Colored gear with specific classes.

[Jinko]

Nawpe, that's not the benefit.

Let's try to open this up through a different path. What people have been asking for are gear aesthetics specific for a certain class to make them stand out from each other (similar to, say, AF armor in XI). The thing is, though, that while making each class stand out and have unique armor, you also limit freedom and customization options by 'forcing' all the people of the same class to wear the same specific equipment (be it WHM or RDM AF). So absolutely and without a doubt... there is the benefit, and the downside.

Now, when it comes to aesthetics, its not just the equipment model that can be altered to distinguish a class from another. Equipment color is also an aesthetic factor that can be used to distinguish a class from one another. Both together can be used to, first separate class archetypes (through gear models) and then further separate classes (through gear color). Thus each class (or role within the archetype) has a unique model+color combination. Meanwhile the benefit and the downside mentioned above are still applicable.

This makes total sense to me.