Tattoo level calculation changed (in Changelog)

Many have noticed that something was up, and this is the explanation. Sorry it was half-done for a while -- I did the first part, then work got really busy, and now it's finished. (The lvl displayed was using the old calculation, but the fight code was using the new; hence the discrepancy.)

The old tattoo level calculation was responsible for 3 of the top 4 most-expensive database queries, and the database is over 80% of the server load, so it made sense to switch to an easier-to-calculate formula. (The other top-4 most-expensive query, if you're curious, is the one that stores data for the history graphs.)

The upshot is, all tattoos have a slightly lower lvl than they used to. (If it makes you feel better, by the time you get 90M xp in your tattoo, it will have a higher lvl than under the old formula. Ranger's RoS has about 40M xp.)

The update will change a lot. When the players get stronger, it wil make the tattoos better.. but for now, we will just have to work with it :D

Exactly how much lower are the tattoos?

*sigh* At least it's everyone, and not just me. And I guess now that my large tattoo has a lower level, I'm a bit closer to be able to use it! ;)

I assume the NW of the tattoos has not changed?

MmMm, interesting. =)

Will they go back to their old growth intervals? For example, my Jig is now:

A Jigorokano Familiar lvl 583,190

When it levels, will it become

A Jigorokano Familiar lvl 584,020 ...?

Not anything important, I just like tidy numbers. ^.^

Pardon my thickness but...what does this do exactly? It makes tattoos lvl faster at high levels?

This change has the added benefit of slightly reducing the impact of tattoos (assuming most power players keep their tattoo at max.) Despite my strat being totally centered around the tattoo (and thus hurt), it's still beneficial as a whole.

I have two questions:

1) Is the max tattoo simply caluclated as the size a tattoo would be with all the XP (or a percentage) from the character?

I ask because I was wonderinf if:

2) Despite the tattoo level itself being lowered, can the max tattoo level remain the same, or at least get a buff?

This is ridiculous.

I quit.

Clans suck.

This is a joke.

I think this means...not much. I am intrigued about what in a query could keep the curve _roughly_ the same and yet optimize the queries so well (I'm an SQL whore, sue me). But in any case, this is just wonderful back-end management from what I can tell. Huzzah! for optimization!

"and the database is over 80% of the server load"

Good job you killed camping then ;)

Well, basically, the old formula yielded exactly (to the nearest lvl boundary) what you would get by training that much xp on a normal stat. The easiest way to do that was to simulate training one lvl at a time. Even with caching that sucked.

So the new code just uses a curve-fit approximation.

so let me get this straight.... if my tat was 71k but now is 69 when i get back to 71k it will some what be stronger?

no

lol

I wonder how much more weeks it takes for my RoS to get high enough to be able to block my own DM again...

If the variables in the equation are total XP and level, I have a more accurate equation (assuming it follows the same cost-upgrade curve as normal stats, ie e^x). I made a regression curve off an excel sheet that's highly granulated. The excel sheet, to give some idea of the size, is about 50 megs.

Can you predict when my tattoo will go back up over my MPR? =\

Probably never

BBQ---> When you pay CB/USD to insta it up.