Weapons and armor

I notice that each job has a weapon and armor rating for each type. I get the weapons: equip a higher rank weapon and the power of it increases (pretty cool you can equip all weapons on all jobs though).

I'm not sure I understand armor. For example, I have a Monk with an armor rating of E. Should I not give him a helmet? He doesn't have a rating on cloth armor so I'm not sure how that affects him. Also, should you not give shields to jobs with E in shield (such as White Mage)? It shows their defense going up but I'm not sure if there isn't some other penalty.

as long as it increases stats, i dont think there is a problem? not sure though if there is a catch

There is no penalty to equipping anything, unless it describes a penalty on the item specifically.

There is, however, a bonus to equipping higher ranking stuff, as it boosts the effective stat gains (for the primary stats, not things like evasion or bonus stats).

E = 100% of Value
D = 120% of Value
C = 140% of Value
B = 160% of Value
A = 180% of Value
S = 200% of Value

All jobs use cloth armor and hats as "A" rank, giving you 180% of the benefit of their defensive values.

So, essentially, as long as the stats go up, you want to equip the best things you can. An "E" rank item can still give better bonuses than an "S" rank one, if it's farther up the tier of available equipment.


The system changes up the equipment and lets you have some free experimentation, while still keeping a sort of "set focus" for each job.