Ok so~ Its Wacky Crazy Kari Idea time!
I have a theory! And I could be 100 percent wrong but like I said, a theory. I've been trying to think outside of the "we get mage gear because the puppet is so powerful" theory. There has got to be a better reason, I say!
I've also been trying to figure out what kind of stats to aim for when purchasing gear. There is no "buy it because thats all you can have" scenerio with any other job. There is always a reason for what any job equips whether it be great or small, a ws modifier or dps enhancement etc etc. (I would like to mention right now that I am a horrible overthinker, and I tend to see an obvious answer and think that couldn't possibly be it then over do it lol so bare with me.)
I started at the basics, our maneuvers. Each maneuver being elemental based effects the elemental attatchment that corrisponds with it so on and so forth. Its already been determined that our own base stats and hp/mp do not effect the maton whatsoever. But what if what we had equiped elemental wise (random hat giving +5 to ice for example) effects how well the maneuver that matches that element enfluences the maton? I would even go so far as to say beefing up on INT would transfer over to ice based maneuvers some how. This is where I think I over do it in the thinking department for a couple of reasons.
One is this would be horrible on inventory, and I don't think even SE is that cruel. Having sets of 8 different elemental gear would be horrid. Although, this would give use to those many pieces of equipment that simply and only give elemental+. (You know, all that gear that noone buys because it only gives +10 to water and +6 to light, etc etc) Then I also thought of elemental staves. A weapon that when not in attack mode stays on the back, hands free for "puppeteering" and also give +10%/+15% elemental+ to corresponding maneuvers (in theory.).
Discussing this theory with my friend, Rappa, he pointed out "wouldn't that be the same effect as barspells?" which led me to another thought. I dont buy the "equiping MP gear just because thats all we get" thing, as I said. And while we do have H2H skill it is merely a C at best. What if we're meant to have whm or rdm subs? And as we progress we get barspells to boost up our maneuver power. This would also be helpful as a back up emergency healer, or later on a dispeller. There could be many other subs other than just war or mnk. Look at BRD. BRD could of had /war as well, they have no base MP that I'm aware of (I could be wrong.) And thier melee dmg isn't that great, as I assume ours won't be as we progress. I could be very wrong though. About just that, or everything.
But as I said, it was merely a theory, my own thoughts of the job that I wanted to share. ^^
EDIT: Something I forgot to write. Even though we can melee, I wonder if we are meant to in party situations. Compare it to a RDM if you will, who have higher sword skill than we do H2H. Yeah, some melee in parties. But I wonder if later on a melee Puppetmaster will be looked down upon as Melee RDM's are for the most part. Also, looking at DD and Acc+ gear, we don't get anything. If all our gear is meant for the mage role, maybe we are meant to be for backline purposes in parties, rather than front line.