Melee Power Stat - Not Working?

[th3gatekeeper]

So I did some T4 lairs and found nice shoulders called Helfried's Shoulder guards. The stats are:

582 Armor
+ 21 Strength
+13 Toughness
+10 Initiative
+20 Melee Power

I am currently using Shoulder Guards of the Mercenary (which have zero strength on the base item) but have it slotted with a +18 strength Tali.

I have checked multiple tooltips and not only does the 3 strength difference not change a single one (not that I was expecting that low a str gain to) but the Melee Power stat does literally NOTHING to my damage.

I also did some AA testing to see if maybe it only boosts AA damage and I could not tell a difference (was attacking mobs) on how this stat impacts my character.

The only thing that alludes to this was the stat under melee called damage bonus. Under it, it says:
"Total Melee Power
Strength

Pluses to damage"

Now the "Total Melee Power" only increases by 4, not 20 (as the item says). Maybe its WAI however it also doesnt show up on any damage testing or any tooltips....

I just want to make sure this is working or isnt working as there are a few other influence items that have melee power, but if it doesnt impact damage at all... I cant see how or why anyone would want to stack this.....

Any advice would be awesome! I have been told MANY different things about how this stat works...
"its 1:1 Str equivalent"
"it adds the bonus to every attack: aka +20 MP would be +20 more damage on every hit"
"Its 5:1 Str equiv" etc... I dont need to go on....

Please help with how this is working or SUPPOSED to be working... THANKS! I want to know before I invest into these other items with Melee Power.

[Vayra]

1 melee power is equivalent to 1 str in damage contribution. So for abilities 20 melee power should provide 4 bonus dps.

[Luth]

It's a 1to1 strength equivalent, with the following exceptions:

1. doesn't count for the strength cap
2. doesn't reduce the enemies block/parry chance

Same for magicpower, healpower etc.

[th3gatekeeper]

1 melee power is equivalent to 1 str in damage contribution. So for abilities 20 melee power should provide 4 bonus dps.

Wouldnt this be seen on the tool tip or something then? So it does show correctly under my "total melee power" being increased by 4, but then there is NO change to my tooltip at all?

Seems like Melee Power is very underwhelming then as a stat and only really beneficial if you are at a softcap for things like STR... Thats unfortunate. Seems this stat is rare and IMO should be worth more than just "1 str" equivalent...

[Genisaurus]

Melee power gives bonus melee damage like strength, but is not used in parry/block strikethrough calculations.

Just like strength, +5 melee power = +1 ability tooltip damage (before any coefficients/multipliers)
Just like strength, +10 melee power = +1 Autoattack damage.

Unlike strength, melee power does not reduce your opponent's chance to block or parry your attacks.

All power stats should be working.

[th3gatekeeper]

It's a 1to1 strength equivalent, with the following exceptions:

1. doesn't count for the strength cap
2. doesn't reduce the enemies block/parry chance

Same for magicpower, healpower etc.

Well then something isnt working with the tooltips because I remove 20 strength and I get a net of 3 TT difference (on several abilities) but when I add/remove the melee power item, it makes NO difference in my tooltips?

[Luth]

Seems like Melee Power is very underwhelming then as a stat and only really beneficial if you are at a softcap for things like STR...

Basically true, but normally you get double the meleepower value compared to the strength value it would have instead.
Example:
An item has 20 meleepower. The same item would have only 10 points in strength, with strength instead meleepower on it.
That's what i remember from the original server.

[th3gatekeeper]

Seems like Melee Power is very underwhelming then as a stat and only really beneficial if you are at a softcap for things like STR...

Basically true, but normally you get double the meleepower value compared to the strength value it would have instead.
Example:
An item has 20 meleepower. The same item would have only 10 points in strength, with strength instead meleepower on it.
That's what i remember from the original server.

Yeah but I guess a few points.

1) Doesnt this count towards an items total stat allocation? So that melee power, sure, is extra strength, but at the cost of what?
2) The other stats on the MP items are not that great...
3) Is it even working? Its not affecting any of my tooltip damage, nor my actual hits that I have tried to test (hard with so many variables).

I was pretty hyped to potentially use these instead of my Merc shoulders, but the stat LOSS to gain the MP is too much... Loss of armor, wounds, reduced chance to be parried etc etc.

I guess I can see it working well for other classes when you softcap STR and want to keep going. It would be nice to get 100% confirmation this stat actually works. Still kinda lame its basically just "more strength" and not some different mechanic like a 1:1 to damage or something.

[Akalukz]

It's not a bad stat, just not really that useful until softcap.

[th3gatekeeper]

Melee power gives bonus melee damage like strength, but is not used in parry/block strikethrough calculations.

Just like strength, +5 melee power = +1 ability tooltip damage (before any coefficients/multipliers)
Just like strength, +10 melee power = +1 Autoattack damage.

Unlike strength, melee power does not reduce your opponent's chance to block or parry your attacks.

All power stats should be working.

Thanks Geni, somehow I didnt see your post. I was hoping to get you in here! So this makes sense HOWEVER I do not see ANY increase to ability tooltip damage when I use Melee Power items... I tried to test actual mob damage and it didnt SEEM like it made any difference - but its only 20 melee power so I wasnt expecting noticeable increases...

So I guess my question is.... Is it comfirmed that Melee Power IS increasing tooltips? Because on my Chosen it isnt....