Quote Originally Posted by Shurrikhan View Post
Wait...

The game was released with a clear intent that roughly half of dps would be melee and half of dps would be ranged (DRG, MNK, NIN vs. SMN, BLM, BRD by the end of ARR, with their wanting to have that extra melee, whatever its form, on release, but settling for a 2.4 release instead), even if those halves may each break into sub-groups thereafter...
...and yet you're pretending that counting either of singular sub-groups against the whole of another group is legitimate comparison?

The melee sub-groups have perhaps been under-differentiated since 2.45, but there are still 6 ranged DPS opposite 5 melee DPS, for a total breakdown across all roles of...
  • 4 Fending
  • 4 Healing
  • 3 Casting (discounting BLU)
  • 3 Aiming
  • 2 Striking
  • 2 Maiming
  • 1 Scouting

We therefore shouldn't expect that each of the 3 melee DPS gear types would have as many jobs as each of the 2 ranged DPS gear types, but we certainly don't need to reach 5 physical ranged and 5 magical ranged each before allowing for a 6th melee of any sub-type. That's not remotely how this was directed from the start.


Our best bet right now is Scouting, as that is the only gear type without a single other job available to it and the DPS job count is currently skewed towards ranged.
Caster is pretty much guaranteed since it's been 6 years since we got a non limited one. The second job is up in the air since Scouting is in need of a partner but they could better balance range phys with a 4th. And scouting is strictly for melee so giving range phys scouting left side won't and shouldn't happen.