Conversely, most players aren't blessed with Yrimir levels of skill. They're not going to dodge every attack, and you can't just completely forego defence with no consequences.
I got a bit too heated yesterday, but I just want to point out that this was actually meant, very subtly, to be a joke...at the expense of people saying dodging alone is the end-all-be-all, I admit. Everyone "knows" that Yrimir is an awesome player who can kill any boss with any weapon and never takes damage. It's kind of a myth though, a good player's reputation blown up to mythical proportions. If you've ever watched one of Yrimir's videos, you know that (she?) actually does get hit, and dies - a lot, even - and takes many, many attempts and a
lot of practice, using every trick and pro strategy imaginable to pull off those awesome victories. Which was kind of my actual point. Even the best player most of us has heard of regularly gets their butt kicked using weak gear, and they can pull off things a lot of players would never even
dream of attempting.
Sure, stats can only get you so far, but the same is true for skill...and here's the thing, in game design terms, you should usually think of it as "equipment is optional, gameplay is not". Or, in other words, make the fights as challenging as you need them to be for where you expect them to take place, and maybe a little harder than that to account for underestimating player ability. Equipment, however, should err on the side of the player. Stronger is better than weaker, because a player who
wants a challenge can always choose
not to use it, but a player who isn't having fun and hits a skill roadblock can only "choose" to be stronger if there is good equipment to gear up with. Otherwise, it's just a race to see if they surmount the learning curve before their patience gives out...which may work for certain types, but is generally considered Not Fun Gameplay.