What is used to determine the value when a spell has numerical range for time/damage? - Guild Wars Forums

WolfpackEE · Mar 02, 2005, 04:19 PM // 16:19

When looking at all the skills, most say "deal X damage to Y damage" or "lasts x seconds to Y seconds". Is the value used when the skill is cast based on a dice or random roll? Or do attritubes or character level determine the value?

TIA

Sausaletus Rex · Mar 02, 2005, 04:52 PM // 16:52

What determines the value is a character's statistics, known in GW as attributes. There's no random die factor.

When you see "x...y damage" or "x-y seconds" in a skill description that's giving you the range of values that the skill will have depending on a range of attributes. Here, most elsewhere, and in-game, that range is from 0 to 12. The first number is what you'll get when the relevant attribute is 0, the second what you'll get when the relevant attribute is 12. That gives you a sense of how the skill scales as your attributes are changed. I say changed, rather than go up, because attributes are a function of how much attribute points you'll spend on them rather than level, there's no set rank for your attributes at a given level, it's up to you to decide.

So, say for example there's a skill and it does 4...40 damage linked to Fire Magic. You'll need to be an Elementalist to have Fire Magic to improve that skill and you'll need to spend attribute points to raise that Fire Magic attribute. Without it you'll do 4 damage a cast. With Fire Magic, if you get to Fire 12 you'll do 40 damage. But you don't have to have Fire 12, you could have Fire 4 or Fire 8, or even something like Fire 18 (18~19 is about as high as you can go and you can't get it with every attribute). If your skill does 4..40 damage that means there's a difference of 36 damage due to a rank of 12 or that each rank in Fire Magic is worth an additional 3 damage. So, the real damage for your spell is 4+3xFireMagic. Fire 4 would be 16. Fire 8 would be 28. Fire 18 would be 58. Same holds true for duration or any other variable in a skill description.

You don't have to do that math yourself, though. When you look at the skill in your skill bar it won't say "4...40 damage". It's going to give you the exact value for your Fire Magic rank. If you have Fire 6 it's going to say "22 damage". We provide the range because we don't know what attributes you and others are going to have so we try and provide you with the way to figure it out yourself.

No, of course, you don't actually get 4...40 damage when you use that skill. Not unless it ignores armor. Instead that 4...40 damage gets plugged into an equation to figure out the actual damage based on several factors such as the armor the target was wearing. There, your level is apparently a factor so you will do more damage with a skill against a given opponent if you have a higher relative level. But it's not all that big a factor, not nearly as much as raising your attribute. Look here if you want more details.

Mar 02, 2005, 04:19 PM // 16:19	#1
WolfpackEE Elite Guru Join Date: Feb 2005	What is used to determine the value when a spell has numerical range for time/damage? When looking at all the skills, most say "deal X damage to Y damage" or "lasts x seconds to Y seconds". Is the value used when the skill is cast based on a dice or random roll? Or do attritubes or character level determine the value? TIA

Mar 02, 2005, 04:52 PM // 16:52	#2
Sausaletus Rex Death From Above Join Date: Dec 2004	What determines the value is a character's statistics, known in GW as attributes. There's no random die factor. When you see "x...y damage" or "x-y seconds" in a skill description that's giving you the range of values that the skill will have depending on a range of attributes. Here, most elsewhere, and in-game, that range is from 0 to 12. The first number is what you'll get when the relevant attribute is 0, the second what you'll get when the relevant attribute is 12. That gives you a sense of how the skill scales as your attributes are changed. I say changed, rather than go up, because attributes are a function of how much attribute points you'll spend on them rather than level, there's no set rank for your attributes at a given level, it's up to you to decide. So, say for example there's a skill and it does 4...40 damage linked to Fire Magic. You'll need to be an Elementalist to have Fire Magic to improve that skill and you'll need to spend attribute points to raise that Fire Magic attribute. Without it you'll do 4 damage a cast. With Fire Magic, if you get to Fire 12 you'll do 40 damage. But you don't have to have Fire 12, you could have Fire 4 or Fire 8, or even something like Fire 18 (18~19 is about as high as you can go and you can't get it with every attribute). If your skill does 4..40 damage that means there's a difference of 36 damage due to a rank of 12 or that each rank in Fire Magic is worth an additional 3 damage. So, the real damage for your spell is 4+3xFireMagic. Fire 4 would be 16. Fire 8 would be 28. Fire 18 would be 58. Same holds true for duration or any other variable in a skill description. You don't have to do that math yourself, though. When you look at the skill in your skill bar it won't say "4...40 damage". It's going to give you the exact value for your Fire Magic rank. If you have Fire 6 it's going to say "22 damage". We provide the range because we don't know what attributes you and others are going to have so we try and provide you with the way to figure it out yourself. No, of course, you don't actually get 4...40 damage when you use that skill. Not unless it ignores armor. Instead that 4...40 damage gets plugged into an equation to figure out the actual damage based on several factors such as the armor the target was wearing. There, your level is apparently a factor so you will do more damage with a skill against a given opponent if you have a higher relative level. But it's not all that big a factor, not nearly as much as raising your attribute. Look here if you want more details. __________________ In my day, we didn't have virtual reality. If a one-eyed razorback barbarian warrior was chasing you with an ax, you just had to hope you could outrun him.