Good Legend Shields

I am the only one that is farming for one peace of equiment (sheild) for more then 1 yeah and still cant get it, not even 2 block 1 reduction .. jesus .. someone did something to my acc, couse this is geting to be ridiculous
Seaching from Septembar 2013, ges how many I have opened.

 

Take the time to read the rest of the post. Your question has been thoroughly discussed already.

 

May be i've been farming and crafting legendary shields long time ago... and unlocked 23 shields (using crystals) until i get that one (10 months ago)... this shield is not brand new... currently is almost impossible to get 4 stats around block rate or dmg block reduction, don't think about getting 2 of each kind or any configuration you desire... today shields are awful

 

Hah is that a joke, 23 sheilds? Man, your lucky! :O
I opened on cristals of trouth about 500 legendary sheilds, 1 year of farming and crafting + farming for cristals of trouth, now am very scared to craft it, tryed a couple of times but all bad, I usualy get critical damage, critical hit value, damage ect, no block rate or reduction for bloking. It's rediculous. My friend played for 1 month, got to lvl 45, opened his first legendary sheild and bang, perfect with 3 block 1 reduction, thats drakensang logic for ya, someone playes 1 months and gets a perfect sheild and someone playes for almost 2 years and gets cr.ap not fer, not fer at all to older players.

 

500 shields?.. 767500 crystals of truth?.. lol, now i guess why i didn't find them... you got all em xD
about goodluck, i'm 4 year player and las month i completed keen set.. i've seen MANY friends (like 1 or 2 months old players) completing it, and getting more pieces... do you wanna know why i get this shield?.. cause i'm 2handed war and don't use it... if i were looking for it, i would be still grinding for it... and you know what i'm talking about... always the desired missed item

 

The 17.5% wouldn't be the reduction it would be the remaining damage. Or in other words, damage has been reduced by 82.5%

 

It is very complex compared to what you think it is. Those percentages apply to the base stat on the item which is then plugged into an equation (There is a different one for block rate and block amount). From there, you can calculate the effectiveness of a particular shield by multiplying the two percentages (rate and reduction) together which tells you the benefit it gives to protecting your HP. Here is the three dimensional plot of the effectiveness where X=Block Rate and Y=Block Damage reduction.

In the second graph, it is easier to see how the values change because each line is a single band. Lighter is better than darker.



To all the people who argue with me that block rate is more important than amount, look at the top edge and right edge of the second graph. the tick marks are grouped into groups of 5, and if you look at the 5th line (the easiest to see this effect on). You could get that effectiveness from about 2500 reduction with 1400 chance, or about 1100 reduction and 2500 chance. Because it is so much easier to get rate than it is to get chance (because of the blocker talent) it is important to get as much effectiveness from the reduction as possible. Maybe later if I have time, I'll rework this for the enchantments on a level 45 shield with numbers from 0%-240% on each side and take into account the blocker talent. From there, I'll create another graph for using the blocker talent with the Dark Warlord set.

 

This is describing, of course, the raw effectiveness of a particular shield - on average, over time.

Sometimes, though, a blocked hit from a major boss or PvP opponent saves your life. In other words, let's say you're already wounded to below 1/2 of your health. Would you rather have a 72% chance to block an incoming 5000 point hit and lower it to 2200, or a 68% chance to block the same 5000 point hit down to 1800. In many cases you might opt for the second shield, as it is (on average) more efficient, but *WHOOPS* in this case you rolled a 70% on the "dice", you took the 5000 points to the head, and you are now dead. (These are just ballpark numbers, to make a point.)

The graphs and numbers make sense from a strict efficiency point-of-view. But when it comes down to real-world, saving-your-life situations, 3-5% higher chance to block will mean the difference between life and death on certain occasions. That factor is not represented in the graphs.

 

I like the pure mathematical approach of Baragain. (brings a tear to my eye ) Approaches like this really learns to understand the maths behind DSO.

BUT said that, I also like the reply of Multi-Sev. Maths is not everything like he explained.

The same thing we see with DPS. People are so focussed on it. Having a attack speed of 1.8 is better then one of 1.5, obvious. But in PvP the real question is would that extra 0.3 attack speed result in an extra hit. Mostly not. As DK it's rare the get 2 hits in a row. Therefore when I calculate my attack strength I also look at the DPH (dmg per hit). But this as a sidenote

 

True, if you are trying to decide between two very close shields (say within 0.5%-1% effectiveness) you may want to go for a slightly less efficient one in favor of a slightly more chance. But the counter to your comment is that if you have the more effective shield, with better reduction say, you might not have been in that life or death situation to begin with.

For example I take a perfect Wolf Shield with 150% block rate, but no block damage reduction, you get a shield with 31.02% efficiency. The chance of block is 60.9% but the reduction is only 50.9%. Now if you were to look at my old faithful 80/80, you get 35.29% effectiveness. The chance is reduced to only 54.2% (6.7% lower than the wolf shield), but the reduction is 65.1% (14.2 Less damage per hit).

I have found that numbers don't lie and that anything else is just perception. Perush's comment about DPH has more merit because that is influenced by something other than a PRNG (which is math).


And as promised, here is an even more in depth graph. I ditched the whole 3D look for something that is actually usable.
First, For a DK with a LVL 45 Shield that has the listed enchantments.

It was made with an assumption of a maximum of 60% per line. I know that lines can be up to 65%, but the chance of getting 4 lines all of which are above 60% is astronomical so I feel safe in the assumption I've made.

Worth noting is that you need to read this with reasonablity in mind... you will never find a 240/240 shield so reading that number is pointless. That is why in the chart the values that are impossible have a line through them.

Both Charts use the same color scale which is why you see very little red on the Warlord set chart because red is defined by an effectiveness of 20% and green is defined by 52% (Just below and above the lowest and highest effectiveness for a LVL 45 with no upgraded blocking items.)


Here it is in tabular format:

EDIT:
Now I'm adding the Graph and Chart for a LVL 45 DK with the full Black Warlord Set and the blocker talent with shield and Warlord set at 45. Interesting to note in this one is that it is possible to get "over" 80% damage reduction on the really high block damage reduction shields (3 or 4 lines reduction. For that reason, I've edited the values to the max of 80%.




This data also backs up what I have long said that for the most efficient shield, you are looking for a 2x/2x, but in lieu of that one, Speed beats reduction.

 

Yeah, I wouldn't argue with the raw numbers as presented. They are accurate and make sense.

The chance of living versus dying, due to a 3%-5% better block rate, can't be quantified easily. It likely happens pretty rarely for the average player, but it will happen sometimes. (We never really know when it happens, since we don't see the numbers the computer "rolls" for us.) So there is some amount of preference/choice there, when comparing shields that are close, as stated.

Most players are lucky to find one good 2x/2x or 3x/1x shield in months/years of looking. I've only found one so far. I stopped wasting CoTs when I found my first one, and I haven't found a good one since ID'ing was made free. So, quite often, the choice is made for us. (And, unfortunately, some players never seem to find anything really good. Such is the nature of "random" enchantments, I guess.)

 

Ah, reading your post again, I see what you are trying to say, but the reason block amount is so valuable, even if you have incredible armor, it's because it applies evenly to both physical damage and elemental damage (which we all wish we had more of). Chance means nothing to me without reduction the same way reduction means nothing without rate.

 

Hours and hours and hours of farming.

 

@_Baragain_ ... are you using mathlab? (those graphs are awesome!!)

@Master0fpuppets ... i guess you were very lucky with CoT ... 767500/365=2103 CoT/day in that year of farming... if you didn't open any other stuff... i wasn't able to grind EVERY DAY for this amount of crystals. (even in q3)

 

More like from 1900 to 2300 per day, I opened only sheild, nothing else.

 

oh man, then poor on you , hope you find a good shield soon!

 

Excel.... I spent a large amount of my time in collage living in Excel doing all sorts of analysis, so from time to time it is relaxing to do some math in my favorite old faithful computational tool.

 

thnx but thats highly unlikely to happen couse of bad game logic.

 

this is why i keep saying (to be able to clik the stats u want from one item and craft them to your item so theres no random stats) maybe
allow one stat change at a time for a price.

this goes for all classes,all weps,all gear..

 

I'd only agree with this if it were for a significant increase in the crafting price otherwise, it would be too easy to make ridiculously OP items. The big P2Ps would do it, there is no doubt, but we can't have everyone and their brother running around with 2k+ damage and 2500 crit.