An alternative to gear swaping

[SwordCoheir]

Frankly I think I'd rather see them improve upon existing mechanics that push the boundaries of each job in sort of a cohesion effort dynamic sort of gameplay that would promote strengths and use of each of the different jobs/weapon types.

Example:
Have a highly damaging mob, who's strong to blunt and piercing attacks, weak to slash attacks, and has a defensive mechanism barrier that keeps melees from getting close enough to attack and another that inhibits players from doing damage, however to break down the defenses and damage by the mob you need to have a balanced group of each type of attack.

Phase 1:
-Though strong to piercing, mid-long ranged attackers like BRD and DRG can actually reach his defensive mechanism and with positional WS combos can break his first defensive mechanism.

Phase 2:
-Once DD's can get close, the blunt users can focus on damaging his second defense mechanism that's weak to blunt attacks through positional WS combos, so damage can actually be done.

But wait! Let's throw a loop in there and say we really pissed off the NM bloke by taking out his defenses, and now his attack shoots through the roof and he starts to tear the tank a superfluous new one.

Phase 3:
-Now to keep the tank from being destroyed, slash attackers have to focus on doing their own positional WS combos to stun the beast or break whatever part that's letting the NM destroy the tank till the other DD's/BLMs can bring it down.


I'd much rather have a system that promoted party versatility like that, and really let each player shine doing their own part in a group that didn't focus on gear swapping dynamics for performance. If you really wanted too you could bring a secondary weapon that utilized a different form of damage, like how PLD's have Daggers for piercing, Machulettis (sp) for blunt, and regular swords for slash attributes. Personally I think it would add a bit more dynamic gameplay, and at the very least carrying a second or third weapon for each job would be easier on the inventory than carrying four different sets of gear or materia for each job.