Gear Swap Possible ?

[Neverous]

1: It's a fantasy game... are you not ok at all with unrealistic dragons and magic too?

Yes, it is a fantasy game, and in a fantasy setting dragons and magic are realistic. There is nothing to imply that gear is magical and can be willed on and off based upon the whim of the player. So yes, it's still unrealistic in a fantasy game to gear swap.

2: having and using macros with gear swaps is not an auto pro, you can have the best macros and still suck. Also gear swap didn't have to be separate from the spell/action you wanted to use in FFXI. /equip head "item name 2", /weapon skill "weapon skill name", /wait 1.5, /equip head "item name 1".

You're right, it's not auto pro, yes you have to know when to use certain skills and time them well. However, you are pressing the same macro whether gear swapping or not. The gear swapping version just has a few extra lines in it. It requires the same amount of skill to press that one button. This must mean that the difficulty or skill lies in the selection of gear. But gear swapping isn't the only way to make players use more than just one static set.

3: Finding the best combinations of gear for situations is strategic...

I didn't say that finding the best combination of gear for situations isn't strategic. But, more strategy is involved when you don't have every piece of gear available to you all at once. If you can't gear swap, then you have to pick and choose which gear to equip based upon your knowledge of the mob, before you initiate a battle. Rather than writing out macros and going into every battle with the same set of armor and the same set of macros.

4: As if gear swapping would encourage such slacking. If someone isn't doing their job and their excuse is "oh your good enough with gear swapping, you don't need buffs." /boot from party

I guess I didn't really express what I meant well. It's not that I feel gear swapping eliminates the need for buffs, I feel like it doesn't limit you enough. I would rather focus on using battle regimens and having someone buff or use other abilities that help to boost dmg by lowering def, increasing atk, etc. than being able to gain those boosts by swapping gear. If you balance your party, your gear, and your abilities well you shouldn't feel the need for the gear swapping to boost you further.

(Also, an example of how it feels rather cheap to me is a scenario like this: You're fighting a mob that casts an AoE spell, mob readies spell, cue gear swap to boost resistances, spell cast, resisted, swap back to actual gear. It is more interesting to me to try and daze/stun/silence/etc. to stop the casting, or resist with buffs that required a spell and suffer the consequences if those methods fail)