Opinions on + Evasion items

[Susano]

Just hit 30 a few days ago and am thinking about outfitting myself with some + Evasion items. Looking to see if anyone can think of any disadvantages to this.

It seems like a good idea to avoid damage as well as mitigate it, and being elvaan I have higher vit and lower agi, so I'm going for +agi, +evasion gear. Could this result is lower hate due to not being hit often enough to heal for agro? It's my understanding that you gain the most hate by the amount heal, not the spell cast, meaning, if I have only 30 hp to heal, cure 2 won't generate as much hate as it would if I were missing 90 hp.

Right now I am looking at getting a Holy Phial, 2 Dodge Earrings, and I have already gotten a Nomads Mantle....this is all pretty costly and want to make sure I am making a good decision.

Let me know what you think.

[foobar]

When faced with a similar problem, I looked for some info on the subject but couldn't find anything reliable so I just took a look at a bunch of high level PLDs in Jeuno. Many were wearing drone earrings (lvl 35, +3 agi) and not just Elvaan but Humes too. If they're too expensive for you, you can always fall back on wing earrings (lvl 35, +2 agi).
While I'd love to say I'm losing agro because I don't get hit enough, truth is I still take a beating every fight. You'll be fine.

[Narru]

>> While I'd love to say I'm losing agro because I don't get hit enough <<

Actually you loose agro as the monster's hitting you. Let's say in a fight a BLM nukes one spell, then the WAR uses provoke. If both players do absolutely nothing from then on, the monster will keep hitting the WAR up to a point, then switch back to the BLM.

Thus you actually are "keeping agro" if you're NOT getting hit, moreso than if it was pounding on you.

[imac2much]

For a PLD, AGI is good, VIT is better.

Most PLD wear drone earrings because there is really nothing better for the relatively similar cost. If there were VIT+3 earrings as cheap as drone earrings, you better believe that all PLD's would be wearing those. IT monsters you fight in XP PT won't really miss too often thanks to their high accuracy, but with Flash they will miss a good 3 hits or so. In these instances Drone Earrings help... but not insanely important. You will block with shield/parry with weapon more often than you dodge (not counting flash spell).

As for back, there IS better, so I wouldn't choose the nomads... get Wolf Mantle+1 at lower levels, then switch to Earth Mantle (what I'm wearing). At level 58 I plan to get Beak Mantle+1.

To be honest, I don't even use drone earrings, I use black earrings (because I am Galka). 6 AGI is very nice, but in terms of dodging it is only 3 evasion. Not a terribly big deal.

However, some people in game have been telling me they think that AGI also affects the rate which monsters critical hit you. So I bought some drone earrings a few weeks ago to see how much of a difference it made... well, not much. Granted, it's a very hard thing to test, but I switched them back and forth in one of my XP PT in QSC and noticed nary a difference. Ah well, for a non-galka there's nothing better to put in those slots.

[foobar]

Narru, I didn't explain myself correctly. I meant to answer Susano's concern regarding being able to heal yourself.
My point was that a +6 agi bonus, although nice, will not stop you from getting hit. Like mac said, some people believe agility, besides raising evation (2:1 ratio) also lowers the chance of a critical hit which is why I wear them but as stated before, if presented with the choice of a +VIT or +DEF item instead, I would switch in a heartbeat.

[Susano]

If Drone earrings are +3 agi, then wouldn't the Dodge earrings be better. It's my understanding that +1 Evasion = +2 Ai.....so in effect, the Dodge earrings are +6 AGI each.

Anyone else have any more ideas on what AGI does aside from Evasion? I see someone mentioned about crit hits, but I have also heard that Crits (taken and given) are dependant on DEX.

As for the Nomads Mantle, already purchased one. I chose it over the wolf mantle +1 because the +AGI and +Evasion seemed to be more worthwhile right now than the added resists and the +3 Def. I am farming easy prey tigers and I figure, they don't cast, they miss me a lot, and I can make enough to get the wolf mantle if I really want to using the bonuses I have on the Nomads.

Thanks for all the replies.

[shock~moredheL]

Dex affects Crit Dmg and not Rate. It’s proven by seeing how many crits Mithra do with Huge Dex does compared to an Elvaan with low dex, no dex items or foods does. They do the about the same. Also AGI does affect how many crits are done to YOU. So its great for PLD's because they don't want to take crit dmg AND also want to evade. As for eva = 2agi that’s not true because the conversion doesn't work like that. 2AGI = 1EVA and that’s all not the other way around.

***EDIT***
I forgot to add. 2 AGI = 1 Range - Acc

I hope this helps you.