Quote Originally Posted by Mcshiggs View Post
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.