The stats were changed last update, I'd like to discuss this.
The changes:- Spirit shield defence bonuses were reduced
Ex: Arcane got a reduction of 23 melee def, 38 ranged def and 17 mage def - Defender bonuses were buffed slightly
Ex: Dragon defender got a buff of 2 melee accuracy and 1 melee strength
First off, I don't see why either of these changes were necessary. Dragon defender has been good since release and it definitely did not need a buff. Spirit shields have been in kind of a bad state since release and also did not need nerfs. This isn't gonna help corp get any better of a boss, in fact it makes it worse.
Spirit shield usage:Yes, nobody used spirit shields specifically for their defence bonuses. This is common knowledge. Nobody uses spirit shields for their damage deflection either, as it's unreliable and requires you to take damage. Spectral has been in a good state since it boosts your hp. The other three have been the best in slot shield for a while. But they never were better by a very significant amount. Arcane was always just a slight bit better than dragon defender. After ice shield's release elysian had direct competition from it. Divine remains the only actual shield for ranged so it's not really affected, but it's a direct nerf to how good crossbows are.
Spirit shields need something other than damage deflection, because that serves absolutely no purpose right now.
Arcane vs dragon defender & dfs:Pre-update you'd trade off 3 melee accuracy for a bunch of defence bonuses, a slight prayer bonus, and +1 strength bonus. Now there's really no reason to use arcane over dragon defender. Defence bonus isn't all that significant if you're gonna use prayer to nullify most of the damage from any monster ingame, even less so if it's nerfed by a good 30%. If you are gonna go for defence bonuses you may as well bring a dfs, it's a lot cheaper, isn't significantly worse at offensive bonuses and has better defence. Arcane has no niche anymore, save yourself the money and get a ddef and dfs.
Elysian vs ice shield:Giving ice shield the same bonuses as elysian wasn't a very good idea imo. Ice shield's effect is way better in PvP than elysian's is, there's even a reason to bring it over ely when going to certain PvM locations. Now that ely had it's defence bonuses nerfed, ice shield is objectively better in all situations.
Whip vs sara sword:Saradomin sword held a niche over whip and arcane, in that it had slightly higher accuracy at the cost of defence bonuses. With the buff to dragon defender, this is no longer true. Now whip and ddef have a slightly higher accuracy. This is yet another niche of an item that has been removed with this update.
We now have less reasons to use arcane, elysian and saradomin sword. Players have been crying for more variety in gear for the longest time, we specifically requested the opposite of this. Please fix.