Vanya or DL? Which is better?

[Quasihemdem]

Curious because I have heard both sides of the story. I look on xivdb and it clearly shows DL is better, but anyone I talk to says Vanya is. Is it just cause you can meld materia into it?

[Iecerint]

I think conventional wisdom is that Vanya is better provided that it is HQ'd and max-tier materia are set.

[Hiruke]

Yes, (HQ) Vanya is better "just" because you can put materia in it, wildly increasing its stats. The big winner here? People selling materia. Why? Because pretty soon HQ vanya robes will be 20k gil because who's got time to design an economy that makes any sense.

[Quasihemdem]

So from the looks of it Vanya is better but will cost you alot. So to me I would go with DL then due to the fact I dont have to pay for all the mats and then pay someone to craft it for me if I couldnt do it myself.

[SchalaZeal]

Vanya beats DL easily. Of course you HQ it, why would you spend 250k+ on mats to craft it to make it equivalent to vendor trash quality?

Vanya HQ and penta-melded can even beat AF2 (it doesn't give the same stats), and it gives a better feeling of accomplishment if you did it yourself, given you participate in it (the melding). Compared to just buying the AF2 piece and being done, over, finished.

Vanya HQ robe can get +27 crit (3x Materia IV). Argute Gown (Scholar AF2) gets +24 crit.

Because pretty soon HQ vanya robes will be 20k gil because who's got time to design an economy that makes any sense.

If HQ Vanya Robe is 20k it means that tome items are worth less than 2k gil each, probably 1k gil. Which is 25-30x less than now.

[Xenor]

The big winner here? People selling materia. Why? Because pretty soon HQ vanya robes will be 20k gil because who's got time to design an economy that makes any sense.

20k is about the most I'd pay for an HQ Vanya robe considering I can't sell it back when I get AF+1 or Allagan.

[Meleoffs]

Curious because I have heard both sides of the story. I look on xivdb and it clearly shows DL is better, but anyone I talk to says Vanya is. Is it just cause you can meld materia into it?

HQ Vanya has equivalent stats to Darklight gear, HOWEVER you can max a 3rd stat which makes it better (higher stat allocations hueh)

[NeruMew]

Vanya HQ, it looks better xD Damn that cowl is ugly, and more so overused. Anyway, you need to meld it for it to be better tho, and materia is expensive for regular people

Also... AF2 looks like normal AF? :P NOOB QUESTION

[Nahara]

Darklight may not be better in stats, but it's better based on availability.

Anyone can save up the Philosophy Tomestones needed to buy the DL gear with enough time and patience put into running dungeons. Not everyone can afford the HQ, penta-melded Vanya gear that, last I checked on Hyperion, started at 200k and skyrocketed from there.

[TeaTimeBear]

Darklight may not be better in stats, but it's better based on availability.

Anyone can save up the Philosophy Tomestones needed to buy the DL gear with enough time and patience put into running dungeons. Not everyone can afford the HQ, penta-melded Vanya gear that, last I checked on Hyperion, started at 200k and skyrocketed from there.

This. If you can't take the time to buy or make it. Just get yourself some darklight/Ak gear. Though I'll admit I'd totally drop my DL for vanya... Cowl=DO NOT WANT.. This topic just makes me feel gitty as I really wanna make it myself but with the damned errors going on I can't even instance or craft.