Dodge = next to useless

Dodge is nowhere close to viable, it's even close to useless. Let me explain.

I'm an air mage and I had a 1 vs 1 pvp battle the other day. I was running 110 str, 110 int and 210 dex, together with a 6 stacked Dodge (lvl 140) and Defensive Stance (lvl 120, 40% to defensive buffs). PLUS 10% light armor skill bonus and 16% power to Dodge from masterwork on Legs. This puts me at 42.1 combat dodge modifier after the larger bonus. And upon that I had Blessing of Compassion (5 combat dodge modifier) and "Acrobatics" to lvl 99 (4 combat dodge modifier). Yes, full dodge build.
My opponent ran 130 str, a bit under 100 dex, and 200 int (this was roughly his stats), and he used a shield. He blocked close to every third of my attacks, not even exaggerating, and when I scrolled thru the combat log after he got me I found 3 attacks that I had dodged. I'm aware this may not have been the whole fight in the log, but 3 dodges is still an extremely small amount considering my dex and combat dodge modifier.

Is this really the way it's supposed to be working? I get that dodge is strong if you actually dodge, but thats the thing, you don't. And when you block, it doesn't always mitigate 100% of the damage, but close to it, but that's still going to make a huge diffrence in damage taken. My point is, Dodge isnt viable in any way, at all, not even with my dexterity and combat dodge modifier.
I'm speaking for everybody who uses Dodge as their primary defensive buff, but specifically air mages, because if shield is going to be this strong in pvp, then air mages has no chance in a 1 vs 1 battle if the opponent uses a shield correctly, because air mages can't use shield because of the high fizzle chance on air spells.

The conclusion of this is. Put a shield in your hand and be next to unvulnerable with 130 strenght or even lower, or spend millions and millions of exp to skill up your dodge and still see no diffrence in survivability. And dont count with dexterity doing anything for you, like make your opponent block less

@Chris Please let me know your thoughts about this

EDIT: Everything my opponent casted and everything I casted was projectile, which can be dodged and blocked

 

great data! Tagging to follow.

 

My experience with dodge is different. I can barely touch 100 dex (i think the benifits of stats curve off after 100) and popping dodge at the right times makes me dodge multiple attacks.

Seems like i dodge bow attacks the most

 

Remember, I'm talking PvP, not PvE. And if you are actually talking pvp, then mora data is needed from both you and your opponent

 

@Tedio Thanks for the info. I didn't know dodge is that weak because I'm still using heavy armor.

Something should be done about mages turtling behind shields. A mage with a decent shield hardly sacrifices any damage and gains a ridiculous amount of defense.

Edit: Suggestion to balance shields: -20% Spell Damage.

 

All i know is dodge is givin me bout +50ish dodge and my dex is bout 100 when its turned up. And that most pvp hits i take are from folks with lower dex.

Chris said something a long time ago about stats curving off in power after 100. So its possible theres a bigger difference between 80 and 100 than there is between 100 and 200

 

They are sacrificing more damage from another wand, and they need the strenght for it to work right. Heavy/light is completly different, should compare dodge to glancing blows and the heavy tree, not shields. Im not denying that shields are powerful though.
You can get way more out of glancing blow than you can out of dodge at this point, and looking at how high he has brought it makes me wonder its actual usefulness. I use heavy myself with cloth to bypass the fizzle chance. The stun resistance is well worth it. Since dodge is such garbage it seems, I made the right choice

 

Good feedback @Tedio , and agree about shields gives too many benefits being a mage. Actually it creates a big gap on defenses compared to a non-shield user mage.

 

When I played archer I always said that it was broken. And if I understood right - dodge just didnt work on most single close-range target glyphs in PVP, (I also thought that it should work on ALL not aoe glyphs in game). May be it was fixed and you have another problem maybe not.
P.S. Another moment that one duel its not a data. Once I was in Vegas and saw 20+ red on a roulette in a raw, so even 50% doesn't guarantee anything at all. And 50% in Sota is even less All crafters know it very well here

 

A mage with a shield is gaining way more than he is sacrificing, it's not balanced at all.

The opening poster is talking about a high level pvp scenario where a double wand air mage faces a wand / shield mage. I'm not sure what you're talking about.

 

That is the truth. I was in Elysium mining last night and with 92% chance I failed three times in a row...lol

 

are you calculating the amount of exp also?
would prefer we stay on topic though, we all know shields are awesome.... I use blunt, trust me I KNOW (everyone blocks my stuff!! I gotz no rends!)

 

Exactly. I tried to close the gap with high dex and lvl up my dodge because that's the only way for me to defend myself against another mage as a light armor air mage, but it's not even close to compete

 

Its important to note that they can't just nerf the shield. Nerfing the shield would hit ALL builds, and we don't need that. Like we have been saying for years, mages using shields and heavy armor skills like they were warriors, maintaining same benefits, needs a fix imho.

 

Its also probly important not to just buff dodge. Because its working very well for me so i think im doing something different than everybody else

 

Agree. I dont want a nerf on shield, we need a rework on the math that makes dexterity useful, gives dodge a fighting chance and gets mages out of heavy armor

 

all DR needs changes... but on original OP,

I don't think having your Dodge Modifier high past the 100 point is going to make much of a difference. They said 2 telethons ago that 80 was the sweet spot... so the fact that you have dodge that high is not going to make enough difference against someone with 80+ on their skills. The change from 80 to 100 is slight, and pass that even less.

so although 100 dex is going to be better than 80 dex... the difference is not so great that if he has 80 and you have 100 the gap will be so big that you can simply evade his attacks. That is why they are currently playing with the skill caps in the PVP zones.

 

Here is the last Dodge math that I saw.
Atos-Yesterday at 1:00 PM
math for all melee is targetDodgeSkill + (target.dex/2) - attacker.dex/4. My change is to make that targetDodgeSkill + (target.dex/2) - Max(attacker.dex,attacker int)/4 for magic spells only

 

That is not correct, most skills doesnt gain less and less. The thing they were talking about on the telethon is that it requires a lot more exp to lvl up the skill the further you take it, NOT that it will increase less and less in strenght

 

that looks like a mage with really high int can reduce your chance to dodge, which would explain the op’s predicament and why i seem to dodge pretty well

Which mean having imbicile incantation at a high level would help some