PE : ATP exchange rate?

[Dymalos]

I've been doing a thing where I would pick my weapons based on this simple formula where 5% of photon efficiency is equal to about an additional 30 atp. Well this formula changed dramatically for me when I got to ultimate and I haven't placed my finger on the exchange rate...

Does anyone do anything similar or am I the only one who is obsessive compulsive enough to pick this apart?

[VulpesMundi]

The bonus depends on how strong the weapon is. To think that all weapons are going to offer the same boost is quickly going to be incorrect. For example, a 5% bonus on a mechgun as opposed to a DB's Saber will be quite a bit different. A 5% bonus on a mechgun isn't likely to increase ATP any at all, whereas the same bonus on a DB's Saber might increase ATP a little bit.

One misconception most people seem to make is that they think 1 ATP = 1 damage. Likewise they seem to think 1 DFP = -1 damage. These are both severely wrong. There is, unfortunately, no known sure-fire way to decipher the exact amounts when converting ATP and DFP to damage or damage reduction. The best thing to do is to take multiple weapons with varying percentages and test each of them to see what the average damage is. See if the type of weapon (the way it attacks) and the variance in ATA are worth the damage differences. Personally I go for hit bonuses over area bonuses in the GC version. A bonus of 30 to hit will make a huge impact on how accurrate your attacks are, whereas 30% to an area may only raise your damage a little. Weigh the accurracy versus the damage and see which one is more worthwhile. For example, if you have 30% to an area but miss half the time then that bonus does you little good.