SAM 70+ Gear

Well since you've offered some constructive advice I'll resend my previous statements.

Here's a few of my hangups:

1) I can't see myself using gear that gives + double atk because I really don't like using /WAR, and without the initial 10%, I couldn't possibly justify using gear like that.

2) My sub of choice is /THF because any WS I do tends to get the mob's attention. Even in campaign with 20+ ppl hitting it, I'm the one it's mad at. I could explain to you why I don't do campaign as /DNC at a later time. /THF gives me the base evasion of THF main (I think) which goes a long way in keeping me alive until Third Eye is back up. When I use Hauby it negates the evasion bonus, so I generally only switch it in when I'm up against something with astronomical evasion, although I keep Relic helm and belt for the same purpose.

3) I don't camp NMs. Waiting 2+ hours for something that may or may not spawn which my group may or may not claim to fight something we may or may not kill to get an item that may or may not drop and I may or may not get the lot on is about the farthest thing from fun I can think of. Popped NMs are a different story, but I sacrificed my social life to dynamis for quite a while to get a full set of relic armor, and getting back into endgame is still fairly low on my "to do" list.

All that aside how do you suggest I macro so many pieces of gear in and back out?

PS - I've been playing SAM for years and got my Hagun back before it was a bandwagon job and it was only 1.2 mil-ish.

I have two macros for each gear set. One for the 5 "blinky" parts, and once for up to 6 "other parts". Since my Rajas and Bushi never move, that basically allows for change of Ear1, Ring1, Waist, Neck, and Back, and I usually toss Ring2 in there just because.

Example:

Macro tpE1 (TP-Evasion):

/equip head "Optical Hat"
/equip body "Askar Korazin"
/equip hands "Rasetsu Tekko"
/equip legs "Byakko's Haidate"
/equip feet "Hmn. Sune-Ate"

Macro tpE2 (TP-Evasion):

/equip ear1 "Evasion Earring" (BTW, this is way better than Elusive, don't let anyone tell you otherwise)
/equip ring1 "Ulthalam's Ring"
/equip waist "Potent Belt" (yeah, I could get evasion here, but I don't want to throw all Accuracy out the door)
/equip neck "Evasion Torque"
/equip back "Boxer's Mantle" (This thing is made of solid win. If you solo a lot, get one)
/equip ring2 "Rajas Ring"

With these macros, I can stack all of my evasion setup stuff (which maintains 6-hit, hence the Hachiman Sune-Ate) with two quick clicks, or I can just click on "tpE2" if I want to go for moderate evasion and not blink. Blinking tanks die more, and if I'm swapping to evasion gear, I'm probably in a position where not blinking is a good idea.

As far as Evasion,

/DNC gives you Evasion Bonus I (+10), Accuracy Bonus I, Curing/Healing/Divine Waltz, Drain/Aspir Samba, Spectral Jig, Quickstep/Box Step, Animated/Desperate Flourish (That one can save your butt). If you have a Soboro, /DNC is a completely different job than if you don't. It's not bad without one, but with one, it's incredible.

/THF gives you Evasion Bonus II (+23), Flee, Steal, Mug, Sneak/Trick Attack

That Evasion Bonus is not "Evasion Skill" like the Torque, Earring, Mantle, Merits. It is "Evasion" like Optical Hat. While SAM/THF does get a nice evasion boost, it's nowhere near what a THF with capped evasion skill has.

When it comes to that stuff, +Skill is better than +Stat.

SAM cap at 256 Evasion Skill (before merits), which is pretty good. My evasion setup gets me to 280 Skill (2 Merits) and + 42 Evasion if I count the /DNC Trait. I could probably get about another 20 evasion in there if I really wanted to, but I then have to start doing things like sacrificing accuracy, 6-hit, etc. It's a real shame that SE decided to take the Myochin Sune-Ate (Good solo, bad party) and make the AF+1 absolute crap. It's one of the few cases where I see the +1 being functionally worse than the original AF.

If you don't like the -Evasion on a Hauby for a give situation, I suggest you get a regular group that likes to go beat down walls, and spam T1 Lebros until you have a shiny Amir Korazin. It's not as sexy as Askar, but the price is right, and it's +12 Evasion instead of -20.

In the end, it's your job, and how you gear it out soloing only really affects you.

Also, re: the Double Attack, it seems to kick in a lot more than 2%, even if all you have is the grip. I'm sure it's just a perception thing, but it SEEMS that way. My gear puts me at as much as 9% without /WAR, so 19% with /WAR. At that percentage, it's very noticeable.

I wasn't aware there was a difference between evasion.

I could get Askar gear fairly easily, I think, since I already have my runic key. In the end, though I still have a 75 SCH which I'm trying to outfit and plan to take COR to 75, so any decisions I make regarding gear will be based off whatever MH space I still have left in the far, far future.

http://www.bluegartrls.com/forum/ffxi-standard-discussion/68018-yuki-gekko-kasha-attack-bonus-testing.html

Here's a post for you; it's a long, drawn out discussion using a lot of the advanced mathematics that I don't usually have a great deal of patience for. I beared with this one and read it through; the conclusion is that it is absolutely pointless in MOST cases to stack any Att+ whatsoever when WS'ing with Gekko, and potentially Kasha. The fairly thorough testing has proven that Gekko grants roughly 100% attack bonus (or ignore defense bonus, it's the same thing). This Att effect can 'cap' vs a mob's Def, meaning there's a certain point where adding more attack does nothing for you. Because Gekko grants such a huge bonus, you hit the cap for most mobs (especially exp mobs) without needing any attack+ gear whatsoever.

I can't speak for HNMs, but for Merit/Farming/Sea events etc, you need to be wearing a Smilodon +1 on your back. *** out STR, just like your buddy said, because Gekko doesn;t need any attack. Kasha reputedly has a lesser bonus compared, around the 67% mark if i remember correctly, so on birds or mamools you're still good for STR^^

You are conclusively proven wrong, Gekko 'IS' better XD. Sorry. A sense of inferiority sure brings out the bigot in people :o. Did you ever try the Hagun?