Offhand for almace

[Prothscar]

TP feed from a BLU is largely irrelevant in Voidwatch (and even on most Abyssea NMs) where /WAR is most relevant. It isn't a slight amount of attack speed loss or a slight amount of melee damage lost by wielding an OA2 or OA4 sword, it is a significant amount. You either are not reading the thread clearly or are very stubborn, as it's been said several times now why the OA4 and OA2 swords are inferior to other options in several different ways.

Blue Mage has shit for attack. We can bolster it to acceptable levels with Berserk and Stalwart's Drink, but it's still rather bad. Losing 27.5 attack from a fire sword and 25+/- base damage on top of the substantial loss of attack delay and overall melee swing damage, before even considering that the multiattack procs on an OA2 or OA4 sword are largely mitigated by BLU's already substantial multiattack rate, is a fairly one-sided battle in favor of a fire sword. It honestly is a no brainer, I don't see how anyone can argue differently.

A BLU can handily exceed a MNK/WAR's attacks per round, and even with that a BLU will never exceed a MNK/WAR's overall damage done over time, however an OA2 or OA4 sword is limiting BLU's damage potential even further. This is the part you seem to be having trouble with: an OA2 or OA4 sword will not be increasing your weaponskill frequency, it will almost certainly be hurting it. It will not only be detrimental to your weaponskill frequency, but your overall damage done.

I'm sorry that you wasted so much time on your sword, however it does not make it any more relevant in any possible situation.

[Demonofhunger]

This is the part you seem to be having trouble with: an OA2 or OA4 sword will not be increasing your weaponskill frequency, it will almost certainly be hurting it.

Correct. All of the data I've seen says that WS frequency is increased when using an OA2-4 offhand.

If you have any data or calculations disproving that, I'd like to look them over.

[Prothscar]

Correct. All of the data I've seen says that WS frequency is increased when using an OA2-4 offhand.

If you have any data or calculations disproving that, I'd like to look them over.

My data and calculations are common sense. I honestly have 0 idea how you cannot possibly see what everyone else sees, and so adamantly defend the inferior option.

D: 61
Delay: 230
STR+11
Attack+22

v.

D: 31
Delay: 264
Occ. attacks 2-4 times (30%/40%/20%/10% hit distribution)


A good Blue Mage has a minimum of 20% Double Attack and 3% Triple Attack in TP gear, and can get as high as 29% Double Attack and 11% Triple Attack in TP gear (perhaps a little more, may be missing a piece).

That's an already massive amount of chance to have a multiattack on both weapons. This, plus the extra 34 delay, plus the loss of 30 base damage, plus the loss of 11 strength, plus the loss of 27.5 attack, leads to the OA2-4 being absolutely worthless. What do you not grasp in this concept? You really don't need calculations to discern this, and judging by your past experiences whoever did the calculations previously had no idea what they were talking about.

With 29% DA and 11% TA:

You have an 11% chance to Triple Attack, and then a 29% chance to Double Attack. The game will always look for Triple Attack before Double Attack, and the Double Attack will not occur if the Triple Attack does first.

0.89 * 0.71 = 0.6319% chance that you will not get a Double or Triple attack, or 63.19%, meaning you waste 36.81% of the OA2-4 sword's "potential".

In contrast, OA2-4 sword, assuming 30/40/20/10, has 2.1 attacks/round average, which is a ~55% increase in attack frequency before DA/TA, which comes out to a 16.5% increase in attacks/round once you consider DW and DA/TA. Once you factor in the higher delay however, it's less of an increase in TP speed, for a grand total of 22% once all is said and done. Once you factor in the loss of 30 D, 27.5 attack, and 11 STR, it's a major loss in overall DPS, including melee strikes, spells, and weaponskills.

Any "potential" that an OA2-4 sword may have is undoubtedly diminished by Blue Mage's native abilities and the fire sword's attributes. It comes down to a delay difference which makes for slower TP gain and aftermath damage, while DA/TA significantly reduce the effectiveness of an OA2-4 sword, which only works in one hand, reducing its impact, and low base damage contributing to further loss of DOT that isn't compensated for by a minor or nonexistent increase in WS frequency.


Clear enough for you?