by Ender » Fri Jul 23, 2004 9:43 am
I'm not really sure what the formula for this is either, though I have a feeling it is tiered in the same way backstab is, simply by the amount of damage it seems to do when I solo. It seems that circle greatly reduces the duration of battles. On the same note, other skills, such as trip, greatly reduce the amount of damage I suffer, so I often opt for these simply because the extra battle time isn't nearly as long as I would spend regening... so I can run longer and kill bigger mobs.
I can tell you that as a prime thief, at level 40, I believe I'm supposed to have in the neighborhood of a 15x backstab multiplier, so +5 stab_dam is roughly equal to a +one-third dam piece of eq (+two-thirds if you're level 20). On the other hand, I think I only have a multiplier of 3-5x on circle. This makes a +5 circle_dam item worth about a +1 or +2 dam piece of eq (+2 or +3 if you're level 20).
The moral? I don't think I'd wear stab_dam eq unless I had nothing else to wear in that slot. circle_dam on the other hand looks like it may have possibilities. Personally, I think it's just bizzare to have things like +heal, +spell_dam, +circle_dam, and +stab_dam. These abilities actually LOSE value as you level, where +hit/+dam do not. I can honestly say I haven't done much to try to acquire these items simply because I'm not a caster type and I don't see how +circle_dam or +stab_dam has much positive impact on my character...