Am I missing something about Novus?

[Ecks007]

I haven't exactly looked at the stats for the High Allagan weapons (edit: Actually, I checked while typing this up), but it is possible that on some if not most that the secondary stats on them may not be ideal. For example the H.A. Grimoire of Casting has +46 Crit (only 2 more than a capped Novus) and +32 Spell Speed.

Spell Speed isn't that helpful as a Summoner, but if you were to cap the +31 Det on your Novus I think your over all DPS might actually increase with the Novus rather than the High Allagan weapon. Needs testing to be sure, I suppose. But I know that Det is going to increase your damage, and that Spell speed really isn't. Not as a Summoner, when a lot of our abilities are already instant cast.

[Rydia13]

I haven't exactly looked at the stats for the High Allagan weapons (edit: Actually, I checked while typing this up), but it is possible that on some if not most that the secondary stats on them may not be ideal. For example the H.A. Grimoire of Casting has +46 Crit (only 2 more than a capped Novus) and +32 Spell Speed.

Spell Speed isn't that helpful as a Summoner, but if you were to cap the +31 Det on your Novus I think your over all DPS might actually increase with the Novus rather than the High Allagan weapon. Needs testing to be sure, I suppose. But I know that Det is going to increase your damage, and that Spell speed really isn't. Not as a Summoner, when a lot of our abilities are already instant cast.

I agree. We need testing done to see how good 31 Det is vs the couple of magic damage increase from High Allagen but I'm pretty sure the Det is better.

[Donjo]

I agree. We need testing done to see how good 31 Det is vs the couple of magic damage increase from High Allagen but I'm pretty sure the Det is better.

No. NO. Did I mention no? Yeah, the Det isn't better.

Let's see. We're looking at BLM, right? The last weight I saw for Determination was 0.2 points of "damage potential"(DP), compared to the 1 INT gives as the central comparison point. People seem to be valuing Det more these days for BLM, however, so it may be wrong.

To really illustrate this point, though, let's throw out that Det weight and say it's 0.5. Whatever it actually is, I think we can agree that it can't be quite that high.

Here's the approximate DP of your BiS Novus with this inflated weight:

Weapon Damage: 75 WD X 8 DP = 600 DP
Intelligence: 42 INT X 1 DP = 42 DP
Determination: 31 DET X 0.5 DP = 15.5 DP
Spell Speed: 44 SpS X 0.26 DP = 11.44
Total DP: 668.94

Here's the High Allagan Weapon
WD: 77 X 8 = 616 WD
INT: 45 X 1 = 45 WD
Crit: 32 X 0.26 = 8.32
SpS: 46 X 0.26 = 11.96
Total DP: 681.28

As you can see, the High Allagan weapon provides more potential damage than the BiS Novus with Determination, even when I grossly overinflate the stat weight.

However, there's another thing worth looking at. Look at how much DP Weapon Damage provides by itself. Let's combine that with INT to create the "Primary Stat Bonus". Let's take all of the secondary stats, put them together, and call it the "Secondary Stat Bonus".

Now we play with the ratio of (Secondary Stat Bonus) / (Primary Stat Bonus) to see how much of a weapon's DP is theoretically provided by Secondary Stats.

The BiS Novus(with inflated Det) (15.5 + 11.44) / (600 + 42) = 26.94 / 642 = 0.0419 X 100 = 4.19%
High Allagan: (8.32 + 11.96) / (616 + 45) = 20.28 / 661 = 0.0306 X 100 = 3.06%

Yeah, the numbers are that low. Mind you, this is just for the Weapon. The numbers end up pleasantly higher on any other piece of gear. That 10 Million gil you're spending on the most perfect Novus will likely make your weapon slot confer less than 1% more Damage Potential to you. To some, this is worth it. To others, this is completely dumb. That tiny increase in DPS won't be the straw that breaks T9's back. The long story short, however, is that the i110 weapon you're going to be holding in your hand after this quest is going to be better than the i100 you used to have as long as you aren't completely stupid with the secondaries(give a BLM Parry/Piety and watch people scratch their heads). It'll even be better if you replace a damaging Secondary with Accuracy. In fact, since Secondaries provide so little benefit to the weapon slot, it may be the best place to put Accuracy(Or Parry, or Piety, depending on your job)!

So, go ahead and make your 25 Crit/25 Det/25 SpS Novus if you want to save money. You'll only need 1 Grade IV materia(for the 25th Det infusion, I think) and the Damage Potential loss over a "BiS" Novus will be so infinitesimal that skill would easily close the gap.

[Alberel]

I haven't exactly looked at the stats for the High Allagan weapons (edit: Actually, I checked while typing this up), but it is possible that on some if not most that the secondary stats on them may not be ideal. For example the H.A. Grimoire of Casting has +46 Crit (only 2 more than a capped Novus) and +32 Spell Speed.

Spell Speed isn't that helpful as a Summoner, but if you were to cap the +31 Det on your Novus I think your over all DPS might actually increase with the Novus rather than the High Allagan weapon. Needs testing to be sure, I suppose. But I know that Det is going to increase your damage, and that Spell speed really isn't. Not as a Summoner, when a lot of our abilities are already instant cast.

The weapon damage increase on the high allagan weapons would instantly outstrip any bonuses offered by secondary stats on a weapon 5 ilvls lower. Far too many people obsess over their secondary stats. If there is a weapon damage increase of any kind to be had it will do more damage than what you currently have even if it has the worst possible secondary stats for you.

The relic weapons will always be second best, at least until the final upgrade anyway. The 'perfect' stats that so many people go for truly are unnecessary but min/maxers and those that obsess over such things see it as a challenge or goal to work towards. Good for them. Personally I'm saving my alexandrite and materia until I see how the next upgrade will work. I'm reluctant to spend millions on my novus when there is a possibility the entire expense would be rendered redundant in a few months.