Most Important Stat

[Hiroshima]

Okay, in this poll when you vote you BETTER give a reason why you thought so. thank you.




Magic gets my vote due to the fact that its required to heal HP (aside from Tenting of course but im mainly talking about Battle-wise for this poll) as well, all classes have it for their skills.




[NOTE] if your reason is the same thing as what someone else put, just say that they already said it, or quote it and agree. [NOTE]

[Kyou]

Without HP, your dead

Hp is the most important because if you dont have 1hp, you can't do anything, therefore it IS the most important stat,

Unless this poll means what is the most important stat to add to when lvling, which seems to be the way most people are voting =P

[Sandlight]

more strength = more power = more killing
enough said

for meleers, of course

[estoque]

Well being a BB and speaking for bb's in the game i think. Of course it would be str.... but then again every class would have a different view.

[lym]

Willpower : Mostly because it determines the strength of your magic. No real mage would chose anything else, HP is also a good option but , honestly in my opinion, I'd rather kill things faster with more damage than slower and risk being annihilated.

[tenku]

Strength and Willpower, for melee and casters respectively. HP is "alright" but only worth upping on fighter, in my opinion.

[talon]

Believe it or not, but I would think vitality is one of the more important ones. Regardless of whether you're wearing a robe or platemail, a huge chunk of your defense comes from that very stat, and it is widely used more between all classes, and not just specifically mage or melee.

[Taterz]

i voted health...because without it, you are dead.

strength helps to make you kill enemies faster. the faster you kill, the slower they can kill you. however, without good agility, they will most likely go before you and wipe you out. unless you have good vitality, which will lessen the damage they do to you. of course, you need some dexterity to be able to hit the mob for anything worthwhile. in the event you do get hit, magic damage being unavoidable whatsoever, you need some way to replenish that lost hp, hence we have magic.

well, aside from looking at how things work, lets examine each stat on their own.

strength: sure, plenty of this guy makes you hit like the hulk. we are nowhere near his size, and that makes things harder to hit. the harder we hit, the harder it becomes to be able to hit.

health: this guy is probably the most important. with none left, we're dead. however, too much and we lose out on other things. what good is being able to take a hit when the enemy takes 50% of your life in one hit?

magic: useful to take down enemies and heal allies. problem: a class cannot use both forms with equal skill/efficiency. most mages do not even touch this stat. the faster you kill, the faster you live, correct? however, too much mp and your damage will begin to lack. made up for with excess mp, but lost in terms of time. besides, a mage with balanced mp/willpower will lose out on significant bonuses, such as agility or heck, even some defense.

vitality: this sexy little beast is never touched. this is the single most important stat in terms of handling hits like a champ. the only drawback is that magic ignores this guy. and enemies like to use magic. a lot. so much. too much of this guy, and the melee (assuming a mage never will touch this) will lose in the damage area, shrinking his e-penis to incredibly small proportions.

agility: this guy's pretty sweet, if ya ask me. helping us to go before everyone else, its only true shine is non-ambushes with a runwh*re. yep, thats about it. and maybe the good whitemages that take advantage of this (like rico, and my own...which never got very far due to boredom/lack of interest). anyhow, too much of this guy and you become susceptible to weak hits (coughcough).

dexterity: until this stat becomes used for a skill (such as increasing the strength of backstab), then this is pretty much useless. average growth rate is so much more than enough to hit consistantly, even with the heavy weapons. too much of this guy and you'll be hitting ghosts 95% of the time...for 5 damage.

willpower: the final stat everyone and their mother wants. every mage goes overboard with this, i think. they feel they need to hit big numbers. they lack the mp to do it consistantly. the problem is this: they think that most fights will last about 3 rounds. problem is, until you are like 10 levels above the area, this will not hold true. the mp supply drains fast with spells like psychostorm, or hell, even ice 1-3 (when the said mage is the only area attacker in terms of magic). too much willpower gives bang, but is about as fuel efficient as a ford escalade....that weighs 7 tons....and has shitty rim spinners


yea...thats why i voted health

[Rapta111]

Health definately... No health = No life.

[Sarm]

lym said:

Willpower : Mostly because it determines the strength of your magic. No real mage would chose anything else.

I take offense to that. I have a Blue, Black, and White Mage that ALL focus on MP just for the heck of it. Yes, my magic doesn't have as much of a punch but it's really not as bad as someone would think.

For example, using a spell a monster is weak against will still cut off a good chunk of health whether you focus on Will or not. Also, roughly half of the spells in the game don't even touch Will at all - those happen to be my favorite spells anyway. As a BlueMage mostly, I hardly USE Will.

My WhiteMage's curing does suck a bit. However, I make up for it by having the option to go spamtastic with the very costly spells (HealStorm, Fast2, and anything else I'll learn). I've still helped to keep the heads of parties above water even with only 3 Will a level. Not only that, but LightStorm doesn't really do less damage than the equivelant Harm so my area attack is actually better than an equal level Ice.

BlackMage. This is the one that you'd expect would fail with an anything-but-Will build but I haven't had much of a problem at all. Like BlueMage, my attack magic does lack a bit of punch. However, most of the meleers I party with aren't taking out those large monsters in one hit either so the lost damage hasn't contributed to anything significant. Besides, I'll still get access to Boost and Barrier anyway (my most called-upon spells when I used the BlueMage) so I can still carry my weight anyway. Someone else is making a Pure MP BlackMage already (I believe he's even farther in it than I am) and he's enjoying it too.



Anyway...

I don't think this poll does much. Your most important stat is determined by the role you play in the party. Obviously most people will go for Strength and Will because those are the two stats that have the most visible impact (Willpower especially, since you can actually count up the damage spells will do). That's what makes them the most-whored stats from what I've seen.
That's not exactly a bad thing, either. Playing on one's strengths is usually what makes the most potent character.

If this poll was made in mind to see what stat ought to be nerfed, it won't change anything. People will still go with the stat build they want to see with their character.

[Kyou]

I voted hp, cuz lets face it, it is the most important (Yea Double post I know) but I rarely add to it, *even tho I have with my thief and bluey for the hell of it.*

Then I think vit is the second most important stat, cuz, *as Firestarter is a very clear example of this* it totally Pwns

Then Agi, cuz it tottaly Pwns too

I guess I think like that becuase of my defensive mindset/battle style meh. *so if we could vote 3 times those would be it for me*

[Hiroshima]

im was hoping the community would not do what i was afraid it would, i feared putting HP in there would give it an auto lead, now, seriously, aside from the idiotic (no HP = dead) crap your all giving HP isnt that important. yea you need it to live but still, how many people put it into their builds? not many, therefore its a not-so-important stat, granted, in battle you need to have good HP BUT if you have low MP or low WP or low Vit, your boned no matter how much HP you have. HP isnt at all that important. *sigh* cant im surprised though.

Anyway...

I don't think this poll does much. Your most important stat is determined by the role you play in the party. Obviously most people will go for Strength and Will because those are the two stats that have the most visible impact (Willpower especially, since you can actually count up the damage spells will do). That's what makes them the most-wh*red stats from what I've seen.
That's not exactly a bad thing, either. Playing on one's strengths is usually what makes the most potent character.

If this poll was made in mind to see what stat ought to be nerfed, it won't change anything. People will still go with the stat build they want to see with their character.

i mean as a whole in the game, unfortunately a lot of people seemed to base it off their character, sorry for thinking the community would show intelligence and understand a question, as well, this was not made so that we could nerf stats, if that were so, either 1) we wouldnt ask, 2) it would be mention, the idea was so that people answered how they felt based on what they've seen in the game.

[EDIT] On a side note, i didnt request for your personal opinions on whether or not this poll was relevent in your opinion or what, keep those comments and thoughts to yourself, got it? i dont appreciate hearing "this poll is pointless" okay? glad to make it clear.[EDIT]

[Sarm]

I heard a comment in-game about BlackMages needing to get nerfed. Doing something with their Willpower just made sense to me. A poll like this, I imagine, would really be an effective way of gathering player opinions on what might need to be balanced, so it wasn't a far leap in my head.

I don't know how to respond in regards to your general worry of including HP as a stat. I thought the "No HP = dead" reasons were eye-rollers too, but don't act as though your choice to include it was poor because of it.

Anyway, why wouldn't people base their choices off of their character? That's where they're actually excersizing their opinions of their most important stat anyway. If you were hoping that a predominantly mage-player would come in and say something like "I think Dexterity is the most important stat because..." you really shouldn't expect a proper answer.

Here are my reasons why boosting HP would be good.

1) It's really the best way for classes to "resist" magic. With the frequency of magic later in the game, Vit starts to lose ground so it makes for a good replacement.
2) As I said before with the "playing to one's strengths" comment, a class that gains decent HP (not just Fighter) would see some nice improvement with focusing as well. Knights get 3 Vit and the best armor, so with some decent leveling they may not even need to boost Vit.
3) Red/BlueMage would benefit from it as well. They both gain +3 Agi per level, and last I checked that helps reduce damage in its own way by avoiding attacks. Dropping at least one HP per level serves to give them Knightlike natural HP growth, and since a mage's downfall is usually with melee, they need all the HP they can get. Not only that, but unlike White/Black Mages they don't get elemental resistances, so magic damage to them is even more dangerous than any melee class.

If something doesn't sound right, point something out so I can try to go into more detail.
(Removed the accusatory material)

[areon]

In all my characters I have made I have gotten atleast 3 agililty a lvl from natural growth and focusing because I like to go faster. My old bluey didn't need wp pure for the reasons Sarm has stated over and over, now my BB hits without a dex bonus and only 1 str focus a lvl gives me enough damage, and without armor yes a BB could focus VIT to lower damage but I love being able to dodge fire dragons. I'm surprised how much people don't like this stat, but I find it to be more useful across the board when making chars than just pure building for damage ratings.

[Taterz]

i'm pretty sure somewhere i wall of text'd

do i need to reiterate, hiro? each stat is useless on its own. every stat revolves around each other stat. all in all, it boils down to one thing: the amount of hp you have. i don't care if i have never put any points into it, that does not mean my argument has no base. after seeing titans and my lack of instant kill moves that every class except ranger seems to get, i find no value in placing points into hp or vit. hp for a ranger would be huge, when adding in beevar

there are drawbacks, and i prefer to work on my strengths more than my weaknesses. i mean, who actually depends on their weaknesses? i'm not your backup magician to cast spells in place of a blackmage, because i simply cannot match them. every class seems to focus on AoE, which i dont have. pure str is really the only thing working for me.

how about a pure hp ranger? sure i could last lifetimes in battles, just look at how long i can last without ever touching hp (thank you beevar). but what would i give to the party? the most important stat is dependent upon your party. while alone, hp is a very big concern since you take every single hit. in parties, this is somewhat the same, only you arent hit as often.

Magic gets my vote due to the fact that its required to heal HP (aside from Tenting of course but im mainly talking about Battle-wise for this poll) as well, all classes have it for their skills.

right here you basically voted for hp, since you claim mp is needed to keep it up.


really now, which direction is this thread goin anyways?

[Kyou]

To be fair, you didn't say "which stat is the most important, when using level ups." just the most important, Thus HP is the most important ;D

[tenku]

I'd take HP over VIT anyday. For the sole fact that VIT does nothing vs. magic attacks, HP can at least absorb the magic damage.

Also physical attacks can be avoided obviously, which takes priority off of VIT, and puts it on having more HP to withstand more all-around damage.

[U. Dye]

I voted for HP because, as was probably said before (I haven't read this whole thread yet), when you're dealing with something using high-level magic, Vit, good armor, and all the Str in the world may not save you. This especially holds true for melee classes, whose only method of healing when no mages are present is their Defend & Rest command(except for the BB, which has Mantra). Even while defending, though, magic still breaks right through their heightened defense and does about the same amount of damage. With higher HP, each defense will heal more, and the defender may actually be able to heal faster than the attacker can dish out damage.

Mages, on the other hand, have magic and can heal themselves for vast amounts in a single round. While some develop high resistance to certain elements, certain spells such as Drain and DarkFire can still dish out some pain with great efficiency. Being able to survive that extra round to heal can mean the difference between winning the ambush(if you're losing a regular fight, you should have the sense to frickin' run the hell away) or getting whacked and losing 1/3 of the money on hand(which, when you spend a long time in places like Mona, can really add up to a lot).

[Hiroshima]

1) Sarm - i did not mean to 'finger-point' as you say and i therefore apologize if thats how you took it
2)as much as i shouldnt be making excuses i've been having a lot of issues at home, very stressfull as well as other personal matters so i apologize to anyone else who may have taken offense to that and apologize ahead of time for anything in game (these issues dont help with my Borederline ADD/Bi polar/OCD so yea, sorry)
3)Tatsuo - i voted for MP, i mentioned that Health is important and that MP keeps it up but i also mentioned it to use skills multiple times, HP was not the one and only thing i said.
4)I may not be around the forums or game for quite some time in the next few days/weeks.

[estoque]

Lol its funny how nobosy voted for dex even though it can be very important due to the fact it affects ur weapon statistics.

[Delwarren]

dex + black belt + how many hits Black belts get = more overall damage = pwns STR anyday. (me personally, i would go for a balanced build, 3 in each stat.)


... and becuase someone said it wasnt voted for.



Old man Dorn.

/we Dodges!

[Sarm]

Last I heard, Dex only affects the first hit. All hits from that point on are completely random.

[Poolyxpop]

I'd have to assume that'd be the case, Sarm ... Or there'd end up being like, "Hit 1: dmg, Hit 2: dmg" etc. and that'd be annoying :x

[talon]

I do not know exactly what determines number of hits yet, but dexterity does not help you cause more hits. It only affects the first hit. Then after that, it is increased to at least half of maximum, with a 20% damage base of the first hit to calculate the damage for the 2nd, 3rd, and thereof.

[just2slick4u]

everyone knows its all about the HP, for both mage and melee type, without decent HP, most meleers are magic turds begging for life 2, and the mages without barrier/forcefield/shield are pretty much done for, or stuck curing/draining for the rest of the match trying to stay alive, more HP, more survival time, unless your a fighter, lol, no offense to you guys though...

[SmellyCrap]

HP, even with uber vit and armour, a crit can take you out if you're unlucky.

[Sarm]

This topic has inspired me to move past my gimmick Pure MP mage build and explore a few of the other stats in more depth. Excepting HP, the prevailing stats just seem to Str and Will that anyone ever cares about.

I realize a few of my builds range from awkward to downright stupid, but this is for fun just as much as experimentation.

Fighter - Pure Vit
Knight - Pure Agi
Thief - Pure Dex
Dragoon - (Undecided)
BlackBelt - Pure Str
Ranger - Pure HP
Mages - Pure MP

Fighter - I'm using him as I type this. I ran out of Dainan with absolutely no equipment whatsoever and it feels like I'm wearing some light armor already. This one might be fun, since their +3 Str/Dex should allow me to do okay damage, coupled with WarCry for a portable Boost1 effect.

Knight - He's my runwh*re! Can you believe it? His natural Vit and the armor I bought him suits him fine and again with the +3 Str, but I at least have Slash to help with accuracy. It helps that it costs no MP to use if it misses. People have voiced their concerns about my possible inability to use Retort if I cannot be hit. I was never fond of the random chance thing for Retort, but I'd lie if I said it hasn't crossed my mind.

Thief - I haven't tried him yet, so I'll be speaking from speculation. I'm sure this guy will be hell to play. Yes, I know they get +4 Dex already. To be honest, that's the point. This class may make me cry.

Dragoon - This one I'm having difficulty thinking about. I've picked my other classes to all focus on a stat of their own (and the mages all for MP, since I'm sure almost every focuses mostly on Will). I'm afraid I may just go pure Str with this. Agi crossed my mind, but if I jump a lot that becomes a moot point since I'll attack last anyway.

BlackBelt - You're probably saying "Huh? That's not a gimmick class. Try Will". BBs only get two skills with touch Will, and with a melee's natural low MP...it can't be an option. I picked this because 1) I need a serious build SOMEWHERE and 2) I've actually heard a number of people voice a distaste for Str. It made me curious (I might go with Agi though in the end).

Ranger - I've had a lot of fun with this guy. A few people got confused because "Give Fighters HP for 20 per level!". With a Fox morph, I effectively get 21 per level with a bit more evasion. This one's to see just how high I can go. I look forward to Cougar and Bear.

Mages - I've done this with BlueMage, BlackMage and WhiteMage already. This was my way of petitioning against people who claimed that all mages ever needed was Willpower. The kicker is that while admitting my magic attack is less than steller, it hasn't seriously been enough to harm any party I've been in! Not to mention I get to play with stat spells a lot more often. I will eventually do this with RedMage, if they get boosted a bit in the update. Whether they do or not determines how quickly I start this build.



So what are everyone's opinions on my decisions? For the most part, I don't plan on changing my mind (except where I noted otherwise) but I'd like to hear input on what people are thinking anyway. Wish me luck with my personal class challenge.

[areon]

I thought of making an all hp ranger, it seems like a good idea to me atleast. There are already a lot of pure str bbs though. I don't know about the rest.

[Kyou]

I have yet to see a pure vit BB, that would be interesting.

[Rowan]

It's nice to know I'm not the only one with a pure agi Knight.
Hooray for experimentation!