Quote Originally Posted by Anapingofness View Post
Except you're missing the point Shipp - repeatedly... I'm really not sure how this keeps happening to you.

+2 of *any* stat is such a marginal increase that you cannot even tell the difference without a parser. For that matter, so is +4 of a stat. It's only when we hit the double digits that you may be able to tell something without a parser. +10 of a stat isn't much but at least you can see the result a bit better than if it were a +2.
No. Go on BLM, nuke something. Put on snow rings and nuke it with the same spell. You WILL see a difference, and that is exactly my point. I'm not missing anything. I'm being argued with by people who apparently have no clue what they're talking about, yet they're all patting each other on the back as if they're right.

However, even +10 of a stat is a marginal increase but it is one people would be more willing to accept.
Most people don't tend to just upgrade one item. It's a cumulative affect. Sure, if I was only adding snow rings without other INT gear, it wouldn't affect me too much. I can understand people in full AF feeling as though just a snow ring won't do much. If they actually upgraded all of their gear accordingly, it would. Even so, you will actually see a difference in damage if you buy the snow rings. Not by some huge amount, but you still DO see the increase.

That being said, yeah, having an SH or a Hauby did enhance your play back in the day but I've seen plenty of people go up to 75 without them. They weren't pieces of gear that made or broke the game and it is only after we've experienced Abyssea that we can see that so clearly.

Therefore amount of time people spent worrying about +1's of gear is kind of silly. The fact that they worried so about marginal increase is even sillier. +10 ACC or +12ACC, or for that matter +5ACC.... Nobody without a parser will be able to tell the difference. Which is the real tragedy.
However, the original statement was that AF did JUST AS WELL as all of that gear. Marginal or not (it was not as marginal in the 60's and you seem to think it was) AF did not perform just as well since AF tends to be horrible for a lot of jobs, with usually 2 or 3 pieces that actually have useful stats for how that job operates in a party setting.