Bonus stats are pointless

[Ticklefairy]

So then what is the advantage of having the Armory System over a normal "separate" characters system if you can't be effective with every job you take the time to level and gear out? Might as well just have it be like any other MMO where you have to make a separate character for each job. The bonus attribute system diminishes the main advantage of having the Armory System: The ability to switch between jobs without having to switch between characters.

This idea of having to spend time or money to respec your character every time you want to change a role (for now just the ACN switching between healing and dps) is the exact reason Dual Spec options became a thing. Because it was a stupid idea to have to pay every time you wanted/needed to do the other role your class was capable of. It's the same thing here. I'm now not playing SMN because I prefer SCH. Right now, I can kind of live with that. But I do not want to have to choose between, say, Thief and Ninja (assuming they're paired). Instead what I would do is make a 2nd character so I didn't have to. Which would require me to relevel multiple classes that I've ALREADY LEVELED for cross-class abilities just so I can play whatever I like without having to choose.

And you keep citing that you farm seals via roulettes all the time. That would LITERALLY be the only reason at this point I would do that because I'm completely done with Philo tomes and seals and capping myth per week takes no time at all. So I'm running roulettes every day just so I can get 2-3 switches between SCH and SMN PER WEEK? Compared to the intended ability to switch between jobs at will that is ridiculous.

In video game design there are absolutely times where decisions, and time penalties for retracting those decisions, are totally ok. Where it's not an unnecessary burden but a way for the player to value the decisions they make. The bonus attribute system is not this. Your allocation is not a decision EXCEPT for the ACN where you're having to choose between either job...something that goes against the spirit of the Armory System. It only provides a negative impact on the playing experience and should just be scrapped due to it not interacting with the Armory System properly. Or make Jobs also separate with the bonus stats (rather than class). Give us choice AND flexibility.

But not this. Not what we have.

[Mcshiggs]

Blah blah blah.

You still fail to show me where the spirit of the armory system is let me be the best at everything with no work, provide a link to an interview, description of your armory system anything because right now all you are providing is what you want and don't want, and what you think is stupid and worthy of your time. Also if you want to level separate characters, go for it, that is your CHOICE, aren't you glad you are playing a game where they give you so many choices, I think you should bow down and thank the developers for putting such a well thought out and planned system in merely for your enjoyment. They give you choice, if you want flexibility, do yoga.

[Kitru]

You still fail to show me where the spirit of the armory system is let me be the best at everything with no work

If the armory system were intended to do this, every class would use the same gear (or continue to use the same categories of gear that they use while leveling; i.e. DoW gear has STR *and* DEX and DoW gear has INT *and* MND) and level up simultaneously. Since they don't do that, it's pretty obvious that the (mechanical) intention of the system (there's a thematic imperative since class/job changing is something indicative of the FF series, but it's not a requirement given that there only some of the games do so) is to allow you to play all of the classes/jobs on a single character as opposed to having to manage an entire stable of characters for the same purpose.

As to requiring an interview, it's not really needed because you can infer the intention and application of the armory system by looking at what it actually does compared to what it could have done just as easily if it were intended otherwise. If the devs wanted you to have a "main" job while being moderately inferior at any others, bonus stats could have been applied to your character globally without any problem (effectively locking down a main role mechanically) or you could be forced to choose a specific job to have those bonus stats applied to; instead, we get a separate allocation for every single class. From this, we can easily infer that the devs want the armory system to allow you to change classes without *any* mechanical stigma attached.

The only hiccup is that there is a *single* case where there *is* a mechanical stigma, insofar as ACN is required to choose between specializing in SMN and SCH, which contradicts the implementation of the armory system as well as all of the itemization on gear. While leveling, all DoM gear has both INT and MND on it (just like DoW gear has both STR and DEX), and, in fact, ACN books get both INT and MND on them from i30 on because you can now use MND or INT as your main stat; as such, when leveling, there's obviously intent to allow you to switch as you please without even modifying your gear. At 50, gear starts applying to a single role, but it still doesn't apply to a specific *job* (except in very specific circumstances) which is what gear would need to do were it actually intended for you to have to choose between jobs.

The fact that bonus stats are specific to a class instead of a job is contradictory to the obvious mechanical intention of every other aspect of the armory system. It's possible that many of the mechanical aspects that I've been pointing out are simply simplification and design compromises to reduce the amount of work required for the game (e.g. creating entirely separate armor/gear for each role while leveling and each job at the endgame would dramatically increase the number of items that need to be designed), but I find it relatively unlikely given the other shortcuts they could have taken to accomplish much the same effect without doing so (e.g. gear models can be copied, recolored, and repurposed pretty easily).

It seems much more likely that the mechanical imperative took precedence and that bonus stats were simply a system implemented largely without thought as to what it would mean from a mechanical viewpoint because they didn't really interact with anything else (and the effects of it doesn't even really appear until you hit the endgame) and that the devs never really considered that someone would want to play both jobs for a given class. Within the confines of the rest of what the rest of the armory system allows, locking bonus stats to classes instead of jobs (or even having them in the first place since they're basically preallocated for you by *playing* that job) makes absolutely no sense. The only "benefit" that they afford is a slight illusion of player customization to a class (which is entirely an illusion because, as I said before, there aren't realistic options since putting anything into a stat that *isn't* your mainstat is just wasting it), and it isn't even an *effective* illusion because it's so painfully transparent at a glance.

They give you choice, if you want flexibility, do yoga.

Actually, all MMOs give you choice by offering multiple races, jobs, and other aspects at character creation. ARR offers no more choice than those games do and, in fact, it could be argued that there's less because there aren't specs that allow you to change the design of a given class based upon your preferences. What ARR and the armory system *do* offer is explicitly flexibility: you have a single character that can switch between any of the classes and jobs on the fly (e.g. no quest required for swapping), can gain gear for all classes simultaneously, and, in fact, use some gear for multiple classes/jobs.

Choice is simply affording you the option to choose at a specific point in time (like character creation), whether that choice is permanent or subject to change. Flexibility is a specific type of choice that affords you the ability to change your mind about said choice, which is what ARR does in spades with the armory system. The armory system is *absolutely* about flexibility since you basically get to choose everything (which isn't really a choice because you're simply *given* "all of the above"; the "choice" is something you apply to yourself as opposed to one forced upon you by the devs). Bonus stats being locked to classes instead of jobs make absolutely no sense in that context because they are the only inflexible aspect of a system designed to maximize flexibility.

[Maku]

The bonus attribute system diminishes the main advantage of having the Armory System: The ability to switch between jobs without having to switch between characters.

This idea of having to spend time or money to respec your character every time you want to change a role (for now just the ACN switching between healing and dps) is the exact reason Dual Spec options became a thing.

Many people have your same opinion but in the end it is a mute point because those 30 points mean next to nothing unless you are min/maxing. 30 less points in INT will not break your SMN DPS where anyone will actually notice. 30 less points on SCH will not break your healing to where anyone will notice (even yourself probably). The point system was a way for SE to give us the illusion of choice. But in the end they mean nothing. You do not have to choose between jobs.I have never bought a trait reset outside of respecing from VIT into DEX or STR when I was getting my relics for a few jobs cause I needed the HP for Titan. I have beat t5 with SMN and with SCH and didn't respec and no one said anything and I didn't feel as if I wasn't pulling my weight. So you can stop worrying about them forcing you to choose because you are simply creating the illusion of no choice yourself.