"Haste Explained - By Xaas Swifttail
For those unfamiliar, something that has a "Haste" effect is something that makes you faster, something that gives you a greater speed in one way or another. As far as EverQuest goes, Haste more accurately effects how fast you attack. The speed in which you attack is represented by your weapons "Delay" attribute (Del). Delay is measured in tenths of seconds. For instance, a weapon with a Delay of 20 would attack every two seconds. Likewise, a weapon with a Delay of 44 would attack every 4.4 seconds. Going by that system is not 100% accurate because there are many decimal values that are not taken into consideration (ie a Delay of 44 might actually be 44.013). Excluding these decimal values alters your results slightly, but usually only by a maximum of one or two tenths. It is a good system to use, but like I said, not 100% accurate.
A common misconception is that a Haste effect directly alters the Delay of your weapons, when in fact it doesn't. Haste is measured in Damage Increase, NOT Delay Decrease. An item or spell that adds a 40% Haste effect does NOT lower your weapons Delay by 40%, but rather increases the amount of Damage you do by 40% over a period of time. Another point of notice is that Item Haste and Spell Haste combine. For instance if you had a Spell cast on you that adds 20% Haste and an Item equipped that adds 17% Haste your total Haste would be 37%. This does not work in all cases because many Items and Spells have rescritctions where they will not stack with eachother.
Although Haste deals with Damage Increase and not Delay Decrease, you CAN calculate what your weapon Delay would be during the time period you are Hastened. In determining your weapon Delay with a given Haste percentage there are three steps. To illustrate these steps we will pretend that you are using a Fighting Baton (8 Dmg/20 Delay) with a Flowing Black Silk Sash equipped (21% Haste). The first step is to add 100 to the Haste percentage. In this case the result would be 121 (100 + 21 = 121). The second step is to divide that number (121) into 100. The result would be roughly .83 (100 / 121 = .83). The third and final step is to multiply the previous results (.83) by your weapon Delay (20). The result is 16.5 (20 * .83 = 16.5). We have now determined that a Fighting Batons 8/20 with 21% Haste become 8/17 (16.5) during the period of time that you are Hastened.
Here are a few examples of this method of determining haste effects.
[Delay 30 with 40% Haste]
Step One - Add 100 to the Haste Percentage.
100 + 40 = 140
Step Two - Divide the previous result (140) into 100.
100 / 140 = .71
Step Three - Multiply the previous result (.71) by the weapon Delay.
71 * 30 = 21.3
Finished - A Delay of 30 with a 40% Haste becomes a Delay of 21.3.
[Delay 15 with 85% Haste]
Step One - Add 100 to the Haste Percentage.
100 + 85 = 185
Step Two - Divide the previous result (185) into 100.
100 / 185 = .54
.54 * 15 = 8.1
Finished - A Delay of 15 with an 85% Haste becomes a Delay of 8.1.
[Delay 44 with 20% Haste]
Step One - Add 100 to the Haste Percentage.
100 + 20 = 120
Step Two - Divide the previous result (120) into 100.
100 / 120 = .83
Step Three - Multiply the previous result (.83) by the weapon Delay.
.83 * 44 = 36.5
Finished - A Delay of 44 with a 20% Haste becomes a Delay of 36.5.
As you can see, determining the effects of Haste on your weapons Delay using this method is really quite simple. Below are a few important things to bare in mind when considering Haste and Delay.
[Important Facts]
- Delay is measured in tenths of seconds.
- Item Haste and Spell Haste combine (generally).
- Haste is measured in Damage Increase, not Delay Decrease.
- The formula for determining Delay with Haste is: Delay * (100 / (100 + Haste%))
I hope this has been helpful and informative. For comments, questions and/or suggestions, please contact the author, Xaaz Swiftail, at prymus@blazenet.net" as per www.monkly-business.com.