Tagged as a Secrets of Faydwer expansion item, this dropped in PoP/LoY era on Aradune server. Given the stats and the zone it drops in , I would be VERY surprised if this wasn't a PoP item.
Ok, there has been a debate about % modifiers to skills adhering to a cap. If you have a 252 dodge skill, and an item gives you 3%, then while that may make it SEEM like your skill should be effectively 259 or so, your skill is capped at 255, so the extra is wasted.
Well, with the required level on this mantle, I'm assuming anyone using them has pretty much maxed thier dodge skill. Now, if I'm correct, a monks dodge skill caps at what? 252? So, why have such a large % if its mostly wasted?
I'm willing to bet % modifiers to skills will surpass the 'soft cap' on skills...otherwise this item is completely useless. And I know there are alot of dumb items out there, but most of them weren't dumb when they were first introduced. This item is brand new, and therefore, IMHO, proof that skills can be effectively raised above 255.
While there are some raw chance modifiers out there, this is a Dodge SKILL modifier. ALL skills, are effectively capped at 252 - tradeskills, combat skills, casting skills, etc. Yes, this means that *some* classes may not be able to utilize the full effect of some combat skill modifers, but that's the way it was intended. Beyond being mere intent (which changes very easily), the effective skill cap is likely a limitation of the game's design. I'm betting skills are stored as an unsigned char, 0-252 being valid skill levels and 253-255 being used as "special" values keyed into by various routines for things like procs and effects. This means it's a huge task for SOE's development team to change how skills work, even if they want to.
Like "worn" (v1) haste, of all worn modifiers to a specific skill, only the highest modifier takes effect. So if you have a 3% mod, an 8% mod, and a 10% mod, only the 10% mod is used to calculate you effective skill.
There are numerous skill mods which appear to take skills beyond the cap - Tradeskiller's tools are most common. I may be a 250 fletcher with a tool giving me a 5% mod, but I still only have 252 Fletching...
I did some poking around - the highest melee usable Dodge skill modifier is 8%. Some caster only items have a 10% mod. This means that monks, with the highest base dodge skill will never see their effective skill over 248.
So Dustman, not only is your conclusion way off, your base assumption is, too. This post is a year old, so I'm betting you know better by now, but I'd hate to see this mislead someone about how the game works (at this time).
btw: It look like casters realm class sections have updated skill tables sometime in the last year.
Yea, by affecting your skill level it affects your chance of success. Go figure. There is no way VI (SOE) would introduce +% mods that added a raw chance to success. That would get stupid after farming VT and the Elemental Planes and aquiring tons of +% mods to dodge, riposte, block, etc. Hell, you'd never get hit after a while because one of them is bound to make the check.
sounds good for all those classes i know your gonna say rogues shouldnt need to dodge but i as a rogue sometimes have to when i just cant evade the mob that is beatin on me or god forbid when i have to be a tank of some sort but anyways. this looks like a good replacement for my bs mantle yes i have a bs mantle