Quote Originally Posted by Dekusuta View Post
Right you misrepresented/remembered incorrectly the findings.

That's significantly different from your assertion that Attack merits has no effect. As the tests clearly show they do. Also with Attack gear like the trial staff, You're looking at +35 attack; that's not including enhance avatar attack gear.

Most melees spends millions for +~6% attack output. But a SMN with full +attk gear is going to be putting out significantly more +attk.
Doesn't change the fact that the damage increase on anything difficult is too small to be worth it. If I have the attack gear, I'd equip it of course. But I wouldn't merit or hunt for gear that does so little difference. You'd do far more damage if you melee on SMN and use Garlands Bliss, than if you go full avatar attack. (It could be more efficient to just Dia II the mob though, I have no track on how the WS and spell compare)