Guild Wars 2: Damage Increase Part 4: Infusions

For now the last part. You might remember that we've calculated the damage increase via upgrading from exotic to ascended gear. Now we have our ascended gear we can fill it with infusions.

Infusions and Infusion Slots

There are six armor pieces, one to two weapon slots, two accessories, a backpack, two rings, and an amulet. The armors each have one infusion slot the weapons if it's one hand will have only one slot else it will have two slots. The backpack has two slots, accessories only one but the rings have three. The amulet also has an infusion slot but this one can't be used for our purpose.

Summing it all up we get 6 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 6 = 18 slots to fill up with infusions. Now the next question is which infusions do we have available.

Currently, eight infusions types differ in stats.

Mighty

Increases your power by 5. Power increases your damage.

Precise

Increases your precision by 5. Precision increases your chance to critical hit dealing increased damage.

Malign

Increases your condition damage by 5. Condition damage increases the damage of your damage over time effects or conditions.

Resilient

Increases your toughness by 5. Toughness increases your armor, thus reduces incoming damage.

Vital

Increases your vitality by 5. Vitality increases your health.

Healing

Increases your healing power by 5. Healing power increases your healing.

Mystical

Increases your concentration by 5. Concentration increases your boon duration.

Spiteful

Increases your expertise by 5. Expertise increases your condition's duration.

Since we calculated our damage only with Berserker so far the only interesting infusion out of these are mighty and precise. Though technically there are no ferocity infusion we can still check out the damage increase if they exist.

Recapping Damage Calculation and Ascended Stats

For us to do our calculation we need to use the damage formula, the formula to get the damage increase in percentage and the stats we have with ascended gear. To get them we just have to check-in without the previous part as I kept recapping whatever we needed.

So our damage formula is this one:

avgdmg = weaponStrengthAvg * power * (1 + ((prec / 21 / 100) + 0.05) * ((fero / 15 / 100) + 0.5))

dmg stands for damage; weaponStrengthAvg stands for the average weapon strength; prec stands for precision; fero stands for ferocity;

For the damage increase, we divide the new value through the prior value and subtract one.

The ascended gear gave us 1381 power, 961 precision, and 961 ferocity. Our ascended weapon, we used an axe all the time to keep this factor equal as the weapon damage changes respective to the weapon you use. The ascended axe deals between 900 and 1100 weapon damage. We've already calculated the average but it's basically (1100 - 900) / 2 + 900 = 1000.

Damage Calculation

Alright, here we go. We have already clarified that there are 18 infusion slots. So let's fill all of them with the infusions. This mean we get 5 * 18 = 90 stats. In our first example that's 90 power.

So let's compare the stats.

Base

Avg. Weapon Damage: 1000

Power: 2381

Precision: 961

Ferocity: 961

Damage:

1000 * 2381 * (1 + ((961 / 21 / 100) + 0.05) * ((961 / 15 / 100) + 0.5)) = 3759656.45

Mighty Infusions

Avg. Weapon Damage: 1000

Power: 2471

Precision: 961

Ferocity: 961

Damage:

1000 * 2471 * (1 + ((961 / 21 / 100) + 0.05) * ((961 / 15 / 100) + 0.5)) = 3901768.62

So the damage increase is (3901768.62 / 3759656.45) - 1 = 0.0377 or 3.78%.

Precise Infusions

Avg. Weapon Damage: 1000

Power: 2381

Precision: 1051

Ferocity: 961

Damage:

1000 * 2381 * (1 + ((1051 / 21 / 100) + 0.05) * ((961 / 15 / 100) + 0.5)) = 3876053.33

So the damage increase here is (3876053.33 / 3759656.45) - 1 = 0.0309 or 3.1%

Ferocity Infusions

Avg. Weapon Damage: 1000

Power: 2381

Precision: 961

Ferocity: 1051

Damage:

1000 * 2381 * (1 + ((961 / 21 / 100) + 0.05) * ((1051 / 15 / 100) + 0.5)) = 3832174.90

So the damage increase with ferocity infusions would be (3832174.90 / 3759656.45) - 1 = 0.0192 or 1.92%.

Recalculation With 25 Stacks of Might

I talked about the damage increase being affected by other buffs. So I'm going to actually show you and proved mathematically that this is the case. It's easy to do. We're going to apply the might stacks to our calculation for our base and new damage. Might can stack up to 25 stacks each stack increases our power and condition power by 10 for each. So it's 25 * 10 = 250 power and condition power. Using this for our calculation with power stats we get the following results:

Base:

1000 * 2631 * (1 + ((961 / 21 / 100) + 0.05) * ((961 / 15 / 100) + 0.5)) = 4154412.48

With Infusions:

1000 * 2721 * (1 + ((961 / 21 / 100) + 0.05) * ((961 / 15 / 100) + 0.5)) = 4296524.65

Calculating the damage increase we get (4296524.65 / 4154412.48) - 1 = 0.0342 or 3.42%.

So as you can see the damage increase is lower than in our previous calculation. This has to do with the natural diminishing returns. You can look up part 3 on this.

Conclusion

So seeing these numbers we now know that the best infusions are and would be the mighty infusions.

This is quite surprising. I mean, of course, without the buffs the mighty infusions are better than the others but I didn't expect the ferocity infusions to be this bad.

What's Behind the ABRACADABRA?

You may know this magical word people use when doing a magic trick in show business.

ABRACADABRA

It's not actually something someone made up it actually does have to do something with magic and it actually explains a concept or a type of magic. You might wonder which one but we're getting to that in due time. Most often you will find it in a fashion similar to this:

ABRACADABRA

  ABRACADABR

   ABRACADAB

     ABRACADA

      ABRACAD

       ABRACA

        ABRAC

         ABRA

          ABR

           AB

            A

Analyzing this construct we notice 3 things. First of all, each line loses one letter of the word. Each line is then moved to the right by a little. And last, this produces a triangle form. The upside-down triangle is a symbol of the female principle, the actual meaning of the word abracadabra is unknown.

And that's all the information we can get out of it so far.

The Concept of ABRACADABRA

The concept of this magical construct, if we may it call such is quite simple. You can see that with each new line one letter is gone. The idea behind this is to weaken the construct with each new line. For example, you could say you're scared of an exam in mathematics. Now you could technically do the same as with the ABRACADABRA:

MATHEMATICS

 MATHEMATIC

  MATHEMATI

   MATHEMAT

    MATHEMA

     MATHEM

      MATHE

       MATH

        MAT

         MA

           A

If you write each line with the intent to weaken the power of math if used correctly in a ritual it should take any fear or worry from you. Aside from that saying math instead of mathematics also makes it sound more casual after all, doesn't it? Though keep in mind since English is a common language and I assume people who visit my blog as of now speak English it wouldn't be the right choice to use the English word. It would be better to use a less commonly spoken language like Latin, Greek or Hebrew or any other for that matter but you get the idea.

Historical Usage

Appearances of the ABRACADABRA have it often connected with usage in medical environments. This is understandable. The idea of it is to weaken something. If you use it to weaken an illness or a medical issue such as the severity of an injury it's easier for the body to fix itself and regenerate. Something weak is easier to beat.

Conclusion

So technically whenever we want to weaken something or make something big and or strong small and insignificant this concept can help us. Aside from that, it's just another example of how magic works and something one should know or have heard of.

So don't make a big deal out of it.

Oh god, that was bad... I'm already starting to bring bad jokes and puns like Matpat from Game Theory... 

Guild Wars 2: Lunar New Year Without Procrastination

Let's celebrate the new year in Guild Wars 2. This time the year of the dog inspired by the Chinese new year on the 16th of February. As I already told you that I check out what I have to do every day to finish the achievements in the time given by the event I, of course, did the same with this year's lunar new year too.

Which Achievements Interest Us

So first we need to know which achievements are of interest. To me, an achievement that gives achievement points is interesting as long it rewards me with such. We can get 105 achievements points if we haven't completed any.

This year the lunar new year event is split into three achievement categories. Lunar New Year is the first category, it contains achievements that are one time. There are six achievements in this category and all six give us achievements. So the ones we want are

• Celestial Companion
• Celestial Racer
• Firecracker Finder
• Golden Firestarter
• Light Up The Sky
• Sparkling Celebration

For the Celestial Companion achievement, we only need to soul bind an exotic great backpack.

For the Celestial Racer, we need to finish the race in 3 minutes and 30 seconds. 

The Firecracker Finder achievement requires us to find the ten hidden firecrackers in the city.

Golden Firestarter expects us to finish the new adventure with a gold reward, which means we need to do it in 4 minutes and 30 seconds.

Light Up The Sky wants us to use 88 firework items and last but not least

Sparking Celebration requires setting off eight great fireworks.

The next category New Year's Customs consists of repeatable and annual achievements that are doable once a year. There are 3 achievements in this category that reward achievement points.

• Celestial Messenger
• Firework Festival
• New Year's Benevolence

The first achievement requires us to complete the race. It's an achievement that rewards 25 achievement points in total, 5 for each repetition and requires 3 races per repetition. This means we'll have to do 25 / 5 * 3 = 15 races in total. 

The next one, Firework Festival, wants us to set off 300 lunar new year fireworks. Again this is a repeatable achievement that rewards 25 in total. There are 5 achievement points for every repetition. So we need 25 / 5 = 5 repetitions, which requires to set off 300 * 5  = 1500 fireworks.

The last one New Year's Benevolence is another repeatable achievement that rewards 25 achievement points in total and again 5 for each repetition and requires 100 per repetition. This means we'll need to feed Drooburt 100 * 5 = 500 steamed red dumplings.

Daily Ratio 

Thanks to the patch notes we know the event goes two weeks and a few days. It started yesterday on the 6th of February and ends on the 22nd of February. That's 17 days though if you work it will most likely be 16 days. This means we know the event length and the amount we need. So let's see how much we need to do every day.

Most achievements like Celestial Companion, Celestial Racer, and Golden Firestarter aren't worth calculating as it's only one item required. Obviously, that's 1 item in 16 days. So yeah the calculation is ridiculous for those. Let's look at the others though.

The Firecracker Finder are 10 unique firecrackers. You could technically do 10 / 16 = 0.625 or about one every two to three days though I'd suggest doing all in one run as you can't interact with the same ones that way. They're all around the crown pavilion, so not hard to find. The hardest was probably the one near the hole.

Light Up The Sky was 88 firecrackers. You'll most likely get this while doing the other one. Though if interested it'd be 88 / 16 = 5.5 or five to six crackers each day.

Sparking Celebration requires us to do 8 great fireworks. Since we have 16 days that's one every two days. In case you weren't so fast the calculation is 8 / 16 = 0.5. You might notice that 8 doubled equals 16 which allows this one to be calculated swiftly in the head.

Now We Get to the Fun Part

These are real achievements. The ones that are the most fun.

The first one of these is the Celestial Messenger achievement. It's the racing event that we have to do 15 times. Well, it's almost 16 so except for one day if we do it every day we're fine. Mathematically we'd need to do 15 / 16 = 0.9375 a day.

The next one Firework Festival was 1500 firecrackers. That's 1500 / 16 = 93.75 or between 93 and 94 firecrackers every day. That's quite a bunch but doable I suppose.

The last one is... the one that tops them all. The ultimate achievement. The unbelievable, most demanding of them all. Drooburt, the ghost we gave 5000 candy corn and 5000 snowflakes, he now wants us to give him 500 steamed red dumplings. That's 500 / 16 = 31.25 or 31 to 32 every day if we wanted to finish it in one event. No wonder the prices shot up. These items are rare after all.

One might think calling this fun was sarcastic. Well, who knows. I did my job calculating my daily needs for this event and shared it with you all now all I have to do is work on it and wrap everything up for myself.