Quote Originally Posted by AlexiaKidd View Post
I think the problem is with the Physical Level system. As people can have such different ranges of stats they have had to tone down the effectiveness of stats. For example a MRD who focus solely on his stats that he needs would have a huge advantage over someone who balances their stats more evenly, if stats were given there full effect. In order to combat this they reduced stats across the board apart from MND and VIT on Physical as they are tied to your HP and MP so they needed to work a bit.
Actually, they're not toned down across the board. There's a stat cap at each level. For example, if your job is rank 20, you don't get any benefit to a stat over 76. So if I'm a level 50 Gladiator, and I've got 170 points in Vitality, when I switch to my rank 20 Pugilist, even if I leave my Vitality at 170, I get the benefit of only 76 Vitality points.

I like the physical levels. It gives a benefit to players who have already leveled up one job, making it easier to level a second job. So players are encouraged to level several different jobs, and become more well-rounded, experience more of the game, etc.

It also allows players to tailor their stats to their play style. If I'm a Marauder and want to tank, I can jack up my Vitality. If I want to be a DPS Marauder, I can jack up my Strength. I like the fact that different players can do different things with the same jobs.

If you get rid of physical levels and stat point allocation, then players will be more limited by their job. Only Gladiators can be effective tanks. Soloing on a mage class will be much more difficult because you can't jack up your Vitality to fit the situation. Classes become more defined, but they also become more cookie-cutter and vanilla.

But, as Kanican pointed out, right now there's not much (if any) benefit to any stats except Vitality (which gives HP) and Mind (which gives MP). I would like to see that straightened out.