So with the recent combat changes... and the fact that I just noticed that I have a GM Lumberjacker and a GM Macer on seperate accounts on the main server... Ive decided to take another look at macing. I just did a simple test where I hit a naked guy 50 times with an Axer, then another 50 times with a Macer using GM weapons to to get a stream of damage to analyze. Here is my results: Large Battle Axe (4x GM LJACK w/ 80Str and 80Dex) 2d17+4 (6-38) AVG: 31.46 LOW: 21 HGH: 42 Knock about 10 points off each hit to account for armor you get a damage range of: 11-32 with an average hit of: 21 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- War Hammer (3xGM MACE w/ 80Str and 80Dex) 7d5+1 (8-36) AVG: 28 LOW: 19 HGH: 45 Knock about 10 points off each hit to account for armor you get a damage range of: 9-35 with an average hit of: 18 Something Id like to bring up, It was much scarier to get the data on the macer. I did the test twice, hitting the same naked toon EVERY time. When I was recording the Axe hits, I would hit the guy 3 times, then let him heal. Repeat 50x times and whos your daddy, all done. Very consistent and above average damage. I only got chicken like twice throughout all the testing. The axe DID get more 33+ hits overall. 22/50 to be exact vs the macers 16/50. While doing the macing testing, the damage was all over the place. Heres a list of a string of 10 hits to show you what I mean: 27 35* 19 25 23 20 45* 35* 26 26 The Numbers with * next to them are "Crushing Blows." The damage would be average (25, 23, 20) then out of the blue Id get two or three high damage hits. This happened a lot during testing and Id chicken out a lot and only hit the guy twice before recording. I was seriously butt puckered every time I hit that third time in a row because I didnt know if it was gonna wtfkerpoon my test monkey. So BASICALLY, Ive been having a personal crisis of sorts ever since I made my ProvoMacer. My "main" dexxer for PvP since 1998 was and always has been an axer. Even after the dreaded pub16 completely neutered my toon. (well actually an eval-fencer was, but he was more of a hybrid so ) Then when I made this mace fighter, He was hitting the monsters just as hard as my axer. This SHOOK me to my core because I always hated HARD on mace fighters over the years. But meh, I did this test to se just how comparable a warhammer was to my trusty ol axe of might. For PvP, Those crazy damage spikes from the warhammer could really turn the tide without even having to poison your opponent. These numbers were done with GM weapons although. With even a golden runic weapon Im pretty sure the damage spikes would be even more insane. Im still sticking with Lumberjacking because I dont think I could PvP without a DP Katana or two. Just thought Id Share my findings. tl;dr Axes do consistent above average damage Maces do average damage then out of nowhere hit like a mack truck for a few hits Thoughts?
I hit like for the title and the fact that Zim considered maces over axes. I am Zim's counterpart here... Where he has avoided and hated on maces throughout UO... I have had maces as my favorite melee skill all the while. UOR doesn't do them the justice that every other shard ever made has... But my heart still throbs for the war hammer.
For PVP: You're forgetting about conc blow with axes, that's a giant bonus over any mace. Poisoned weapons are a must as well. For PvM: I say forget the extra 100 points in LJ and use war hammers if you have decent slayers. You're backing yourself into a corner with only one specific weapon though. At the end of the day a katana beats out every other weapon in PvM, hands down. I've used katanas in pvm for the longest time now. LJ's don't even come close.
Thats so funny. Back in the day a UO friend and I used to go back and forth on the whole axe vs hammer thing. You prolly would have like him. Cynic. I totally hear ya bud. Even here where its nerfed to 25 from 50 int its still nice to keep a mage at 65 mana and nerf their mana regen accordingly Plus, its even useful against other dexxers as well. It kills their mana and brings them into a much more devastating mindblast stat spread. ESPECIALLY if theyre using white/blue potions ...and yes. Poison > no poison. I was just startled at just how hard warhammers hit. Katanas are in the top three, if not the best weapon in the game, numbers wise. I dont like em for PvM just because they swing so fast that you have to repair them oh so woefully often.
http://uorforum.com/threads/mace-fighting-crushing-blow-sub-par-at-best-pvp-tests-on-tc.22044/ http://uorforum.com/threads/mace-fighting.22186/ read through those and view my posts about certain things, macer-wise. should give a little more detail for you on some things.
From what I understand, the mechanics on the test center are NOT what they are on the actual shard. If you have a valorite Warhammer, Id be down to do some real damage tests!!
And here i thought it was to be able to test the current mechanics for yourself without needing to build millions of different characters.
Yeah it's hard to test current mechs when test is like 2 years behind. Chris told me a couple days ago he should be updating it soon. Zim, you should bump your str. Maybe not so much for PVM if you're str potted the whole time, but certainly for pvp. Just my opinion.
Ok ... if the patches hit test before live. This is the opposite of the case. Test center is more like time capsule. Some of the mechanics on test have NEVER been updated. Some of these things are admittedly pretty fringe. Others arent, such as whether or not eval is used for mind blast. It's fine you want to play dress up or practice throwing purple pots in your dumps.
Yeah. Ive been meaning to bump my str up to 90 on my farmer for a long time. Just been lazy. I flip flop on my axer all the time. I blue/white potion like its a religon in pvp. As it stands right now, the extra greater heal is worth more than the 5hp and minimal damage increase.
