What affect does wrong level gear have?

[Armok]

I've heard that wearing the wrong level gear lowers the stats...

But does anyone know by how much?

In-game it shows all the stats as green, which means it's an improvement, but that's actually wrong if the item is much higher/lower than recommend.

Does 1-2 levels make a difference or is it more for when it's 5+ levels then it has an impact.

[Delsus]

Its a hidden stat reduction, amount depends how far off the optimal rank you are, i dont think anyone knows exact amounts yet, but you should try to be +/- 5 ranks i beleave. Also the gear gets damaged alot quicker if you are off the optimal rank again +/- 5 ranks should be enough

[syntaxlies]

Its a hidden stat reduction, amount depends how far off the optimal rank you are, i dont think anyone knows exact amounts yet, but you should try to be +/- 5 ranks i beleave. Also the gear gets damaged alot quicker if you are off the optimal rank again +/- 5 ranks should be enough

its not hidden,
for example
first equip the right sword check then check your stats,
then equip a rank in-appropriate sword and check the stats.
The rank appropriate equipment will always give you higher stats. And rank inappropriate equipment degrades faster.

[Rydin]

Its a hidden stat reduction, amount depends how far off the optimal rank you are, i dont think anyone knows exact amounts yet, but you should try to be +/- 5 ranks i beleave. Also the gear gets damaged alot quicker if you are off the optimal rank again +/- 5 ranks should be enough

No... the stat reduction is completely visible on your screen

+5% per star (minimum 1)
Not sure though if the penalty from not meeting the reqs is after or before that. Anyone checked if the penalty is at least linear?

Kind of... +1 is indeed a minimum of 1.... But +2 and +3 are also a minimum of 1, not 2 and 3 respectively

SO if a piece of gear gives, say 5 defense.... then the +1, +2 and +3 will ALL give 6 defense because the numbers would be
+1 = 5.25 = 6
+2 = 5.50 = 6
+3 = 5.75 = 6

recommended class penalty is -40% on all stats, so the 26 craftsmanship of the Dodore Doublet is only 16 to a class that is not recommended

Optimal rank penalty is tricky

You have Primary stats
Attack, Magic Attack, Defense, Magic Defense, Craftsmanship, magic craftsmanship and Gathering
These suffer a -20% penalty for being 1 rank under optimal rank. and then suffer another 2% of the starting value for each rank below that
Its not exact though but thats the rough number

So being 5 ranks under a piece that gives 100 attack would only get you:
72 attack, again, none if it is exact but its all very close
you lose 20% for being one rank under
22% for being two ranks under
24% for being three ranks under
26% for being four ranks under
28% for being five ranks under

The Secondary Stats are:
Accuracy, Magic accuracy, Evasion, resilience, control, perception, output

These suffer a 10% drop for being 1 rank under, and another 1% of the total for each additional rank

[Kiara]

Hi Armok,

Yes, even 1 or 2 ranks below your Optimal Rank will have a negative effect. When you hit "Optimal Rank" that's when you get full benefits of the stats of the item you equip.

I don't know the exact %, but I tested out a few items, and was surprised that even just 1 Rank below Optimal Rank, and I was getting less of a boost than my previous equipment that I was already ~9 Ranks above.

I think that's one of the flaws of the current system: It allows a lot of freedom (anyone can wear anything (except the newest items added recently under Yoshida-san that "requires" a class), but at the same time, many may not even realize that they're taking a sizable Penalty Hit in terms of Stats.

Then again, everything is quite easy at the moment, so you can have people wearing Crafting Gear and still go out and do Battle Guildleves and get by just fine.

[Estellios]

If you pick up a new piece of gear you can equip the old and new pieces and see how the attack/accuracy/defense etc numbers change in the character stats section. Most of the time lower level gear will outperform but as you get closer to the optimal rank eventually the newer gear may start to give you the same or slightly better stats, then you should be able to wear it without issue.

[VydarrTyr]

Delsus is sort of right.

When a piece of gear has an "Optimal Rank," you can wear it below that rank. However, if you're even one level below the Optimal Rank, you will not get the full benefit of the stats. (So it's not +/- 5 levels. It's just one level.)

If you're rank 25, and you equip a weapon that's got an Optimal Rank of 26, then you'll get significantly less benefit from the stats. That's true for all tools and weapons. If you equip them even one level below the Optimal Rank, your stats will be reduced by a fairly significant amount. So it's usually better to equip a lower ranked tool/weapon than one that's above you.

On the other hand, the reduction in stats for armor/gear scales. So the reduction is much less severe. You might be better off wearing gear that's got an Optimal Rank higher than you.

Also, as Delsus said, anytime you equip gear/weapons/tools that have an Optimal Rank above your job rank, your gear gets damaged a lot more quickly.

In addition, gear has certain job affinities. So some gear says that it's made for (for example) Gladiator, Pugilist, Marauder, Goldsmith, and Blacksmith. If you put on the gear while performing a different job (say, as a Conjurer or Weaver), you will get a significant reduction in stats. The amount of reduction seems to vary, but it's probably about 1/3rd.

In the future, you might consider asking these type of questions in the New Player Help forum.

[Delsus]

Delsus is sort of right.

When a piece of gear has an "Optimal Rank," you can wear it below that rank. However, if you're even one level below the Optimal Rank, you will not get the full benefit of the stats. (So it's not +/- 5 levels. It's just one level.)

I have never done testing on it, i just try to keep withing +/- 5 ranks of optimal if possible, but if you have done testing then your prolly right lol

[Eekiki]

It's a hidden stat reduction, but unless you're using a parser to get your exact numbers, to be honest the reduction will be hardly noticeable. Damage calculation, like enmity calculation, is so overly complicated the only stats that really matter are VIT for max HP and INT for max MP.

SE is simplifying enmity calculation. Let's hope they simplify damage calculation in the same way so stats begin to make sense.

[Physic]

It's a hidden stat reduction, but unless you're using a parser to get your exact numbers, to be honest the reduction will be hardly noticeable. Damage calculation, like enmity calculation, is so overly complicated the only stats that really matter are VIT for max HP and INT for max MP.

SE is simplifying enmity calculation. Let's hope they simplify damage calculation in the same way so stats begin to make sense.

not really true, its generally pretty noticeable, especially the accuracy drops, and even the attack.

You can check by comparing how the stats change when you look in your actual attributes, not the the red and green or whatever colored stuff, but the other window that shows accuracy defense etc. if its a stat that isnt on that list, your guess is as good as anyones, but in general your are always better off using something optimal, unless its really outdated, the +5 is usually good, but sometimes there are big stat jumps with one level.

wearing anything non favored is almost always crappy.