I agree with OP. While I hope we never get back to the blinking character models of FFXI (former RDM here.. after an hour of pt I could forget what my character looked like because I almost never saw him), I still would like to see some quasi situational gear. Take WHM for example, Relic +1 is BiS (I assume although I suppose Allagan weapon could be comparable). What if there was another staff for WHMs whose magic damage was significantly less but had a healing modifier that outpaced the Thyrus+1 for only healing. In this example, you could have the Thyrus +1 for clearing trash and most of the bosses. However, if you knew that a particular boss was going to hit really hard and you weren't going to need to provide dps, you could switch to this other staff for pure healing purposes.