Studying The Blade- The SAM DPS Guide

[Nominous]

I've been theorycrafting MMOs for nearly 2 decades. Unlike you, I don't wait for someone else to post numbers. I figure them out for myself. What you are waiting on is someone to tell you exactly what to do, what gear to get, and how to meld it. You want someone else to play your toon for you too?

Hmm. I respect your opinion, but perhaps try being a little less rude to people?

The game doesn't do the job it should in illustrating the contribution of each individual stat point you stack. At best, we know the function each substat is supposed to fulfill, but not at all what "+200" of it really translates to (for example). There's no shame at all in admitting that the game should do that inherently, and choosing to look to other sources of information to make more informed gearing choices.

Also... Not everyone has the affinity for math, the proper know-how, and/or the time to devote to conducting research for these sort of things. How else do you learn, if not looking to those who are skilled at these things? And if you do find those people, if you don't have the time for learning this kind of theory-craft or whatever you want to call it, why not just go by their knowledge? It's certainly the more efficient route to similar results.

Ultimately, this (should be) a community effort. This rising tide raises all boats. The more information everyone has, the better the bottom line is for everyone's performance (ideally).

Moving on. It goes without saying that you can't just forego all stats in the game just to go with one, or two. At some point or the other you'll hit one of two problems. Either you'll get the sick SE dartboard gear you didn't want, or you'll have stat caps on gear that will force you to meld materia of a stat you aren't focusing on. No matter what, you'll likely end up with one stat you prioritize (DH), another stat you'll try and get on most gear if possible (Det), and melds that go towards your priority if possible, and if not, whatever else will benefit you (Crit). Whatever the stats of choice end up being, you can almost always count on that dartboard to vary your stats.