what is the base crit chance? what is the base crit damage multiplier? are those meant to be equal? like if your base crit % is 10% does that also mean that your base crit damage is also only 10%?

We'll keep it easy with a 5% base stat for both. So let's say, would you rather do an extra 10% damage per critical hit or have an extra 10% critical chance to hit for 5%.

both increase damage by 0.5% so neither is better in that specific case. but it's a somewhat artificial question, since rarely is crit damage bonus that low. generally crit rate% is going to be more valuable percentage point for percentage point up to whatever the cap is in the specific system. if the theorycrafting for your build is prioritizing crit damage % vs crit rate %, then likely your character or class or buffs have some ability that's pushing your crit rate % to the cap so gearing for it would be a waste. (if you give a second 10% bonus, then the better choice will be the one you didn't choose in the first round).

you're looking at a specific subcase of this principle here. basically if you have a list of n numbers (in this case two, chance and damage) with a fixed sum, the product is maximized when the numbers are equal. so assuming equal allocation point cost, you would want to keep them as close as possible. in reality, of course, games do not make them equally valuable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AM%E2%80%93GM_inequality

@grey@poa.st @monsignor_dickface@nicecrew.digital