Quote Originally Posted by Taika View Post
basically all you need to know is that higher item level weapon (a weapon with as high physical / magic damage) is always the most powerful option for you, since the weapon damage scales much higher than any other stats.
Well, item level gives a general idea of what's likely to be better, but it's not always accurate, particularly when looking at crafted gear (since High Quality crafted gear shares the same item level as its Normal Quality version, but has better —often significantly better— stats). Often a High Quality item from a few levels lower beats out the normal quality one that's on-level. Or some of the green-quality dungeon drop armour beats crafted armour several levels above it.

In the case of weapons, they're the only one that gets the Damage stat, and it's the most important stat you have. (Despite being called "damage" it's actually about the effectiveness of all your actions, whether for damage, healing, or aggro generation. It's like an overall power level for all your skills.) Whenever two weapons have different Damage stats, the one with the higher Damage is better. In rare cases, you might see two weapons with the same damage, and in that case, you'd go with which is higher on your main stat, Mind in this case, (but if comparing a one-hand to a two-hand, remember to add in the value of MND from both the one handed weapon and the shield you'd use with it).

In the case of armour, look at both the defense stats (regular and magic) and your main stat (MND). With any that take up multiple slots (like a robe that includes a hood, so doesn't let you equip a hat), take that into consideration, for instance comparing the stats on a robe to the sum of stats on both a shirt and a hat. (The green numbers in the Item Comparison screen do not do this for you, so it tends to overestimate the value of multi-slot equipment.)

Jewelry won't have significant defense, so there you mainly look for the highest value possible on your main stat, and post 50 also try to get some good secondary stats on it.