What is the MP bar for on a Melee DPS

[Lemuria]

You never know when you might want to cross-class Stoneskin on a pugilist (though it probably is never), and Monks keep their MP pool from their pugilist days as a reminder of all the cool spells and skills they can no longer use /sadface

[Averax]

Hmmm, link me the lore for this please, i need to do more research,

well my OCD kicks in for MP and I must use all my HUB

It's alluded to several times during the game, i think the THM quests go over it as well. It also explains that some people are born with aether that is... broken (stuck at extremely low levels), and the simple act of creating a few sparks could be deadly for such individuals.

Spoilers

Thancred is currently in such a state, ever since his dip in the lifestream

The CNJ quests also suggest that Aether is connected to your life force, and that reckless use of magic could result in your life force draining out with every spell you cast (that's why they always borrow from nature).

I think BLMs have a similar concept, i haven't done their quests in a long time

[MiniPrinny]

Think of it in lore terms. Everyone has their own Aether, and whether or not they choose to use or build on it is up to them. That MP bar is really a constant reminder that you decided not to use magic, and instead decided to use brute force, and it wants you to feel bad.

It should be noted that Eorzeans, and really all denizens of Hydaelyn can use aether to augment their physical abilities, regardless of birth. That's how full blooded Garleans like the the various preators we've encountered can keep us with us. It isn't just martial ability.

[Shurrikhan]

What should Melee do with MP?, I have a few ideas about how I could incorporate MNK, NIN, and DRG MP usage to 4.0 but what is it you feel these 3 Classes need most.

MNK used to use it to sustain their 'Fists of <element>', and NIN could easily have gone a route of using MP for its Ninjutsu and needing to use different poisons to drain MP vs. TP/HP, but I can't really see anything as playing into DRG apart from an alternate means of Blood of the Dragon (which would then be massively buffed by Ballad) or its jumps more generally. Or, at least, I can't imagine any other obvious uses. I feel like mana could be used to further manipulate a more flexible version of certain internal mechanics (chi/chakra/greased lightning on PGL/Monk, for instance), but it's not like what we have hasn't been working just fine for the stat systems and distinct job boundaries we have now.

The same question could be asked of why casters have TP bars. The resource bars are for your character, not your job. Everyone has the same resource pools and make use of different ones depending on their current job.

Especially when there's no need for a double full-length sprint in combat. Short of that, one will always regain the whole to 60% of Sprint's duration over the previous Sprint, making the TP restriction irrelevant to casters. I guess the question is simply whether or not your character should be making use of all its resources on every job or not--or, more aptly, whether there's any advantage to doing so, in terms of both raid contribution and smoothing out certain mechanics via a more analog resource (though it would then of course come at additional opportunity cost for mana-spending cross-class skills).

[Altanas]

If we got new skills in 4.0, my DRG wouldn't mind Drainstrikes (AoE en-drain/drain samba) that the NPC uses in the 60 job quest fight. That seems like a suitable candidate to using MP.

[nintendo414]

Wouldn't mind for 4.0 if monks could use mp as a battery for aura cannon (if we ever get it that is, an Ant can dream..) otherwise always found it odd how large it was for a class that never used it.

[Remus]

I wouldn't mind a skill for melee DPS that uses MP. It just seems weird always seeing that bar full. I always thought maybe melee DPS called use MP for Sprint because Casters are able to use TP and melee don't really want to use Sprint due to losing all your TP which you need for damaging skills.

[Felis]

During 1.0 activated MNK stances consumed MP over time.
And now, in Heavenswards, DRK skills consume MP

[Derio]

If they do add new skills in 4.0 I would like every melee class to get at least 1 move that uses MP

[Alberel]

Everybody can use Sprint, which uses TP.

Having an ability use a resource when the resource regenerates faster than you can use it makes the resource cost rather redundant don't you think? Sprint is effectively free to use for casters; they do not make any serious use of TP as a resource.

If they do add new skills in 4.0 I would like every melee class to get at least 1 move that uses MP

What would be the point of this exactly? Having only one skill use MP just to make use of the resource would be so pointless. The skill would have to be either ridiculously costly to use to make the resource management interesting, or it would have to be pathetically weak in order to let you spam it endlessly since it would be the only skill using your MP pool.

This doesn't even make sense for some jobs as their lore specifically centers on physical ability and not mental acuity. There are already a bunch of hybrid jobs that use both resource pools so if that's what you want then play them. The other jobs don't need to use MP with a token skill just to justify the resource bar...