ShadowedgeFFXI wrote:
Are you saying that because GLD has more def and a shield that STR is more useful for tanking purposes? I did some minor testing during Phase 3. I could of sworn 1 VIT= 1 DEF just like 1 STR= 1 ATK. You could be right though. I only was able to find my attribute tests for str/dex/vit etc between races, not the ATK/DEF totals.
Nope VIT is purely for health (like PIE is purely for mana). It's actually explained in the beta manual that it doesn't increase defense.
There's been a lot of tests based on what formulas people have been able to figure out (like how Shield Lob/Savage combos are 3.0 modifiers on enmity and Rage of Halore is 5.0 modifier, and that Shield Oath is a passive 2.0 modifier that's applies at the end of the threat calculation. It's even been mathed out based on attack returns, threat returns, and VIT gains through gear (and how much it's worth at level 50 on P3 characters) that it's still flat out better to dump every single point into STR for Gladiator/Paladin.
The percentage of mitigation you gain via 30 points of STR ends up outweighing the 30 points of VIT you gain in health in terms of effectiveness -- and this is even before the added attack power and threat capabilities. Plus, Sword Oath (for when you don't NEED the ridiculous threat from Shield Oath) has been increased from 25 AA bonus to 50 AA bonus.
The post linked below (from FrozenSherbert) shows only the percentage gained per point of STR, but it doesn't show how that % change reflects on your total health (effect health). Health/HP/VIT is
only as useful as it is to prevent you from being 3-shot from normal swings/abilities and one-shot from
really hard hitting ones (Hellfire, for instance). Beyond those two points health does
nothing for you as a serious tank and mitigation is where it matters.
More health is an e-peen and psychological benefit only. It doesn't help you past the point of surviving. STR boosts your mitigation, (that 1% has more effects on your survival than most people realize when RNG is in effect) and helps (even if a tiny bit) push your personal damage higher to get a fight over with sooner. If you are surviving in between a casted healing spell consistenting and not dying immediately after a big hit those points in VIT are utterly wasted and sitting there doing absolutely nothing for you.
You even see this in gear swap happy FFXI. What was more important for a tank? To put on all that +HP gear or to put on gear that mitigated damage as much as possible? Effective. Health.
The regen gained through VIT is a moot point and not even worth seriously considering: you're in a group and you're going to get healed. The chances of that extra 2-3 a tick saving your life is so astronomically low that it's embarrassing to even list that as a reason to dump points into VIT.
Quote:
It's taken down now due to a request from S-E, but there were traits not yet translated on xivdb.com. I know somewhere I saw something about an INT/MND swap and it wasn't from cleric stance.
ShadowedgeFFXI wrote:
I've found many abilities for those classes on various sites, but nothing in regards to SMN or SCH traits beyond Arcanist of course. Cleric stance doesn't look like ARC and the 2 jobs can use it so I hope you're right.
BG still had the static text listed from earlier and it showed that *SCHOLAR* (and not Arcanist OR Summoner) were granted access to Cleric Stance (and that THM and BLM lost access to it), and I definitely remember seeing that on the changes before reversal on xivdb.com since it was one of the very few exceptions where a job was mentioned on a cross class ability and not the base class itself.
Therefore, based on that, I'd dump all the points into MND and then switch to Cleric Stance when needing to nuke. MP's easier to get and deal with versus raw stats plus the return of healing potency per point of MND is fairly noticeable.
while the gear lists it as PGL. 