the way I see it, and keep trying to tell others is if you buy a sword set
you won't hve to change gear UNTIL you are monk, swords can be used by rogue/barb/fighter/sammy/pally
so if you use one of the three feeder classes, and pass to sammy yay! don't need to buy anything, pass to pally WOOHOO no need to buy anything
if you get monk, use dagger/staff, pass to ninja? woohoo, can use swords again
very ez and simple plan of attack, buy swords, and you're golden
vouch this.
I honestly would rather have a dagger set and an axe set, cause I like consistent damage better. But I think in the end, the proficiencies will add up better for swords. That is the route I took. I have a mediocre sword and staff set, quite fine for catas.