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Am I the only one who feels..
I feel absolutely like every other Paladin at my point in progression. I'm wearing full AF and some Darklight accessories (Dungeons haven't been kind on plate drops, go figure).
I don't feel like there's any room for my paladin to be my paladin. I come from a Paladin assembly line that stopped by for some white mage fittings.
I can't speak for other jobs, having not played them extensively, but PLD gets to equip 4 abilities from white mage, and there's only 4 that it can equip (Cure, Protect, Raise, Stoneskin) and while all are handy, I don't see the point, beyond story purposes of all of it. The only way my paladin stands to improve (besides gear, lol) is getting Cnj high enough to learn stoneskin.
I would love it if I could equip lancer's Keen Flurry, Pugilist's Second Wind (hello convalescence macro!) .
It just feels kind of silly for advanced jobs to be more restricted than basic jobs. In PLD's case, it literally is "Hey, you can equip any 4 abilities from the 4 white mage abilities that you can equip."
...
In FFXI, of course, a subjob could redefine a job's purpose.
THF/NIN was a good offtank, and in some places, a good tank when played by the right person.
THF/DNC was basically a dancer with TH (as far as applying steps, gimped samba)
THF/WAR is a moderate DD.
RDM/BLM was a powerful nuker. Not as strong as BLM, but had more throughput.
RDM/SCH was a good buffer, good healer.
RDM/WHM was a good healer.
WAR/SAM was a powerhouse DD.
WAR/NIN was a good lowman tank (not anything serious)
DDs had available subs for what they wanted to be their playstyle. SAM could /RNG, /DRG (wasn't very common), /WAR--for instance.
Merits allowed for a little more customization.
Even in WoW and RIFT, while there is always a basic best in slot build, there were usually points to play around with, and the best-in-slot build was not best for every situation. In this game, there isn't a choice. You are what you are. The game might has well have just given me Cure, Stoneskin, Raise, and Protect, because I have no other option.