Curse

DarkSpirit · Jul 15, 2008, 03:24 AM // 03:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chthon

1. AoE. Enfeebling Blood is "nearby" range. Ineptitude is single-target. SoM is single-target. Epidemic and Plague Sending (+SoM) are merely "adjacent" range. EB is going to affect more monsters. Would you rather have 6 monsters doing 33% damage or 3 monsters doing 10% damage, plus 3 monsters doing 100% damage?

Blindness and Weakness are different conditions, just because it is easier to cast Weakness doesn't mean weakness is more powerful than blindness. Blindness is more powerful and therefore game balance is maintained if it is less accessible.

Saying that weakness is superior to blindness because it has a ranged AoE skill is like saying weakness, from EB, is also superior to dazed (from [[Broad Head Arrow]) because EB is aoe skill.

Chthon · Jul 15, 2008, 03:54 PM // 15:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkSpirit

Saying that weakness is superior to blindness because it has a ranged AoE skill is like saying weakness, from EB, is also superior to dazed (from [[Broad Head Arrow]) because EB is aoe skill.

That comparison is not apt. Weakness does not affect casters hardly at all. If weakness was as effective against casters as it is against melee, then hitting multiple casters with weakness would be better than hitting one with dazed. But it's not.

As for AoE weakness vs blind, it's a simple question of the mob's total damage output. Let's do the math in my previous hypo as a demonstration: "Would you rather have 6 monsters doing 33% damage or 3 monsters doing 10% damage, plus 3 monsters doing 100% damage?" The premise that you're facing a 6-melee mob is not unreasonable. Nor is the premise that EB would hit all six, but SoM+Epidemic would only hit three. If you do nothing, six monsters hit for 600% damage. If you do EB, six monsters doing 33% damage totals to 200% damage. If you do SoM+Epidemic, three monsters doing 10% damage, totaling to 30% damage, plus three monsters doing 100% damage, totaling 300% damage, adds up to 330% damage. Which would you rather get hit with?

The only time this situation is going to change is when you're facing a small enough mob you can blind everything. In which case, your need for shutdown is at a low ebb because you can probably kill them before they can cause a problem.

I should repeat, as I said before, this question of AoE weakness versus single-target or adjacent range blind is something of an excluded-middle fallacy. In PvE, you can run blind through Fevered Dreams, giving it the AoE that it otherwise lacks. That's the best melee shutdown of all.

DarkSpirit · Jul 15, 2008, 06:27 PM // 18:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chthon

That comparison is not apt. Weakness does not affect casters hardly at all. If weakness was as effective against casters as it is against melee, then hitting multiple casters with weakness would be better than hitting one with dazed. But it's not.

As for AoE weakness vs blind, it's a simple question of the mob's total damage output. Let's do the math in my previous hypo as a demonstration: "Would you rather have 6 monsters doing 33% damage or 3 monsters doing 10% damage, plus 3 monsters doing 100% damage?" The premise that you're facing a 6-melee mob is not unreasonable. Nor is the premise that EB would hit all six, but SoM+Epidemic would only hit three. If you do nothing, six monsters hit for 600% damage. If you do EB, six monsters doing 33% damage totals to 200% damage. If you do SoM+Epidemic, three monsters doing 10% damage, totaling to 30% damage, plus three monsters doing 100% damage, totaling 300% damage, adds up to 330% damage. Which would you rather get hit with?

The only time this situation is going to change is when you're facing a small enough mob you can blind everything. In which case, your need for shutdown is at a low ebb because you can probably kill them before they can cause a problem.

I should repeat, as I said before, this question of AoE weakness versus single-target or adjacent range blind is something of an excluded-middle fallacy. In PvE, you can run blind through Fevered Dreams, giving it the AoE that it otherwise lacks. That's the best melee shutdown of all.

In your calculations, you totally forgot to take into account that weakness does NOT affect damage bonuses gained from attack skills. Blind on the other hand, doesn't care since you can still miss when you use attack skills when blinded. Most people dont realize this and overrated the weakness condition and the AI tends to spam their skills.

And if small range AoE is such a big deal to you, then use [[Throw Dirt].

When comparing Blind against Weakness, I find it hard to agree that these two conditions have the same level of usefulness. Blind is the superior condition.