Daze and "Confused"

We’ve delved into the Daze mechanic a bit more to provide information on how the mechanic actually works, and hopefully explain some of the oddities and discrepancies that players notice when running from mobs and being affected by “Daze”. It’s a topic that’s been brought up since the release of the game, and explaining it in a bit more detail was something that we thought was important to help players better understand how it affects them.

First an explanation on how the mechanic works. The chance to be dazed is determined by the character’s base defense rating as compared to the mobs level, or technically the defense of the character versus the attack skill of the mob (which is always maxed at [5 x mob level]). A level 70 mob would have an attack of 350 as compared to a level 70’s character defense of 350. The base chance is 20% and this lowers or raises based on the difference between player defense and mob attack, to a minimum of 0% chance, or maximum of 40% chance.

This formula is in fact altered to have a lower chance to daze characters below level 30. The chance to for a level 1 character to be dazed by an equal level mob is less than 1%, and the chance then scales up to level 30 where it reaches the base 20% (assuming an equal mob level vs defense at all times). This is to allow players still learning the game to avoid death as they may still not be accustomed to the game or their character’s power as compared to a mob. As an example of this reduction for characters under level 30, a level 10 player would have an approximate 7% chance to be dazed against an equal level mob. This lowered chance for characters under 30 is more than likely the largest contributor in players comparing low-level characters to their level 70’s and assuming a change was made in the expansion to increase daze.

Other factors that may give a sense that daze is occurring more often may include the lack of many actual level 60 mobs roaming throughout leveling or questing areas in Azeroth, as compared to the large amount of level 70 (and higher) mobs roaming throughout Outland. Also, as it’s based on probability there’s a good chance that you will run into streaks where you’re dazed more or less often. Aside from keeping a maxed defense rating the best thing you can do to keep from being dazed is to simply avoid the aggro radius of mobs you don’t intend to fight.

The actual code was went over again and it’s a very plainly set comparison of mob to player, and we find that the perceived increase to being dazed is in fact a perception that is probably influenced at least partially by some or all of the explanations above, and any number of other variables. Through testing we’ve confirmed that the code is working properly, and all tests performed showed the chance to be dazed was well within what was expected.

Now that the mechanic has been explained a bit better, and further testing has gone in to at least fact checking that we are within the realm of acceptable probability, we turn to the function of the daze mechanic and why it’s even in the game. The most basic explanation is that we want it to be scary to run near or through a group of monsters. Players should be tasked to avoid them if they don’t want to engage in combat, and not simply run through or within aggro range without consequence. A cautious and alert player is less likely to be dazed than one who is haphazard and careless. We certainly support more thoughtful and careful approaches to combat situations or travel routes, and we find the daze mechanic performing as expected in helping to encourage it.