Please explain BiS stuff to me

[Stormfur]

I'm not a troll.. I genuinely want to know so that I can keep improving

[JunseiKei]

I genuinely want to know so that I can keep improving

BiS is figured by determining the statweight of each, then determining how much each piece gives you total. The gear with higher total is your best in slot, even if the stats aren't always ones you desire. Every time gear comes out, you weigh the total stats against each one and upgrade when you receive more total statweight.

The issue: we don't know what the statweights are currently and it's unclear if we will this time at all. The best thing I could direct you to is a graph showing the curve between direct hit, crit and determination and where the stats cross over being better over another. Actually, I'm a little afraid of linking it directly, but it said (and this is in the confines of DPS, not tanks or healers) that DH is king until you have around 2,900 crit. Unless you have a crit gimmick, like bard, where then you'd stack crit.

There's been a debate [on JP theory crafters] that each job has its own power modifiers and how stats affect it. IE: Monk's skill speed may be as good as direct hit. Not too dissimilar how spell speed seems to be generally favored for black mages. The stats change per job based on a bunch of different variables. Unfortunately, I doubt that we'll ever get concrete stat weights (like you might find on Monster Hunter's damage formulas) and all we will have to rely on is seeing logs and hypotheticals with number crunching. It's trickier to calculate and requires constant testing. For all we know, SE alters the stats slightly every time new gear is added and we'd have to re-evaluate it (like them simply rounding numbers).

The easiest rules to follow, though, are this: weapon damage > main stat > secondary stat. You won't be min- maxing, but you'll be okay until you pick up on what's better than something else.

That being said, I'm no theorycrafter, just echoing things being figured out by people far smarter than me, often in another language.