So... they use the base gladiator sword, and toss a crystal on. Doesn't seem impossible.
Also still waiting to hear your thoughts on what Job/Class Alisaie is, and your reasoning for it.
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Gladiator or None. She doesn't adhere to any particular Class or Job in the game beyond using exclusively Gladiator abilities and animations. What Job is Y'shtola?
As for this strange desire for the devs to be willingly lazy about RDM weapon design, let's hope they know better.
Wasn't so hard to express your speculation. Its logical and well reasoned. You should do that more often.
As for a, 'Strange desire for the devs to be willingly lazy about RDM weapon design,' I wouldn't say its a desire, just an option. Look at the PotD weapons. It's just existing items without textures and some color. I don't know what's lazier than that.
I honestly doubt that red mage will use gladiator swords due to the nature of how the Job system works, unless they intend on reintroducing the idea that Jobs come out of classes, which they didn't do for Heavensward (though this doesn't disqualify it as a thought). There's also no class that operates in a similar way. One might argue that summoner and scholar, kind of sort of do, but once the arcanist hits Job level, their weapons diverge. Yes, they're still books, but they're coded for specific Jobs. I doubt they would allow red mage, even with an off-hand, to borrow the gladiator mainhands in this way. My other personal issue with red mage using gladiator swords is that a red mage typically uses rapiers. While rapiers are indeed swords, and one-handed ones at that, they're pretty distinctly different from what gladiators use, which are implements typically intended for stabbing, not cutting. If we're to accept that a greatsword is separate from a shortsword due to not only their nature as weapons and their intended use, then surely we should also come to accept that a rapier should be distinctly be made different from gladiator weapons.
Also in regards to the NPCs, its rather clear that the major NPCs such as Raubahn, Ilberd, and any of the Archons operate on different principles than what we usually handle. It's to be expected, honestly, especially considering how the Archons all are experts in varying fields of magic that, Y'shtola for instance, carried a conjurer's wand and yet was able to cast an Astrologian spell. That being said, whatever Alisaie truly is should probably not be simplified into whatever we'll potentially get, nor should any of the other characters. While its true that Merlwyb had a gun, and we also got a gun, we're no closer to whatever Merlwyb is and she was completely irrelevant to machinistry as a whole. While I think it possible that characters can possess individual abilities that may foreshadow new content, I don't think we'll ever be given a straight up, this character is something you will possess in the coming expansion, before the mentor is even mentioned.
That will probably be the case, like how a lot of the ninja weapon assets also were from Gladiator back when they were introduced.