Thread: BLM itemization in 5.4 is a problem.

Originally Posted by lulunami

I am not sure choosing the lower VIT weapon is advisable for Ultimate considering Lalafell already have lower VIT than other races.

Wait, do racial stats matter all of a sudden?
I thought our numbers had gotten so big the few point differences between the races were unimportant.
Are they relevant just for BLM? Or are there more situations where +/- 5 points actually makes or breaks your character?

Originally Posted by ItMe

Wait, do racial stats matter all of a sudden?
I thought our numbers had gotten so big the few point differences between the races were unimportant.
Are they relevant just for BLM? Or are there more situations where +/- 5 points actually makes or breaks your character?

A world prog group is not going to want someone to be missing a small amount of hp, and potentially dying to something as a result.
Same reason some people choose to meld tenacity/det for prog. The small difference can occasionally make or break it, and when you're world progging, you aren't gonna want to break it.

Originally Posted by oblivion238

A world prog group [...]

Oh! Ok, so it's not something normal people need to worry about.

Originally Posted by ItMe

Oh! Ok, so it's not something normal people need to worry about.

If you're worried about 'normal people' then I'd recommend just getting your ilvl as high as it will go and not caring any more. If you have any arbitrary gear set and luck with crits, you'll do better than people who run average. Go forth.

You can arbitrarily define any subset of people in this game who won't care about a particular issue if you believe the presence of such people eradicates any meaning for an issue to be fixed. I'd be shocked if there were more Triple Triad players than people who do Ultimate raiding, for example. Yet we still, somehow, get cards every patch.

The issue is: traditionally the raid weapon has been BiS and in instances where it hasn't, we have historical precedent where SE will change the stats to make it BiS, see: Diamond Weapons in Stormblood.

Right now, for Black Mages (and Black Mages only) it is not BiS. This is exceptionally problematic for content beyond the current raid tier. However, beyond just the weapon, it's also endemic to caster itemization overall.

Originally Posted by Xenitan

You can arbitrarily define any subset of people in this game who won't care about a particular issue if you believe the presence of such people eradicates any meaning for an issue to be fixed. I'd be shocked if there were more Triple Triad players than people who do Ultimate raiding, for example. Yet we still, somehow, get cards every patch.

I'm not saying the itemization is or isn't a problem.
I'm saying "oh, ok. We don't need to worry about +/-5 Vit if not worlds first progging. So I don't need to phantasia from a Lala to be a viable BLM. Phew..."

Originally Posted by Myon88

The situation in Stormblood was a little different. The raid weapons were a whole weapon damage point lower than intended resulting in them having the exact same weapon damage as upgraded tome weapons, quite a bit more serious than simply having the correct amount of less desirable substats. To my knowledge, they have never changed the stats on properly budgeted items to deliberately nudge them into best in slot status.

Half true. The stats are algorithmically determined. We knew going in that the weapon damage on those weapons would be the same, because that's what the weapon damage formulas for those weapon levels were. This was not a mistake, it was 100% intentional. The outcome was not intentional. Then they just added a weapon damage to those pieces and, shock and horror, melee ruled that tier about as much as you'd expect a group of people with an extra weapon damage to rule.

Similarly, in this case, we knew the weapon would only have one weapon damage and 2 int over the tome weapon going in. We talked about how this MIGHT be a problem, but how it was unlikely. Well, unlikely enough, this is a problem. It was 100% intentional. I hope the outcome, which is what we are currently experiencing, is not intentional as well. It certainly is less of a big deal to adjust secondary stats than it is to give a free bonus weapon damage.