I never said it was black and white. I was simply stating that is the way most people play the game. As for meleeing on smn during a party, I have it pretty easy. The linkshell I am with is fairly laid back and we do w/e during Aby exp parties. During serious events we do what we need to to help the team as a whole. We don't usually have smn out unless we mean to use the avatars. I guess it helps when many of the members also play smn and whm. They understand the difference between the two. Personally I mostly soloed my smn to 66, because I refused to be a subpar whm. My point in stating the info about tp is because that is how it was explained to me a few years back when I asked the same question about why my mage isn't allowed to melee even though I can weild a weapon. I'm quite happy in the frontlines as my dancer or on the backline as my whm. SMN I simply prefer playing that as a soloist job or strictly during stress-free ls parties. It makes the game more fun if I am not stressed about being told how to play my job.