Stats on Gear: 2.x vs. 3.0

Right now, there is basically one gearing progression for players to follow. Only one set of 200 and one set of 210 gear exist in the game available to a given class, and maximizing your character generally means equipping as much of that as possible. While there are some exceptions to this (tanks in Alexander Savage generally want Slaying accessories right now, for instance), the case is generally that your BiS is what's at the top of the food chain--the augmented esoteric gear.

So naturally, right now, secondary stats don't really matter, and don't really do much for us. We don't have a choice in what to wear at the top, so debating whether Determination is better than Skill Speed is (relatively) pointless (though I only tank, I've heard this from DPS players in my FC).

But I look at the landscape in 2.5, and I can see that there were, in fact, multiple gear sets available at 120 and 130 iLvl, and multiple pieces, and iirc they had different stats on them. For example, the 120 Demon set had different stats than the 120 Magitek set.

So my question is, for those of you who were playing at that time, did stats matter more? Was best-in-slot a smorgasbord of pieces from several different sets? Or did it not really matter, since both sets were equally effective?

There is i210 eso, i210 Gordian, and will have i210 exploratory/aetherial, that'll be 3. Gordian is just not available to most. And until Void Ark, the i210 eso is not available to most (only i200).

Well seeing how bards BiS in 2.4 was a pentamelded Kirmu Coat and in 2.5 it was the Demon torso over the i130 torsos, sub stats are important. Being BiS does increase your dps a bit so it helps with tight dps checks or enrage timers

1. BiS did matter. You didn't want too little or too much accuracy. The Demon Tabard of Aiming was BiS for Bards, better than both AIW and Dreadwyrm.

2. You're comparing the end of the base game gear to expansion progression gear.

3. There's two sets of 210: Gordian and the repaired ESO.

4. By normal scheduling we would've had Void Ark a month ago, which would've been another source of 200 gear, much like WoD gave 120

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by zcrash970

Well seeing how bards BiS in 2.4 was a pentamelded Kirmu Coat and in 2.5 it was the Demon torso over the i130 torsos, sub stats are important. Being BiS does increase your dps a bit so it helps with tight dps checks or enrage timers

---

In 2.5 I still used my Pentamelded Kirimu >.>;..

Secondary stats were always minimal increases in DPS/HPS/etc. They did make a difference, but they made very little difference, just as they do now.

(Excluding Accuracy, for those feeling nitpicky)

So many replies so quickly! Glad I'm getting more info! :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SchalaZeal

There is i210 eso, i210 Gordian, and will have i210 exploratory/aetherial, that'll be 3. Gordian is just not available to most. And until Void Ark, the i210 eso is not available to most (only i200).

---

I actually wasn't aware there were more i210 sets out there, so thanks for the clarification! I was mostly referring to what I guess I'd call "casual" players who will only ever see i200 before the next patch.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by zcrash970

Well seeing how bards BiS in 2.4 was a pentamelded Kirmu Coat and in 2.5 it was the Demon torso over the i130 torsos, sub stats are important. Being BiS does increase your dps a bit so it helps with tight dps checks or enrage timers

---

I didn't know Bards had that much emphasis placed on their sub stats, but it does strike me as interesting that their BiS was not a drop or purchasable piece until the very end of the expansion.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ashelia_Ferron

1. BiS did matter. You didn't want too little or too much accuracy. The Demon Tabard of Aiming was BiS for Bards, better than both AIW and Dreadwyrm.

2. You're comparing the end of the base game gear to expansion progression gear.

3. There's two sets of 210: Gordian and the repaired ESO.

4. By normal scheduling we would've had Void Ark a month ago, which would've been another source of 200 gear, much like WoD gave 120

---

1. Again, unfamiliar with the landscape of 2.x, so thanks for clearing that up! :D

2. I know, I was just musing on how little secondary stats seemed to matter right now. At least for tanks leading up to 200, if you're not raiding, there isn't going to be much done in the way of 210 pieces--and the only variation I've seen for BiS comes in accessories where some favor Slaying or Pentamelds vs. Fending.

3. Also didn't know that, but has been clarified, so thanks!

4. I saw some discussion that the extra 2 month delay after the expansion threw a slight wrench in the expected patch cadence, but this makes sense. Will be very interesting to see what the Void Ark i200 gear has on it!

I can tell you as a Bard:


Back in 2.0, Critical Hit Rate mattered SO much. So did Determination.
The BiS for Bards back in 2.4(?) consisted of spending a huge amount of gil, depending on your server of course.

Higher the crit, better Bloodletter procs you get. Of course, diminishing returns occur.
Now, even though Heavensward dropped and the stat-weight ratio dropped massively, Secondary stats still matter to most classes.
Skspd can be beneficial, but you need a crap load of it. LIKE A LOOOOT uwu.

I feel that in HW, the mainstat/iLvl matters more than secondaries, but I can be wrong.
I won't complain if I get more crit though. I'm sitting on a whopping 577 crit as a i206 bard. ;_;

I hope that come 3.2 when we can meld tome/raid gear there is some thought put into how secondary stats balance to make it a little more interesting and add some customisation to gear. Yes, there will be a BiS, but it would be nice if small changes actually made an appreciable difference.

Quote:

---

4. I saw some discussion that the extra 2 month delay after the expansion threw a slight wrench in the expected patch cadence, but this makes sense. Will be very interesting to see what the Void Ark i200 gear has on it!

---

i200 Void Ark gear is interesting because it's like Law i180: accessible to most and role-based (not job-specific like esoterics), so I could get a full i200 healer set leftside from Void Ark, to replace the i180 Law they have now, and gear 3 jobs at once (except weapon). While my Summoner slowly works to i210 using eso upgrades.

Quote:

---

I hope that come 3.2 when we can meld tome/raid gear there is some thought put into how secondary stats balance to make it a little more interesting and add some customisation to gear.

---

They said crafted gear would become better again. So I'm hoping for i220 crafted gear, both left and right side for once. So pentamelded would initially be good, and then become so-so for most as they get i240 with good stats, yet not useless (and extremely expensive) like the i180 crafted left side, or the tank-only i150 crafted accessories.

Everyone wanted the stats to be more balanced, but while that is a good thing by it self, since the stat system is so bland, it doesn't really help that it doesn't matter what secondary stats to get...

Well, ofc it matters differently for each job, but at least when I looked at MNK, there's like a weighted 6 STR difference between BiS and a set with as high SS as possible... If you just try to stay away a little from SS, you're fine.

I'm still aiming for that BiS, but still... We need variance to our gear, and the materia melding to raid/tomestone gear in 3.2 won't really change much, since you'll just meld whatever stat is best for your job.

Don't know why the OP is saying there's only one 210 set though...