I feel like the immersion is more lost in the movement from front to back (clipping through the mob) rather than PLD should be "better" than that. I don't see the morality issue, and as others have said it came from GLA anyway.

As for it making things less safe for the party - this is where skill/tactics comes into play. Something like Ifrit where you can get knockback you just need to pay more attention to whats going on, and use it right after he uses a tp move. The mob only turns for half a second at most, so if you're timing it properly there should be no issue.

Personally, though - I do find it frustrating that both of our primary combos involve moving around for optimal . MNK has a combo where you can stay behind the whole way through, and WAR has a combo where you can stay in front the whole way through. I don't have 50 DRG but iirc they have a frontal combo as well.

Also, I despise the whole "it's for when you lose hate" argument. PLD should not be losing hate. I don't need tools that are only useful for when I lose hate, because my goal is to NOT lose hate.