Dexterity, Strength, and Attack Power Curves

[Relm]

Hey, the current attack power curves for warriors and archers based on their primary attribute, strength for warrior or dexterity for archer, are quite jagged to the point that a new player not acquainted with this part of the code can be at a significant disadvantage. I'm thinking it might be nice to make those curves smoother. The cause of the jumps in attack power from 89 to 90 strength/dexterity etc., from what I can tell, are due to rounding in a formula involving something like [(Strength/10)^2]. Is there a reason we can't change that to something like [(Strength^2)/100]? Is ~12,100 too big a number or something? I haven't seen the actual code involved, so perhaps I'm being kind of naive here, but I thought it might be worth asking. Thanks!

P.S. Sorry mages, I think your curves are different..

[o11c]

Codewise, there's no reason the formula couldn't change.

[Relm]

Alright folks, first attempt ever to embed images in a forum post, here goes...

Clarification for first image: Red is current, Yellow is proposed. Alternatively, jagged is current, smoother is proposed.




Before decrying the significant increase in base attack at 99 strength, please understand that the people who have studied this issue and have about that much strength are already either at 90 or 100. This doesn't affect them hugely, aside from not wanting to reset their stats every time they switch equipment affecting their primary attribute, and possibly going to that extra few stat points over 100, which costs them a lot of both secondary stats and GP (eg 1m for a new ring).

If that failed, try this link:
http://imgur.com/a/0q7SX


So yeah, there's (1) a visual comparison of the curve currently in use next to the one I'm proposing, and (2) a graph of the percent change in base attack power based on strength from the current curve to the proposed one.

Or at least, there should be, if imgur works.


Sorry if graphs seem low quality, but they're just intended as a temporary way for people to grasp the issue visually. If this gets approved we can make a pretty graph for posterity if anyone happens to care, but hopefully it will be intuitive enough that that's not necessary.

[Relm]

There have been concerns about this affecting development plans to allow for 100 or 110 strength or dexterity or int. First of all, this isn't being proposed for int. Second, it will have no effect on base attack when the character's strength or dexterity (depending on weapon) is a multiple of 10, such as 100 or 110. In other words, this isn't a problem in that regard.

On the other hand, if a development plan requires a jump of about 10% more attack power from 99 to 100 or 109 to 110, then this would be an issue. However, I also question whether requiring an extremely expensive gear to get a 10% base attack bonus is wise, or if a more tempered approach would be better. An alternative, if you did want that effect, would be an item set bonus that increases base attack by ~10%.

[Relm]

Here is the issue currently, as plain as I can make it:



It's, like, supposed to be flat. It's not flat. At all.