Post by Bazar
Zalambar, a few things.
I've only read the first page, but its inaccurate.
Calculating the increased percentage of raw damage taken by the target due to armor penetration gives the following graph. While 1% armor penetration reduces the target's armor by 1% that does not lead to the target always absorbing 1% less damage.
A target with 20000 armor will take 0.25% more damage from 1% armor mitigation. If the arracker hits for 1000 damage before armor is taken into account, 20000 armor will absorb 56.77% so the target will take 432 damage. If the attacker gains 1% armor penetration then the target will effectively have 19800 armor, absorbing 56.52% of incoming damage and taking 434 damage from a 1000 damage attack. 56.77% - 56.52% = 0.25% more damage taken.
Where your using the phrase "1% armour penetration", you should be using "1% armour reduction", and make it clear that 1% armour penetration doesn't equate into 1% armour reduction.
In layman terms, When you get 1% armour penetration in warcraft, your only getting
up to 1% armour penetration. The reality is much different.
To take the quoted example, if the player had 1% armour penetration, and used it on a level 80 player/creature with 20000 armour, instead of reducing his armour by 200 (1%), it'd actually only reduce it by 117.4 (0.6%)
The formula I'm using to work out the armour penetration was posted by ghostcrawler.
http://www.wowwiki.com/Formulas:Armor_penetrationNow I've not done a graph, and the formula for working out is complex enough that doing it in my head results in a divide by zero, but the few probes i've done suggest the armour penetration->% reduction is more effective at low armour levels, reasonable at mid armour levels, and harsh at high armour levels. Thats probably to counter the fact that armor reduction is worth less against targets with low armour so its more effective.
It'd suggest to me that armour penetration has an average worth regardless of the targets armour.
Either way, until your graph takes into account the armour penetration based on the targets armour level, and the relative damage increase it provides, its going to be more then a bit misleading for anyone trying to judge how effective armour penetration is.
Post by Zalambar
The
armor penetration calculator is now somewhat updated. It will give you armor penetration values matching the formula provided by Ghostcrawler up to 100% armor penetration. Players able to exceed 100% armor penetration have seen some interesting results I'm still working on.