how do'es critical work? I see it a lot but don't get it.
Critical is a very confusing thing. The only thing I can say is on all my wizards past level 50 I try to get as high a number as I can with out loosing out on health and pips and they manage to do it now and then. It is not exact science on how or when it will happen. When it does you usually can manage to wipe out what ever you are firing at.
A critical hit is a random doubling of the regular attack or a random occurrence of blocking the Critical . The percentage of time that it hits is based on the total amount of Critical rating for hit or block. It's believed that 1% of probability is equal to somewhere between 4-5 Critical attack points and about 3-4 Critical block points.
how do'es critical work? I see it a lot but don't get it.
KI has revealed some information about the Critical system, but claim the formulation is too complex to explain in detail.
The higher your Critical rating, the better odds you have of achieving a Critical hit. If you hover the mouse over your Critical Rating, it used to show you what percentage boosts you got from what equipment, which gives you some clue what your percentage might be. The Vengeance Aura spell gives a straight percentage boost; I think it's the only thing in the game which does this. All other boosts are to the Rating, not the Percentage.
Also, KI stated that the higher your level, the higher your Critical Rating needs to be in order to score a Critical Hit.
Anyway, as stated by others, after the convoluted formula is computed, you have some secret chance to score a Critical, which doubles the output of the spell in question -- damage or heal.
The chance to Block is apparently also convoluted, but again, the higher your rating, the higher your percentage. I believe I've seen it stated that it is easier to Block than to Crit, which matches my observations.
Basically, by the time you get to the point where Critical matters (this statement does not apply to PvP, only PvE), the only enemies against whom it will matter will usually Block, making it a waste of time in my opinion to gear up for Critical Rating -- except when healing, since nobody blocks a Critical Heal and double healing is just freakin' cool.
Lots of people gear for Critical Rating and swear by it. I mean them no disrespect, merely stating my opinion on the usefulness of Critical Rating to me personally.
In my observation, when it matters most, it is most blocked, and is very nearly useless except for healing.
