hes correct. I have 9 blue pvp pants in my bank, 8/9 show a total of +9 in the secondary stats at 19. I have one pair that has a +10 so it is the case they arent always the same amount. however every ring and chest I had maintained the same amount (probably around ten of each i didnt count), so I think the ones that have an extra+ are going to be very rare.
have you tested whether the stats on current/live bg blues remain 1:1 (in either current stats, or of the same stat ratio as present in the case of ilvls being squished) if copied onto ptr? i would assume they do, provided that they're already using the new suffixes (quickblade, etc.)
i don't foresee the rarity that you mentioned, at least in any way that would possess stat benefits. a difference of 1 secondary stat is negligible, especially when bg drops will remain obtainable
the issue with this stat conversion lies in suffix items (on the old secondary-stat system, e.g. "of agility," "of monkey" etc) being converted with no degree of predictability in regard to their new stats
compound that with many of the suffix items (e.g. revelosh drops) having been gf'd already, and it's a clusterfuck of rng. and even with the best possible luck on the items' new stat rolls (e.g. if all convert to max-roll "adaptable," aka pure vers: would never happen, but this is a hypothetical), the converted stats will
still be
infinitely worse (for 39 and up, a loss of dozens of agi/int/str) than the stats on live, assuming one has currently-perfect rolls on dark iron rings, ribsplitter, emissary cuffs, etc
edit:
what's most bothersome about this change isn't actually the resulting loss of stats, but rather that there will be no visible evidence that someone ever even put in that effort (hundreds of hours of running brd--or less hrs, but still a sizable amount, for gnomer bracers/rings on 24s, etc. or, alternatively, hundreds of thousands of gold in mats for crafted/boe suffix stuff, e.g. green lens of agi for 39) for bis suffix rolls
an illustration: some dude with garbage-tier (i.e. int/str rolls) suffix gear on a rogue will have his suffix items' stats converted to the same (equal in uselessness, but still) shit as someone that farmed years (or ad infinitum, as there isn't even [afaik] a character on US that has 2x dark iron ring of agility. EU has a couple) for pure/single-stat agi shit
hundreds of hrs dung farming per character with perfect stats -> players will nothing to show for it, with suffixes being wiped & randomized, even on suffix drops that have been gf'd for years
was considering resubbing to make a final brd push for pure agi rings, but this saves me the time/$