Originally Posted by
bud16415
Adding a cog going from 7 to 8 speed cassette between a couple gears that are spaced to wide isn’t half step. Half step is having two chain rings close in size so that for any given cog on the cassette the ratio is half way between it and the next cog when shifting between rings.
That's pretty much what I was getting at, I'm shifting up to the big ring and down a gear in the back a lot even if I'm still using the standard gearing. The 8th gear on the cassette just gives me more flexibility.