Mpaca is solid, though it has poor magic evasion, provided you have Malignance to handle those situations already, Mpaca would be an acceptable substitute. personally, I sold off the Head/Hands/Feet, but kept the Body/Legs, as I like to maintain some M.Evasion considering how poorly people follow directions in events like Divergence.
I think Mpaca is still probably a better all purpose "safe TP set" than Kendatsuba. It's true that Kendatsuba has Meva in its favor, as well as modestly higher HP, but Mpaca is better in most other defensive stats:
- Significantly higher DEF
- Tons of PDT- (40% for 5/5 set, which can easily cap with other standard stuff like Moonbow belt and/or Ambuscade cape)
- Much higher Magic Def. Bonus (total of MDB+62 for 5/5, versus MDB+34 for 5/5 Ken+1)
- Much higher evasion
- And you even get Killer effects for mob intimidation procs
Offensively, pretty similar from an Acc/TA/crit perspective, but the additional attack on Mpaca would make me lean toward that over Ken+1. The combo of strong TA/crit/STR is also tailor-made for Victory Smite.
TBH, post-Gaol I see Kendatsuba as more useful for NIN (Racc for daken, higher DEX for Blade: Shun, often gets less out of PDT- than MNK due to shadows). If you have to prioritize one on MNK, Mpaca all the way IMO. If anyone's interested, additional detailed discussion
in the NIN forum.
Though yes, I agree that for all out defensive purposes (with solid enough offensive stats), you still want Malignance.
To me it looks like it was up to date before Gaol, but not current due to lacking Mpaca/Nyame gear.