Hats

[WishMaster3K]

Ok first and foremost- Our AF hat rocks. Probably only second to our Relic Hat.

So with that said, what are the other options and the scenarios?

This is what I feel.

http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Image:WiseCap.jpg
Maybe if you have a lof of skill already and you want accuracy. But you can never have too much skill, right? Isn't the equation that 1 skill equals 1 Accuracy, plus potency anyway? So I see this only being used for Dark Magic. Or if all the skill in the world wont help our abysmal nukage :(

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/ffxi/images/6/60/Elite_Beret.JPG
I still use this but I'm having my doubts. It's cheap. And it's better than nothing.

http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/ffxi/images/f/f3/Ogremask.jpg
:-D Melee macro in! Phails in comparison to the Optical Hat though, but I don't have an O-Hat. :(

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/ffxi/images/4/4b/Walahraturban.jpg
Easiest piece of Haste gear to get. Some haste is better than no haste. Funnily enough, the recast reduction offered by this and the AF1 hat are the same, except the AF1 hat also has the benefit of increasing cast time and raising Elemental skill. So I only use this for TP building.

More to come later. Sorry, my hat choice is limited. I already know that pieces like the OHat and the Duelists are supreme, but this might be a compendium for people who are limited to AHs and solo/duo/trio-able NMs

[Taskmage]

http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Red_Mage:_Endgame_Gear_Guide#Head_Slot

[Yellow Mage]

http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Red_Mage:_Endgame_Gear_Guide#Head_Slot

My thoughts exactly.

[WishMaster3K]

WHERE THE-

Didn't know that existed. Thanks TM.

[Karinya]

I think OHat is kinda pointless for rdm. If you need +accuracy to hit it you need +attack to do decent damage to it, and probably shouldn't be meleeing it in the first place. If you're meleeing low toughs or lower, you don't need the acc and you're better off with w.turban, ogre mask, or just keeping on d.chapeau for the 1/tick refresh.

You left out crimson mask - nice if you don't have d.chapeau, but unfortunately even harder to get.

[Sabaron]

I think OHat is kinda pointless for rdm. If you need +accuracy to hit it you need +attack to do decent damage to it, and probably shouldn't be meleeing it in the first place....

I can't agree with that statement. How is it pointless to increase your damage output by 5%? Everyone needs accuracy to hit things, not just Red Mages--are you suggesting that everyone else is already capped on accuracy out of the starting gate and this piece of gear should be tossed on the ground in favor of something that has +Attack? It's probably the single best melee dd headpiece in the game as evidenced by its popularity. Why wouldn't RDM want it too? If a SAM needs +Acc at 75 then so does a RDM ;)

[Karinya]

A SAM needs acc at 75 because he's trying to melee gods, endgame zone mobs (Dynamis, etc.), or at least exp mobs. If a RDM is meleeing at all it better be on lower level (and thus lower eva) mobs. A SAM doesn't need acc to hit those mobs either. :)

Ohat doesn't increase your damage output by 5%; that's W.Turban. It also isn't the most popular dd headpiece; that's also W.Turban. (Although popularity has a lot to do with ease of obtaining, too. Ace's Helm isn't very popular because only the people who have it wear it; that doesn't mean it isn't damn good.)

Ohat has its place, certainly - for jobs that regularly melee ITs and HNMs. But against the kinds of targets where it's reasonable for a RDM to melee, it isn't necessary and doesn't compare well to other options. Similarly pahluwan body (or SH) vs. AJ, life belt vs. swordbelt, etc.

(There are exceptions to the above: for example, if you're trying to build up tp for a spirits within to be used on some boss, ohat will help you do it slightly faster, although even then it might lose to w.turban. But as soon as you fire off that spirits you'll probably be changing to casting gear and not meleeing the boss itself.)

[Sabaron]

...Ohat doesn't increase your damage output by 5%; that's W.Turban...

If you reference the lovely thread on accuracy v. hit rate, you will find that unless your accuracy is at 91-95% then O-hat's +10 Accuracy will, indeed, increase your hit rate by 5%, effectively killing 5% faster.

Walarha Turban uses haste which makes it exponentially better, though since RDM always has Haste on when soloing.

20/100*60 = 12 DPS
20/75*60 = 16 DPS
20/70*60 = 17.14 DPS

With Haste on already, 17.14/16 = 1.071 or roughly 7% better damage output, so the Walarha Turban is better than the O-hat.

If Accuracy is linear... why would anyone wear O-hat for any reason (other than for Ranged Accuracy)?

[Karinya]

Well, the obvious reasons would be: they're level 70-74, or they don't have enough standing for W.turban, or they expect to benefit from Eva as well as Acc (nin, soloing thf/nin), or they already have as much haste gear as it is possible to have.

[Yellow Mage]

http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Red_Mage:_Endgame_Gear_Guide#Head_Slot

I'm quoting this again because I'm addressing TM, and this is a thread about Hats.

. . . :evil:

[Sabaron]

Well, the obvious reasons would be: they're level 70-74, or they don't have enough standing for W.turban, or they expect to benefit from Eva as well as Acc (nin, soloing thf/nin), or they already have as much haste gear as it is possible to have.

So the only reason a 75RDM would wear O-Hat would be for the Evasion. Wondrous. That means that your assertion that RDM shouldn't wear O-Hat because if they need Accuracy they shouldn't be fighting is flawed because they wouldn't wear it for the accuracy. They'd wear it for the Evasion.

[Karinya]

Hmm, I don't think I've ever seen a rdm intentionally wear an evasion setup. It might indeed be useful for that. (Maybe in combination with Blind II, on some mob that isn't that accurate to start with... Charybdis?)

Normally when I'm soloing xzomits or whatever on rdm, I have plenty of endurance and just want to kill stuff faster, so I focus on attack; but I guess it depends on what you're fighting and with what tactics. (Attack won't help if you're sleep/bind/nuking Ose - although there you'd want af and relic hats anyway.)