Wyrd’s Style Spreadsheet InfoFAQ v.1
Research and Formulae by Jay Ambrosini aka Wyrd
FAQ written by Peter Waterman
and Jay Ambrosini
Introduction
Wyrd’s Style
Spreadsheet:
Spreadsheet
InfoFAQ:
This InfoFAQ is intended to go hand in hand with Wyrd’s Style Spreadsheet, linked above, to explain how to
interpret the Spreadsheet and its inner workings. Viewing one without the other may be
confusing, though as you gain familiarity with the workings of the Spreadsheet
(as explained in this document), you will be able to discard this InfoFAQ – but never the Spreadsheet
itself!
There are three primary tabs
for this spreadsheet, one for each realm. If you click on a realm tab, you will
see the available weapon spec lines for that realm, as well as the individual
styles in each spec line. Of
particular note on this spreadsheet, and what makes it unique and critical to
anyone considering the inner workings of melee styles, is Column B, a small number on the left
side of each style. This number is
what Wyrd has termed the Growth Rate of a style – in a very small
nutshell, this Growth Rate is equivalent to the value the game developers have
inputted into their style database, which is used by the game to determine how
much damage a style will do at any given point.
By using the Growth Rate
number, all styles can be compared in an even environment. The higher the Growth Rate on a style,
the higher the average style bonus will be when the style is performed, while
the lower the Growth Rate, the lower the average style bonus. This means that, for example, a style
with a Growth Rate of .8 will on average outperform a style with a Growth Rate
of .4 over time.
This Growth Rate, how to use
it in calculations beyond a basic comparison of the numbers, and where it comes
from, is explained in detail in the questions below.
Frequently Asked
Questions
1. How
do melee styles that add damage work?
Simplified, a damage style
is a DPS (Damage Per Second) based addition to the base melee damage of an
attack. It adds damage via a
multiplier based on the Growth Rate of the style, weapon specialization in the
style’s line, and Effective Speed of the weapon wielded. Higher weapon spec and a higher growth
rate will both lead to a larger style multiplier, while higher quickness, a
faster weapon, and more haste will both lead to a lower style multiplier (though
a faster swing rate on the same speed weapon will always have a higher damage
output over time in spite of a smaller style multiplier).
To walk through a basic
example, let's assume a player used a style on an opponent and saw the following
output in his chat screen:
You perform your Test Style perfectly!
(+50)
You hit your test subject for 150
damage!
We immediately know two
things from the above lines: The
style added 50 damage to the attack (shown by the style bonus, which is the +50 on the style line), and the attack
would have done 100 damage if it had been unstyled (by
taking the total damage of 150 and subtracting the 50 style bonus from it). Anyone that regularly attacks with melee
styles understands that the style bonus and the base damage both tend to vary
constantly - the same style might add +50 on this attack, but might add +70 on
the next. What most players don't
realize is that currently in DAOC, there is only one random roll where variance
is seen, and that is on the base damage of an attack. The ratio of the style bonus to the base
damage will always remain the same, thus when players see the style bonus
fluctuating, it is only due to the fluctuation of the base damage (as long as
effective speed and weapon spec remain the same) – note that this also means it
is critical to overall style effectiveness that the base damage be as high as
possible, as the higher the base damage is, the higher the style bonus will
be.
Looking at the above
example, we can determine what we call the Style Multiplier, which is the
relationship of the style damage to the base damage. To do this, we take the total damage
dealt, and divide it by the damage that would have been dealt if the hit was
unstyled.
In this particular example, that leads us to 150/100 = 1.5 – this is our Style
Multiplier. This means that any
further hits we perform using that style (again, as long as spec and effective
speed remain the same), the style will always increase our base damage by 1.5
times. The following is another
example of a typical melee hit, where the base damage is slightly lower (due
perhaps to the target being a higher level mob), yet the style multiplier will
remain exactly the same:
You perform your Test Style perfectly!
(+30)
You hit your test subject for 90
damage!
Thus, we see that while the
base damage varies, the connection between the base damage and the style bonus
(the Style Multiplier) will always remain a constant as long as no changes are
made to the equipment used - regardless of the target being attacked. More base damage means a higher style
bonus and more overall damage, while less base damage means a lower style bonus
and less overall damage, yet the entire time the relation between the style
bonus and the base damage will be exactly the same.
2. How does the Growth Rate on the
spreadsheet relate to actual damage dealt and the Style
Multiplier?
Wyrd
has spent a lot of time tracking this down, and after extensive testing and
analysis, has come to the following conclusion (these are fairly easy to follow
formulas but do require some thinking about) about how to determine a style
multiplier (which works as described above) for a given
style:
((Growth Rate * Weapon Spec) * Effective Speed) / Unstyled Damage Cap
The following shows how to
determine the values for the variables above:
1) Growth
Rate: Consult the left column of Wyrd’s Spreadsheet.
2) Weapon
Spec: Check the modified weapon specialization
for the appropriate style being used by examining your character sheet
in-game. For example, if you are
using an Alb Thrust style, and your weapon spec is 34+12, then the value for
this variable will be 46.
3)
Effective Speed: This is the actual speed at which the
weapon being wielded is swung.
Stats such as Quickness over 60 increase your swing speed, as do “haste”
spells. To determine your effective
speed, use the following equation, where SPD is the stat listed in a delve of
that weapon for speed*, Quickness is
the value of that stat listed in your character sheet, and Haste% is the percentage value of any
haste buffs the character may be using (see the Camelot Herald for exact
percentages for haste buffs):
Effective
Speed = SPD * ( 1 – ( Quickness – 60 ) / 500) ) * ( 1 – Haste%)
It’s important to note that in some occasions, this
Effective Speed may drop below 1.5 – unfortunately the game caps melee attacks
at 1.5 seconds, hence if your effective speed drops that low, you need to
reassess the weapons you are using.
For the purposes of these equations, please change any Effective Speed
below 1.5 to exactly 1.5.
*NOTE: For Left Axe users, your actual swing
speed is
determined by averaging the SPD of the Right Axe and the Left Axe. Since the style multipliers than Left
Axe adds are only affected by the Effective Speed of
the mainhand weapon, and not the actual swing speed,
please use only the SPD value of your mainhand weapon
for these calculations. (This also
applies to Celtic Dual and Dual Wield users, who see the same “haste” effects
when both weapons actually swing, but this haste effect is less commonly counted
on with those spec lines as the offhand swing is not a guarantee and hence the
haste effect of a slow/fast weapon is not reliable)
4) Unstyled Damage Cap:
To obtain the unstyled damage cap of a weapon, you must hit a target with
an Armor Factor that is considerably lower than your Weapon Skill without using
a melee style. The easiest and most
common way to do this is to go to a low level area and hit a very low level gray
mob – it’s best to hit two or three to make sure that you are seeing the same
damage on all of them.
Once the above calculations
have been made, the Style Multiplier will be found. Note that this will vary with weapon
spec and stats such that two different people will rarely see the same Style
Multiplier.
Using the above formula,
it’s possible to illustrate how style bonuses vary depending on a player’s
weapon spec and weapon speed, etc.
For example, it’s possible to generate Style Multipliers across a range
of weapon specs for a character, keeping all other stats the same, and apply
those multipliers to a typical base damage hit to see how much impact weapon
spec has on a particular style.
3. Can you show me how the Growth Rate is
really accurate?
Absolutely. Using
actual in-game attacks and data that were done without looking at Wyrd’s Spreadsheet, the following examples show how the
Growth Rate is an accurate real reflection of how styles work in the Real World
(well, in the Real Game that is), across many different levels of toons, specializations, and realms:
(note: These are example cases. Tests in reality may yield varying
results as rounding does have a significant effect on the calculations. If you run into constant discrepancies,
please PM Wyrd77 on the VN)
Example #1:
Infiltrator using the Garrote Style
For this example, the
character is a level 50, Realm Rank 5 Infiltrator. This character is heavily buffed with
the best Cleric specline buffs available. He has a Quickness of 255, a weapon spec
of 50+15 Critical Strike, and is wielding two 2.9SPD Long Dirks – he is not
under the effect of any haste buffs.
First, we will calculate his Effective Speed:
2.9
* ( 1 – ( 255 – 60 ) / 500) ) * ( 1 – 0) = 1.769 Effective Speed
This means that our
Infiltrator will swing his 2.9SPD weapon at a rate of once every 1.769
seconds. Before we can use this
Effective Speed in the final calculation, however, we must determine the unstyled damage cap of the Infiltrator while using these
weapons and buffed in this manner.
In this case, we simply had the Infiltrator attack, unstyled, a sitting level 50 Cleric who was wearing no
armor. The Infiltrator consistently
hit the Cleric for 147 damage, which shows that his unstyled damage cap is exactly that. An alternative method of discovering
this would have been to attack a level 0 mob in the same
manner.
Now that we have the
Effective Speed and the unstyled damage cap of the
weapon being used, the next step is to calculate, using the Growth Rate on Wyrd’s Spreadsheet, what the Style Multiplier for this
character will be. First, we obtain
the Growth Rate from looking on the Spreadsheet, where we see that Garrote has a
Growth Rate of exactly .75. Now,
plug that into the formula including the Growth Rate, the Effective Speed, and
the Weapon Specialization of the Infiltrator, and we get:
((.75 * 65) * 1.769) / 147 = .58665
This means that any time we
use the Garrote style on this Infiltrator, it should
add an extra 58.665% of his base damage as a style bonus. For example, if he were to hit a mob for
100 damage, but used the Garrote style, he would see output such
as:
You perform your Garrote perfectly!
(+58)
You hit the test mob for 158
damage!
This all works well on
paper, but does it bear out in reality?
Let’s see! The following is
an excerpt of an actual chat.log where the above
described Infiltrator, with the same stats and weapons as described, attacked a standing L50 Cleric in epic armor using
the Garrote style:
[
[
The first thing you’ll
notice is that in all of the examples above, we have assumed no
resistances. For players unfamiliar
with the way melee (and magical) resists work, the amount in parentheses after
the damage shows how much of that damage was either added or substracted due to resistances. In the above instance, +3 damage was added because the target was weak to
thrust. Since our calculations only
concern actual damage, the resistances are ignored – hence the total damage
dealt was 168 – 3 = 165.
In Question 1 above, we
explained how to get the Style Multiplier from this kind of output. In this particular example, we
see:
165 / (165 – 61) = 1.58654
If we compare this actual
real-world Style Multiplier (1.58654) to the ideal multiplier according to our
calcution (.58665% = 1.58665) we see that they are
remarkably close. In this
particular situation, the very small variance (in the tenths of a percent) can
likely be attributed to the way the game rounds numbers. Clearly, 1.58665 is close enough to
1.58654 to prove that in this circumstance, the Growth Rate for the Garrote
style according to Wyrd’s Style Spreadsheet is 100%
accurate.
As an exercise in
application, we can reverse calculate this particular melee hit shown in our
log, changing the amount of weapon specialization. Using the math above, let’s pretend that
this same Infiltrator (same weapon, same effective speed) was only spec’d to 39+11 Critical Strike, for a total of 50 instead
of 65. Since the Critical Strike
specialization line only affects style damage, and not base damage, we can show
that if this character was spec’d to a total of 50
Critical Strike and had made the same melee attack, it would have looked like
this:
[
[
It’s interesting to note
that while the extra 15 weapon spec in the Critical Strike line certainly makes
a noticeable difference in this circumstance, it’s not an incredibly massive
amount. Obviously if this was a
base weapon spec, the 15 points would have affected base damage as well, thus
the impact of the extra 15 points would be more
noticeable.
Example #2:
Blademaster using the Bumblebee’s Sting
style
In this example, the subject
is a level 40 Blademaster with 40+3 Pierce. He is wielding a 3.5SPD weapon which has
a 144 damage cap, and has a Quickness of 136.
3.5
* ( 1 – ( 136 – 60 ) / 500) ) * ( 1 – 0) = 2.968 Effective Speed
The following is a from an actual log of said Blademaster using this style with the above mentioned stats
against a red con mob:
[
[
for 46 (-8)
damage!
To determine the actual
Style Multiplier from this example:
54 / (54 – 18) = 1.5
To determine the percentage
increase based on the Growth Rate in the Spreadsheet:
((.58 * 43) * 2.968) / 144 = .51
Comparing the percentage
increase of .51% (1.51x) to the actual Style Multiplier
of 1.5x, we see again that the spreadsheet is accurate in this
circumstance.
4. Why does this all
matter?
It’s really quite simple –
once the Growth Rate for a style has been determined, tested, and confirmed, it
becomes a baseline number that can be used to compare the effectiveness of the
style across all specs, weapons, and realms. Unlike tests that compare actual
melee damage, there is no inaccuracy due to relics, stats, weapon type, test
mobs/players, etc. – it is a flat out, 100% accurate number that clearly points
out whether Style A will outperform Style B if everything is the same. Want to know what the most damaging
style in the game is? The one with
the highest Growth Rate – it’s that simple. Want to know if that Warrior is hitting
your Hero harder than you hit him because he has better styles? Compare the Growth Rates, and there’s
your answer. Want to know if it’s
better to spec Hammer or Axe if all you care about is raw damage output? Compare the Growth Rates of the styles
in those two lines, and there’s your answer.
Having the Growth Rates of
these styles makes this spreadsheet an extremely valuable tool for those looking
to really get into the game and compare melee styles.
5. How do the Assassination styles
work?
Assassination styles (BS,
BS2, PA) work differently than normal styles. Since these styles can only be used as
an opener from stealth, these styles have had the DPS portion coded out and just
add a static damage value. This
allows for assassins to use fast weapons and still hit hard with their
assassination styles. Furthermore,
since the assassination styles add a static damage amount, faster weapons
actually allow for a higher DPS than slower weapons in this case. Thus, one can debate the benefits of a
slow assassination weapon versus a fast one.
Perforate Artery Cap = 75 + Critical Strike Spec * 9 + Nonstyle
Cap
Backstab II Cap = 45 + Critical Strike Spec * 6 + Nonstyle Cap
Backstab I Cap = ~5 + Critical Strike Spec * 14 / 3 + Nonstyle Cap
6. Starter Styles
The starter styles also do
not seem to have a growth rate.
Some are adding +6 damage, others +10. Overall there has not been much study
into these styles since they are rarely used past level 5.
7. Known Bugs
There are a few styles that
work oddly which are still being analyzed by the testing community. This section will be updated as we get
more information. All of these bugs
have been reported to the Devs.
1)
Ripper – Style
sometimes performs with a high Growth Rate other times with a low growth
rate. No consistency has been found
to the style’s damage as of yet.
2)
Sidewinder –
Style is not growing with spec.
3)
Growth Rate
Glitch – Sometimes a style will hit for much less than its growth rate would
indicate. This is a fairly seldom
occurrence (<2%), but instances can be found in data
sets
8. Final Comments
This document is a living
document in that it may change at any moment with or without notice. New examples, grammatical changes and
the possible event of patch changes or bug effects may be added or removed at
any time. Jay nor Peter is in no
way responsible for any actions you take after reading this document. This information is merely here to
inform.
Please feel free to use this
document as you see fit. However,
any reproduction of any of the information within this document should be
properly cited back to the original source. If you believe you have found an error
in this document or the Spreadsheet, please make sure to include detailed logs
and information and contact Wyrd77 on the Vault Network.
InfoFAQ written by Peter Waterman (aka Squawking Tiger), with massive
collusion and feedback from Jay Ambrosini (aka Wyrd) – Jay
is the originator of the formulas and concepts found explained within this
document, Pete just helped write the FAQ.
;)