PLD Gear?

[Stufoo]

I regain those stats from materia stacking, hense why my vit and def number are both realy high.

That's the thing. They aren't high. They are the bare standard, normal. Every single full HDL paladin out there has 760+ defense. You worked really "hard" on those melds to catch up to the defense that Heavy Darklight gives naturally. That's it. And that's all you caught up to. We still get the HP and Enmity from it and are leaps and bounds ahead of your gearset in the application into viable endgame.

You aren't special. You aren't a high defense and VIT tank. High VIT is not needed, accuracy is more important and that's where you are making that tradeoff, not in armor but in accessories and weapon.

Can you please post a screenshot of your linkshell's DDs and White Mages? That's way more interesting than your defense and vit which everyone else has.

[Judge_Xero]

So Basically: Gear Design (Doesn't have to be DL, just using SE's design templates)

Heavy Darklight: Tanking Multiple Trash Mobs. (Block Rate > Block)
Defense (Highest gains at Dlvl or a bit above)
VIT (Def, Mdef, Block, HP)
HP
Enmity (Largest gains to AOE Hate tools, Rampart, Flash, Wardrum)
Dex (Block Rate, useful at Dlvl)

Darklight (Single High Level Boss regardless of it's defense as your "Damage to Enmity" will scale close to your party members) (Block > Block Rate)
STR (Largest gains - Damage to Enmity)
VIT (Block)
ATK (Offers the best Enmity over time AA + WS, but a good MND Helm owns though)
Accuracy

[Molly_Millions]

For those advocating DEF stacking for anything but trash mobs (ie, not any bosses) please have a read: http://kanican.livejournal.com/55915.html

Note particularly the amount of DEF required to make much of a dent in the amount of damage mitigated on a Lv58 mob such as Ifrit (afaik - and please correct me if I'm wrong - most bosses are around Lv58). I haven't seen anything to suggest that this has changed either, it's long but it's a good read. If you want to skim just read the bolded purple and red text and you'll get the gist of the information.

Essentially the issue is DEF increases its utility the closer it gets to the cap for that particular dLVL. This means that it's also less effective when it's further from its cap. Adding a 10DEF when it's far from the cap will do very little to mitigate damage, while adding 10DEF closer to cap will do a much larger degree of mitigation. The more dLVL there is, the further away the cap is and the less effect DEF has on mitigating damage.

I've read that post thoroughly and understand it's implications. The problem with damage mitigation in general is the effect of dlvl, NOT what stat you are stacking to achieve it. Physical damage mitigation from VIT comes from the amount of DEF that VIT adds. So, you have the same problem with VIT, but you get less DEF from your VIT than you get from stacking DEF directly. By stacking VIT you can make up for this with magical defense and enhancing magic potency. So tbh the effectiveness of DEF or VIT is kind of a wash and is more up to your own play style.

I have seen absolutely no testing on magical defense. For this discussion, we can assume that m.DEF suffers from the same dlvl curve as DEF. So the debate really comes down to what do you want to achieve with your chest piece. Do you want physical damage mitigation, HP, or a mix of m.DEF/DEF/enhancing magic potency? You then need to weigh the effectiveness of each against the stats of your other gear and decide what's best for your build.

[Molly_Millions]

Can you please post a screenshot of your linkshell's DDs and White Mages? That's way more interesting than your defense and vit which everyone else has.

We're in the PLD forum, not the white mage forum.

STOP POSTING.

[Kaeko]

The state of the prime healing class is incredibly relevant to how a PLD or any tank should manage his gear sets. WHM is horribly overpowered. A major reason damage mitigation is not really a huge deal on PLD is because a single WHM carries so much healing efficiency and burst healing capability. Because a single WHM can max you out constantly with minimal effort (when played at a reasonable, standard level of skill), it isn't a huge deal if you're taking 800 vs. 1000 damage shots (just need to avoid to getting 1-2 shot). For this reason, you're better off focusing on damage / enmity at this stage of the game given the current endgame content.

[GreyJorildyn]

Indeed. No class stands alone, especially not a tank. Ignoring that synergy is complete folly.

[Stufoo]

We're in the PLD forum, not the white mage forum.

STOP POSTING.

I thought you blocked me for being an asshat? Or a douchebag. Something.

Oh you were just being a forum attention whore crybaby.

You suck and are dumb.

By stacking VIT you can make up for this with magical defense and enhancing magic potency..

By stacking VIT you are making up for it in sheer block power. They added that a patch or two ago, you know. When they fixed blocking.

20 VIT vs. 20 DEF difference is 7 defense. 20 VIT is 10 block power, which is a further 2% off blocks not affected by dLVL. Only the floor in that calculation is. 7 defense really doesn't make up for that, especially considering the other benefits of VIT.

[Molly_Millions]

The state of the prime healing class is incredibly relevant to how a PLD or any tank should manage his gear sets. WHM is horribly overpowered. A major reason damage mitigation is not really a huge deal on PLD is because a single WHM carries so much healing efficiency and burst healing capability. Because a single WHM can max you out constantly with minimal effort (when played at a reasonable, standard level of skill), it isn't a huge deal if you're taking 800 vs. 1000 damage shots (just need to avoid to getting 1-2 shot). For this reason, you're better off focusing on damage / enmity at this stage of the game given the current endgame content.

What materia can you put on a chest piece that will contribute to damage or enmity for a PLD? Afaik, there is none, hence my focus on damage mitigation.

Asside from heavy darklight armor there really isn't anything that fits that criteria, and we all know the hdl gear is something to strive for as a tank. Given this common understanding, any conversation about how to gear PLD/WAR for tanking is really a discussion of how to gear PLD/WAR sans hdl gear. Concerning the chest slot, what we're left with is a discussion of what is best for PLD; VIT, DEF, HP, evasion or Crit attack power.

[Molly_Millions]

I thought you blocked me for being an asshat? Or a douchebag. Something.

Oh you were just being a forum attention whore crybaby.

You suck and are dumb.

oh, I see, you can't handle it when the tables are turned. Jackass. Do like your namesake and STFU.

[Stufoo]

oh, I see, you can't handle it when the tables are turned. Jackass. Do like your namesake and STFU.

Molly_Millions_of_posts_and_still_dumb_and_don't_know_how_to_play

Beat av yet? Oh okay. Here's something that might be a little easier than miser for you then.

Why is 7 defense better than 10 block power 20 hp and magic mitigation?