Agree with some of what you said, just wanted to add:
* Unless you are gearing horribly for it, Victory Smite should be slightly AHEAD of Shijin Spiral. And that's on PUP. On MNK with higher base skill and Impetus, VS is firmly the better WS.
* You flat forgot Jishnu's Radiance(most ppl seem to want to ignore it too, so its not just you). Whether you have WoE or full Empy, that WS completely outclasses its merit counterpart.
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As to the sentiment that overall, WoE weapons need 'something' to make people want to build them, i have a neat idea i have been thinking about a while.
How about giving WoE weapons a hidden effect where they enhance the set bonus on Empy +2 sets once the Empy WS is unlocked?
Nothing crazy, but say boost the activation to 12% if a WoE weapon lvl 85+ is equipped along with at least two pieces of a +2 Empy gear. Then one % for ever piece thereafter. So a player in full Empy +2 could have their set bonus proc a maximum of 15% of the time as long as WoE weapon lvl 85+ is equipped?
Now this hidden effect wouldn't just boost the set bonus procs willy nilly or anything like that. The set bonus would still have to have its pre-reqs met. IE: say PUP or DRG would still have to have a pet present, a DRK would still get an atk boost based on their current HP, a DNC would still have to have a Samba up, etc.
So not a huge boost, but something neat imo, that would give WoE weapons some sort of draw.