Qs, As and TL Openings Galore:

Q) I had a heated debate with someone in the game last night. We were arguing over the battle swords on the /rw map and the cup/tree/hammer. What does it mean? Is the exact cross of the swords the point of battle? Does the cup/tree/hammer show the general area; or is it specific?

A) Information on the realmwar map can be found at: http://www.camelotherald.com/article.php?id=71

Q) On my 4L5 warrior I have avoidance of magic 3 in addition to scars of battle or memories of war (whichever gives you the + to magic resist) and along with my equipment when I have seer resists on, my resists are generally around 70-75%. But when I use Fury, my resist in theory should be at 120-125% but I still take damage. What exactly is the cap for magic resists?

A) What you’re seeing is a classic misunderstanding made by players. There are two types of spell resists, which we’ll call Bin A and Bin B. Resists from items and realm casted resist buffs fall under bin A, which is the resist number you see displayed on your character sheet. Resists from realm abilities and abilities like Memories of War and Fury are considered Bin B.

From the 2006-02-17 grab bag:

Q: Interpreting the Numbers in the Char Sheet Resists Section and on the Bonuses Page :

I can figure out how to read the main stats because there's a single total at the top of the tooltip, but I don't understand how to interpret the resists, specifically what's the distinction between the numbers before and after the slash? 

The bottom pair seems to be the current and cap for item resists, but what do the top pair of numbers mean in the resist tooltips on the char page? I'm assuming these are the same numbers as in the bonuses window from the command button. 

I've only seen anything added to the number after the slash when using the Physical Defense realm ability. 

So if my slash resist is :
  16% for items
   3% for base (briton)
   5% for physical defense RA

The windows show 19%/5%.  What is my total slash resistance?  19?  24?  Is it conditional?  Is it just calculated separately?  I'm confuzzled about how to interpret it. 

A: Code Warrior again: "It's showing what we and the TLs term "Bin A and Bin B" resists. Bin A resistances come from item bonuses and resist buffs from spells, and Bin B resistances come from realm abilities. They're evaluated seperately when assessing resists, so are shown seperately in the bonus window and the tooltips. There's more on this subject in this Grab Bag:

From the 2006-02-17 grab bag:

Q: My question regards the Realm Ability, Avoidance of Magic.  It states that(copy/pasted): "Reduces all magic damage taken by the listed percentage. (This only works on damage. Does not work on disease, dots, or debuffs and does not affect the duration of crowd control spells). Lvl1 - 2% / Lvl2 - 5% / Lvl3 - 10%......."

I know that resist rates cap at 26% from item/spell crafted bonuses, does AoM's bonuses stack ontop of that, making my imaginary 26% Energy Resist now count as 28% Energy due to AoM1. Or does AoM not stack with a capped 26%, but is instead designed to help my imaginary 'gimped' 15% Matter Resist, making it a 17% Resist due to AoM1?? Thanks in advance.

A: Oh, yeah, this one went straight to the Code Warrior: "Realm ability resist buffs (such as Avoidance of Magic) are added seperately from item/spellcrafted bonuses and spell resists. This is why in the bonus window they display seperately; in his example, if he had level 3 Avoidance of Magic and capped Energy resist bonus from items, he would see "26% / 10%" in his bonus window. The two are evaluated seperately when assessing resists. (Edit: My original answer misspoke; they're not in fact added together. My bad. - CW)

"Unlike with items, there is no hard cap for realm ability and spell resist buffs (although you're limited by which spells and abilities are available, of course)."

Cliff notes version: When you see a damage number printed like 750 (-250) that means that the original damage was 1000 (750+250), and was reduced by 25% by resists. On your bonuses window look for two numbers. Multiply the base damage by one minus the first number 1 - .25 = .75 for 25%. Then, multliply that number by one minus the second number 1 - .1 = .9 for 10%. That will result in the total reduction in damage from spell resists.

Q) You should clarify the recent archer patch that added a timer for Crit shot with reduced damage. My understanding was that this was on a single person, that if targeting another person that this timer would not be enforced. Many times - post patch - I have targeted and hit another person who is targeted for the FIRST time by me, and it gives me the message that this person takes reduced damage... So, do the notes really mean that if ANYONE hits that person with a Crit Shot, they will take reduced damage from ANYONE else hitting them? Some clarification would be helpful. Is this working as intended?

A) Your initial assumption is correct, it should only affect the person who is hit with a crit shot. What you’re describing is an odd bug that we’re trying to nail down.

Q) Does the defensive bonus on styles give you a bonus in RvR or only PvE and does this bonus work on your black/evade/parry chance or does it just effect the rate at which your target misses you?

A)  The bonus works in both RVR and PVE, for block parry and evade.

Q) In regards to a recent grab bag, it was stated that weapon skill doesn't do anything for damage. If this is the case what does Enervating Poison for stabbers do, seeing that it’s a weapon skill / con debuff?

A) The weaponskill portion of the debuff reduces the value of the skill value of your weapon. IE: If you debuff a warrior with 50 hammers with a 10% WS debuff poison, it will reduce their effective hammer by 5 points down to 45. This does not remove the use of styles, it simply makes them hit for less damage and not penetrate defense as easily.

Q) Why does debuff effectiveness not affect champions debuffs when its all over Scale, Large Weapons, and even the champions Champ Weapon?

A) Debuff effectiveness does have an impact on Champion’s debuffs in the Valor line, though it is not a large impact due to the nature of how both debuffs and the bonus work. A 100 point debuff doesn’t actually take 100 points off of a stat. It’s actually a complicated formula that takes several things in to account, including the fact that its debuff takes 50% from buffs and 50% from items. This means that it’s going to debuff at less than 50% effectiveness on an unbuffed player. For example, in testing the 75 point str/con debuff will take 27 points off of an unbuffed player, with 10% debuff effectiveness it will take off 34 points, give or take based on spec and bonuses. This shows that the debuff effectiveness is actually performing, but in a very odd way due to the nature of how the debuff formula plays out.

Q) I have a 2 part question: Does the buffing effectiveness on the Dragonsworn chain sleeves and Accommodation Buckler stack with one another?  And do they stack with the Rune Scribed Starkakedja Gloves?  The three of them combined would give my shaman a 15% bonus to buffing and that would be pretty darn sweet.

A)  Yes. Buff Bonus always stacks with itself up to a cap of 25% at level 50.

Q) I was posed a good question by one of my guilds members, when activating the crown of zahur aura of magic (+5% to range and resist piercing) is there anywhere in the interface where it shows the change? Does it stack with a capped item bonus (I have +10% to both on my runemaster, if the shaman in our group uses it, will I gain the bonus, yielding 15% to both?)? Have looked in the normal places (where it shows the bonus from items) and it doesn't come up there (either on my runemaster or my shaman who has it).

A)  Because of the way that spell bonus works, it will not be reflected in the bonus window, however, the range bonus from the spell will stack on top of the capped range bonus from items for a total 15% bonus. The spell piercing does not appear to stack over the item cap.

Q) Why does the bonus cap on the rune crafted equipment seem to not work? Example: I have a hunter level 50 who purchased an arcanium rune etched starkaskodd boots which are supposed to give a constitution bonus cap of 5, but when I equip it my constitution stays the same. I have 89 in constitution bonus item and I think it's 101. It's the same thing with my warrior, I have purchased and spellcrafted a whole set of rune, the stats I had crafted work but not the bonus cap. Can you tell me why please?

A) There are two possibilities as to why the stat cap bonus wouldn’t be working: a.) you’ve already capped your +constitution cap bonus (if you’re saying that the constitution tooltip says you have +89/101, then this would appear to be the case, as +75 is the normal cap and +26 is the cap for +cap) or b.) you don’t have the four slots above the +constitution cap bonus spellcrafted (you must have all of the first four slots filled for the 5th slot to work).

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