1 under max weapons: Worse or Better than 14%ers?

Not sure what I mean?
Allow me to explain.

Last weekend.... while fighting Charr in the homelands... I got what looked to be a VERY nice drop. It was a 15^50, Req.9 Gold Serpent Axe.
After investigating very closely though I noticed something: The direct damage on the weapon was 1 point under maximum (5-27 rather than 6-28).
My first thought was whether this was an epic disaster or whether I'd still be able to get a nice bit of cash for such a weapon (I can Sunder/Fort mod it easily). It might be worth noting that while these axes seem popular, I personally don't like the skin.

My SECOND thought however was:
Which actually does more damage: a 5-27 15^50 axe.... or a 6-28 14^50 axe?

I'm hoping someone might help me with this.... and I'm likewise wondering how much of a difference the 20% Customisation bonus would make to either statistic...



So... should I try to sell it, or is the Serpent Axe doomed to be Hero-fodder?

...Isn't that 1 damage difference constant?

Not to mention the fact that 15^50 isn't.
Customizng it would make it well over max uncustomized, but a max customized would still be better.

Also, lots of people who buy things tend to go for max only, regardless of mods and completely agree-able common sense.

My vote: Hero-fodder

You might be able to sell to someone who wants to mod it with +5 energy (I'm assuming its inscribable since it dropped in charr homelands) and use it as a caster weapon. Other than that its hero fodder.

Reminded me of my ele sword, r10, 14-21. Tried to sell a few times, got comment like "WTF? it's not max", me: "that's why I said non max ele sword, you mook!". End up customized it and gave it to Jora.

Constant?
If you stay over 50% health all the time then they both are.

And that one under max damage is worse than max damage is bloody obvious... but that isn't what I'm asking.
What I'm asking is whether it is better than a 14^50 .... as, strangely enough, I ALSO have a non-inscribable max damage, Req.9 14^50 Celestial Axe...
I suppose I ought to test for myself. v_v;

lol, one of my teachers says mook and until now i'd never heard it anywhere else . On topic: I play a warrior as my main and I wouldn't buy a non-max inscribable for use in combat, perhaps and a caster weapon for my monk though. I perhaps would buy it if it wasn't inscibable but i'm guessing max inscibable Serpent Axes while not being common aren't Crystalline rare so I could buy a max one if I wanted a Serpent Axe. [/myopinion]

Max damage with 14^50 does more than non-max with 15^50, because the damage you do increases based on your requirement.

To quote the wiki:

"As an example, if you had a normal, customized (20% more damage) 15-22 damage Dragon Sword, and a level 9 Swordsmanship attribute, each swing with the weapon would deal:

15 × 1.20 × 2^(( 5 × 9 - 60 ) / 40) = 13.88 minimum damage 22 × 1.20 × 2^(( 5 × 9 - 60 ) / 40) = 20.36 maximum damage

While swinging the same sword with a level 12 attribute would deal:

15 × 1.20 × 2^(( 5 × 12 - 60 ) / 40) = 18.0 minimum damage 22 × 1.20 × 2^(( 5 × 12 - 60 ) / 40) = 26.4 maximum damage "


Because you are 1 damage short from the start, you are going to end up with increasingly larger amounts of reduced damage. Whereas on the other hand, 14^50 and 15^50 are virtually identical unless you hit for over 100 damage.

28 * 1.15 = 32.2
27 * 1.15 = 31.05
28 * 1.14 = 31.92

The 14>50 is better.

Edit: Hah, I could explain it in a much shorter way.

If my calculations are right...

27+15%=31.05 damage
5+15%=5.75
28+14%=31.92 damage
6+14%=6.84

Technically they both do 31 points of max damage so it doesn't matter unless the .92 and the .84 are rounded up.

Fenix: The higher the req the more damage you do? Is this confirmed cause it doesn't make any sense if that is true.

Thanks for the calculations folks...

At least I know then that my Celestial Axe is going to be more worth keeping than the Serpent Axe...
But yeah.... it might be worth my trying to mod the Serpent Axe into a caster weapon (if only I could find a perfect 20% ench axe mod).


I'm really gutted about it being non-max. For that extra point of damage I could have got SO much money for it.... >_<;;

No, it's not true. He simply mis-understood the wording of the wiki. The wiki states that if you hit with a a higher attribute, you deal more damage.

Does it really matter? Unless they are really rare skin and/or inscribeable they are both merch food.

The requirement on the weapon does nothing but determine if you do it's listed damage, or the "hidden" lower damage value. As far as I know, there is nothing official on what the hidden value is, but I suspect it is always the minimum, or in the case of swords, 2-3.

The attribute rating of the character however, DOES affect the damage dealt by the weapon.

Even so, you wont do the full listed damage unless you have 12 in the attribute, regardless of requirement. Unless of course it's 13 at which point you wont do the listed damage if you meet it, you'll do slightly over.

On your first thought - you'd have a really difficult time selling any less-than-max weapon, unless it's super-uber rare (which that isn't). People would buy a purple or even blue max weapon before they would buy a <max.
But then again, it would make a good weapon for a hero.

On your second thought - there may be an actual "calculated" difference between the 2 (see above), but in practice, the difference would be barely noticeable. Hell, even the difference between 14^50 & 15^50 on a max weapon, is barely noticeable. Although max is always better