A Resist Softcap?
The September 4 2002 patch note includes this:
"Previously, there was only the smallest benefit to having resists over a certain value" which suggests a softcap of some kind. That is the singular piece of evidence I could find for a softcap. There was some speculation of a softcap at the time, but players also speculated of an ATK softcap (which never existed) so they didn't know. A low hardcap of 99 existed from game launch up to Sept 4 2002 for most spells, so if there was some kind of softcap it would have to apply only to lures/dragon spells. Sony may have removed the lure hardcaps at Velious launch and replaced them with softcaps such that lures became useless on 1000 resist targets or some other very high resist value. I have doubts that a softcap existed but the evidence just isn't there to prove or disprove it. That patch note is very little to go by and patch notes are far from proof.
Sony seemed to have wanted to keep resist rates similar to what they were in Kunark since they intentionally didn't make a patch note about the change(s) to lures. Sony also has a history of not wanting to modify older era mechanics. (the Sept 2002 patch is a big exception) So I doubt the Velious lure changes were major. It's conceivable however that Sony put in a softcap for resists at some point since at or near Luclin launch Sony introduced a softcap for AC, but I wouldn't bet on it. (the resist softcap if it existed could have also been a Luclin addition)
The overcap returns for AC in Luclin were small, so I would also expect small returns for resists (like 1/20th or worse) if a softcap existed. Another issue is that there were three kinds of lures which each had their own code blocks. This makes implementing a softcap trickier as you'd either have to duplicate code or not apply it to all lures. Furthermore the CHA -4 lures were already quite easy to resist so applying a softcap on these doesn't really make a lot of sense.
I could find no old comments which asserted that raising resists to very high levels with a bard resulted in significantly higher resist rates. In fact many people still thought that resists did nothing or rolled over after 255, even well into Velious. This indicates to me that resist rates were always somewhere in the neighborhood of 50%, if not remained 45%. If resists are a coin flip then one could easily not resist a single breath against a dragon with 32k HP.
Next I will quote some player claims from the time period for completeness sake.
There is one comment I found which is somewhat contradictory to the others and I'll start with it:
"i'm beginning to believe that there is no cap on resists. for example, me versus phara dar with sanctus in group.
with puretone i was pegging 500 magic resist. buff out to 235 mr in normal resist gear.
regardless, while sanctus was alive i resisted every phara ae. when he lost the song due to a stun i began
failing all my mr checks .. even at level 60 and at 235 magic resist.
also, there is no longer a wrap over effect. 256 no longer wraps you back down to 1." (9/3/01)
https://web.archive.org/web/20010911....topic&index=5
That is also unfortunately the sole comment I found mentioning resists far above 300. This comment is almost useless by itself however because he discusses a single fight vs. a 32k hp mob, and the bard did get stunned with songs on, so the high resists didn't help Mr. bard very much.
Again, if resists are a coin flip then it's expected to see "resists are useless they do nothing" comments and "resists are fine I resisted most of them" comments like so:
"I recently had 250MR (and level 60) when we fought Phara Dar last. I didn't resist a stun. Most of us didn't. Talk about unlucky save rolls." (Jul 9, 2001)
https://groups.google.com/g/alt.game...m/IMMHcQGG0W0J
"Generally with an MR of over 220 at level 60, you can resist most of her AoEs--about 1 in 4 will get through." (Jul 8, 2001) (Phara Dar)
https://groups.google.com/g/alt.game...m/FQwBoXjob-IJ
This comment is somewhat interesting. He says Cursed's AoE almost never resisted until after the Sept 4 2002 patch:
"Later in the evening, I resisted a record number of I think 10 Caustic Mist AEs from Cursed (I think I have, maybe, resited 5 in all the times we've fought him before) with 500 disease resist." (9/5/02)
https://web.archive.org/web/20021120...cID=1220.topic
Caustic Mist is actually a CHA -5 spell. Earlier I mentioned that at Velious launch Sony changed the few boss AoEs with -5 to -4, and only wizard lures were -5. Well, in Luclin, Sony made boss AoEs with -5 again. This sounds like -5s may have been harder to resist than -6s, but the tipa archive has a log with 4 full resists out of 4 casts for the spell Rag`Zhezum's Deathly Embrace, which is also a CHA -5 spell. I just don't have enough logs/data to figure much out.
More comments:
Thread topic: Dragons resists = useless
"After doing VP innumerable times, I've decided that resists vs these dragons really are not very useful.
From now on, I'm going all +STA +HP." (05-18-2001)
"200 MR and I resist 40% of new style dragon fears." (05-31-2001)
https://web.archive.org/web/20010610...ML/000058.html
"Serv is a Bitz thoug, I had 252PR and about 250MR last time we did him and still stunned most of the time" (5/8/01)
"I fight wuoshi with 230p/180+m or so and still get stunned constantly and feared a fair bit." (5/8/01)
https://web.archive.org/web/20011224...cID=3188.topic
"On the 255 roll-over for resists, in my experience having more than 255 is not harmful.
- Last few Hoshkar attempts I've had well over 300 resist disease with a bard (158 unbuffed RD, I drink a
potion anyway in case bard is out of range or I don't get song effect) and was in good shape with the AE.
Every death was by melee. (Still in shock we finally killed him hehe)
- For Xygoz I've had base 150 resist magic and don't quite hit 255 without a bard (215-225). I'm silenced
a lot at 215-255 resist. With a bard in the group, and resist magic well over 255, I resist Xygoz's silence
almost reliably enough to choose when to heal. (If the bard doesn't stop the resist song to juggle songs--
and find out they're silenced now too)
- For Trakanon, with DMF and buffs, if you have a bard it's hard to not go over 255. Past few trak raids
I've been with bards and I don't think I've had to cast a single group heal." (03-06-2001)
https://web.archive.org/web/20040927...p/t-10799.html
"My unbuffed resists can go to the following.
MR-175, CR-186, FR-156,PR-116, DR-147.Against Kunark dragon that serves me well,
and i tend to resist the fire AOE of TOV drakes, wurms dragon, better then the cold AOE.
But when im grouped with a bard with resist song, i dont resist anything(Was fighting talendor with 295 in MR
and got feared everytime).
Im wondering why this is.
is there some number ye may not go over?
I find that if i have around 160-170 buffed in FR, CR, PR, DR i tend to resist alot, the DMG aoe. WIth fear
aoe MR around 190-200 works best. but with a bard that goes down the drain"
"Resists may be capped at 255 (or 200), but they don't roll over. I sit at 262 MR fully buffed, and I resist a lot more than I do unbuffed, and a whole lot more than I would at 7 MR, I'm sure"
"Im not talking about single incident. At one time me and one ranger stood alone against Talendor because we both resisted the fear..well few seconds later he had me crispy with red wine sauce. I have fought talendor around 6 times now, and only time i have resisted the fear, is when i dont have a bard
with me. Gorenaire is however harder to resist it seems, and Severlious(gaddemm stun) also.The fire damage from talendor seems to be unresistable, but im taking different damage every time, so resists help to reduce the damage."
"Resists are based on level a lot. A lvl 60 with worst resists will resist much more then a 55 with better resists. Resists cap at 255. They don't roll over, they just cap. Gore is extremely difficult to resist. Haven't fought the others ones, but i know this ;p. My lvl 60 friend with 255 resists said he was resisting about half the time."
(12-14-2001)
https://web.archive.org/web/20040929...p/t-10918.html
"You do get to a point of dimishing returns on resists, though. In my experience, most resists over 250 work about as well as they are going to work. I haven't noticed myself resisting anything more around 300 that I didn't already resist at 255"
"I am usually over 255 in Cold, Fire and Magic during HoT raids.
I resist or take low partial damage almost every time. Others who meet the 'bare mins' and end up with around 150 buffed get healed alot.
So it definately makes a difference there."
(thread date unknown; Probably Velious era)
https://search.eqarchives.org/search...Findex.html%22
"Personally I feel there is a soft cap, I don't notice a whole lot of difference in resists going from 200 to 300+. But this is just casual observances, I haven't done any hard testing." (9/2/01)
https://web.archive.org/web/20010911....topic&index=5
"3) Get your MR up way up there. Even at 200+, it's hard to resist the stuns. But, it can be done, so drag your bards with you on your next clearing of VP. You can maybe use some "geographics" to your favor, but I don't think you can avoid the AE stun entirely, without very high MR." (Aug 13 2001) (Phara Dar)
https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/...99773625916336
"last week at a severilous killing i was well over 320 in most resist (buffed - i forgot some gear at bank, hehe) and i didnt resist a single spell from that dragon, while several months ago with less then 200 i was able to resist almost all off the spells (poisen stun and fear)"
"On 2 separate occasions Trak's poison chewed me up. Both times were when a bard was in the group and I had over 270 PR. Other Trak kills I've had significantly lower PR (200ish) and been a lower level but resisted the breath."
(2001 era thread)
https://search.eqarchives.org/search...replyto%3D5%22
"i had a bard grouped with me. My MR was 308, FR 290. At level 57, with resists this high, I still was only resisting about one in 3 waves of either fear or the dot."
"I am not sure if it is true or not but it appears that after you get to 200 on any resists it seems almost useless or your resist rate gets worse. I have seen numerous threads about resists post 200 and from my own experience with resists above 200. When I had a MR at 265 I failed fear 2 of 3 times and went running. With a MR of 178 I was only feared 1 of 3 times."
"Did Sev last night. Ran PR/MR at 230(ish) each. Resisted everything."
"There does seem to be some kind of bug when a bard is playing a selo's drum with the resist songs. For instance, one raid vs Gerenaire and Tal, MR 330 with bard using a selo's drum, the entire level 59-60 group gets repeatedly feared and hit with the AEs. Next raid same group, same levels, but bard not using selo's drum, one group member gets feared, most DoTs resisted, our resists were still in the 300 range."
"Ester the Tester "says" that resists do not roll over after 255...they work just as well. However, after my own testing with Severilous last night, I'm completely convinced beyond doubt that resists roll after after 255. First attempt mr/pr were both over 300, the only spell I resisted was a fear, which was after I had died and come back, full equipment, but buffless. Next attempt I tweaked my gear/bard songs so my mr was 233 and pr 253, resisted about 50% of the stuns and 70% of the fears, which is very good at my low lvl (56)."
(March 26 to April 7 2001 thread)
https://web.archive.org/web/20040927...p/t-10824.html
"The poison is crazy. I'm level 56, done three Trak raids (we've won all three times, btw), and had PR over 300 (thanks new Luclin bard song). His poison still ate me up two of the three times. One time only I completely resisted the poison." (Jan 9th 2002)
https://web.archive.org/web/20031018...=4503&start=75
"Dunno what everyone else thinks but he always seems a heck of a lot easier than Sev to me. With over 255MR/PR (and being lvl 60) Sev still manages to keep me almost perma-stunned or feared, Wuoshi I resist about 75% of his stuns/fears." (3/24/02)
https://web.archive.org/web/20020415....topic&index=5
"We made a couple of attempts on Gorenaire last night with no success. The thing that baffles me though is when I was in range of the bards AE song my Magic Resist was at 294 and Cold resist was at 308 but yet I would still get feared one out of four and was taking some max damage from her AE cold spell." (8/2/02)
https://web.archive.org/web/20020829...icID=544.topic