@eurav Okay, so - we start with 100, or 120, creation points to make our characters. If you have gear gives +4 to a stat in total, and your stat was 10, it goes to 14 - a shift that would cost 8 points if done through the character creation mechanism. In a human, that's 8/120, ~6.6% improvement. if you get a +4 on top of an 17, that's a 21, that's worth 16 points, (and nets you the bonus for having a 20 or more). On anything non-human, 16/100, 16% boost. ergo, a range of ~6.6%-16% statistical bonus over a new player using starting gear.
My point was, this seems like a significantly bigger advantage than I think is reasonable. Strength isn't just damage, it's armor rating, armor equipment, health, and carry capacity. Intelligence isn't just spell damage, it's mana pool, mana regen, it's magic resistance and spell cooldown. And the devs have established that a +5 (temporary) to a stat is difficult to come by - meaning it should also be noteworthy. To hand someone a permanent +4 seems...nonsensical, in that lens.
Your point about an incompetent meleeist versus a ranged fighter who knows how to stay away from another person is reasonable, but not quite apropos - For one thing, I'm not sure how someone would get to the best gear for a certain stat in the game without having at least one trick to deal some damage to a ranged fighter - there's incompetent, and then there is "can't actually play the game." Also, it stacks the deck significantly in the new player's favor with factors that aren't skill-based - the scenario isn't "I played better, so I won," it's more "I'd have to actually screw-up in order to lose."
My mental example is 2 players using similar ideas - 2 meleeists, 2 archers, 2 wizards, with the vet playing in a very blah sort of way - a tool kit full of damage, for example, with a set order of use - no imagination, no prediction, no response, just "do the thing and win" in essence, something that works against limited ai encountered in PvE; versus someone who knows how to pvp - how to predict opponents well, how bait them, and how to punish, who took some utilities and skills that, individually, aren't as impressive, but give flexibility and mutual support to the other skills in play - someone who knows what they are doing, and can actively capitalize on the opponent's moves and mistakes. Both are successful players, but it's clear which one should win in a direct fight, all things being equal "enough."
And I don't know that a +4 in a stat is too imbalanced to fit that criteria.
Now, I don't know if it isn't, either, of course - no hard numbers means we all cry at this point in the discussion. It's within the realm of possibility that +1 strength means a +10% life bouns, damage reduction, and damage bonus (or, +40% in total for each - aka, hella broken to have on a permanent basis) - something so one-sided that the new player can't possibly win. Conversely, it might be +1% per, which is more or less a non-issue (and makes anyone who takes a 21 in strength at creation a complete fool).
Now, if we assume a creation point is worth the same, universally, despite the varied prices to up a statistic, we get the top end benefit to be something like 12.5-16%. To take the intelligence example - spells do 12.5-16% more damage, the veteran mage takes 12.5-16% less damage from spells, and can cast 12.5-16 spells to their opponents 10 (assuming all the spells have the same cast/cool down times), if you apply that benefit universally. On that basis, I'd say our new mage player is in a heck of a lot of trouble. Maybe not insurmountable trouble, but deep, deep trouble. would that be too one-sided, invalidating the premise of "skilled newb being able to take a talentless vet?" - don't know, but it seems likely. If it's more +16% damage, 8% resist, 4 more spells per 10, then it's closer to balanced, enough that I'd probably say it's within the limits of plausibility. @Gothix probably has a better feel for this sort of thing.
And, of course, it goes without saying that, if we have more equipment that can give a +1 to a statistic - rings, boots, amulets - or if a stat boost can be more than +1, then all of these issues get so much worse. Statistics are powerful in this game, because they touch on so many aspects. The balancing factors would have to be truly heinous to match the benefits.
