My Summoner has 2 Grimoires, 1 ILevel 55, with int 15, one ILevel 70 with int 17. However, the first has Magic Damage 59, the second 57. I presume the second is better, but I don't know how to tell.
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My Summoner has 2 Grimoires, 1 ILevel 55, with int 15, one ILevel 70 with int 17. However, the first has Magic Damage 59, the second 57. I presume the second is better, but I don't know how to tell.
1 MD = ~10 INT, so the ilvl 55 with 59 magic damage and 15 int = 605 equivalent INT. The ilvl 70 with 17 INT and 57 = 587 equivalent INT. So in this case, the ilvl 55 one is better. Is the ilvl 55 one HQ or blue and the 70 is green/NQ or something?
This is a rough estimate. Current stat weights are based on level 60 and current gear. Generally, weapon damage is 10 (+/-2) of main stat.
Weapon damage is just about always the best stat. 1 wd is worth about 7-9 INT.
If I understand correctly you are saying
iLevel 55: WD 59, INT 15
iLevel 70: WD 57, INT 17
Strangely the ilevel 55 item, if I understand your description as the stats above, is the better choice. I'm guessing it's HQ while the i70 is not.
let's see...
DArklight Grimoir, as an example : Darklight Grimoir!
And the Deus Ex Verbis grimoir...
That difference of weapon damage is kinda surprising, but I don't see one that matches his INT parameters. BUT! The second one DOES have 17 VIT, he might be a little mixed up and reading the wrong primary stats. Because the first one was 15/15 (VIT/INT), and the second is 17/20 (VIT/INT)
[[final edit for my post]]
As another poster poitned out, the one with higher Magic Damage in this case is better, whcih is... REALLY WEIRD, but I think it's because of the fact that the first one is an entry-level 50 ACN/SMN/SCH item, and thus was adjusted for the use by both, while the second one becomes specialized. Eventually, you get to a point where item level (outside of HQ's) is really the determinant of Weapon Damage.
The items are:
Ul'dahn Officer's Grimoire of Casting - ILevel 55 MD 59
Cantamina Thavnaria - Ilevel 70 MD 57
If I could widen this:
My Paladin has two Untradable Bodies she can wear
Kokoroon's Darkshell Mail - 102 Def, 102 MagicD Str9 Vit 10 Parry 9 Acc 14
Aetherial Mythril Haubergeon - 76 Def 57 MagicD Str 10 Vit 11 Acc16 Arit 15 SkillS 14
Which would you choose and why?
The Mail is higher defense and magic defense, and is actually designed for tanks to wear. The Haubergeon is high defense, with lower magic defense, and is actually intended for use by Dragoon. To answer your question, as the tank you should choose the Mail because that's what impacts your survivability the most.
For additional information. Be sure to keep in mind what color the item is as well. A Blue piece of gear (rarity) will have a higher overall strength (read: apparent power level) compared to a White piece of gear of the same item level. Along with that, High Quality gear is [obviously] superior to Normal Quality gear.
There are only really two different tiers of stats within the same item level: NQ and HQ. Any crafted gear uses either nq or hq stats depending on the quality of the item. Dungeon, raid and tomestone gear all uses the hq stat values for their ilevel. There are a few exceptions though. GC gear and Aetherial (pink) for example. They both mostly use hq stats, but they also tend to have some extra stats on them compared to other gear at the same ilevel. Relic and Anima weapons also start following their own rules later in the line.
Ignore iLvl for now.. Go on a priority system..
Weapon Damage > Main stat (STR,VIT,INT etc) > Accuracy > Substats
Weapon damage is king.
Then go for your "main stat". Your main stat increases damage, but each main stat has a sub effect (such as VIT gives you more HP)
VIT > Tank
STR > DRG/MNK
DEX > NIN/BRD/MCH
INT > SMN/BLM/ACN (Throwing this in here for levelling purposes)
MND > Healer
Accuracy only until you stop missing. Excess accuracy does nothing for you. For the sake of leveling purposes you should be fine with whatever you decide to equip. This comes more into play later on when you get to level cap etc.
Substats.. This varies again depending on your job, and how it plays..
For example, generally a melee DPS will prioritize Crit & Det, whereas a BLM may prefer Crit & Spell Speed..
Crit - Increases critical hit rate (both weaponskill & auto attack)
Det - Increases damage per hit (weaponskill & auto attack)
Skill/Spell Speed - Reduces GCD cooldown & increases DoT tick damage.
Parry - Ignore this trashy substat. It's by far the most useless (at the moment).
When it comes to "defense" for tank gear, generally anything that can only be worn by a tank (GLD PLD MRD WAR DRK) is designed for a tank.
If the gear has any other melee class on there (such as LNC / DRG) it is more of a DPS piece.
Generally speaking while you level, you can get away with the hybrid style body pieces that both a tank & DPS can wear, however keep the priority system in mind - choose what to wear based on the main stat (VIT for a tank).
I say this, mostly because damage matters when you're a tank and you're leveling, even moreso than defense in my opinion. Mostly because when you enter a new dungeon to level up, you are at the lowest level you can enter it most of the time. Quite often the DPS in your party are higher level then you, and probably overgeared, so keeping hate is a bit more challenging if you don't have the damage to do it.
Hope this helped.