Bug ID: 270 - Starting Zone Mob Crits
Bug Date: 2009-09-08 09:56:58
Priority: Low

Originated From World: TessEQ2 (199)
Category: Mechanics
Sub-Category: Combat
Causes a Crash: Affects gameplay
Reproducible: Sometimes Happens
Version: SOEBuild=5771L

Details:
The Starting mobs in the the beginning areas, can sometimes hit for far to much. 66 or so.
Spawn: N/A (0), Zone: Queen's Colony

Consider this part of the Combat system review.

Only named mobs are supposed to crit. Perhaps we sould add a crit flag in the DB. If on the mob can crit... otherwise no.

It's likely bad wording, Zexis. I don't think I have ever seen an NPC "critically hit" a player.

Regardless of that, tell me... are "crits" usually caused by a set of skills or abilities a player might possess?

Or, is in an innate ability that when you swing a weapon, there is a small chance due to your attributes your swing will result in a "crit"?

Reason I ask is, if it's skill-based, we simply remove the skill from any NPC that should not be allowed critical strikes. If it's not that simple, then yes I agree, we'll need to develop a flagging system for what an NPC is able to do or not.

For PCs it is determined by the "blue stat" Base Crit.

For NPCs I haven't the foggiest.

Is this blue stat tied solely to a weapon or piece of gear then?

Like, if a sword has a 5% crit chance, then that's it for the player wielding that sword?

It is cumulative across all items. If they have no items with Base Crit on them, their chance to crit is 0. If they have a sword with 5%, helm with 3% and gloves with 9% then their chance to crit is 17% (checks math... yup!).

Also, this crit chance applies to melee and ranged auto-attacks, as well as combat art damage, spell damage and healing amounts.

The catch is that Base Crit is a contested stat (except when referng to Healing). If I am lvl 90 and have 100% Base Crit, and I attack a level 90 mob, I crit 100% of the time. However if I attack a level 97 mob I need 120% Base Crit to be able to crit 100% of the time. Get it?

Healing crit is not contested since the target is friendly.

so are you sorry you asked yet?

Nope, that's precisely why I asked. If "Items" govern whether someone can Crit or not, then simply ensuring that NPC does not equip a weapon with a crit-chance on it should render it crit-less

And, I still stand by the fact I think the bug reporter didn't actually mean "crit", just meant level 1 mobs beating the shit out of him unjustly.

For NPC crit i think a DB field would be so much better than equipment (default value of 0)... I don't want to design equipment just to give my mobs crit chances... that would be the suck.

You know... its conversations like this that make me realize I know way too much about this game...

I'm just sayin, that's why LE designed it that way. spawn_npc_equipment is not about appearances at all, it's about giving your NPC the stats and effects that come with the given item.

We can still discuss "flags" once we get to that stage where it is truly needed. I am a flag junkie; ask LE.