I wrote up my thoughts on the PLD+2 set in my LS discord, so I figured I'd repost those here.
Overall.. I feel like SE pulled a delve on this one. Or perhaps pulled a skirmish, in that they released this stuff out of order.
If this this set had come out before Odyssey, I'd have been all around delighted. Got good use out of it till odyssey, then enjoyed the ody gear when it came out and then waited for +3.
Instead I'm underwhelmed by PLD +2 because Sakpata stomps all over it.
First complaint... the set bonus is the same.. And probably the same potency. ugh. /sigh
PLD Head: Less def than Sakpata, though more VIT. But not enough to even things out. It only gained 1% FC.. So now it has the same FC as Sakpata.
No enmity+, so it didn't gain any utility as a casting piece. -30 meva vs Sakpata. Gained all of +2 shield skill.
Best change was DT where it actually has more than Sakpata, but... -30 meva. I don't want to wear this thing, and I wasn't having issues capping DT.
It is a good block rate increasing piece still and has DT now. But well, If I need block rate I'll just use Ochain. Or even Priwen.
Does have better HP/MP than Sakpata though.
Evaluation: I'll try to look forward to the +3. At which point is may very well become something worth wearing over Sakpata. And for eff's sake SE, please consider the existence of PLD's other options(Particularly fast cast) when deciding on new stats. I really REALLY wanted this to become PLD's new FC head over Carmine+1. And you added.. 1% FC...
PLD Body: They kept the enmity variable DT... /curls lip. Damnit.
DEF/VIT are like head. Less def than Sakpata, more VIT, but not enough to net more def total over Sakpata.
The best thing here is the addition of SIRD. And on a piece with high enmity(though not as high as souveran.) So there's potential as an enmity spellcasting piece. But again, we are looking at -30 meva vs Sakpata. And meva deficit is the issue with just casting in Souveran. Of course, the meva is a huge jump over Souveran. But still a big nerf coming form Sakpata.
And yeah, that damned enmity variable DT... You might think, "Ehh, you'll cap it quickly on anything you're actually fighting, right?"
I have one word for you. "Fetters" Unless the main NM shared total enmity with these little shits, and isn't just popping them on the NM's target.. well, you probably have basically no effing enmity on them. So the DT value will be at it's minimum. That was -2.5% DT back when, and I don't think it changed at 119.
I'm not risking having uncapped DT on fetters(or anything else for that matter), not to mention dropping 30 meva...
That said, the stat is not quantified on the piece so re-testing is in order. But considering it didn't change.. at all, from llv 99+2 up tp 119.. I retain little hope that the effect has been adjusted at all.
Evaluation: Waiting for +3, again. And hoping they nix the enmity variable DT.
PLD Hands: Well, they added DT. And it's a lot for the hand slot.
And that's.. basically the only positive thing I can say about this piece. I guess it has a lot of accuracy between acc+ and sword skill. But honestly... I'd have rather they put almost anything else on this than that sword skill.
We got another Shield def bonus+. Weeeeee /flat monotone. If any one recalls the post where I found out how that stat actually works, it is literally dmg -1 on blocks. Before PDT, which means you're actually getting an effective -0.5 dmg at 50% PDT, and less with Burtgang. And considering that the vast majority of hits are Zero'd after phalanx anyway... /sigh.
Unlike the Head of body, this piece actually has Less HP and MP than Sakpata.
DEF/VIT are similar to previous piece except that this piece has only a bare 3 more vit that Sakpata. Head was a 13 difference and body was a 7 point difference.
No enmity+....
Evaluation: I'm not sure this will be useful even after +3. Perhaps the value will come from what other pieces the higher DT will allow you to wear. Assuming the +3 brings the meva up to par with Sakpata.
PLD Legs: These have taken the leap from PDT to DT. And jumped form 6% to 12%. So simply comparing them to the original it's quite an improvement.
And they do have 3% more DT than Sakpata legs, along side a potentially useful enmity retention effect. Although that effect only went up by +1...
However, we're looking at a -24 meva drop vs Sakpata. 6 less than other slots I suppose. And we're maintaining the less def, slightly more VIT paradigm vs Sakpata.
HP and MP are extremely similar here.
No enmity+.. again.
Evaluation: Waiting for +3. Unless I found some spectacular swap in another slot that the extra DT would allow.. I can't see myself using these as is.
EDIT: I missed a section when I copied these over:
The enmity retention is neat, but I already have Burtgang, High HP and high enmity+ in my idle sets to counter enmity loss. Perhaps I should try to run some numbers to verify, but I feel that in most cases CE loss is not that big an issue for me currently.
PLD Feet: The one piece that was already good, if only for Divine emblem. Now it's even better for Divine Emblem, then effect having increased by +3. Nice.
More enmity+, bringing it to +13, 2 short of the highest in slot. And, 10% FC. This isn't the highest FC in the slot, that's Augmented Odyssean feet at +11%. But it's up there.
But, there are areas where this piece is lacking. The most critical of these, is a common issue for feet. HP.
They are painfully low on HP. Making it hard to consider actually using them on precast for that FC. Already having to make up for a lot of other HP drops for the sake of FC. And this piece has to compete with the 95 HP/80MP and 8% FC on Carmine feet+1 D path.
Midcast use gives me DT and meva concerns, and even in the cases where I'm not concerned with meva, there's the massive HP drop vs souveran to consider. COnsidering the HP difference it may be simpler to add enmity elsewhere. Although the enmity+ FC combo is attractive for spellcasting.
Evaluation: Even better for what it was already good for, but Perhaps a bit difficult to use for anything else. I look forward to seeing the +3, as additional FC and HP may make it overall more worthwhile for uses aside from DE.
I want to look into more ways to rework sets before I go into details on the earring. Also I heard something about augments for earrings. No details on what the augments are though.