Small Test on Resistances

[Saxif]

Tester :- Saxif (49th lvl)
Testee :- Lasiien (49th lvl)

This is a small test comprising of 3 different resistances and 10 attacks of the appropriate form at each resistance value.

Attack Type :- Shadow Bolt (described damage 292-327)

Resistance 1:   10

220                  
221
294
302
312
314
319
321
324
326

Min :- 220
Max :- 326
Ave :- 295

Resistance 2:    55

148
161
163
221
222
225
237
237
296
300

Min:-148
Max:-300
Ave:-221

Resistance 3:    -50

297
308
308
319
378
385
393
467
(crit 548)
(crit 558)

Min:- 297
Max:-467
Ave:-357

The 2 criticals were not included in the min/max/ave.

Although a small sample size, the results do tend to start a very noticeable trend which i believe would continue if a larger sample was taken.

These results tend to point towards resistances changing damage dealt and not chance to totally resist a spell.  The sample size was small, there were however 30 more Shadow Bolts fired at the Lasiien in a diff test, but we were both grped at that point so Las's Shadow Weaving would have scewed the results gained.  In both instances however 2 crits emerged when Lasiien had my debuff on him which dropped his Shadow Resistance, with a larger test sample it could be decided if a lower Resistance, or a Resistance Debuff actually increases the chance of scoring a crit.

Just some food for though for those of you thinking about taking resistance gear.  Bear in mind that resistance is a value not a %, as 100% resistance would obviously negate all damage from that type.  This appears not to be the case.

[Lasiien]

These results tend to point towards resistances changing damage dealt and not chance to totally resist a spell.

 The sample size was small, there were however 30 more Shadow Bolts fired at the Lasiien in a diff test, but we were both grped at that point so Las's Shadow Weaving would have scewed the results gained..

Hey Sax, was interesting getting slapped about by your bolts for an hour

On the first point there I don't think we really tested the resistance to a spell, there were for sure times i resisted but I can't remember when. I think you'd also need to test on higher and lower level targets to see how that influenced things as well. Point being, dont think you can discount that it adds or decreases your chances to resist the spell itself.

On the shadow weaving stuff I think you got confused (wondered why you disbanded during the test ! or perhaps i confused you! Anyway the shadow weaving, which is a priest talent, only affected us when PvE against mobs - not the results of your testing.

Overall I agree found it interesting. This is not DAOC whereby 60% resist is 60% mitigation. These figures seem to suggest that

-60 resist (from base of 10) = 62 dmg more ~ 1 extra dmg per 1% negative resist

+45 resist (from base of 10)= 74 dmg less ~ 1.6 extra dmg mitigation per 1% resist

This is only for your spell though, we'd have to test some other spells to be able to understand a trend.

Just based on that, I'm not convinced resists are worthwhile, given i could forsake +15 stamina say for +15 resist.

First i have to get the right resist type (shadow, cold, heat etc) only then would 15 resist would protect me on the figures above for 24 dmg each bolt.

An item with +15 stam (not uncommon at our level, but quite decent) translates to 150 hps for me as a priest. So I'd need to be hit more than 6 times for the resists to outwieigh the stamina increase. And again thats assuming i have the right resist type.

hrmmm

[Sneakette]

It shows the same thing as normal games would.

I agree with Las on the fact the HP is more than likely a better option than using resistances unless you can increase them all at the same rate.

If, of course, an item has 15stam and another has 15stam & 10 shadow resist, the 2nd item would be more effective.

I always prefer HP anyway, cos what if you come up against something that doesn't even use magic and you wished you had the extra 150hp to live.

Resistances are pants unless they don't replace something you already have, that's my opinion on the subject

[Saxif]

This wasn't a post to say all go out and get resist items, it was designed to highlight how resists worked, I think there is an obvious trend that will be the same through all spells, and for the most part i totally agree Stam>resists, i am certainly not gonna rush out and get resist items.

I am sure there r places where putting on your resist items may well be the way forward, i'm sure there are some bosses which will take 5 minutes to beat down, and that 50 - 100 resist will be a blessing, much more useful that stamina in that situation.  However situations like that will likely be known about prior, and can be planned for, general xping is always STAM.

I also wasn't testing your ability to resist the spell; it us written on our character sheets in a way that lead me to belive that resists could allow you to totally resist a spell, if my memeory is right, you didn't resist moe than 2 bolts out of 64, and i think it was more like 1.

I dont think beating around lower and higher lvl targets will make alot of difference, a debuff will still increase the damage of your spell, and high resists will still lower damage dealt.

[Sneakette]

I know you weren't saying to go and use them, and I do realise you were testing to see the effectiveness of the resists.
I also agree, that at later stages if you have resist items and you know what a mob is going to use against you then they could be more handy than stam.
Being a rogue though, Agi is my top priority and then stam.

I will say;

Nice work on the testing

[Lasiien]

Hey Sax,

Relax ! Not saying that your test was to show that resists are the way to go, i went off on a tangent to understand it myself.

On specifically testing the effects of your spell I do still think a higher and lower level target would be useful.

For the high level target (lets say a level 55) you would resist quite a bit normally(whereas you do not normally on me, at level 49). Therefore you can extraploate on the idea that this spell does not affect the 'spell resist' rate, by seeing if you get a much lower resist rate with your debuff on.

A lower level might prove interesting to see if the varience is as wild as it was with me, or if you get consistent higher damage on them.

These are only suggestions

Las

[Ozymandias]

There's a semi-related article on the euro forums that discuss resistances and the effect on damage / crits.
http://forums-en.wow-europe.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-warlock-en&t=11409&p=1&tmp=1#post11409

From the look of it the Warlocks amongst us should have a good play with Curse of Elements / Curse of Shadow and see what suits.  Looks like a good way of ramping up damage.

[Lasiien]

Wow link to resistance tables

The above also sheds light on how things work in WoW, and explains some of the variance in the tests.

[Herne]

Any idea how this might reflect wrt resisting fear, roots and other staus chnges like blind etc?

Would it increase the chance of an outright resist there or merely the duration?

[Lasiien]

I'm not sure about an outright resist, you would think so from Blizz's explanation wouldn't you ?

However, I cannot recall ever seeing my Fear resisted. I've seen 'Immune' for one reason or another or incredibly short fear durations (not even a second sometimes) but never an outright 'Resist'. So my guess would be that it just goes toward the duration.

[Herne]

So wth higher resists inevitably becomming more common as people get the bestest gear fear might become little more than an interrupt!