Parry: How would you improve it?

[Jpec07]

The currently accepted theory is that Parry converts at 35 points to a percent, so 1000 points in Parry would convert to roughly +28.5% Parry rate. Natively, iirc, tanks have 5% Parry rate (don't quote me - might be 10%), so 1000 points in Parry should translate to a total of ~33.5% Parry.

I have speculated that Parry behaves similar to Accuracy (really, that all stats do), such that different encounters have different coefficients to affect their effectiveness--but unfortunately I lack the data to investigate or confirm. If this were the case, 1000 parry could be ~+40% against the Curator in Fractal Continuum, but could only represent ~+20% against A8S. Mind, this is completely speculation, so I have zero confirmation; all I can say is that such a function would not surprise me in the least.

[Kotemon]

I'd raise the damage reduction to 30% to make it look more functional for damage reduction. Then add a 3% (or whatever %) counter rate to do an auto attack based on the value of the parry stat.

I have speculated that Parry behaves similar to Accuracy (really, that all stats do), .

If its anything how skill stats work in XI the skill stat for parry would also scale up based on the mobs level. Example; 130 parry is over kill on lv 20 mobs. While the effects of 300 parry is almost non existent on content i190 and above. Just like how the amount of Accuracy needed goes up with the mobs level and iLevel of the current content.

[Brannigan]

Have parry, in addition to its regular effects, reduce the cooldowns (or extend duration I guess) of defensive abilities . Alternatively, more abilities and traits that rely on you or a party member parrying (your shield swipe activates/resets cooldown when a party member parries, next overpower costs less TP on parry, chance to gain wrath on parry, etc). I'm not a big fan of making parry into just a counterattack stat or whatever since I'd like for mitigation stats to actually exist in this game, but I could see it happening.

[Yuni_Queen]

Have parry,reduce the cooldowns (or extend duration I guess) of defensive abilities .

Vengeance > Foresight > Thrill of Battle > Raw Intuition > Ask Google What To Do In Excessive Free Time

[Shurrikhan]

The currently accepted theory is that Parry converts at 35 points to a percent, so 1000 points in Parry would convert to roughly +28.5% Parry rate. Natively, iirc, tanks have 5% Parry rate (don't quote me - might be 10%), so 1000 points in Parry should translate to a total of ~33.5% Parry.

I have speculated that Parry behaves similar to Accuracy (really, that all stats do), such that different encounters have different coefficients to affect their effectiveness--but unfortunately I lack the data to investigate or confirm. If this were the case, 1000 parry could be ~+40% against the Curator in Fractal Continuum, but could only represent ~+20% against A8S. Mind, this is completely speculation, so I have zero confirmation; all I can say is that such a function would not surprise me in the least.

If that's the case, 1000 parry is already giving an average of over 5% physical mitigation. That's nothing insignificant. It's just unreliable.

[Duelle]

Just gonna comment on some of the OP's suggestions.

Make Darkside, Sword Oath, and Deliverance stances use Parry. Let me explain --- what if changing to the aforementioned stances also increased damage with the aid of Parry? Let’s say, when in Deliverance stance, reduce 30% of Parry stat and increase attack power by say (0.01 x reduced parry) %. For Darkside, increase Crit Rate by 10% of Parry. For Sword Oath, a flat damage and accuracy increase by 5% of Parry. This change may eliminate other classes wanting to abuse Parry changes by equipping fending accessories

While this is a good idea, I am slightly bugged by the fact that in order to make a defensive stat be "not bad" you have to turn it into an offensive/damage stat in some way. That said, I'd probably change the stat's name to Composure or Expertise if we were to go down this route.

Make Parry reduce magical damage as well. I can see why this could be a problem for what the developers intended, so I would understand if this one is not considered, which brings me to my next suggestion:

Give a trait to Dark Knights to make their Parry mitigate magical damage as well. The meta that we see right now for Dark Knights is that they are chosen for magic-heavy battles. This trait will just make them fit the mold better.

The devs have a weird aversion to having mitigation work on magic. I'm not sure on whether it's because they think it's overpowered or for thematic reasons, but they've already shot down shield blocks working against magic, so I'd guess parries are out as well.

Make Parry counter damage. Similar to MRD/WAR’s Vengeance skill, what if tanks return the flat 20% reduction as damage? Vengeance would still be useful as it still has the 30% reduction + 50 potency return for every physical damage. What if Parry returns 5% of its stat in potency to every kind of damage?

You mean a passive "spikes" effect that procs on parries? That might be a nice a passive bonus to it.

An alternative would be to have parries reduce/reset the swing timer for your auto attacks for 1-2 seconds. This way you are basically attacking as a result of the parry.

Change Parry to be additive to Defence/Magic Defence stat. This is the lazy change to the Parry change. If SE really wants to stick to the meta, they might go: WAR: 7.5% of Parry is added to physical and magical defence. PLD: 15% of Parry is added to physical defence. DRK: 15% of Parry is added to magical defence.

On the one hand, you could create a tank trait that grant these effects. On the other hand, you once again might as well change the stat's name if you're going there.

Note that I am not even including the pre-Heavensward Parry state --- the suggestions above work with the developers’ decision to stick to what Parry does right now. I just made suggestions based on Parry’s inherent issues. What would you suggest to Square Enix?

Personally, I'd like them to remove the stat as a whole from gear and replace it with a stat that either encompasses more things (sort of like a general defense stat that increases damage mitigation, parry and block rates by a little) or just replace it with crit/acc/skill speed/det on the appropriate pieces of gear.

Then have classes work with parries on an as-needed basis. Design a new job that can manipulate their parry rate via abilities/buffs/combo bonuses to start and go from there.

Calling the trait Parry and keeping it in the game would require (as far as I can tell) a revamp of mitigation tools for all tanks and how much control they have over said tools. Right now a tank has no control over mitigation between Parry's terrible scaling, the fact dodge rates are fixed values and blocks are equally fixed.

[GranZero]

PAX East has come (still running at the time of writing), and one of the open questions that were entertained concerned the topic we have on hand.

Q: I'm a tank and Parry stat is MEH.

A: The battle team knows, needs to be adjusted, when ilvl goes up in 3.4 or 4.0, that'll be adjusted.

Basically just a reiteration of what was said in the last Live Letter.

Really great suggestions here, thanks for the replies! Thanks to keyburz for the tests too.

While this is a good idea, I am slightly bugged by the fact that in order to make a defensive stat be "not bad" you have to turn it into an offensive/damage stat in some way. That said, I'd probably change the stat's name to Composure or Expertise if we were to go down this route.

Calling the trait Parry and keeping it in the game would require (as far as I can tell) a revamp of mitigation tools for all tanks and how much control they have over said tools. Right now a tank has no control over mitigation between Parry's terrible scaling, the fact dodge rates are fixed values and blocks are equally fixed.

Parry is tied to its meta because of its name. You're right, if SE needs to change the stat wholly, they might as well change its name to better reflect what it does. On a second glance, my initial suggestions of improving parry by making them offensive is...counter to a tank's whole existence. But with the direction the game is going, offence seems to be the way to go. (Though I, for one, would like a time when defence will shine)

You mean a passive "spikes" effect that procs on parries? That might be a nice a passive bonus to it.

An alternative would be to have parries reduce/reset the swing timer for your auto attacks for 1-2 seconds. This way you are basically attacking as a result of the parry.

Yes! The faster global cooldown timer after a successful parry is also great, similar to dealing a critical hit after one. Faster works since tanks don't really have a strict rotation besides keeping DoTs up and some situational skills.

Personally, I'd like them to remove the stat as a whole from gear and replace it with a stat that either encompasses more things (sort of like a general defense stat that increases damage mitigation, parry and block rates by a little) or just replace it with crit/acc/skill speed/det on the appropriate pieces of gear.

Then have classes work with parries on an as-needed basis. Design a new job that can manipulate their parry rate via abilities/buffs/combo bonuses to start and go from there.

Changing the stat entirely or removing them in lieu of another seems to be the way to go. I was interested on everyone's thoughts while keeping the tank classes fairly balanced compared to the other roles. I can see why the dev team will have their hands full on reworking this one though, as we are all in unison that change is definitely needed.

[Altijacek]

I believe three things should happen: parrying an attack gives a 50% chance to counterattack at half the potency of a regular attack, it should go back to reducing more than a flat 20%, and for every percent of parrying 1 point gives, there should be 1/5th the amount in chances of magical parry. Yes, magical parry should be a thing, I imagine you can use your weapon to parry a fireball or lightning bolt. By doing this, parry has multiple things going for it like critical hit and sks/sps. Having all 3 of these qualities at a small scale all makes up for how crappy it is right now. It still doesn't fix the issue of being useless when off tanking, but that is the nature of the beast.

More importantly, dark dance SHOULD be buffed to parry magic as well, it HAS to happen.

Magic parry should be 10% not 20% and go up from there.

[Destous]

You can't "fix" parry because parry isn't broken. On top of that, any "boosted damage" added to parry to make it more appealing will still be at the mercy of RNG giving you a parry proc; in which case, having more det/crit/sks would still be better.

[Yuni_Queen]

No it's not broken.
It's almost useless :3