Originally Posted by
Ramura_Sono
How many people saying melee/caster uptime is some easy non factor, actually plays them in anything that matters? From what I can gather most that claim it as such don't actually play either.
I've yet to see an actual argument for bringing ranged up that isn't based around the chicken little "the sky is falling" fear of being totally abandoned. It didn't happen when dual BLM was a dps gain over bringing a ranged for the 1% buff.
What I suspect instead, is that many ranged players got used to being ridiculously strong, and now that they're closer to where they should be they find it unacceptable.
You can absolutely take 2 ranged. You just can't take 2 ranged, and the bottom dps from melee and caster alongside them.
Physical ranged is a safety net for the party, able to react to the other members movement/mistakes without the loss of uptime. This safety net is what you're paying lower dps for. It's just that unlike Red Mage, who's safety net is payed between itself and it's res target (weakness) ranged pay solely for theirs. (Let's not mention SMN, it needs nerfs to the number of instant casts it gets among other things.)