Archers and armor

[Lamhirh]

Well the reason of this post is I am somewhat bored and annoyed, by common opinion about archr being support in light armor. I tried to find from where it begun, and i think the main reason is the Thief game. A game in which you used bow to do everything except kiling things.But even earlier in DnD games archery was tuned down in sake of balance ( its not very heroic to kill everything you throw at players before it even can see them). To offset that 'nerf' archery classes were usually bounded with some other 'useful' skills, like thieves, bards, and stuff. And in thet the classes were usually heavilly dependant on mobility, sneaking and such, which favoured lihgt armor. And for them bow was secodary equipment.

But in FFXIV, we have archer. Person who is dedicated to bow. Not some rouge type from some shoddy alley, but profesional bowman. And thats the difference.


From military point of view there were 2 kinds of archers. Light, which were based on maneuver and speed for hit and run tactics, and regular ones which were armored. Most countries armored archers quite heavily. Looking at Roman legions most archers wore chainmail, most of eastern troops did same ( either ringmail or scale mail) The reason most of archers were lightly armored ws purely cost of full armor. And main diference beore archers inlight and heavy troops were skill and experioence. Most of armored one were highly trained troops, while light were conscript expendables. Training of a good archer was taking long time, and for that investemnt it was worth protecting. But also to the degree. During medival times for a price of a good platemail you could buy a couple of villages. Only the wealthies could afford it, and the one who could wouldnt bother to be archers. They were knights, and their way of fighting was stabing, smashig, charging and stuff. Only exception was Japan, where archery was conisdedred an art, and was widely practiced by samurais, which armored thammselves as hard as they could <_<

The TL'DR point is, that archers were second line troops, and except elite troops it wasnt cost efective to heavily armor them.
However when cost didnt matter, in Seleucid empire there were units of cataphrat archers which were prbably the closest equivalent to a tank that ancient army could get. Similar units were used by parthians and continued through sasanid empire suplied by super heavy cataphrats with lances.


In short summary, in a game only limiting factor should be costs, not some dev-imposed restrictions. And yes, heavy armor should give penalties especialy to mobility, and to some degree to speed at which archer can fire, but if you can affoprd plate, than by all means use it.

The two points that should also need to be looked is 1) price of plate armor in MMO's in general is ridiculously small and 2) archers in FFXIV dont have range. I mean we cant shoot for more than 10 metres anyway, so why bpther shooting? it would be more effective to stab enemies with arrows at this range...

In very very short gamer perception of archer is usually like this

http://bulk.destructoid.com/ul/user/...s5jpg-468x.jpg

and not like this

http://www.radpour.com/images/storie...ian_archer.jpg

[JayvirDeforte]

I would just like to add that in the Tactics games, Archer's could wear chainmail and even some plate armor.

[Coglin]

Remember, we are not so much folowing actual historic representation, but at the mercy of the developers in Japan's view of how they should be in the fantasy world of FFXIV.

But yeah, I know what you mean.

[Vanguard319]

I don't see the logic of taking away our chainmail either, Traditionally, chainmail was considered to be a form of light armor, and out of all the metal armors in the game, chain is clearly the lightest, and offers the least defense out of all of them. In addition, I don't see gld or mrd having much use for it, since they're almost expected to take damage as well as dish it out.

On that note, rangers in XI could equip scale mail. EDIT: they could also equip Brigandine, which despite it's appearance is actually a type of cloth and plate mail (essentially a doublet, with overlapping steel plates riveted inside the fabric)

[AshlikeSnow]

Off topic: I'm new to ffxiv. What are the names of some good armor for archers mid game to end game? Thank you!

[Vanguard319]

Off topic: I'm new to ffxiv. What are the names of some good armor for archers mid game to end game? Thank you!

generally, arc can wear cloth and leather gear, and from what I understand, arc's three big stats are dex, str, and pie. I've seen some mid level arcs wearing toadskin jackets, so I'm assuming those are good for the class (I wore chainmail when it was still available to arcs) As for endgame, you would want either the Alpine war jacket, or Rainmaker's tunic. Kecks or trousers for legs, depending on whether you want more evasion, or more def/vit, hands are felt bracers for acc and pie, for legs, you could go with hunting moccasins, cobalt jackboots, or bladedancer jackboots, again based on whether you want vit/evasion, dex/accuracy, or a mix of both (the bladedancer boots and moccasins have the same def, so the boots may be better) As for the head, silver tricorne may still be a good choice for parties, (str and dex) when soloing, I'll wear an electrum circlet for a little extra mp.

Please bear in mind I haven't factored in materia, and some gear may be a better choice (i.e. bladedancer > moccasins in imo, since you can't meld much more than evasion or parrying to footwear) with the right customization, so it's in your best interest to experiment with different gear setups until you find one that suits your playstyle.

Still, hope this is useful.

[Spider-Dan]

Head: Silver Tricorne or Woolen Turban
Body: Raptorskin Harness (Blue)
Hands: Fingerless Raptorskin Gloves (White)
Legs: Raptorskin Subligar
Feet: Cobalt-plated Caligae or Cobalt-plated Jackboots

[syntaxlies]

archers dont wear heavy gear cause the are meant to attack from a distance. Also archers bard will be bard so youll have that too.

also, from a historical "earth" stand point, archers wore different armor depending on year and geographic location.

[KuroHana]

which hat would be best for ARC at lvl 50? Siphai Turban/Silver Tricorne?

[KRose]

which hat would be best for ARC at lvl 50? Siphai Turban/Silver Tricorne?

Silver Tricorne. There are quite a few tests atm for Archer showing that DEX is affecting damage.