I'm not happy with pip conversion, for two main reasons: 1) it doesn't seem very helpful and 2) KI seems to think it's a replacement for other stats.
Let's talk about my first point. For argument's sake, I'll use my level 120 Death wizard's pip chance (85%). Unfortunately, I don't have enough pip conversion gear to determine a reasonable amount of pip conversion to have, but I think 40% is more than fair to assume.
So let's have a hypothetical wizard who wants to cast a 5 pip shadow enhanced spell. He starts from 0 pips and has an 85% chance to get a power pip and a 40% chance to get a 1 pip refund if all his pips are power pips. First we determine the probability of this happening, which is 0.85^3=.614, so the probability of getting at least one regular pip is 1-.614=.386, so a 38.6% chance that pip conversion has a chance to even do anything. Then we multiply .386 by the probability of getting a pip back (40%, so .4). .386*.4=.1544. So if I start from 0 pips and cast a 5 pip spell, there's a 15.44% chance that I'll get a pip back. Obviously this number won't be the same everywhere. Higher pip spells will decrease the chance pip conversion is useful, while higher levels of power pip chance and pip conversion will make it more effective. Honestly, this wouldn't be so bad if not for the second issue...
Let's take a look at the Ghulture's Hoard Pack wands. The level 120 Ancient Purrzian Scimitar gives me: 62 critical 150 pip conversion 13% Balance and Death damage 16% Fire damage
Now let's take a look at the level 110 Deathmetal Skull. 115 critical 115 block 10% Fire and Death damage 4% armor piercing
There's no contest which one I'm going to pick. The Deathmetal Skull wins straight out. The Ghulture's wand possesses slightly over half the critical, no block, and no pierce, while only being slightly superior in damage. The only thing it really has going for it is the pip conversion. This pattern is repeated with the amulets we get from the final battles of Mirage, they lose all critical block, but gain pip conversion. To me, this looks like Kingsisle has vastly overvalued pip conversion on gear, and removed most of the stats in a failed effort to compensate.
Agree with me? Finding pip conversion to be a useful tool for you? Have a suggestion to rework it? I'd like you to weigh in here and discuss.
It's not just pip conversion, it's so many other abilities that KI has introduced into the game. Critical, critical block, armour piercing, pip conversion...
Crit, crit block, and pip conversions are probably the worst conceived ideas of them all with their ridiculously high numbers that mean virtually nothing.
But in the grand scheme of things, all 4 of those abilities are ridiculous. The only way to obtain any proficiency in them is to equip gear, which usually means sacrificing something you need. They should all be natural abilities where you have a base percentage and then you just equip gear with buffs to enhance your stats, just like power pip chance, damage, and accuracy.
Power pip chance is a perfect example of how they can do it. They don't keep creating new gear, jewels, pet talents and what have you to keep boosting that to an outrageously high number. They can treat every new ability they come up with the exact same way. Have a level where it becomes a natural ability, have it improve as you level up, cap it at a certain point, and then limit the ways in which you can enhance it so that it can't reach or exceed 100%.
It's not rocket science. They already do it. Just adapt it to these other abilities.
I do agree that pip conversion atm is not as useful. It only works for specific events(odd pip cost) as opposed to all the time like other stats( resist, damage, critical for ALL spells even if it is for a specific school). And to make matters worse, the stats are so low that they dont happen often. A way to change this would be to make pip conversion a universal stat, like power pip chance. It works on every odd cost spell. Even if the stats stay low, i am sure they will only increase as we move on. Best not to make it OP first. As for you complaining about it replacing other stats, i think this is a good move on Kinsisles part. Before third arc, everyone had perfect stats. everyone had basically the same gear thanks to darkmoor. But then polaris came and with the crit/block changes, the new gear lacked certain stats like power pip chance. With mirage, this new pip conversion will lower crit/block if one would choose to use items that have it. It adds variety. Maybe by the end of this third arc, you might be happy again since stats typically improve with gear. By the end of the arc, we might reach the same level we were before polaris update, everyone has maxed out perfect stats.
I do agree that pip conversion atm is not as useful. It only works for specific events(odd pip cost) as opposed to all the time like other stats( resist, damage, critical for ALL spells even if it is for a specific school). And to make matters worse, the stats are so low that they dont happen often. A way to change this would be to make pip conversion a universal stat, like power pip chance. It works on every odd cost spell. Even if the stats stay low, i am sure they will only increase as we move on. Best not to make it OP first. As for you complaining about it replacing other stats, i think this is a good move on Kinsisles part. Before third arc, everyone had perfect stats. everyone had basically the same gear thanks to darkmoor. But then polaris came and with the crit/block changes, the new gear lacked certain stats like power pip chance. With mirage, this new pip conversion will lower crit/block if one would choose to use items that have it. It adds variety. Maybe by the end of this third arc, you might be happy again since stats typically improve with gear. By the end of the arc, we might reach the same level we were before polaris update, everyone has maxed out perfect stats.
I don't agree with you on the second point. Gear always has to get better. If you don't make better gear every 10 levels, then people just don't bother using it. Case in point: Swordroll's Blog. He's currently releasing a series of articles on what he thinks is the best gear for each school at level 120. There's no Sands of Time gear, very little Rat gear (and what gear there is is ranked low) and the occassional pack item. That should really send up some red flags at KI HQ, that players are not happy with the new gear.
