Recommended gear feature, recommending wrong gear?

[Greenpeas]

Hello,

So I've had a little look on google, and anybody else reporting this has received a logical explanation... But i'm pretty certain the recommended gear feature is definitely making a mistake.

I have:

Mythril Cuirass (HQ)
and
Sentinel's Cuirass

If you look at the stats, it's clear the Sentinel's Cuirass has higher stats

They both have Strength, Vitality and Tenacity... the Mythril is worse in everyway but the gear recommender thinks i should wear the Mythril Cuirass

I'm playing a Paladin...

Can someone clarify i'm not being stupid, and its a game problem?

[Elamys]

You know, I honestly have no idea. At first I thought it would end up being because one has a higher item level than the other, but the Sentinel's is higher in that regard, too. I wonder if the Mythril Cuirass being HQ gives it a "hidden" higher ilvl? Either way, I don't think it's your fault.

[Niwashi]

Not quite every way:

Mythril Cuirass (HQ): Vitality +10
Sentinel's Cuirass: Vitality +9

It appears to be weighting the 1 point of Vitality above the 25 points of Def and Mag Def, 1 point of Strength, and 1 point of Tenacity. Well, VIT is your primary stat, so I can see it outweighing most of that. The 25 points of Def/M.Def is kind of pushing it, though. I think I'd prefer the Sentinel's overall.

[Greenpeas]

Cool, thanks guys. That makes sense

[NosamKin]

You really have to watch the recommended gear feature, especially when you start melding. I don't remember the gear names, but my miner had ilvl 290 HQ gear, I acquired ivlv 340 NM gear, and it recommended I keep the 290 gear on?? what? Only after I removed the materia from the 290 gear did it recommend the 340 gear.
This has happened to me several times on different gear sets.

It would be nice to know how it decides what is "best".

[Niwashi]

Only after I removed the materia from the 290 gear did it recommend the 340 gear.

Thanks. That's good to know. It means the feature isn't just looking at a fixed list of items. It's actually analyzing their current stats, including stats that are added with materia.

Item Level gives a rough approximation of what's likely to be better, if all else is equal. But where the NQ version of an item, its HQ version, and either of them melded with appropriate materia may all have very different stats (but still the same ilvl for all of them), ilvl is far from reliable by itself.

[MistakeNot]

Not quite every way:

Mythril Cuirass (HQ): Vitality +10
Sentinel's Cuirass: Vitality +9

It appears to be weighting the 1 point of Vitality above the 25 points of Def and Mag Def, 1 point of Strength, and 1 point of Tenacity. Well, VIT is your primary stat, so I can see it outweighing most of that. The 25 points of Def/M.Def is kind of pushing it, though. I think I'd prefer the Sentinel's overall.

Indeed. From what I can tell the "Recommended Gear" will always recommend the (usable) piece of gear with the highest amount of your primary stat - which is VIT for paladins. Only if two pieces provide the same amount for your primary stat will the recommendation algorithm look at any of the other stats.
This usually will give a good recommendation, but there are a few exceptions. Low-level tanks often get dubious recommendations because so much gear provides VIT even if it is not tank gear.

[Driskus]

It is definitely wonky with low-level tank gear. When I was leveling WAR, it liked to recommend DPS gear over the tank gear on the left side quite a bit. Maybe it should look at class restrictions (a lot of tank gear is still restricted) and DEF as a higher priority if the VIT matches.

On the right side, things are a bit different. Low-level tank accessories are worthless. STR should honestly be the recommendation for earlier levels (technically its always better, but that's a whole different animal with how hard things start hitting later on). I slowly phased out DPS accessories starting at 64, and had all tank accessories by the time I hit 70.