help with gear setup

[KumaAkuma]

The Haubergons are also the best defensiv gear in the game. The cuirass stats are missleading and far inferior to the haubergeon stats.

Missleading in what way?

[Lienn]

Missleading in what way?

Not really sure what he meant either ^^: Defensively speaking cuirass beats hauby due not only greater def but also by the damage cut effect. Even tho damage cut effect goes down as the armor start wearing out, only the HP bonus from cuirass is already enough for it to be used IMO. Hauby is even to cuirass for GLA only since STR increase damage cut from blocked attacks...but even as GLA i still prefer just sticking with cuirass set (because its also very beautiful on my miqo'te =P Can't wait to see a cuirass with shoulderguards!).

But as people say here..."taste is like ass...everyone has their own.". Its up to the player to decide which one to use...if the player has allotment already directed to VIT then hauby might be more appealing to him than cuirass due STR bonus...if the player has an allotment like mine (balanced with STR spike) then cuirass is much more interesting than hauby for tanking purposes.

[Zarvlad]

Missleading in what way?

Also very curious to know.

[Jabo]

Missleading in what way?

The Cuirass would be the best defensive gear if we couldn't set our own stat points.
You can simply take 8 STR and 4 DEX from your stats and put them in VIT, if you use a Haubergeon. In the end you have nearly the same HP, 4-8 additional points for point allotment (=7-9 instead of 6 VIT), the same def, but way higher mag def.
Only the Damage Cut is a bit lower, but I'm not 100% sure about its effectiveness.
You would still have more VIT, though. In the end the pysical def would be similar, but the mag def would be way batter.
The Vintage Haubergeon has also more and cheaper +1,+2 versions. We have even a +3 in the bazaar right now.

@Scape
They are "for free", but it still isn't easy to get them. Especially if you don't have a Rank 50. Than you need help from others and it still can take hours to get it.
In the same time you can get 100-200k from leves and spend them on a +1. Without help.
And with stats I mean, that the stats of the NM weapons aren't good.
The Boar's Bane gives you +4 STR and -1DEX, 128 att, 121 acc, 135 critical, 121 parrying.
The Spiked Iron Labrys +1 has 128 att and 142 acc, 148 critical, 155 parryng.
So you are trading 4 STR for 20acc, 13 critical and 34 parrying and 1 DEX.

Also the money isn't gone. You can sell the weapon later.

If you don't want to spend gil, you can of course do the NM's. It is definitely an alternative.
But I wouldn't recommend it.