Wording change on Kevlar items

[TheAverageGortsby]

I've seen a lot of people misunderstand how Kevlar works.  A simple wording change on Kevlar items might be in order to help people understand and avoid frustration.  The same change might be appropriate for tac vests/riot gear/padded leather armor, if it were made, to keep things consistent and avoid confusion.

Currently, the wording is "Mechanical damage threshold increased by X against bullets and shotgun shells" and I must have seen at least two dozen people over the years complain about having 300% or 400% or 500% bullet resist but still taking so much damage.

Maybe it would be clearer if it said "Mechanical damage threshold for this item (or 'this item only') increased by X against bullets and shotgun shells".  Or, still simpler for the user but more complex for the coder, have the protection line on the item show as Mechanical: 20%/8 (20%/24 against bullets and shotgun shells, 40%/16 against melee), or whatever the item in question would offer.

[harperfan7]

It's already clear enough.  The green text will say "increased by 242% vs bullets" or whatever.  That's their number; it's right there on the screen.

[TheAverageGortsby]

It's already clear enough.  The green text will say "increased by 242% vs bullets" or whatever.  That's their number; it's right there on the screen.

It's clear enough for me and for you.  But I'm in messages right now with yet another person who doesn't understand it even after reading the wiki.  You and I aren't the folks who need concessions; we've learned all there is to know about the game.  But this message exchange reminds me that again and again I've seen people here, on the Discord, and on reddit  just flat out fail to understand how the percentage boosts are applied, so, no, it's not clear enough.  Not for everyone; and, by my guess, not even for nearly everyone.

[harperfan7]

Can't blame styg for people not understanding math.

[Agalyon]

I get it, but that has nothing to do with math. 247% or whatever is the same as 200% because the problem is the same. Yeah just putting "for this item only" is a little inelegant but I wondered about the same thing when I first started playing. I didn't know you could even make a kevlar balaclava for example, and because the body armor is so important, I wondered if its effects applied everywhere, and honestly I don't recall seeing an exact answer, I just sorta guessed that wasn't it.

[harperfan7]

Dropped this on a 4chin thread.

https://strawpoll.com/9fawvp83f/r

[TheAverageGortsby]

Well, 19 presumably anonymous uncontrolled-sample votes isn't a sample size or methodology I'm comfortable with, but if that extrapolates at all, I'd say it's pretty clearly support that armor DT isn't universally clear enough, and may warrant clarification.  You've got almost a 30% rate for incorrect responses, even when the question is specifically worded to remove the ambiguity I was talking about in my OP.  If a system has a 30% failure rate, it's a flawed system.

[harperfan7]

It isn't worded any differently than a kevlar armor piece, but yes it seems plenty of people have trouble with it.

[Agalyon]

Lol, if the objective of the poll is to see if people understand something, you can't just say "well 30% of people don't understand, so the poll is flawed." Thats literally what the poll is about. And why does the audience matter, should it only be sent to people who already understand it so it can look artificially better? Make your own poll then thats worded "correctly" and see what happens.

[Styg]

I think the problem Gortsby is talking about is not that people cannot apply percentage increase properly, but that it is not clear that the bonus applies for this item only, and not globally. Am I reading this correctly?

In this case I guess I could indicate the locality of the effect somehow.

[TheAverageGortsby]

Lol, if the objective of the poll is to see if people understand something, you can't just say "well 30% of people don't understand, so the poll is flawed." Thats literally what the poll is about. And why does the audience matter, should it only be sent to people who already understand it so it can look artificially better? Make your own poll then thats worded "correctly" and see what happens.

That's not what I said, at all; it's not even a reasonable misinterpretation of what I said.  My problem with the methodology is that it's an uncontrolled sampling of people self-selecting from, if I understand harper correctly, 4chan, the dirt patch of the Internet where trolls are grown.  I wouldn't trust a 4chan sample for any reason.  My problem with the wording of the poll is that it is more specific than the text on the items, and thus doesn't as freely allow someone wearing two/three pieces of %-boost gear to conflate the DT boosts and believe they have more protection than they do - as I spelled out in my OP.  Indeed, in your previous post in this thread you corroborated that idea, saying "I wondered if its effects applied everywhere".  Finally, I didn't say the poll was flawed - I said that if the poll provided any useful information at all, it suggests that the system of explaining DT has a high error rate, and is flawed.

Come on, man.  This is easy stuff.

Am I reading this correctly?

You are, Styg.  I've seen the question come up, and answered variations on the theme, again and again.    I don't know if it's a pressing concern, especially right after a major update goes live, but there are and have been people posting frustrations about being unable to progress in the game and not realizing their armor isn't protecting them nearly as well as they believe.

[Agalyon]

I quite literally don't understand why you're upset, I agree that it needs to be changed. And thanks for the pedantic response, it was certainly needed. Stygs seen the issue now so whatever, its not a big deal.