I personally do not mind having item stats in this game, but I just think the problem is the way it is done. The developers have invisioned a system where you buff one stat and take a hit in another, but the problem is that half of the time, there isn't really a trade-off happening.

Lets look at the stat choice on a blade for example, the player has a choice between:

Attack
Block Damage
Revenge State Attack

Now lets be honest for a moment, who here would choose anything apart from Attack? From these choices, Attack is by far the most potent statistic. One would even question if my Attack value goes up, doesn't my Block Damage and Revenge State Attack naturally just increase as I am doing more base damage anyway?

This same problem occurs with multiple equipment pieces in the game, (The main culprits being Attack and Defense) there is one stat that is just too potent and it makes the other stats irrelevant, it's not actually a trade-off at all when choosing these stats, it just feels like a buff.

If the tradeoff was actually meaningful, then I think the system could actually be pretty cool. Lets look at an example (or suggestion) choice I have come up with.

Attack Up
Attack Left
Attack Right

Imagine a choice like this, the player now has to actually think about this choice, an Orochi for example might choose to go for stronger Up Attacks, the tradeoff being his side attacks become weaker, this is an actual tradeoff and one that is actually quite well balanced as the player is making one of his attack stances stronger and the others weaker. The same thing goes for defense on Chest Armor.

Defense Up
Defense Left
Defense Right

Now if a player found himself dying to a lot of Orochi's, he could choose to buff his Up Defense, or if a player found himself losing to a lot of Wardens he could choose to increase the defense of one of his sides. Or you may decide to be more of a hybrid build and stick to using white equipment. This is actual meaningful choice, which is what I think the current system is lacking.

I would love for them to implement something like this, because right now I feel like everyone is just going to choose a Blade with Attack and an Armor with Defense and as a result we're just going to have a constant uproar about stats ruining gameplay experiences. Hopefully Ubi read this and feel the same way.

Did you manage to get renown gear in the Alpha? How did you feel about the stat boosts?
Feel free to post your opinions / suggestions about item stats here.