So here's a question, if the staves add 10% or 15% to a spell of the same element, what does that mean? For Drain does a Dark staff draw 10% more HP? For Sleep does it land 10% more?
Someone I know insists that staves add 10% or 15% magic accuracy to a spell of the same element spell. This seems extraordinarily hard to believe. There's gear on the AH that add +2 to magic accuracy and they're worth millions. The Novio earring adds +7 and people on FFXIAH say they are willng to pay 15MM to 30MM gil. There is clearly more supply of staves but it's hard to believe a regular staff adds +10 to magic accuracy or MAB. It's even harder to believe they do both.
For enfeebs or enhance spells, wiki consistently points out that the skill is the most important factor. Anyone find otherwise? I've found as an RDM that using +4 enfeeb gear in my main slot for a spell like Sleep II gives me noticeably less resists than using a Dark Staff (can't afford the Pluto thingy)
On another note, as a WHM I notice that Sneak/Invis/Deodorize lasts a little bit longer with my Kirin's Pole vs. a Wind Staff. For reference Kirin's pole has +15 magic resistance on all elements. Wind Staff gives +15 to earth and Auster's staff gives +20 to earth. There seems to be no information on hidden effects for Kirin's Pole I can find.
Clearly the staves make a huge difference during nuking but maybe not so much for enhancing or enfeebling.
It seems that the perception of staves bonus of +10 or +15 for enfeeb or enhance magic is similar to the perception of facing in a specific direction for crafting. A lot of people seem to believe it (there are diagrams even) but few people can actually come up with numbers or experiments that demonstrate the effect.
Anyone out there with any experiences they'd like to shout out?