Armor of Earth bug? (shield doesn't work properly with it)

Check bottom for important edit!

Alright, I don't really know where to post this, so I'll just post it here. Maybe it's a game bug for the other forum, but I thought I'd ask and get some answers first. Someone can probably explain it .

The situation is this. I have two offhands:

Forgotten Strength Shield
Armor: 16 (req. 9 strength) -> resulting in 8 armor for my ele because he doesn't fulfil the requirement.
Armor +10 (vs. Earth dmg)
Health +30

Mursaat Earth Focus of Aptitude
Energy +12 (req. 9 earth)
HCT earth 20%
Armor +10 (vs. Earth dmg) ("Like a Rolling Stone")

Elementalist with full Geomancer armor (80 armor vs earth)
16 earth magic
Stone Striker: all dmg is earth dmg
Armor of Earth: +62 armor


Now this is where it gets interesting: I get hit with a 15 channeling Channeled Strike: 95 lightning damage (converted to earth by stone striker).

Situation 1: only Stone Striker is up
Shield: 49 damage
Focus: 56 damage
As you would expect, the shield adds an extra 8 armor compared to the focus, resulting in a damage multiplier of 0.87 compared to the focus.
56 x 0.87 = 48.72 -> 49 damage

Situation 2: Stone Striker and Armor of Earth are up
Shield: 20 damage
Focus: 19 damage
Yes, you read that correctly. With the focus I am taking less damage than with the shield.

My calculations are:
Situation 1 shield: 98 armor = 0.5176 multiplier = 49.172 dmg (correct result)
Situation 1 focus: 90 armor = 0.5946 multiplier = 56.487 dmg (correct result)
Situation 2 shield: 160 armor = 0.1768 multiplier = 16.796 dmg (incorrect result)
Situation 2 focus: 152 armor = 0.2031 multiplier = 19.2945 dmg (correct result)

Is Armor of Earth bugged or am I going crazy? Situation 2 with shield is acting like it has around 150 armor (20 dmg) while it should have 160 armor (17 dmg). Can anyone explain this?


EDIT

It's not Armor of Earth. I just tested it with Ward Against Elements and the story is the same. With Ward, the focus results in 1 less damage than the shield.

This suggests the game incorporates the +10 al vs earth mod of the shield in the "skill armor stacking cap" of +25 armor.

Ward + Shield = 80 (armor) + 24 (Ward) + 8 (regular shield) + 1 (can only fit 1 of the 10 because of 25 cap with Ward) = 113 armor = 0.3991 multiplier. 95 x 0.3991 = 37.9 (38) dmg
Ward + Focus = 80 (armor) + 24 (Ward) + 10 (focus inscription) = 114 armor = 0.3923 multiplier. 95 x 0.3923 = 37.3 (37) dmg

I guess my next question is: is this bug exclusive to the Forgotten Shield or do all shields have this?


EDIT 2

Tested the Forgotten Strength Shield against the following inscribable gold shield:

Skeleton Shield of Fortitude
Armor: 16 (req. 11 Tactics)
Health +30
Armor +10 (vs. Earth dmg) ("Like a Rolling Stone")

This shield does function correctly, giving 17 dmg in "Situation 2 shield" instead of the 20 that the Forgotten Shield does. It also functions correctly with the Ward, for the full total armor of 122 instead of the 113 the Forgotten Shield gives.

I have definitely established that there is an armor stacking bug with the Forgotten Strength Shield that does not happen with an inscribable gold shield.

The last question now is: does this bug apply to all green shields or just the forgotten shield?

This might not be relevant, but PvP Strength Shields give +9AL if you don't meet the requirement, I think its only the creation of the PvP version though, Although it would be interesting to see if the PvE version(Defender) gives +9AL, I've tested a few PvE Strength Shields, and they all provide +8AL.

So I wouldn't put it past other shields having the reverse effect.

I believe I read somewhere that green shields do not give 8 AL when you do not meet the requirement. I believe the same goes for the /bonus serrated shield.

@Rather: no, we (a few people including myself) did some research on what happens with shields when you don't meet the requirement. Currently, the wiki explains it rather well:But this thread is not about that, it's about the 'inscription' of the green shield not functioning correctly. I will test the same thing with an inscribable gold shield now to see if it's just greens or this particular green.

@Snikerz: you are saying you think this shield gives 9 base armor if you don't meet the requirement, just like the PvP strength shield? That doesn't add up, because that would show in the "Situation 1 shield" scenario, giving 99 armor instead of 98, resulting in 48 dmg instead of 49. This didn't happen, so I don't think your theory is correct.

I believe the 'inscription' (10 al vs earth) of the green shield is added to the armor stacking cap of skills.


Edit: also, I just updated the OP with a second edit, definitely establishing the bug.

With that, this thread can probably be moved to Game Bugs.

I don't have that green Forgotten Strength Shield to test but have you tested if it provides the 8 base armor for your ele?

A forgotten shield with +10 fire armor, provides full +18 ar (not meeting req) against fire while not under any + ar skills and +8 ar against other types of dmg (with or without other skills). Also, testing it against liquid flame at r12 fire magic, with ward againt elements, the char with 60 +10 vs elemental armor, gets 43 dmg, while (well, if the game rounds the things properly ) it would take 42 dmg if the shield gave +10ar vs fire but miss the +8 ar.

The Forgotten Shield with the armor against fire mod also only gives 9 armor (8 base + 1 of 'inscription') when combined with ward against elements then (91 dmg x 0.4747 (103 armor) = 43 dmg). Thanks. There is definitely something fishy going on with armor caps.