Armor penetration vs. Ignoring armor altogether

Can someone explain how to think about damage in terms of armor penetration (e.g. air magic) vs. ignoring armor altogether (e.g. holy magic)?

Does ignoring armor altogther mean that damage levels will be determined based on AL 60? If that's the case, one would think that armor penetration (25% in this example) would be more effective on a foe with AL 80 or less, correct?

Thanks...

When an attack ignores armor that means that the armor level isn't used at all in determining the damage done. For armor penetration the AL is reduced by 25% (to use your example) and the damaged is figured based on this. At least that's how I understand it works. Others may correct me if I'm wrong.

You're right Auntie. If AL is 100 and you subtract 25% your damage is calculated against AL of 75. Using the tried and true formula "2((60 - [Armor Level]) / 40)" you will do 27.1% more damage in this example.

Or, if you're still confused read this again http://www.guildwarsguru.com/content...nics-id674.php

Woohoo! I got one right!

Thanks for the link. It confirms what we are all saying.

Armor ignoring attacks deal the stated amount of damage regardless of AL, which is exactly the same as if the it was a normal attack on a foe with AL60 since at AL60, 100% of the damage is applied.

So in my example, assuming damage + 25% armor penetration, any AL above AL80 (since AL80*(1-0.25)=AL60) would result in less than 100% of the stated damage. In which case, armor ignoring attacks would be better. Conversely, any AL less than AL80 would result in greater than 100% damage. In which case, armor penetration would be better.

Obviously, I'm keeping damage levels constant in this example, which may not necessarily be true in practice when comparing air magic to holy magic, for instance.