I looted a bow that is superior in every way to my currently equipped bow (higher min and max damge, higher agi, faster, higher bonus damage), but when I equipped it, my char sheet min and max damage went down! Here are some screen shot examples:

Old bow - equipped with gear
New bow - equipped with gear

Old bow - equipped, naked
New bow - equipped, naked

The new bow does have higher average dps when calculated, but I would expect it to be even higher based on the stats displayed if the min/max char sheet damage were accurately calculated.

There was a post like this like a month ago. So it's not only you. So yah, the character sheet is bugged for sure.

I have the same problem.

OK, I suppose it is time to divulge some information in order to clear up some confusion, as this is most definitely not a bug. In all actuality, the second crossbow which you think is worse is truly better. It has an average DPS output of ~886, whereas the Average DPS output on the first crossbow comes in at ~807 dps. That is almost a 10% difference in Damage per Second! I’ll take that any day.

Let’s look at the overall damage values shown in the character sheet. The first crossbow appears to do more damage because of two reasons that both have to do with Attack Speed. The first is, a slower weapon will have a higher damage per attack than a faster weapon within a similar level range because well, it gets fewer attack opportunities than a faster weapon does within the same time frame. Second, the Agility damage bonus, as well as the other damage bonuses that have been applied, are based on the weapon’s Attack Speed. Since the first crossbow’s Attack Speed is slower, it will get more damage bonuses per attack (this does not increase its overall effectiveness – which I will prove if you keep reading). It would be broken if the bonuses did not take into account weapon speed because then the fast weapons would become a dominate strategy since they would effectively be receiving more damage over time than the slower weapons. So now you have some damage values that look higher and are higher on a per attack basis. However, don't ignore the Attack Speed! It is what determines how much damage you will be doing over time, and that is what really matters to most of us, right?

I will break it down for you.

This is what you saw in your character sheet for the first crossbow.

244-482 Damage with Attack Speed 0.45

Let’s calculate the average damage the crossbow does per attack.
482-244/2 + 244 = 363 average damage per attack.

Now we need to apply the Attack Speed to determine how many attacks you get per second.
1/0.45 = 2.22 attacks per second

Attacks per second multiplied by the average damage will give you your Average DPS:
2.22 * 363 = 806.66 DPS

This is from the second crossbow:
226-447 Damage with Attack Speed 0.38

Average Damage Per Attack:
447-226/2 + 226 = 336.5 damage per attack (I know what you are thinking… see it’s lower than the other one! Stay with me here.)

Attacks Per Second:
1/0.38 = 2.63 attacks per second

Average Damage per Second:
2.63 * 336.5 = 885.5 Average DPS

Of course, if you were playing a strategy where you wanted a greater chance of stunning monsters from having more damage dealt per attack, the first crossbow might be a better choice. However, for average damage per second, the second crossbow wins hands down. I hope this clears up some of the confusion. I have to admit, I was a little worried when I was first notified about your post. We had to bust out with some crazy marker board action just to make sure.

The most interesting thing to me is how you calculate the DPS.

The formula I use is ((min+max)/2)/speed which comes out with exactly the same numbers as the ones you end up with but seems less complicated to me.

I knew there was a reason I should have taken more math in school.

Edited by Rudko (08/15/07 05:58 PM)

He is basically using this equation but is taking it step by step to better explain it.

Thanks for replying Mark! As I had mentioned in original post, I, too, had calculated that the second bow still had higher DPS. It's nice to see you confirm it AND the math I and others use to calculate average DPS. In fact, I never fully equip a bow until I've calculated the DPS and have weighed the pros and cons to using it. To me, the most important part of your entire post is this:

Quote:

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the Agility damage bonus, as well as the other damage bonuses that have been applied, are based on the weapon’s Attack Speed. Since the first crossbow’s Attack Speed is slower, it will get more damage bonuses per attack

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This explains why the character sheet Min and Max damage amounts were lower on the new bow (it's much faster). That's important to know, because I and others thought this was a bug with either the character sheet or the weapon. It's nice to know that it isn't.