3x Doubler vs 4x Doubler....decisions, decisions, decisions

Here's my 1st trick and tip. The great decision between using 3x doubler and 4x doubler. How do you decide on which one to use? I will tell you right off the bat that as of a few weeks ago, I will use nothing less than 4x doubler.

Quote :

"Why these are the ravings of a madman!"

Well, let's take a look at the differences and see what all the raving is about

Let's say that you have 600 stamina to burn and you burn all 600 on killing mobs with 0 wasted on movement (yes, I know that is a load of pig swallow, but it makes it easier to do the math ) We are also going to use my current level of 172, using Lib and AL of 140 each so that I can give accurate numbers for comparison.

So...as I was saying, 600 stamina. If you are using 3x doubler, that means that you would kill 200 mobs. Let's say that Lib procs at a 14% rate, that means that you hit 172 mobs and get "normal" xp of 1500 per kill. You lucky person you, Lib procs 14% of the time and you kill 28 mobs at double the xp for 3000 per kill. So let's see the math here:

172 x 1500 = 258,000xp (normal)
28 x 3000 = 84, 000xp (Lib procs)
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Total = 342,000xp

Now let's look at using 4x doubler. With 4x, you can only kill 150 mobs before running out of stamina. So that breaks down to 139 mobs at normal xp of 2000 per kill. Lib procs again at 14% and gives you 21 mobs at double the xp, hence 4000 per kill. Math time again:

139 x 2000 = 278,000xp (normal)
21 x 4000 = 84,000xp (Lib procs)
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Total = 362,000xp

So as you can see from our test run, we gained 20,000 more xp when using 4x doubler vs 3x doubler. Now if we look into "real world" scenarios, you have to waste stamina moving from place to place. However, since 4x uses more stamina, you hit less mobs before your stamina is depleted and as such, spend less on moving from place to place. If you are using Merchant, this same effect can be seen in your gold as well but on a smaller scale since Merchant has a lower proc rate.

Now beyond all that is another less thought of benefit. At higher levels, death is inevitable (pardon my spelling ) because the mobs have such high amounts of damage, that it makes it very hard to sustain a single hit and not die. Now, you can choose to go into a higher armor setup which allows you to trade blows with the nasty beasties, but I prefer the more direct "hack-n-slash" approach myself. I'll talk more about this in a later "tip & trick", but suffice to say that even with high damage you will miss sooner or later due to the 2% miss chance inherent in every battle.

So, let's say that you fight 200 mobs with 3x doubler and you have that 2% chance of dying (barring dodge, nullify, & reinforced armor taking affect). So let's say that you "miss" and die a mere 4x. Well, that 4x has cost you around 5-6k xp and a certain percentage of the gold you have on hand. So let's say that each time you die, you loose 15% of the gold (not sure on these numbers, but I'd say it's about average). Let's pretend that each time you die, you had 40k on hand (again, would be less or more depending on when each death occured but to make it simple, let's stick with that). So each time you died (4x), you just lost 6000 gold. So...WHAM! you just lost 24,000 gold (more than likely more if the deaths occured towards the end of your stamina burn)

Now, let's look at it using 4x doubler and 150 mobs. You now die 3x, so your xp loss is reduced by 1000+xp and you only lost 18,000 gold vs 24,000. Now...all of this is based on you using 600 stamina and only dying 3-4x. Imagine this multiplied if you are burning 1000, 1500, 2000 stamina at a time. The numbers only get that much larger. But if you are using 4x doubler, you are fighting less mobs and thus your chances of rolling a "miss" and dying have been reduced as well. Not to mention, our xp gain calculation based on 600 stamina burn would also be multiplied on a 1000, 1500 or 2000+ stamina burn.

So for me, I have found that I gain more levels faster if I exclusively use 4x doubler. I have made it a point that if nobody in the guild is on that has 4x doubler, I'll go out and buy it. You can usually find it between 10 - 25k, 30 - 35k if you are really desperate and don't hunt around about 1/2 hour or so before your stamina maxes to get a good deal. I usually end up paying 20k for 4x Doubler if nobody in the guild is on, but I find it very worth it. The xp gain difference, the lower chance of a "miss" and death, and less wasted stamina due to movement makes it a must have for my hunting buffs.

Hopefully this tip & trick has helped you out. But it's late and my eyes are starting to burn....lol, so I'll say g'night and we'll pick up with more in another post tomorrow.

Peace.

Phaithful

Nice one Phaithful

Thanks! I'm getting ready to work on the next one now... before my lunch time expires, lol

Phaithful

not sure you addressed the dying issue correctly there :
when using doubler, only your wins are doubled. dying will result in losses as though you didn't have doubler (gold, XP, stamina) and unresolved combat will result in losing 20/40/60 stamina (depends on what option did you use to attack)

True, but I was coming at it from the standpoint that with 4x doubler, you are fighting less mobs and thus have a lower chance of dying vs 3x doubler. Understanding though that when you die, you lose 1 stamina regardless if it was with 3x or 4x doubler. The xp and gold loss numbers were meant as an cumulative overall from all your deaths that hunting session, not on a per death basis (sorry if I was not clear on that one )

Also, I was coming from the assumption that you had enough damage to 1 hit and then the 20/40/60/80 stamina loss would not take effect. If you are doing battle with mobs and having unresolved conflict, imo, you should not be using doubler at all. You should be looking at why it was unresolved (too low damage on your end, they have too high defense or armor, etc) to see if it can be fixed to allow for a 1 hit (2 if necessary) to maximize stamina burn.

Thanks for the comments though, I appreciate them

Phaithful