Quote Originally Posted by Sappho View Post
FFXI evolved and changed for better or worse.

Anyone that says that SC+MB *always* sucked is an absolute moron.

They definitely had a very important place in the past.

If the math gurus have gone out and done serious hard number crunching with actual experiments (not anecdotes) and have determined that everyone spamming WS as soon as TP hits 100% is a far better Damage Over Time then setting up SCs then so be it. The game evolved away from SCs.

Anybody want to post those hard numbers? Or is everyone just pissing in the wind about what is really better?
It's a pretty simple concept to follow on paper. I've not seen skillchain damage in forever so if the numbers are for it I'll be all for it. That said, consider the following scenario.

2 DDs, one has a 6-hit build while the other has a 5-hit build.

By the time the DD with the 6-hit build reaches 100 TP, the other DD will be sitting on 120 TP. Let us further assume for the sake of argument that each DD's weaponskill inflicts 2,000 damage. That 20 TP overflow could have been put towards a second weaponskill, so in order to keep pace the skillchain will need to inflict at least 20% of the weaponskill's damage.
2,000 damage * (0.20) = 400 damage
That's just for a basic skillchain with two DDs, and that's just to break even. To be superior it would need to exceed 400 damage.

Now throw in more DDs, single-handed weapons, and human error. Every component increases the damage the skillchain needs to achieve in order to be the superior battle tactic.

With anecdotes of skillchains dealing less than 100 damage, it seems unlikely that the math will favor it, but I'm willing to change my tune if there's some hard data to the contrary.