ON-TOPIC:

This is the first article I've seen in awhile that's not about how bad the game is or how the sky is falling. They are talking about end-game strategies and tactics aka "content". The player-base response to this should be FINALLY some real talk! Some degree of micro-managing is needed in most MMOs.

If you have followed this game as long as i have this is what the armory system was designed to do, unlike 90% of mmos (and in the same vein of FFXI's job system) SE wants you to put a lot of time and investment into ONE character rather then having many different characters (I personally believe this creates a stronger bond between you and your avatar, but that's me). This is why there are no restrictions on how many classes you can have leveled or any race/gender only classes. In the late game many players are going to want to have a wide variety of different classes/jobs leveled and geared for whatever the game throws at them. Sure there will be some who only want to stick to one class or job and as others have mentioned no one is forcing you not to. And that's the key here, those forcefully opposed of this (not new) discovery are asking for changes that would hurt the people who WANT to play the game as it was intended to be played, but us who see this as a in-depth fun way to tackle a problem are NOT asking to force anyone else to play differently.

I mean COME ON it's such a cool idea to think of a epic instanced dungeons that you can build unique strategies around each section or foe that you encounter. Call me an optimistic but THIS sounds like the niche that FFXIV has been looking for, and it gets me excited just thinking about it.

SOAPBOX:

Like many others that hoped for FFXIV to be their MMO home for years to come (post or even parallel with FFXI), i check back often to read these forums and sometimes play for a few hours to see how things are going. What i have learned from a few months of consistent play in the past and now from months of reading these forums regularly is this: the FFXIV community is one of the most VILE and DISTURBINGLY FICKLE group of BOTTOM-FEEDING online denizens i have ever encountered.

I'm sorry to be dramatic but it's true. Yes, there is such a thing as constructive criticism and yes the game does need it, SE knows that, but responses to forums like this one and the NIGHTMARE that was FFXIV official forums after the last update (seriously!) were just depressing.