[2021] Why is a stone axe better than a fireman's?

Quality affects a number stats, not just durability. Block damage, weapon damage, durability.. Attack speed is untouched, though.

Switching to a higher tier tool isn't necessarily a linear path, though. Attack speed does matter, but whether or not you're bottoming out your stamina constantly matters too. Having a Q6 Steel Pickaxe is going to be worse than an iron axe when you can only swing the thing twice before emptying your stamina. So it is with stone vs iron; IF you don't have the stamina regen and max stamina to support using the better tool, then using the better tool is a downgrade.

And as mentioned, quality affects a number of stats, among which is block damage. But more importantly, quality effects the number of mod slots on the item. Every installed mod on a weapon/tool increases it's primary stat by 15% in addition to whatever other effect the mod brings to the table; For Tools, the primary stat is Block Damage. So your Q6 Stone Axe can fit on 4 mods and is doing 1.6x as much damage, while your orange iron axe only has I think 1 slot on it, therefor only doing 1.15x as much damage.

Tools are structured so that primitive, tier 0 tools like a stone axe work best in the early game, when your character can’t sustain high levels of stamina. As you advance and gain skills and max stamina, iron and steel tools are meant to be increasingly useful, efficient options. There’s also some overlap between high quality at one tier and low quality at the next tier. Stats for non-primitive tools are randomized, so it’s possible you just got a crummy one. The biggest advantage of a high quality tool, though, is having more mod slots. Oh, and if you do have mods on one, make sure you’re comparing unmodified values.

Edit: ninja’d by Shurenai. Must type faster!