The other day, we were talking about City of Heroes at the Massively OP offices because at this point that’s like 50% of our conversations (25% is work-related and the other 25% is me posting something really depressing, if you’re wondering how the math works out there). In this particular case, our discussion centered around accuracy and slotting in enhancements for same, which is a bit of a worthwhile discussion topic because CoH is a game where you miss. A lot. This is not really even all that surprising, since the game has several sets that are based around defense buffs and accuracy debuffs; those wouldn’t be viable if you didn’t have decent odds of not hitting your target on the regular.
Of course, not every game works like this. My main game, Final Fantasy XIV, works on the model that if you are in range when you hit an ability, you will hit with it. The game’s dodging mechanics involve managing other mechanics, and that’s also fine. Other games have accuracy at different levels, and every model has benefits and drawbacks. So what’s your ideal accuracy in an MMORPG? How often do you want to have an attack hit or miss, all else being equal?