Mobs miss more than they should

[ChaosSlayer]

umm Trev, why does setting ATK and AR to 10 (which greater than 0) would cause mobs to have WORSE dps?

is that cuase it uses 10 ISNTEAD of default calculated value, rather than +10 to default value?

[trevius]

Yes, just like setting min/max damage from 0 to 10 on a level 70 mob will make them hit for much less. Certain fields use either averages in the database, or preset defaults for their level in the source. Something like that anyway.

[cavedude]

Yep, when KLS implemented Atk and Accuracy, I asked if leaving them set to 0 would effect DPS, and the answer was no. Both are calculated by the attack code already, you just couldn't edit them in the DB. Log parsing confirmed this. With that in mind, it's completely possible that setting a low value for each will lower the output, and not add a bonus to it. (You would be overwriting the value calculated by the server, not adding to it)

It does bother me that both fields are 0, but I haven't updated them for two main reasons. One, as mentioned above, I'd like to see the combat code stabilize first (in that I'm told, OK I'm done tweaking go ahead and update the DB) Also, based on feedback from the players on TGC and logs I've parsed, I'm not convinced it's a huge issue. The DPS for the most part is in line with the DPS at this era in EQ's history (PoP/LoY)

[ChaosSlayer]

well guys there is a TINY problem with this.
since an average DB user has NO IDEA what is default ATK and AR of any given npc is, using those fields in DB as substitute is esentily shooting in the dark.
Esentialy if i want to alter any npc atk or ar i have to sit down and first calculate these default values for any npc to be altered, to figure out what to put into those fields to ahcive my goal - which is kidn of counter productive.

Can we ask KLS to re-code this implementation so values placed into ATk and AR fields are ADDED to the npc DEFAULT values calculated based on his level/class/stats? This would be much more reasonable, cuase basing on npc default performace we can then tune him up or down (+ or -) wihout actualy needing to figure what his defaull values are

Otherwise I can spend whole day seting NPC to 10,100, 500, 750, and not seeing any improvement cuase his default performance is apparently 27k or something...

would not you agree its a better way to implement this feature?

[James76]

I executed a

 UPDATE npc_types SET ATK=level*100, Accuracy=level*150

and it seems to be much more true to the game. Some mobs like Bertoxxulous still seem easy but at least they are hitting more often.. And the game isn't nearly so soloable anymore. Finally they can hit a naked me. And if I were dodging or whatever, it would say that in combat. It wouldn't say MISS MISS MISS MISS MISS MISS MISS....

As for the combat code, I looked through it to find an easy solution for the riposte problem (ripostes should happen on the attack, not on the hit) and I noticed reused variables, some genius thought it was smart to use the damage variable as a way to control combat, by setting it to specific values to indicate no hit, or a riposte, etc. This is the mark of the amateur developer. Also the redundancy between Client combat and Mob combat, considering inheritance should simplify things (Client inherits from Mob). Maybe they had a problem finding a way to call the parents method.. the easiet way is, for example from within Client::AvoidDamage() is to outright call Mob::AvoidDamage() and then anything specific to the Client can be handled. Or call it at the end. If its written in a way that prevents that from working, then it isn't following OOP rules and is poorly written.

[trevius]

The entire EQEmulator code is years of individual's work all combined to make a single final product. There have been hundreds or maybe thousands of code additions to the source and they all came from unpaid volunteers to the project. No doubt some of it isn't perfect. Some of it was rushed to get it working and then never tweaked or corrected to work the right way. Reading the source there is alot of comments like "I don't know what is going on here..." and "I am too lazy right now to do this the right way", etc lol. The emulator is a huge project and for a small community to put something together over the past few years that works as well as it does is pretty amazing to me. My point is that it sounds a little like you are putting down the coders that wrote the source. Yes, some parts aren't perfect, but with limited resources and no paid professionals to work on it, I think the project is a huge success considering it's current state. This is probably the best emulator community and most complete emulator code in the world. So, we must be doing something right

If you are a good coder, then you are more than welcome to have at fixing any part of the code you wish to work on. The code will have to be checked and approved by the developers of the project before it gets added. But, if it is a good fix or good code, then it should definitely make it into the source. I hope to see some code from you if you have time and are interested in trying to help the community

[ChaosSlayer]

well i don't propose altering any base code (at least untill I see major problems with it) =P
I simply propose to repalce "instead" with "Add" for ATK and AR values in DB to be more user friendly

[trevius]

Chaos, you might want to check out the post that KLS made in this thread:

http://www.eqemulator.net/forums/showthread.php?t=24671

Her spreadsheet should help to get some idea of the attack rating and accuracy calculations.

I think your idea may work for AR and Accuracy, but I definitely don't think it would be best for min/max damage (not that you mentioned that, but it is another that is auto calculated). But, I would almost rather see another way to find the calculated stats like min/max damage, AR and Accuracy. I think if they were added into the #npcstats command output, that would probably solve the problem for now.