Ok...let me level with you here SE...

[saevel]

The fact that Aegis and Mandau actually got made in large numbers shows it was more for status than performance otherwise people would never have made relics for two of the lowest tier jobs in the game.

Did you forget to take your meds? I can understand if that post was made in a non-optimal mental condition.

If on the other hand you were actually being serious ... wow ... wtf over.

Aegis was ~THE~ best shield for PLD in the game period. It allowed a PLD to do things that no non-Aegis PLD could do and has since become the defining tanking tool of PLD. Until the creation of brOchain an Aegis PLD was the highest tier tank on super hard HNMs. Of course now there really isn't many things that require a PLD to tank. Technically all the end tier VWNM's would "require" an Aegis / OChain PLD to tank them had fanatics and proc spam not existed. Of course SE might be fixing that shortly, never can be sure with them.

Mandau is the highest DPS weapon in the game for those who can equip it, namely THF and RDM. Due to the nature of how fSTR dramatically favors lower delay weapons even off handed Mandau was a beastly weapon. Of course it has since fallen to the wayside as THF's tend to use twashtar's and RDM's got CDC. Prior to the introduction of Abyssea Evis spam with a Mandau was bad a$$, could go a stay further and do THF/WAR SATA Mercy Stroke for ridiculous one shot damage (same HNM fights you'd use that Aegis PLD on).

[Alerith]

Aegis was ~THE~ best shield for PLD in the game period. It allowed a PLD to do things that no non-Aegis PLD could do and has since become the defining tanking tool of PLD. Until the creation of brOchain an Aegis PLD was the highest tier tank on super hard HNMs. Of course now there really isn't many things that require a PLD to tank. Technically all the end tier VWNM's would "require" an Aegis / OChain PLD to tank them had fanatics and proc spam not existed. Of course SE might be fixing that shortly, never can be sure with them.

I would like to comment that even though Ochain was introduced, Aegis isn't less good. Now we just have a physical shield for mobs that don't cast or keep magic to a manageable level. Aegis is still the best shield for what it's made for.