Quote Originally Posted by Alhanelem View Post
Because it's about specialization *within each job* not your character as a whole. Also, the merit WS are hardly all absolute requirements.
I have to disagree with this, in a lot of situations. Without having the merit WS, you are often in a lot of situations where you are undesirable.

Shijin Spiral - Even if you have Victory Smite, there are times in Delve and in Skirmish III where you want to avoid magic damage, including Skillchain damage. Stacking Shijins is most effective in this situation, because they don't skillchain together. With MNKs being a common staple of groups, this tends to be important.

Requiescat - Being able to bypass defense types is vital in some situations; it makes the bee Delve easier, helps in Foret, etc. Formless is one of the few other forms of non-elemental damage we have, so this is a strongly useful WS. CDC is nice, but often doesn't stack up in newer content.

Resolution - If you're a DRK without this, kiss invites goodbye. Apoc with Cata isn't bad, but when you have healers, that extra survivability often isn't worth the DPS loss. RUN (if you can get invites in the first place!) benefits greatly from this for hate building. The DRK point is more relevant though.

Stardiver - Unless you have a Ryunohige, this is DRG's bread-and-butter WS. Critical Evasion- is a huge DPS boost for the whole alliance, especially those using crit WS such as Ukko's or Victory Smite. Drakesbane, short of a Ryuno, has a hard time competing. So this is fairly vital.

Last Stand - On COR, this is your WS of choice. Wildfire isn't bad, but it tends to get a fair amount of resistance of late, and there are monsters that you just need a physical WS. I'd say RNG but a "serious" RNG should have either Namas or Coronach available to them for low enmity.

Apex Arrow - Short of having a relic, this is the WS of choice for RNGs. Being a non-Relic RNG myself, I use this in events. While I'm not shot-for-shot keeping up with the relic users, my WS averages aren't terribly far from theirs, and allows me to be an effective DD. So short of requiring a relic, this and Last Stand are needed for RNG.

Ruinator - While Rampage is a doable WS, it is nothing compared to Ruinator's impressive damage. For BST, or for a WAR or RUN wielding axes (it does happen, situationally), this is the best WS available by a long shot.

So that's seven right there. And I'm sure other jobs need them in their own ways, but you could argue against their Empy WS too; Upheaval v. Ukkos, Shoha v. Fudo, maybe Apex v. Jishnu's. But while you argue that merit WS are just "customizations to improve your favorite jobs", often we don't get to play our favorite jobs, and we need to improve our quality on other jobs. I can't tell you the last time I went DRG to an event, or BLU aside from Voidwatch. Never taken RUN to anything seriously, or PUP. So should I just 5/5 three of those (prolly Stardiver/Requiescat/Resolution) and when I'm needed on RNG, toss Arching Arrow? Or if I'm asked to go on MNK, should I just Asuran Fists and hope I don't skillchain?

However, I do agree with your final point. I'm not so sure on a complete uncapping, but I would like to see the restrictions eased a bit. Even if it's just doubling the amount of WS you can 5/5; 6 would be an effective number.