The point is mainly that if you're forced to be in melee range, may as well melee. Upping it to 5/10 gives more incentive for people to start telling you to stay back.

In the event you're in some mage heavy party, you can either carry on with the cycles as normal, or they can be more mindful of their enmity while hanging around you to prevent sudden mob turns and one-shots. You'll also be given more time to nuke, cure, enfeeble, or whatever.