Am I missing something about Novus?

[MasamuneBranford]

I see people spending anywhere from 3M to 10M to have one stat at 44 and another at 31.

I play a BLM. I punched into the universally accepted dmg calculator and determined that the best stats to boost for BLM are 44 spell speed and 31 to Det.

However - putting 25 into Crit, 25 into spell speed and 25 into Det gets you 1 to 2 less DPS. Based purely on estimate - I feel that a 25, 25, 25 novus wouldn't cost you much more than 300k.

We are talking 1 to 2 DPS when there are videos of BLMs in turn 8 hitting 400+ dps with procs. So someone is paying 9.7M more gil so that they can gain an extra second of damage every 4 to 5 minutes?

If Novus was BIS then maybe (just maybe) I could see why people would want to spend that type of gil. However - SE has only showed us so far that relic weapons are second tier and the top tier are weapons earned from raid content. Heck - nobody even knows what the stat allocations will look like post-Novus. Stats could get reset again or be thrown for a loop.

If I have this wrong - please correct me. That's the purpose of my post after all.

[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.

[Rydia13]

Since they seem to be taking a very similar route now to FFXIs Relic/Mythic/Empyrean weapons, I think some comparison is in order. That being said, those weapons were never BiS until they were completely upgraded. The weapon itself went through several stages and it wasn't top-notch, heck, it wasn't barely useable until you completed it. At least in our game relic weapons always take the #2 slot during the upgrade process.

My point is, idk about BLM too much but I'd get the best possible stats you can get cuz when the day comes, and it will, your relic will be BiS and it'd be best if you didn't screw yourself out of the strongest weapon you can build.

Also, expect the Relic upgrades to get harder, more tedious, and potentially more expenssive as it progresses from here on out. The simple fact that they're letting us choose our stats is a dead giveaway of their intention for this weapon. I believe SE said in an interview that the Animus was the halfway mark of the relic line.

[MasamuneBranford]

Good responses. Thank you.

I guess it's good to go for best possible - but as of now - if i'm only losing out on a mere 1 to 2 DPS - i'm not sure if it makes sense. I'm thinking i'll just farm the 75 alexandrite and wait till 2.4 to do any upgrading. A level 100 animus or a 110 soldiery weapon is fine to do everything currently available.

[Ecks007]

Good responses. Thank you.

I guess it's good to go for best possible - but as of now - if i'm only losing out on a mere 1 to 2 DPS - i'm not sure if it makes sense. I'm thinking i'll just farm the 75 alexandrite and wait till 2.4 to do any upgrading. A level 100 animus or a 110 soldiery weapon is fine to do everything currently available.

I'd say you'd be fine to start working on your novus as far as going up to the tier III materia right now. I can only speak for my server, and last I checked, tier III wasn't too bad. Tier IV materia is where prices tend to get stupid, at least on the highly sought out Crit and Det materia. Though prices have gone down since the initial rush, they are still pricey.

[Rufalus]

I just used 4 different stats to spread the cost so I never even needed any tier IV materia at all. I think you are right, there's no point in spending gil or time on getting to cap with only 2 stats. Just buy some cheap tier I-III materia, get your novus weapon and be done with it. It's still a novus, doesn't make a huge difference what secondary stats you use.

[Rydia13]

I just used 4 different stats to spread the cost so I never even needed any tier IV materia at all. I think you are right, there's no point in spending gil or time on getting to cap with only 2 stats. Just buy some cheap tier I-III materia, get your novus weapon and be done with it. It's still a novus, doesn't make a huge difference what secondary stats you use.

This logic scares me. What is the point in spending any time and effort at all then? Just leave it as Animus, put it in your retainer and call it a day. You're only wasting your own time and gil if you're not upgrading it correctly. It's not that difficult to do hunts for myth/alexandrites and SB gear for the proper materia ya know. At least do 25/25/25 like the OP mentioned, 4 stats is just butchering it.