STR/DEX/PIE/ATK Testing

[Seiken]

Well, I think when looking at ARC and the other melee classes as a whole, there has to be some balance. ARC already has ranged attacks (great to avoid Ifrit AoE, Moogle flare etc), and their combos do not require to hit the mob from any specific direction. Those two traits alone make ARC invaluable to a fight like the Moogle fight. Also, consider that ARC can prebuff one of it's strongest attacks, Barrage, and hold on to it for ~60 seconds. Then you consider the debuffs it adds. I think if they made ARC have higher damage potential as well, the class would be entirely overpowered. What would be the reason to play PUG, LNC, or MRD? GLA is already the "best" tank as far as I know, so what is the incentive to play the other classes? They can't debuff nearly as much, their combos are a complete pain to pull off on a moving target, and they are subject to being hit by way more AoE attacks. If the other classes don't do more damage per WS, then ARC is definitely overpowered in my opinion.

[Arya]

Well, I think when looking at ARC and the other melee classes as a whole, there has to be some balance. ARC already has ranged attacks (great to avoid Ifrit AoE, Moogle flare etc), and their combos do not require to hit the mob from any specific direction. Those two traits alone make ARC invaluable to a fight like the Moogle fight. Also, consider that ARC can prebuff one of it's strongest attacks, Barrage, and hold on to it for ~60 seconds. Then you consider the debuffs it adds. I think if they made ARC have higher damage potential as well, the class would be entirely overpowered. What would be the reason to play PUG, LNC, or MRD? GLA is already the "best" tank as far as I know, so what is the incentive to play the other classes? They can't debuff nearly as much, their combos are a complete pain to pull off on a moving target, and they are subject to being hit by way more AoE attacks. If the other classes don't do more damage per WS, then ARC is definitely overpowered in my opinion.

ARC having ranged attacks is like saying Melee have point-blank attacks. It's not like ARC have ranged AND melee attacks.

As for the "don't have to stand on a particular side", that's true, but ARC's have to ensure they stand a fair distance away from a mob for a combo to activate. Too close (happens easily in fights where hate can bounce, or where mob just won't sit still) and the combo doesn't activate and TP use becomes less efficient, and too far and you aren't allowed to hit anything.

I have no interest in turning this into an ARC vs everything else thread - as has already been said, if that's your aim, start a new thread.

I agree with Spider-Dan (and other posters) in that the way attributes and their effects seem to have been doled out doesn't seem to have been appropriately thought out. Gear one might make for ARC's (assuming the OP's info is pretty accurate - and I don't see anything suggesting strongly otherwise) essentially becomes non-optimal if you are the kind of player that would like to have pieces of gear usable for multiple jobs. No other DoW job is going to want a ton of PIE over other stats like STR and VIT. ARC has been disadvantaged.