SDI and diminishing returns and power creep oh my

so my SDI mage sits at 174 SDI how much of this is overkill with no real value ? she carries 13 or 14 slayer books because more damage better! this brings us to power creep i think ?? will the monsters just not stop getting more and more HP and do more and more damage??
Acknowledgment and accountability go a long way... 

Comments

  • MerusMerus Posts: 656
    Personally I view the addition of SDI items as the developers finally bringing casters offense to be on par with warriors and tamers.  This has been needed for quite some time.... now if they would just remember to include the gargoyle race we would be getting somewhere.
  • SlissSliss Posts: 282
    You can't really have diminishing returns and power creep at the same time. Adding that Pirate shield to my caster, who had about 150 SDI before that, made no noticeable difference with regular spells. I am sure I would notice a small difference with WoD, but that's it. Ultimately these two items will be more useful in bumping up resists or other stats (by dropping some of the SDI items with the worst stats) than having any meaningful impact on the damage output.
  • KHANKHAN Posts: 510
    Every 1 SDI=3 increase to WoD damage. It does also give more damage when casting "regular" spells. The damage increase varies with conditions, of course. But, in my opinion, it IS worth it. As an example, the shield with 10 SDI and the earrings with 15 SDI equals 75 more damage with every WoD. It is a little tough to put together a viable suit with all the arties, but, it can be done! My Spellweaver/Mage/Tamers deal out MASSIVE damage!
    If you sell UO items for R.L. $$$, you need to quit playing UO , and get a BETTER R.L. JOB!
  • SlissSliss Posts: 282
    KHAN said:
    As an example, the shield with 10 SDI and the earrings with 15 SDI equals 75 more damage with every WoD.
    I am pretty sure the actual damage increase depends on your overall SDI. A shield with 10% SDI will bump you damage by 10% if that shield is the only SDI item you are wearing. Add that same shield to someone who is at 170 SDI, and the actual damage increase is nowhere close to 10%.
  • KHANKHAN Posts: 510
    Sliss said:
    KHAN said:
    As an example, the shield with 10 SDI and the earrings with 15 SDI equals 75 more damage with every WoD.
    I am pretty sure the actual damage increase depends on your overall SDI. A shield with 10% SDI will bump you damage by 10% if that shield is the only SDI item you are wearing. Add that same shield to someone who is at 170 SDI, and the actual damage increase is nowhere close to 10%.
    I tried it with 3 different characters with different amounts of SDI. The 25 SDI increase was a straight 75 points on all 3. 
    If you sell UO items for R.L. $$$, you need to quit playing UO , and get a BETTER R.L. JOB!
  • McDougleMcDougle Posts: 3,742
    My sdi total is 174 it could be even higher if i used pendant of magi and spell woven britches it goes up or down depending on if i am using the 50sdi invasion book or a slayer book of varies amounts on sdi my point or question is that if once above XXX# i am getting 2 extra points of damage what's the point ....
    Acknowledgment and accountability go a long way... 
  • CookieCookie Posts: 1,246

    Like Merus said, bringing Mages maybe closer to warrior damage output in pvm.

    Our warriors do the quest in say 30 minutes, my 1st try was 2 hours, my 2nd try was 1 hour 45 minutes. My killing ability nothing like theirs - I have max SDI.

  • YoshiYoshi Posts: 3,322
    edited April 2021
    “Sdi is not subject to diminishing returns, there is no cap in PvM, though I cannot seem to deal more than 666 with word of death.”
    Posts on this account have been pre filtered from personal comment or opinion in an effort to suppress conservative views in order to protect the reader.
  • ChrilleChrille Posts: 208
    Sdi is capped 250
  • McDougleMcDougle Posts: 3,742
    Chrille said:
    Sdi is capped 250
    where is this posted officially?
    Acknowledgment and accountability go a long way... 
  • ChrilleChrille Posts: 208
    On the character status sheet. It won't go any higher then 250, even if you have items giving you a higher sdi.
  • BilboBilbo Posts: 2,834
    Chrille said:
    On the character status sheet. It won't go any higher then 250, even if you have items giving you a higher sdi.
    This property is capped at 20% for Player vs. Player combat only.
    https://uo.com/wiki/ultima-online-wiki/items/magic-item-properties/
  • SethSeth Posts: 2,904
    edited April 2021
    The character sheet is just a UI, and some of these displayed info can be modified. E.g. We were just discussing about some wrong info in the spellbooks in the bugs section. We should stick with the official wiki.
    If it ain't broke, don't fix it. 
    ESRB warning: Some Blood. LOTS of Alcohol. Some Violence. LOTS of Bugs
  • SlissSliss Posts: 282
    KHAN said:
    Sliss said:
    KHAN said:
    As an example, the shield with 10 SDI and the earrings with 15 SDI equals 75 more damage with every WoD.
    I am pretty sure the actual damage increase depends on your overall SDI. A shield with 10% SDI will bump you damage by 10% if that shield is the only SDI item you are wearing. Add that same shield to someone who is at 170 SDI, and the actual damage increase is nowhere close to 10%.
    I tried it with 3 different characters with different amounts of SDI. The 25 SDI increase was a straight 75 points on all 3. 
    The diminishing returns thing only kicks in past a certain SDI. How high were your characters' SDI?
  • CovenantXCovenantX Posts: 865
    edited April 2021
    There's no diminishing returns on SDI.

    There's a cap (pvp) of 25% / 20% depending on whether or not you're 'focus spec'.

    185 SDI is the highest you can currently reach unbuffed.


    Remove or change casting focus & poison immunity it reduces the need for "Player Skill" it's garbage. rant2 Bring timing back and eliminate chance in pvp!
    ICQ# 478 633 659
  • KHANKHAN Posts: 510
    Sliss said:
    KHAN said:
    Sliss said:
    KHAN said:
    As an example, the shield with 10 SDI and the earrings with 15 SDI equals 75 more damage with every WoD.
    I am pretty sure the actual damage increase depends on your overall SDI. A shield with 10% SDI will bump you damage by 10% if that shield is the only SDI item you are wearing. Add that same shield to someone who is at 170 SDI, and the actual damage increase is nowhere close to 10%.
    I tried it with 3 different characters with different amounts of SDI. The 25 SDI increase was a straight 75 points on all 3. 
    The diminishing returns thing only kicks in past a certain SDI. How high were your characters' SDI?
    The highest was 156 before adding the earings and shield. I did 768 with WoD. I added both items, and my SDI went to 181. At that point I cast a WoD for 843. Which was 75 points more than before. I will recheck it again tomorrow if I get a chance.
    If you sell UO items for R.L. $$$, you need to quit playing UO , and get a BETTER R.L. JOB!
  • ChrilleChrille Posts: 208
    I capped out at 1207 word of deaths, with 250 sdi, then added 10 sdi from shield and still 1207 damage then I added grape of wrath for another 15 sdi and still 1207 damage. So what I wrote earlier holds true sdi is capped at 250.
  • Chrille said:
    I capped out at 1207 word of deaths, with 250 sdi, then added 10 sdi from shield and still 1207 damage then I added grape of wrath for another 15 sdi and still 1207 damage. So what I wrote earlier holds true sdi is capped at 250.

    Please share. What items and buffs did you use to get to 250 sdi before the shield and grapes?
  • CookieCookie Posts: 1,246
    Chrille said:
    I capped out at 1207 word of deaths, with 250 sdi, then added 10 sdi from shield and still 1207 damage then I added grape of wrath for another 15 sdi and still 1207 damage. So what I wrote earlier holds true sdi is capped at 250.


    1698 Word of Death. :)

    You may or may not be right on the 250, I'll try soon.



    wod.png 311.9K
  • CookieCookie Posts: 1,246
    edited April 2021

    True that the paperdoll in classic client is capped at 250 SDI.

    Hard one to test re change in damage. I believe everything you have said, just would like to see for myself :)

    Will keep trying at a later point.

  • CookieCookie Posts: 1,246
    Yoshi said:
    “666 with word of death.”


    Clever, I believe you :D


  • ChrilleChrille Posts: 208
    edited April 2021
    I killed an uev, they have enough hitpoints for you to cast at least 4 wod.

    I use a suite with 183 sdi, halo, pendant of the magi, cuffs, crystalline ring, 18 sdi bracelet, Yukio's earrings, spell woven britches, jumu's hide, hawkwinds, 5 sdi totem, protector of the battle mage, 50 sdi spellbook, hooks shield. I don't use the gloves could be 2 higher, then to reach 250 I use reaper form, bard prov songs, town bonus and arcane empowerment.
  • KHANKHAN Posts: 510
    Cookie said:
    Chrille said:
    I capped out at 1207 word of deaths, with 250 sdi, then added 10 sdi from shield and still 1207 damage then I added grape of wrath for another 15 sdi and still 1207 damage. So what I wrote earlier holds true sdi is capped at 250.


    1698 Word of Death. :)

    You may or may not be right on the 250, I'll try soon.



    That looks like it was taken in Blackthorns Dungeon. WoD does, in some cases, DOUBLE damage to the Captains. So not a fair comparison of WoD damage. 
    If you sell UO items for R.L. $$$, you need to quit playing UO , and get a BETTER R.L. JOB!
  • PawainPawain Posts: 8,971
    Exactly. I can get 1600 on captains with just 135 SDI.
    Focus on what you can do, not what you can't.
  • quickbladequickblade Posts: 291
    This is me 8 years ago. Could probably hit for 2500+ now

  • CookieCookie Posts: 1,246
    edited April 2021

    Fair points, I'll try harder :)

    And @Chrille - nice.

  • PlayerSkillFTWPlayerSkillFTW Posts: 510
    edited April 2021
    Don't forget about the Armor Pierce debuff. Victim takes +10% Damage for 3 seconds.
    My Disco/Tamer's Fire Beetle has RC+AP for debuffing bosses. Combine that with my Death Ray Tamer/Mage's 120 Disco+CB Triton, and the sheer debuffage makes bosses melt like butter. Highest Death Ray tick i've seen so far was 1,037 damage i think, and that could be done at any Health % and ticked every 3 secs. Death Ray isn't affected by SDI though.
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