Well, I got both counter-cross and these. Havn't tried these out enough really but there pretty good. Somepeople would say don't bother if you have CC others say sale CC and buy these.
I say keep CC and use this in party and use CC in 50-66 caped mission and bcnm.
Why if you're like me you pull agro well cause of the very few awesome tanks even 1 time a mob gets by the best pld and nin. The lack of -10 evd could save your butt if the mob does a tp att. Unfornatly tp atts can't be countered from my experance if you've have a gob rush on you and countered is I'd laugh for joy.
Anyway in pt it's worth sacroficing +5 counter and +3 acc for 10 evd back to me.
These are a way better deal than the spartan. Think about how much more stuff you could buy for monk (ie. +mind gear) with the 2 mil you spend on 1 extra damage. This is definitly a great subsitute for spartans. Granted if you have the money the CCs are a better buy. Also, for those trying to hit level 75 ASAP, this is definitly the way to go instead of spending weeks on farming for that 1 extra damage.
How are these 'poor man's spartan'? I would personally prefer the 1 damage loss for the loss of 17 delay. Whatever floats your boat I suppose, but I like these over Spartan Cesti...
I disagree. Using the damage calculations given in Effen's FAQ on the monk forums, the ratio of damage to delay at level 66 is .12178 for Spartans, and .12448 for Feral, which isn't too bad of a deal in exchange for faster TP gain and almost 2 million gil.
Forgive me if i'm wrong but isn't the tp gain weighted to delay. I get 12% return for 2 hits with spartans. Do these give 12% every time also? If not then it won't be faster tp gain.