Honestly, I wish I was better at Machinist (or Bard). The two classes have some of my favorite glamour pieces between them, from both of their various Artifact sets to some of the best gloves and boots out of all the classes. Though I run Black Mage for a ranged DPS these days, at the end of ARR I used Bard, and I went into Heavensward planning to use Machinist for the same thing. From a gearing standpoint that works really well (since I main Ninja and they share accessories), and Alahra is supposed to be a Disciple of War-focused character anyway.

But with Bard’s class kit conflicting in many ways with Wanderer’s Minuet and Machinist being a bit too complex for me to play all that well, I’ve instead largely abandoned the two classes. And there are times when that really bugs me! Every so often I stumble on a glamour that makes me really want to play one or the other, but the payoff is almost never worth it for the content I run (mostly dungeons), where Black Mage or Ninja will offer a faster run with a lot less mechanical effort (especially in the case of Black Mage). I’m hoping in Stormblood something is done that will make the other Aiming classes more enjoyable for me (though at that point they’ll be competing with Red Mage, so…they’re going to have to be pretty awesome).

In the meantime, though, I’ve got a new glamour anyway, even if I’ll probably never actually use it.

Glamour Components
Head: Machinist’s Goggles | Body: Sky Pirate’s Vest of Aiming (Jet Black) | Hands: Oschon’s Gauntlets of Aiming (Jet Black) | Legs: Makai Markswoman’s Quartertights | Feet: Bogatyr’s Thighboots of Aiming

I fell in love with the Sky Pirate’s Vest the moment it showed up in the story cutscenes for Void Ark, but it’s proven pretty hard to actually make a glamour around it that worked for me. For the longest time we didn’t have any gloves that I liked alongside it, but even with the Oschon’s Gauntlets, I couldn’t find anything for the Legs slot that I liked. My go-to Lady’s Knickers were the wrong shade of black and both too thin and too short to really gel properly.

With the new Garo gear, though, we’ve finally got another type of shorts for Monk, ranged DPS, casters, and healers. These are a bit longer and of a thicker material, which makes them a lot better for combat glamours than the Knickers. I really wish Ninja had also gotten a version of them, as they’d fit right in with my current primary Ninja glamour, too. Unfortunately Ninja got stuck with a set of gear that honestly looks clownish for it and doesn’t fit its animations at all. I know the set it got is tied to dual wielding in Garo, but it’s plate mail, which is just plain strange for a rogue-type class.

But that aside, the Garo gear overall adds a lot of new style options for everyone except the tanks, Dragoon, and Ninja, so I’m glad for it. It’s probably the best set of PvP gear overall that we’ve ever gotten The new shorts are likely to become a staple for me. They’re simple, but that is often a good thing, as that will make them applicable to a lot of different glamours.

As for the other selections, there’s not a lot to say: the Machinist’s Goggles are great, and the Bogatyr’s Thighboots are the best pair of thighboots in the game,. bar none.  I was using the Y’shtola boots at first (to match the red on the vest), but the slimmer Bogatyr’s boots looked much better.

That about does it for this one, I think. I did pick up the 270 Scripture body for Black Mage yesterday, so I should have a caster glamour on Friday. I’m still debating a few of the individual pieces, but I think it’s just about ready!