retainer gear

[Alisi]

Why does it look like my retainers lose most of the gears benefits when I look to see which is an upgrade?

Let me try to put it another way. Say I have nothing in the glove slot on a retainer and I want her to wear something that has a defense of 10 and an mdefence of 20. When I hover my mouse over that to see the pop-up, I see that to equip it will give me a negative 10 on def and 21 on mdef.

But she has nothing in that slot so how does she end up with a negative amount like this? I know they have to wear *some* gear. How exactly does it work?

[Niwashi]

It's because hovering over it (or selecting Item Comparison) will compare it to the gear you're wearing, not the gear your retainer is wearing. The comparison feature isn't smart enough to figure out the context of where you're at when you try to compare it.

Your retainer will get the stats on the items she wears (so in this case the defense of 10 and mdefence of 20 for those gloves). If you check her stats, then equip them, you'll see her stats change as they should.

[Nutz]

What Niwashi said. Also, I'm unsure what you're trying to accomplish regarding retainer equipment exactly, but defensive stats are completely meaningless to a retainer. For DoW/DoM retainers the only stat that matters at all is item level. It doesn't have to be sensible gear or anything like that. Completely wrong stats for their class will be just as effective as gearing them 'properly'. For gathering retainers they're a bit more logical in that the gathering stat is the only thing that matters.

[Alisi]

It's because hovering over it (or selecting Item Comparison) will compare it to the gear you're wearing, not the gear your retainer is wearing. The comparison feature isn't smart enough to figure out the context of where you're at when you try to compare it.

D'oh! Seems so obvious when you say it. I dunno why I didn't think of it. XD! Thanks!

Also, I'm unsure what you're trying to accomplish regarding retainer equipment exactly, but defensive stats are completely meaningless to a retainer.

Ah. Well, I didn't know that. I thought defensive stats mattered.