How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Armoury System

[Anonymoose]

I got to play devil's advocate a little bit with Gahoo over at GamerEscape on these very topics and figured I might as well chime in. Keep in mind that these aren't necessarily the opinions I subscribe to, as I'd need to see something in practice before I thought it had potential, but let's advocate some devil!

Could Gladiator become a DD with a few extra abilities?

Not really, no - but you make the important point that Gladiator itself is a tank.

When Paladin is on, it gains massive bonuses to things that would normally cause hate corrosion. If you've tried playing both PLD and WAR against the same enemies, you'll notice that WAR just can't keep up when it comes to megabosses. You can sink all the money into enmity and HQ items you want, but over the course of a fight, the biggest hate boosters are abilities and heals whereas the biggest hate losses come from just getting hit. PLD takes individual hits better, losing a few less HP and checking better against MND/VIT calculations from enemy weaponskills, and keeps giving itself little boosters with cures. The takeaway point here is that PLD as is meant to monopolize hate, beyond that it requires outside support.

Turning PLD off and going GLA as a class doesn't mean you're a DD - it means that you have the ability to trade away what would be overkill on hate monopolization solo or in exp parties (smaller, less hard hitting trash mobs whose weaponskill checks are negligible), and in exchange hotbar a bunch of things that will make you require less external support to keep the rotation going.

TL;DR

Going from PLD to GLA shouldn't make you a DD, it should make you more self-sufficient - and it does. You can solo some pretty challenging mobs as a classed-out Gladiator with thoughtfully chosen gear and abilities. Don't get me wrong, it'll take forever, but once you find the comfortable rotation, the thing's an energizer bunny.

Should weapons be 1:1?

Earlier, I was content to say that back when we could, we often didn't. I figure that the door is open if it'll make a difference in battle strategy, but if not, how much should we really care? But that Final Fantasy XI connection is always just a few feet away, so let's address it.

Let's get an easy one out of the way - semantic identity. Step back a moment and remember that we're playing a recreational computer program.

OH, NO, I'VE RUINED YOUR IMMERSION! Eorzea is a giant Skinner Box and we're all just just playing digital Dungeons and Dragons with an automatic calculator and Knee-SOKEN on ambiance!

No matter how you slice your gaming theory, according to the source code, the only difference between a sword and a swordfish is an art packet and some algebra. Should we care what we call a weapon if the only gain is semantic? Hell, Grand Theft Auto had DATs that technically reskinned a baseball bat as a dild-["No." - Moderator Team]. I know. It feels different, psychologically - but is that enough to get your pantalettes in a twist? Let's talk about things that might make a difference.

In Final Fantasy XI, more jobs could equip swords than could equip pants that would provide any protection from a kick to the rolanberries. Sweet freedom, right!? When you wanted a BLU sword, you opened up that list and you just started looking for things that ended in "Scimitar" or "Kalij" because those were the ones that had the stats you wanted.

Isn't it technically the same thing even if FFXIV separates Swords from Scimitars on the market list? We weren't sad earlier that we couldn't equip weapons that sucked for the job, are we now sad that we can't equip weapons that suck for that context? Isn't it a fair trade if SE gets to work with a simpler system and thus design more and more weapons that are tailored to your role?

The only argument I can think of against it at this point is for weapons like Joyeuse and the Kraken Club - but if SE has a 1:1 ratio, don't you think they'll make fun weapons for each role? And will those not probably contain all-around stats for your job; not just the really fun one that makes you look like you're having a Wii seizure?... Wiizure?

"Can you even name enough weapons for all the classes, Anonymoose?"

Yes. Yes, I can. And remember, different magics are different weapons now - but just to stop myself from cheating, I'll name no less than thirty:

Sword, scimitar, great sword, hook sword, katana, great katana, dagger, anelace, kukri, kris, bow, crossbow, mace, club, flail, whip, nunchucks, boomerang, knuckles, claws, war fans, war rings, wristblades, muskets, bombs, axe, great axe, warhammer, scythe, polearm, rod, staff, scepter, book, music, conjury, thaumaturgy, arcanism, mysticism, pets, machines, cards, dice, baton, tonfa, runes, aaaand BELLS (don't look at me like that, I didn't invent Geomancer, okay?)

Again, I've made no opinion yet - but they can do whatever they want and you'll probably not notice or care enough to make a difference in your perception of the game.