… is a hot mess. /feedback
For example. On a weapon material, it says things like, does acid damage adn then +% acid damage. Is that all acid damage, or +% of the weapon’s damage? /example.
+6 acid damage applies only to when that weapon hits. It is called flat damage. Flat damage from a constellation applies to weapon hits and both weapons if dual wielding.
+20% acid damage is a global thing that applies to all acid damage your character does except retaliation I think. So if they use a skill that does acid damage or a weapon hit (that does acid damage).
+20% damage on a skill however that is a second level of another skill only applies to the parent skill. For example the parent skill is a square in the skill tree and can be boosted by further skills in the tree that are circles. Circle means a passive and if it is connected to a parent square skill then that passive only modifies that skill.
But as I said before +20% acid damage on gear or constellations applies globally to all things.
Damage conversion converts some physical to another type of damage. Right now I don’t know if it only affects that weapon or all damage. I think all damage but I don’t know because Titan Quest didn’t have damage conversion.
The other ones I’m pretty sure on but I know more about Titan Quest than Grim Dawn.
Character sheet. 2nd tab. Scroll down to “acid damage”. There is your answer, right there in the game. Shows your total % bonus to that damage type.
It’s full of other useful information as well. Check the tooltips in-game also, they can answer a lot of your questions.
If it’s from items or skills like Reckless Power then it’s global, you could make Forcewave be partially Chaos with an Riftstone for example.
However, if it’s from an skill upgrade like Storm Totem’s Corrupted Storm (that turns 100% lightning damage into vitality damage) it will only apply to that skill. You Storm Totem will deal vitality damage, but your other lightning skills like Primal Strike will still deal lightning damage.
How many other action RPGs have you played? That kind of item description is fairly standard (Path of Exile does the same thing). It’s also exactly the same wording as on armours and your character sheet, so I think you’re expected to realize it’s a stat that applies to all damage of that type. Furthermore, if you look at skills, there are some that say %weapon damage in the description, meaning that if it meant +% of weapon damage it would say so.
Saying the game is a hot mess isn’t really helpful. If you have an idea as to how the interface or tooltips could be better, you should let the devs know so they can change it. You only give one example here of what you think is wrong with the game, but that hardly makes a game a mess. If you have other problems you should say so in order to encourage discussion rather than just trying to tell people the game sucks and then leave.
ARPGs have a large knowledge barrier to entry. This is reduced, if you’ve played other ARPGs…But it’s still there.
If you are not willing to take the time to read up on the game’s mechanics, then you will be incapable of enjoying the game, and it will indeed feel like a hot mess. That’s not the game’s fault, it’s how EVERY game in the genre is. Even the watered down, diluted hack and slash that’s been made out of Diablo 3.
To be the first to answer you question: yes, that “material” has flat acid damage and that +% acid damage is added on top of that flat damage but is not shown on the flat portion in description.
The rest you can read in the comments before this 
There’s a lot of numbers and damage types, and it’s not broken down clearly. Your +% acid damage added to a weapon attack in your character tab doesn’t get listed separately on skills or weapons. It’s just lumped together. It’s obvious that constellation bonuses are universal. But some of the unique weapons have +##% damage listed as well… is +##% always universal?
You say it’s like other arpg, I’ve played Arcanum, I didn’t get into Diablo 3, I play through a character every other PoE league or so. My friends have played lots of Diablo 2, 3, and PoE. I’ve played Grim Dawn before but took a break. I’m pretty overwhelmed trying to re-learn and explain anything about this game and how it works.
+% Damage is universal in every case EXCEPT when found on skill modifiers (that aren’t a modifier for a buff, like Second Rite is for Solael’s Witchfire). So +% Damage on Disintegration (Albrecht’s Aether Ray)? Not universal. +% Damage on your sword or helm or chest or a passive or Devotion? Universal.
Ugh. Yea. This bugs me too.
Like +Attack Damage… sometimes this reads like it might apply to the skill and sometimes it might apply to basic damage. Why couldn’t it have been described as “This attack/this skill”.
Space. Only so much space in the game. It can be understood without saying it outright, and nobody likes a wall of text in their games.
It really is rather simple
- flat damage on gear applies to the weapon only
- +% damage on gear applies to everything
- flat damage on an active skill applies to the skill only
- +% damage on an active skill applies to the skill only
- flat damage on a passive skill applies to the weapon only (also true for a toggleable skill that is ‘on’)
- +% damage on a passive skill applies to everything (also true for a toggleable skill that is ‘on’)
So there really are only two cases here each for flat (weapon or skill) and relative (global or skill) damage
In fairness, this makes Diablo 3 a decent entry point to the genre if you want something simple and hand-holdy to start (and there’s nothing wrong with that!).
Except I find the plot and world of Diablo 3 boring. I mean this one has some boring ish elements. But. Eh. Diablo 2 was so so.
We have different standards of simple. But I appreciate the exhaustive and detailed list. I’m pretty sure part of my complaint is just coming from not having played this in awhile. It’s also a question of scale. That’s six different damage modification types and there’s … how many different damage types? 20?
I had started to appreciate PoE’s own eccentricities after awhile. Like. Sure in theory the market will provide game balance but there’s a limit to grinding/patience. But you can get a sense of what things are too expensive/too specific after awhile to avoid gimping yourself too much.
Like many said. This genre of games is rarely inviting to newcomers. Things we often take for granted others simply don’t understand. So yeah…D3 is a nice, simple, welcoming game from whcih people can either decide to delve deeper or just leave it at that.
If you do enjoy the gameplay and want more depth then there is a fairly steep learning/knowledge curve. So just keep asking questions and we’ll answer them.