomly contested roll...consistently. While the stated math looks functional in theory, the practical application does appear to have a noticeably greater effect than the stated intention.

Easy enough to get an Enemy log showing % disrupt; that'd be much more useful than feeling and 'observation'. Unless there's something wrong in the implementation, healers should be nowhere near 70% disrupt.

There's also the larger question of whether it's actually a bad thing that healers are more resistant to spells, particularly if there are going to be future changes to armour stacking.

it's definitely buffed... i just saw a 6x parry on my lvl 13 200WS IB...

note that i had to piss around and sacrifice a lot to get that WS and i do not consider this a bad thing, it's a gimmick i spent all weekend trying out and adore that it's now a thing that can be done

My Sorc has BiS gear, full Conq and full Genesis, softcap Intelligence and +7 disrupt strikethrough (4 from conq, 3 from genesis)
I'm getting insane amounts of disrupts compared to before. I mean I cannot get more Int strikethrough as it is now, what to do?

Obviously if my Sorc has Flashfire there would be an upside in it, though sadly not every bombing class is blessed with the same potential as BW when it comes to damage output.

So Runefang just got a lot better right? Yay

Yep, Runefang is still one of the best tactics in the game, and now its even betterer. Bit of a stealth buff to IB/BG: IB get Watch 'n Learn, which is a WS buff that now gives them a bit of extra parry as well. And both get a massive willpower buff (300+ at 100 mechanic) which gives them and their darkoath protecfriend a pretty sizable on-demand disrupt bonus.