Change Stat allocation to secondary Stats

[Zetsumei_Tsunarashi]

I don't know if this has been suggested before or not but it's an idea that I've had for quite sometime and I'm wondering what others might think about it.

As we all well know the current stat point allocation system allows you to add a few points to your main stat as you level up. This is designed to give players freedom in choosing how to play your class. For example a warrior that has more strength and holds aggro by doing more damage as opposed to a warrior with a lot of vitality and therefore more HP and survivability.

However, in most cases, you actually don't have a choice at all. Placing your points in anything other than your class's main stat means you're just gimping yourself, and as a result, the stat allocation system becomes rather meaningless at level 50. Everyone just places their 30 points into main stat and forgets that the system even exists.

Frankly this system needs an overhaul, and this is where I think I have a pretty good idea.

Why not let the player choose secondary stats instead of main stats ? In case you're not sure what I'm referring too, I mean stats like Critical Hit, Determination, Accuracy, Spell Speed, Skill Speed.

This change would fix the two main problems with the current stat allotment system: 1.) Lack of real customization options, and 2.) Conflicts created by jobs branching from classes. (For example both a summoner and a scholar could benefit from additional Critical hit, determination, or spell speed)

The only con I can really see is it could potentially create game balance issues that may need to be worked out, and from a development standpoint I can see where this could be very time consuming. However, I think for the long term it could be worth the effort to make this happen.

EDIT: Just wanted to make sure everyone was clear that if this idea were to be implemented it would be assumed that your main stats would be unaffected. Therefore, it should be assumed that the 30 points in main stat that you currently have from allotment would just be added into your base stats. (This assumption, however, is merely for the sake of arguement. If the system were to actually be implemented stat weights would need to be recalculated in order to preserve game balance.)

From later in thread:

My idea is centered around the fact that not all gear sets have the optimal secondary stats for your class. The point is to create a greater variety of viable gear choices by giving the player a certain amount of secondary stats to freely play around with. It can be naturally assumed that BiS gear will always exist and cookie cutter builds would be based around this gear. However, to say that a given player will always be able to possess every piece of BiS gear is simply unrealistic.

[Pots_Talos]

It will just end up the same as it is now, people will say if you don't put the points in this or this than you are gimping yourself.

[Zetsumei_Tsunarashi]

It will just end up the same as it is now, people will say if you don't put the points in this or this than you are gimping yourself.

this will be true for people who have full BiS gear but for those that don't and are lacking in certain stats, they will be able to switch around their secondary stats at will in order to compensate. This is a huge advantage over the current system under which if you are lacking in a particular area, for example accuracy, there's nothing you can do except get better gear.

[Alistaire]

Nope. There is never a case where doing this would be smart.

[PenelopeWinn]

I can't imagine why anyone would ever pick anything other than 30 Det considering stat weights sooooo.... eh?

[Assirra]

this will be true for people who have full BiS gear but for those that don't and are lacking in certain stats, they will be able to switch around their secondary stats at will in order to compensate. This is a huge advantage over the current system under which if you are lacking in a particular area, for example accuracy, there's nothing you can do except get better gear.

Sorry but that is not true and there is proof of concept in wow with reforging. Reforging is a system that lets change the secondary stats of pieces of equipment. Now most specs would have 1 go to stat and not going for this would gimp you the exact same way as stat allocation works in this game. This would go all the way from the beginning with sometimes changing around mid expansion but one was always better then the others.

It's the same in this, most jobs will have a stat that they want. A scholar will always go max crit when possible for instance.

[RiceisNice]

...

You couldn't allocate stats onto an equipment that already has those stats (You could not reforge Crit onto a piece that has Crit and skill speed; your choice would be acc or det), and the reforge was never on a 50:50 ratio, it was somewhere more like 70:30. If you wanted more crit, you'd be better off getting a piece that had crit as an inherent stat instead of getting a piece with Det, speed and reforging the speed.

What reforging did help with was to help meet accuracy and expertise caps.

[Assirra]

You couldn't allocate stats onto an equipment that already has those stats (You could not reforge Crit onto a piece that has Crit and skill speed; your choice would be acc or det), and the reforge was never on a 50:50 ratio, it was somewhere more like 70:30. If you wanted more crit, you'd be better off getting a piece that had crit as an inherent stat instead of getting a piece with Det, speed and reforging the speed.

What reforging did help with was to help meet accuracy and expertise caps.

True but my point was there was most of the time only 1 way to go to play your spec "right". And people would do everything in their power to get said stat making it an illusion of choice, rather then customization.

[Giantbane]

I can't imagine why anyone would ever pick anything other than 30 Det considering stat weights sooooo.... eh?

If you did this, you'd also need to rebalance the secondary stats so there were no more stat weights.

True but my point was there was most of the time only 1 way to go to play your spec "right". And people would do everything in their power to get said stat making it an illusion of choice, rather then customization.

It definitely provides a more interesting dynamic than the current system where very few classes have any choice at all. Sure there will be some classes that have that one best secondary stat over all others, but it will provide a lot more to other classes.

IE:

ACC vs. dps stats if you need to hit a minimum accuracy
PAR vs. ACC vs. dps stats for tanks
PIE vs. dps stats on blm (i would include piety as a secondary stat)
Also speed gets more powerful as you stack it. While it starts out weak, speed may get more interesting if you stack speed on all your gear and stat allocation. (I would unify skill speed and spell speed into a single stat, every other stat effects both spells & melee, the split stat here makes no sense to me)

And no matter what you pick, in most cases it will at least do something. So at least there's *some* choice. Right now, most of the choices are terrible. What's the point of offering INT, MND or PIE to a MNK? It's stupid, they have no use for it whatsoever.

[Kaonis]

It will just end up the same as it is now, people will say if you don't put the points in this or this than you are gimping yourself.

I agree for the most part, but think it would still be a better system compared to what we currently have. Secondary stats have less issues then primary in terms of selection. Of course the core issue is the stat system in this game is very poorly thought out. It would be nice as a temporary measure, though I think just spending the time and effort fixing the entire system as a whole would be time better spent.