BLM: SpellSpeed Build - What is the "magic" number?

So from what I gather the best DPS "on-paper" comes from Spell Speed build instead of Crit or Det, so I will be building my 2.2 Set based on Spell Speed, my question is, what is the number of Spell Speed to hit as to where it becomes better to switch to additional Crit over stacking more SpellSpeed.

Spell Speed is no longer the best option in 2.2 After a ninja nerf to spell speed you only receive the benefits of spell speed after your first cast, and no longer for casts of the same name. Your best option is go to back to being a crit blackmage for 2.2 If you don't believe me go test against another blm who is full spell speed from 2.1 vs full crit from 2.1 you will do roughly the same dmg but the spell speed person is going to have about 40+ more spell speed over the crit person meaning the crit player will have the chance to do more dmg due to larger crits

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Originally Posted by Xlree

Spell Speed is no longer the best option in 2.2 After a ninja nerf to spell speed you only receive the benefits of spell speed after your first cast, and no longer for casts of the same name. Your best option is go to back to being a crit blackmage for 2.2 If you don't believe me go test against another blm who is full spell speed from 2.1 vs full crit from 2.1 you will do roughly the same dmg but the spell speed person is going to have about 40+ more spell speed over the crit person meaning the crit player will have the chance to do more dmg due to larger crits

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Xlree, thanks for the reply, do you have any info/data/posts on this ninja nerf??? I'm not understanding what you mean by this "only receive the benefits of spell speed after your first cast" and "no longer for casts of the same name" ???

For example you get the bonus of spellspeed from casting Fire III but you do not recieve the bonus of spellspeed for spamming Fire I

Considering SE has stated ninja nerfs are against their policy..

I don't have any exp with BLM at endgame, but for SMN and DRG I spec Det>Crit and will likely never deviate from that.

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Originally Posted by Xlree

Spell Speed is no longer the best option in 2.2 After a ninja nerf to spell speed you only receive the benefits of spell speed after your first cast, and no longer for casts of the same name. Your best option is go to back to being a crit blackmage for 2.2 If you don't believe me go test against another blm who is full spell speed from 2.1 vs full crit from 2.1 you will do roughly the same dmg but the spell speed person is going to have about 40+ more spell speed over the crit person meaning the crit player will have the chance to do more dmg due to larger crits

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What you're describing sound more like a bug than a nerf.

I'm gonna assume your dream build will be used in coil where there's an accuracy cap.
As you probably already know, black mages are known for humongous numbers. Their strength is in burst. A timed fire1/fire 3 off of firestarter/swiftcast flare is enough to dent any single mob, especially if it crits (and it will probably crit as well, considering how much crit casters can get from the 2.2 gear).
Personally, I feel that black mages should build upon their strengths, that is, high burst damage. I mean overall, intelligence matters the most. The difference in dps between spellspeed and crit builds are very minimal. Crit builds have the potential to do more damage because you could potentially get really lucky and crit 5 times in a row, (or not crit for 5 times in a row) whilst spellspeed is a flatout reduction of the global cooldown. Although spellspeed is more reliable, it matters very little when killing mobs that have to be taken down fast. That's where crit comes in, and boy, with 560 crit at endgame? You're gonna see plenty of crits.

But with spellspeed? It is very useful for bosses with few mechanics and few adds. There's no doubt that spellspeed will do more dps over a longer period, which is essentially higher dps, while crit will potentially do more damage in a shorter period.

To really answer your question in relation to how much spellspeed and crit you can get with current 2.2 gear, I would probably stop at around 480-500 spellspeed. Any further and you're just gonna sacrifice too many stats (such as accuracy) for spellspeed to be worthwhile. I think the max spellspeed you can get with accuracy capped is around 530 (with the Laevateinn, even less if you're gonna use the high allagan staff). With crit it's around 560-570. It's also impossible to get a very high spellspeed stat with accuracy capped as well, since most pieces don't have both accuracy and spellspeed. There are only 2 pieces of gear (excluding weapons) that have both accuracy and spellspeed. Yeah, 2. With crit? There are 5 pieces of gear that have both crit and accuracy, making crit much much more viable for coil.
So for 2.2? opinions will differ, but I will personally pick crit over spellspeed this patch. If only there was more gear that offered both spellspeed and accuracy...

Thanks for the reply, I'll compare the gear to see what you are saying ( 2 vs 5 pieces ) etc... Anyone else care to put in their 2 cents?

I am building 2 sets, both a Coil ACC set, and a non-acc encounter set for max-dps. Thanks!

in 2.2 you can't really get as much spellspeed as you could in 2.1, so it's probably better to gear for crit and spellspeed

edit: i should clarify, you can't really get a lot of spellspeed while still having enough accuracy for the new turns. friske actually pretty much explained

I don't understand this supposed ninja nerf to spell speed. Cast time seems the same as I spam Fire....can anyone elaborate?

I think the poster was getting significantly confused between the concepts of "spell speed" and "double dipping the UI3/AF3".

Or just utterly random theorycrafting. Pretty silly what people come up with sometimes.

Seems to me like he pulled that out of his ass to create a small amount of hysteria when it comes to gear choices but I can confirm Xiree is full of bullmoose!

Actually I don't feel much difference between 2.1 and 2.2 with 548 SS. My cast time is still at 2.3sec
But it's true that you would need to sacrifice some SS and toward to CRIT just to have MAX benefit in 2.2 (I'm looking at you. Soldiery gears)
Unless you are rich enough to make 3 star HQ with 5 materia. Because most of them DON'T have SS and ACC. But you need at least 470 to do T8(100% ACC) and maybe 480~490 for T9(who knows)
Also Xiree is wrong. THAT BUG WAS FIXED IN 2.15 for Blizz3 to Fire3 speedcasting.