Question about Vitality and Defense

[arctic]

I've been told that 2 Vit = 1 Defense, and I've tested this out using a Vit+2 ring, and it's held true.

My question is, is the Vitality stat used in any other way other than defense?

And if not, then that opens up a few issues.

Issue A.
If 2 Vit = 1 Defense, and nothing else, then why are Vit +2 rings so expensive, while Leather Rings (1 Defense) so cheap? Both have the same effect, right? Leather rings are much, much cheaper though.

Issue B.

This pertains to all stats. I've heard that the breakdown is something like this:
2 Agi = 1 Evasion
2 Dex = 1 Accuracy
2 Str = 1 Attack
2 Vit = 1 Defense

So, items that give +Stat are worse off then items that give +Eva, Accuracy, Atk, and Def.

I'd enjoy somebody else taking a look at this, and either confirming I'm right on either both or one of this issues, or that I'm wrong on both or one of the issues.

Thank you.

[Trimpton]

Yes, you are correct

Defense is better than getting +1 vit because 1def=2vit...

However there is another factor that is not known to me. Such as the conversion of 2agi = Ranged accuracy but it also affects evasion. So there is a bonous to have agi too... I dont know what else vit affects. If anyone knows please post ^^

[Loial]

I'd venture to say that the simple vit to defense relationship is more complicated.

Simple experiment I tried out was this:

Warriors at the same level and same sub (war/mnk) different race (hume and galka). The Galka removed about 20def worth of gear and equipped vit+8 worth of items. Galka vit was now 15 points higher than the humes. However, the hume had about 15 more defense. Dmg received by the hume was still slightly higher than the Galka (checked by cycling aggro between them, so the possibility of different mob levels is taken out; also, no debuffs were used). The average dmg received by the hume was only 1 or 2 dmg more per hit. The hume then received a Protect II which the Galka did not have. At this point, the hume was receiving about 1-2 points less dmg per hit (on average.. .and disregarding crits).

It has been mentioned in many places that there is a check of mob str vs. your vit as well as mob atk vs. your def.

It's harder to run an "experiment" of the effect of str vs. atk. From my own experience, I had about +20 atk gear handy, dropped all the gear in battle and the dmg difference seemed relatively minimal.

On a side note, has anyone found a way to record your chat log into a file? It is very crude to do this kind of experiment by scratching the numbers into a notepad rather than have the log intact to review later. It also makes it less accurate.

[imac2much]

This argument has been analyzed ad nauseum in the Paladin forums. Here is one such thread that talks about it, and is a sticky:
http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/sho...threadid=31637

The damage formula has been theorized by many japanese players, and the link to this formula is provided in that thread. Basically, there are 2 checks in damage mitigation: STR<->VIT and DEF<->ATK. The DEF check is the form of an exponential curve... after you hit a certain threshold (generally when your DEF equals the monster's ATK), you will notice diminishing returns from any extra defense you gain. VIT on the other hand functions on a linear plot, and will always decrease the same amount of damage regardless of how much you have (and the STR-VIT check can be negative).

So the basic understanding is this: at early levels, DEF offers more differences, mainly because so many job abilities and spells and foods increases DEF by a percentage. At later levels, when you have too much defense, VIT will make a bigger difference. With just P4 and fish mithkabobs I have around 470 defense... with defender this is around 570 and with sentinel around 600... I hardly see any difference when I use defender or sentinel. This means I already hit the threshold for the DEF-ATK check, so at higher levels VIT is more important. I have around 74+20 VIT by the way, and it makes a big difference... I was taking 20 less damage per hit or so than a hume PLD my level with worse equipment.

Every base stat offers more than just the basic 2 (base stat) = 1 (derivative stat). For example, AGI also decreases chance of you getting crit by monster, increases RNG ACC, and supposedly increases parry/shield rate *slightly*. However, much of these stats are overrated, i.e. evasion. Evasion means almost nothing, and AGI won't help you if you're trying to make an evasive character against IT mobs. With my earrings I get a +30 evasion bonus when blinded, and I notice absolutely no difference.

But other derivative stats have much more immediate and noticeable returns. Accuracy and attack both affect how you "con" a mob... i.e. whether it has high defense/evasion or low defense/evasion or neither. These checks mean more than just evaluating the enemy... whether it has high, normal, or low defense will affect your base damage before the random values are added/subtracted. I assume accuracy is affected similarly.

One more reason why +atk is more important is that there are several job ablities and food that increase it by a percentage. Also, you will never hit the damage cap against an IT mob in an XP PT. So even though a 20 attack difference might not make much of a difference at first, add that to meat mithkabobs and warcry and berserk and last resort, etc etc, and that 20 becomes a 30-40 point difference... if you catch my drift.