Attributes Basics
There are 6 attributes:
[*]Strength: Each point above 10 gives +1 Fortitude, which "measures resistance to effects like being knocked back or set aflame." For warriors: Also increases damage and attack (see below).
[*]Dexterity: Each point above 10 gives +1% critical chance, "the likelihood of landing a critical hit." For rogues: Also increases damage and attack (see below).
[*]Magic: Each point above 10 gives +1% magic resistance, which "absorbs a proportion of damage from magical attacks and affects the duration of hostile magical effects." For mages: Also increases damage and attack (see below).
[*]Cunning: Each point above 10 gives +1% critical damage, "the amount of damage inflicted by a critical hit." Also influences Defense (see below). For rogues: "Also determines rogues' aptitude for picking locks and disarming traps, with difficulty thresholds every 10 points."
[*]Willpower: Each point above 10 gives +5 mana (for mages) or stamina (warriors and rogues).
[*]Constitution: Each point above 10 gives +5 maximum health.
"All attacks, spells and abilities that do damage (or force) can be critical hits." (Peter Thomas)
Level 1 characters appear to start with 11 in all attributes, modified upwards by class:
[*]Warrior: Strength +2, Willpower +1, Constitution +1.
[*]Mage: Magic +2, Cunning +1, Willpower +1.
[*]Rogue: Dexterity +2, Cunning +1, Willpower +1.
The stats derived from the first 3 attributes (Fortitude, Critical chance and Magic resistance) all start at 0, regardless of class. Critical damage is 50% for all classes. However, class modifies the base values for the final 2 (stamina/mana, and health). Base values are:
[*]Stamina/Mana: 100 for warriors, 125 for rogues, 150 for mages.
[*]Health: 150 for warriors, 125 for rogues, 100 for mages.
Each level-up grants 3 attribute points, which can be used to increase whichever attributes you wish. Choices made at previous level-ups cannot be altered. Obviously there is no information about plot-related increases.
Damage and Attack
Each class has a different attribute that increases damage and attack: Strength for warriors, Dexterity for rogues, and Magic for mages.
"Damage determines the effect of an attack from the equipped weapon against an unarmored opponent." You gain +1 raw point of damage for every +2 primary attribute. Odd-value primary attributes are optimum for damage points. The base raw damage points vary, as does the resulting DPS (Damage per Second). Equipment is disabled in the demo, which makes this hard to fathom.
However, it seems that the attribute-related damage bonus is fairly trivial. For example, level 6 [edit] Aveline with 19 strength has 71 raw damage points. Spending another +6 on strength raises that to... 74.
"Attack determines the likelihood that a normal strike from a weapon or staff will succeed in hitting an enemy." This stats more logical. The raw attack points increase with the class's primary attribute (strength/dexterity/magic) thus: 14 attribute = 72 attack points, 15 = 81, 16 = 90, 17 = 101, 18 = 114, 19 = 127, 20 = 143, 21 = 160, 22 = 179, 23 = 201.
However, the actual attack percentage derived from those raw points decreases with level. For example, at level 3, 15 Magic (81 points) gives Bethany a 100% attack chance. At level 6 the same attribute and points gives her a 58% chance. At level 6 she'll need 19 Magic (127 points) to get a 100% chance.
The chance cannot exceed 100%. This implies that there is a greater benefit from the lower attribute increases (when the attribute is both raising damage *and* raising the attack chance up to 100%) than higher increases (when attribute increases are purely affecting damage). How this plays out remains to be seen, but might encourage points to be spread across more than just the primary attribute.
Update: For attack formula, see http://social.biowar...06591/3#6171778 .
Peter Thomas below clarifies that, "Attack, Defense, Armor and Resistance percentages are all against a normal rank creature of equal level. Higher rank or level means the percentage will be less. Lower rank or level and the percentage is higher."
And later, "All basic attacks for all classes have a to-hit roll. If it's not a hit, party members don't miss, they glance (less than normal damage, depending on difficulty). Abilities hit by default. Enemies with displacement (I think it's called Dodge ingame) can be completely missed."
Lastly, Peter Thomas on forced reactions:
Force reactions work based on how much damage you take vs your total health. If any single hit does more than 10% of your max health, you'll play a reaction animation (of arying strength) and your current action will be interrupted. Some attacks have a bonus to force as well (say a x2 multiplier, so 5% of your health in one hit counts as if it was 10% for force purposes). (Damage * Force Multiplier) - Fortitude = Force of the attack
Defense and Armor
Both these stats seem to be heavily influenced by equipment, or possibly build/talents.
"Defense determines the likelihood of evading enemy attack." Demo percentage values tend to be very low (10% or less), but points of Cunning can make a huge difference: For example, level 3 Aveline jumps from 5% defense to 16% when her cunning rises from 11 to 12.
Update: For defense formula, see http://social.biowar...06591/4#6172953
"Armor determines how much damage the character can disregard from a physical attack." Armor does not obviously vary with any attribute, and is perhaps entirely determined by equipment. Warriors tend to be above 50% and mages tend not to have any.
Attributes are required to wear certain armor. "If you have the attributes, you can wear the armor. There may be some uniques with other special requirements, though." (Peter Thomas)
Thoughts
We don't know how important special abilities (via builds/talents) will be compared to normal damage. Some of the Area-Of-Effect abilities look incredibly powerful compared to auto-attacks. That *may* place much greater emphasis on Willpower (for stamina/mana) than was the case in Origins. [Added:] _Loc_N_lol_ below highlights that health/stamina/mana do not automatically increase with level, plus potions have 30 second cooldowns, plus fights are less predictable due to waves of enemies. So willpower and constitution may be a lot more important than in Origins.
The mechanics for some roles won't have changed much: For example, a DPS warrior will involve a lot of strength, with perhaps just enough willpower and constitution to make it through a battle. However, the 100% cap on attack chance seems to discourage spending too many points on one primary attribute like strength. [Added:] DPS warriors may therefore want to split strength with another stat, likely influenced by their talents - for example, dexerity to make crits possible (Altima Darkspells).
Rogues are still all about dexterity and cunning. Both those logically lead to a style of play dependant on getting a lot of critical hits. That contrasts to warriors and mages, who would have to raise all "the wrong" attributes in order to get those criticals.
Tanks primarily need defense, which comes from cunning. Attacking/damage isn't obviously important, although strength is still needed to stop your tank getting knocked over, and possibly for equipment. So a tank build might be based on a mix of cunning and strength. [Added:] Or possibly focus on constitution: Get hit a lot, but soak a lot of damage. -Skorpious- below notes that Shield and Weapon talents render the warrior immune to crits. Consensus (?) is moving towards early +cunning for tanks, simply because the improvements to defense are so dramatic. Mid and late game may focus elsewhere.
I'm increasingly convinced that (for most roles) the primary attribute should only be raised to keep attack at 100%. The damage bonuses after this are negligible, but the attribute cost is high. Likely that means either 1 or 2 level-up points will go on your class's primary attribute, leaving you 1 or 2 to play with.
TL:DR Attribute Hints
To Long: Didn't Read: here are some very tentative recommendations, based on all of the above. Your mileage will vary.
For most roles:
1. Raise your primary attribute only until attack (against normal enemies) is 100%. Primary attribute is strength for warriors, dexterity for rogues, magic for mages. The attack percentage will change at each level-up, so always check it. Expect to spend at least 1 point here at each level up (strictly 1.5 per level, but you will probably get some of the required attribute from gear).
2a. Specific talent builds/abilities may benefit from raising specific secondary attributes. For example, if you need a reasonable critical chance, invest in dexterity. Be realistic about the need for focus. For example, at +1% crit chance per +1 dexterity, if half your level-up points are spent on dexterity you'll probably only get about +30% crit chance by level 20.
2b. If you don't know what to do with your remaining points, spend them on whatever the character is struggling with in combat: Willpower for larger stamina/mana pools, constitution for health, or possibly cunning for defense.
[Removed the tank and rogue notes, since these are better discussed by others for the moment.]
Modifié par timski, 25 février 2011 - 08:30 .
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Wrong thread for me to ask the question in though I guess. Origins system was fine as enemies had a max level they could level to.
