Quote Originally Posted by Theodric_Thorne View Post
Tenka Goken is not an auto-crit, neither is the Kaeshi version of it. Ogi Namikiri and Midare (along with their Kaeshi counterparts) are the only guaranteed crit abilities for SAM.

Also, quoting directly from the patch notes: "When under an effect that increases the chance to land a critical hit or direct hit, actions that are guaranteed to land a critical hit or direct hit will now deal increased damage. When executing actions that are guaranteed to land a critical hit or direct hit, they will now deal increased damage based on the direct hit rate and critical hit rate attributes."

Guaranteed critical hit abilities did not always derive additional damage from these stats, this was a change added in 6.2. So we should notice some kind of difference whether we're practicing on a dummy or in a party with external crit buffs. But Midare still hits like a wet noodle compared to how it was before Kaiten got axed. I don't really care whether SAM is topping DPS charts relative to other jobs because I don't look at them, I only look at my own numbers and see that SAM used to have amazing spikes of damage that made these big abilities feel like they were worth the time they took to build up to. And now it doesn't.
So essentially SAM got nerfed when not paired with jobs like BRD or SCH that increase crit or DH. Just like BRD and MCH/DRG had to always be paired together in the past for piercing debuff, or tanks with WAR/NIN for slashing debuff.