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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Crashy75" data-source="post: 4445770" data-attributes="member: 11017">It's hard to give a numeric value to an effect if we are not talking about pure damage.  Certainly ongoing damage can be done, but other effects are really hard.  Keep in mind that the bonus a +3 weapon gives is the equivalent to an extra strike over 20 attacks.  So, to compare, you have to look at how muc extra damage the higher damage weapon deals over 20 attacks.  Your question should be modified as such: 'does the extra 2 points = 5% of the effect?'  Give me some examples and I'll see what I can do for you.  While you are correct, I don't believe this happens in 4e.  It is my understanding (and assumption for this analysis) that accuracy stay's around 50% from levels 1-30.  It is definitely true that the more accurate one's attacks, the more heavy damage weapons benefit over and above +3 weapons.  There is a variance between enemy types that reflects this (+3 weapons will do better vs. soldiers while high damage weapons will do better vs. brutes for example).  I don't have that exact information, however, so I can't really calculate that.  And there were a couple of at-will powers I forgot about- mostly because they're not very good:  Sure strike and Careful strike.  Even a high crit weapon is superior to a +3 weapon at paragon and beyond with these two and is pretty much equal at heroic tier, though it falls behind at later heroic when the pc gets a magic weapon.  Now, let me give a quick rundown:Let:W=Average Weapon Damage.  This does not include attribute and other modifiers to damage.  M=Damage Modifiers.  This will include attribute and magic bonuses.  This is a quick analysis so we're going to leave out Sneak Attack and similar modifiers.  N=Number of hits from 20 attacks for the least accurate weapon in the sample.  (generally a +2 weapon).  I will generally assume 50% accuracy, but the numbers can be tweeked using the formula for any accuracy.  D=Difference in average damage.  This will always compare to W.  So if we were comparing a dagger[sub]1[/sub] with a longsword[sub]2[/sub] and a battleaxe[sub]3[/sub], W=2.5, D[sub]1[/sub]=0 D[sub]2[/sub]=2 and D[sub]3[/sub]=3.  X=the number of die rolled.Y represents the tier.  In the heroic tier, Y=1.  In the paragon tier, Y=2.  In epic tier Y=3.  All weapons start with the following value and are modified by their relative values.Y= N(XW+M)  This represents the damage done using the weakest weapon's damage and the least accurate weapon's, uh, accuracy.  Note that this probably (unless we bring in a simple weapon) doesn't represent any single weapon- this just sets the bar for all weapons, and once this is canceled out, we can see exactly how the weapons compare.  Now, let me plug in a few weapons.  I want to keep this short so I'll go with some standard 1 handed military weapons.  Battleaxe=N(XW+M)+N(XD)Longsword=N(XW+M)+X(W+M)War Pick=N(XW+M)+Y(W)W=4.5, so D=1.  We'll keep N as an unknown so we can compare later.  Explanation:  The battle axe does extra damage per attack (over W), so we add that damage x the number of hits.  The longsword is more accurate, gaining an additional hit over 20 attacks.  Therefore we add an additional hit to it's total.  The War Pick does extra damage when it makes a crit (avg. 1x per 20 attacks)  Y is defined by the tier.  It equals 1 in Heroic tier, 2 in paragon, and 3 in epic.Cancel out the equalities we are left with:Battleaxe=N(XD)Longsword=X(W+A)War Pick=Y(W)Now, we know that Y=1 in heroic tier, so automatically, unless the longsword wielder has no damage bonuses (careful strike et al) The warpick=W while the Longsword=X(W+A).  Clearly, the longsword is better at heroic tier.  As long as the longsword is used at least a 2(W) power at paragon, he's still going to be better than the pick.  Even with a 1(w) power, the longsword will be better as long as the weilder has a+5 bonus to damage from attributes and magic weapons (very likely).  The battleaxe vs. the longsword is more nuanced.  If N(XD)=X(W+A) then the Battleaxe=the Longsword.  That is, if the extra damage that the battle axe dealt over those 20 attacks=a single strike from the longsword, they are virtually equal.  Also, it's interesting to note that the base accruacy only benefits the battleaxe (as LightPhoenix noted), while increases in damage modifiers (also including things like hunters quarry) only benefit the longsword (relative to the great axe of course!).More later.  My wife has to go to bed!!!</blockquote>

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