Why leave your shield at home!?

[Solipse]

If they designed GLA with the idea that it would only be capable of being a Tank, then they shouldn't let you customize your GLA with skills outside of the GLA tree. What possible benefit could a GLA get from any skills outside of the GLA and MRD tree? ARC is pointless, LNC is pointless, PGL is pointless save 1 ability. So why not just lock all our skills to set specific standards? Why even let us customize if the point is "This is your Role, and if you try to do anything else you can't."

Sounds more to me like SE needs to make customization of classes more worthwhile. A GLA should be able to DD, and if they can't, it is because of flaws with the battle system and customization system. GLA isn't even the best Tank. So what is the purpose of a GLA if they're not even good for Tanking?

It's not an idea - that's the way it works _right now_.

You can add (lessened) support for other things from outside your current tree for the most part. You can be a Melee DD gladiator if you want by adding lancer and pugilist abilities, but in general, you're going to be less effective than you would be if you were a lancer or a pugilist. You have to play the class that does the job you want to primarily do to be effective.

I mean, just look at the damage difference in the weapons.

Aeolian Scimitar +3 : ~165 damage.
Champion's Lance +3 : ~203 damage.

That tells you right there that anything you do as a gladiator is going to be 80% of the effectiveness damage wise as doing that same thing as a lancer. To reiterate, this is how the game works -right now-

If you can forgo a shield as a gladiator to use a two handed weapon or two one handed weapon, what would be the point of playing a lancer? Classes are already so ridiculously customizable, even asking for that is quibbling over a triviality.

You already have the option of playing a gladiator using a 2h weapon... play a lancer with gladiator abilities. The only difference is that you visually use a spear instead of visually using a sword. Sure, you have less defense, too, but if you are wanting to play a warrior using a 2h weapon and no shield, then you're already wanting to play a class that does more damage for lower defense. If you're wanting to play a warrior using a 2h weapon, does damage as well as a lancer, has super high defense AND super high hp, then I think you're probably asking for something that's a little unfair.

That kind of wow-flation never ends. In two months you'll have lancers who are able to wield a two handed spear in each hand so that they do more damage than the two handed weapon warriors, then you'll have the warriors arguing that they should be able to use two two handed swords at the same time, then the lancers will be arguing that they should be to quadruple wield spears or something else silly. Unlike wow, you can play any class without rerolling or loosing your work in your character - if you want to play melee dps, switch to lancer.