What's your opinion about stat sticks?

the biggest gripe i have with stat sticks is: it often looks shit to have a stick in the other hand just for stats...so it's more of an aesthetic issue.

edit: I also think it takes away a bit from the options of making unique items more interesting...

"

Shagsbeard wrote:

They shouldn't be "nerfed"... they should be removed entirely. Mods similar to the ones on the stat sticks should appear on shields or weapons that could be used by the skill in question. The idea of "stat stick" should never have come up.

I don't think having some magical scepter that increases the amount of damage that your dagger does (or the other way around) is really too outrageous conceptually. Isn't that basically how wands modify spells?

Personally i think they should be 2 hander and shield suffix mods, and made no longer available as a 1 hander option, this avoids the fake dual wield outcome, gives rare 2 handers something that will see them get used, and gives shields something too at the expense of resists.

I think they should just make the adds X of physical damage as Y affixes mutually exclusive. IE, if your stat stick adds 30% of physical as cold, it cannot ALSO add 20% of physical as fire. A stat stick with one conversion mod can still be plenty powerful and worth using, it's when you manage to stack several of those mods together that you get into absurd territory.

I love shape sticks the way they are, honestly they are a big part keeping me going here. They're fun to find, craft, And trade. I just got into the chaos ones, just hit a million in pob with shield throw. If they get nerfed, I'm out

So yesterday i was trying to roll "surgeon" mod on a diamond flask and realized that it should not be possible, double checked wiki and confirmed that it is not possible.
It's too powerful.

I feel that a stats stick with 1 prefix 1 suffix is already bordering on fine/OP.
Having more than 2 such mods is just ridiculous.

nerf stat sticks, make 2 handers great again.

Ez nerf to stats stick.
Make them convert damage, not add bonus converted damage.

During beta, "physcical dam added as X element" was the way to keep attacks and EK approximately on par with spells.
But there was an opportunity cost: using hatred instead of something else, a support gem...

Then there were more physical spells. Weaker spells, with with a TON more scaling potential. Glacial cascade being the worst offender there. This spell is 'meh' but promises you the moon if you get increased AoE and added elem damage.

There were also a few other means to add elemental damage. Physical to lightning gem for example. Again, opportunity cost.

Stat sticks (nearly) only have benefits: you get the dual wield bonus, you need only one high pdps weapon, you never use your 'weak' weapon, you get a ton of bonus.
And they explode the scaling once again.

Stat-sticks are not really a big issue. It's just a particularly strong manifestation of the power creep that unbalanced PoE just a bit more than usual.
PoE basks in imbalance.

Why use a stat-stick when you only need a stick?