Why isn't perception the most important attribute?

[Deadlift]

I play path of damned difficulty and have just got the fifth party member. I feel like the biggest problem is lack of accuracy: every swing, ability or spell has a very high rate to miss or graze, and this often leads to a wipe or a knock out. Most of my characters have accuracy around 25-45, however I have seen mobs with all 4 defense at around 80ish, even with all buffs from food, rest and spells on it's very hard to actually carry out a strategy which relies on a certain hit rate of abilities. I think there must be a certain accuracy threshold that you have to reach, otherwise your team build won't be legit.

 

If I get it right, perception is the main source of accuracy, so why isn't it the most important attribute for most classes? Why would a DPS need might if 1 out of 2 hits is missing? And I read an article saying perception is mainly for defense, why is that?

[l_orion_l]

Early it's very important. It does have diminishing returns tho late. You gain 3 accuracy per level which will end up compensating for the +1 accuracy per point in perception. Also classes have higher or lower accuracy to start with.

 

Defensively you gain +2 in reflex defense which is good. Also a lesser noticed point is it increases interrupt. This can also help tank if your enemy is interrupted often.

[Boeroer]

Not only do you gain accuracy with levels but you also get it via weapon enchantments (fine, exceptional etc.), via talents (Weapon Focus etc.) via abilites (Flames of Devotion and others) and buffs (Inspiring Radiance, Devotions for the Faithful...). Those I listed do stack.

 

But you don't have access to all that in the early game and so the bonus from PER has a lot of impact. 

 

A tip: ifyou have a Priest pick Inspiring Radiance asap and cast it at the start of combat. It gives you +10 ACC for your first few actions in combat (which should be debuffs!). Helps enormously. If you have two priests you can even stack it. It stacks with everything (no exceptions). Also your a single one haded weapon if you have problems hitting things. The automatically applied +12 ACC if using a single one handed weapon only also helps a lot in the early game. 

[Dr. Hieronymous Alloy]

It's the most important up to a threshold but mathematically once you are routinely hitting it has diminishing returns.

[claudius]

It is also nice for debuffs and all the scenarios would be hard to calculate mathematically.  Because if a debuff critical hits (or hits instead of graze etc) then that debuff is up longer.  Usually debuffs reduce various defenses and thus make it easier that another debuff hits hard and so on and so on.

 

So say chill fog hits several enemies.  It's going to make a big difference if you critical hit with blindness versus hit or graze.  Blindness is a strong effect.  And then you have 6 party members and many have debuff abilities.  

[Zaedar]

I mean ,right, it only makes sense: Crit>>Graze>>Miss. If you are in a fight and can never land a hit odds are pretty good you will not be winning that fight.

But alas, if it were only that simple. Don't get me wrong the ability to hit is vital but PER may not be the best way to go.

The same argument could be said for DEX. Any increase in DEX will increase all of your actions so then why is DEX not the most important?

 

Something that may help is Gallant's. Another is getting a weapon spec early on (you can always respec). Yet another is equipping the right weapon. Try trading around weapons and see which weapon is the most suited for the class.

 

A little trick that I like is having the most accurate weapon on my caster's for casting spells and swapping out to ranged when not casting. It makes a big difference.

A gun may be the best for dear Mother to gain focus but it is definitely not the best for trying to crit a Puppet!

 

IMO the best part and most underrated part of PER is interrupt. It's a weaker version of a slow spell. Any time you can act before the bad guys is gold. 

[AeonsLegend]

If your perception allows you to hit the enemy getting more is not useful. Some stats, such as accuracy and deflection, have a point where getting more is not making your character more powerful. As there is built in growth in these stats there will be a time when your basic stats are better than the enemy. It is then far more important to have points in a stat that doesn't have this break point. Such as Might or Intelligence. These stats will always deliver.

 

In short: your to hit chance is 99%. Is it worth getting that to 99.1% or do you want 3% more damage? Answer is easy.

[Dr. Hieronymous Alloy]

If your perception allows you to hit the enemy getting more is not useful. Some stats, such as accuracy and deflection, have a point where getting more is not making your character more powerful. As there is built in growth in these stats there will be a time when your basic stats are better than the enemy. It is then far more important to have points in a stat that doesn't have this break point. Such as Might or Intelligence. These stats will always deliver.

 

In short: your to hit chance is 99%. Is it worth getting that to 99.1% or do you want 3% more damage? Answer is easy.

 

 

It's a little more complicated than that since each point of Per gives miss to graze, graze to hit, and hit to crit, by shifting the whole attack calc up one point. But, yeah, basically, this is it, there's a functional cap.

 

If you're playing on PoTD it's more valuable. Ditto if you plan on using guns since those have an acc penalty built in.