Why Are Melee DPS Forced Into One Job Through Gear Yet Nobody Else Is?

We've had a few rounds (3?) of job-specific gear up to this point- Artifact, Myth, and Esoterics gear. This thread is not about those gear sets.

Instead, I wonder why melee DPS gear sets are the only ones without any overlap when every other gear set can be used for at least 2 jobs.

Let's break it down:
Melee DPS - 3 sets, 3 jobs
Monk - Striking
Dragoon - Maiming
Ninja - Scouting

Tank - 1 set, 3 jobs
Dark Knight, Warrior, and Paladin - Fending

Ranged DPS - 2 sets, 4 jobs
Bard and Mechanist - Aiming
Summoner and Black Mage - Casting

Healer - 1 set, 3 jobs
White Mage, Scholar, and Astrologian - Healing

See the disparity? An example of issues this creates: I have a friend that has mained Bard since he started playing. Recently, his raid group decided they would benefit more from a Mechanist instead and he found out that he was even better in that role! Yet, if I tried to make a switch like that after a few weeks, I'd be out of luck.

If additional DPS jobs are added, won't this just get worse?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Niamh_Rillemaugh

If additional DPS jobs are added, won't this just get worse?

---

Probably not.
Example:
Let's say they finally add RDM and let's say it works off DEX as it's main stat just because.
It'll most likely share Scouting gear, and not Ranging gear.
OR
if it works off STR, it'll probably work off Striking gear.

If SAM is added and made a DPS, it'll most likely share stuff with DRG, because it's a bit beefier and STR + extra DEF (just like DRG).

So no I don't see a real, true issue here.

Considering how atrocious bad looking and fugly monk armor sets are, the last thing I want is to get stuck with it. I got the poetic back then because the soldiery one was the fugly monk armor set shared with ninja. Dragoon's armor sets generally look good, same with ninja.

I've heard that the logic in separating dragoon from other melee dps is that they wear "heavier armor" so probably because those jobs wear armor made from different materials. I was honestly surprised that Ninja didn't share the Lore gear with ranged dps this time around.

MNK and DRG gear were designed with different stats in mind (i.e DRG is the more 'tankier' of the sets with higher defense). Then when NIN was introduced SE decided to make it DEX instead of STR so then that Job had to get its own gearset because thematically (and prolly stats wise too) it wouldn't be compatible with BRD gear.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FeliAiko

Then when NIN was introduced SE decided to make it DEX instead of STR so then that Job had to get its own gearset because thematically (and prolly stats wise too) it wouldn't be compatible with BRD gear.

---

There's no particular reason SE couldn't have continued to put DEX on the Striking sets though (as they went back and did with the pre-2.4 equipment) and just allowed monk and ninja to share those sets.

It's probably due to "armor class." Though this game doesn't explicitly list that sort of thing the way other games do (like WoW, which has Cloth, Leather, Mail, and Plate), FFXI had a history of types of armor only being for certain jobs and so on, and FFXIV has generally maintained some degree of classification even if it's not put front and center.

As we get more melee, they will likely pair up on existing sets. Samurai (assuming it's a DPS) will likely be on DRG/Maiming gear, for instance. MNK and NIN are separate because they have a separate main stat I suppose (though I personally think they should have just left DEX on Striking gear going forward, since they palette-swap the MNK/NIN gear so often anyway). But a job like Dancer would probably use either Striking or Scouting gear, assuming it's a melee of some kind. and I'm sure with enough sleuthing one can find other FF jobs that could share gear with the current melee.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ibi

There's no particular reason SE couldn't have continued to put DEX on the Striking sets though (as they went back and did with the pre-2.4 equipment) and just allowed monk and ninja to share those sets.

---

Then you'd end up with NIN and MNK exclusively having 3 main stats (DEX/STR/VIT) compared to 2 main stats for the other jobs, which would upset job balance.

This has actually been an annoyance for me ever since Ninja came out or so, but for the opposite reason.

I don't want all my healers to share gear. Why do Dragoons get to be special snowflakes and have unique looking gear all the time yet my scholar has to look like a white mage? (And no, glamouring doesn't fix this, because even if I glamour on scholar specific gear my astrologian and white mage will look terrible.)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FeliAiko

Then you'd end up with NIN and MNK exclusively having 3 main stats (DEX/STR/VIT) compared to 2 main stats for the other jobs, which would upset job balance.

---

Strength doesn't do anything for ninja and dexterity doesn't do anything for monk. I'm not sure I understand why having both stats on the post-2.4 Striking gear would change that.

In fact, low level DoW gear (e.g. Raptorskin Jacket), together with all the pre-2.4 Striking sets (e.g. High Allagan Cuirass of Striking), already have both strength and dexterity.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FeliAiko

Then you'd end up with NIN and MNK exclusively having 3 main stats (DEX/STR/VIT) compared to 2 main stats for the other jobs, which would upset job balance.

---

But back in 2.0 dex used to affect parry now it doesn't. A monk with +600 dex would be affected just as much as a WAR with +600 mind.... No reason other than avoiding confusion that they couldnt share sets. They are almost always just color swaps anyway.

TLDR
Dex does not help a Str class anymore. They could share again.

Yes, they 'could share again' if SE felt inclined to make another short term, cost effective measure without fully compromising the NIN aesthetic (as was the case with adding DEX to i50-i110 Striking gear) but it's unlikely they're going to go back on the direction they've established for the melee classes now. Plus as another person mentioned, this also sets it up for potential future melee classes to share one of the 3 sets, without compromising their respective theme, such as Samurai (Maiming) or Dancer (Striking/Scouting).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Niamh_Rillemaugh

We've had a few rounds (3?) of job-specific gear up to this point- Artifact, Myth, and Esoterics gear. This thread is not about those gear sets.

Instead, I wonder why melee DPS gear sets are the only ones without any overlap when every other gear set can be used for at least 2 jobs.

---

Its mostly because of aesthetics and lack of multiple melee dps that use the same aesthetics. My copy of the 2nd Artbook "Art of Ishgard -Stone & Steel-" shows that they divide currently gear into 7 types: Tank, Mail, Range, Rogue, Melee, Caster and Healer. Currently only Dragoon is the only user of Mail, Monk of Melee and Ninja of Rogue.

Quote:

---

See the disparity? An example of issues this creates: I have a friend that has mained Bard since he started playing. Recently, his raid group decided they would benefit more from a Mechanist instead and he found out that he was even better in that role! Yet, if I tried to make a switch like that after a few weeks, I'd be out of luck.

If additional DPS jobs are added, won't this just get worse?

---

Additional DPS jobs should actually help things. All that is needed to balance things out is the introduction of 3 new jobs: one Mail, one Melee and one Rogue.

Samurai could easily be a Str based "Mail" DpS like Dragoon.
Red Mage could work well as a Dex based "Rogue" DpS.
Beast Master could work well as a Str based "Melee" DpS.