Why is the most powerful trust in the game a caster

[Pixela]

When cast jobs are the weakest DD classes, this works out well enough for DD players but not for mage players.

I love shantoto2, she is a great trust but how about boosting up a melee trust higher to the same tier as her. So mages can actually solo more effectively? A super boosted Ayame 2 that spams skillchains and does high damage for example would be great for healers or blm players.

[Okosego]

Valaineral is a good melee trust.

[Alhanelem]

i routinely use valaineral and august, on some jobs I use ayame for her ability to set up skillchains. there are a lot of crappy melee trusts to be sure, but there are some that see use.

[Sp1cyryan]

Because BLM is best job.

[Zenion]

Well, why wouldn't the most powerful trust be the unleashed version of the most terrifyingly powerful entity known in FFXI lore...

Looking at it practically, though, trusts are basically like players except truly amazingly terrible at FFXI. Don't react to mechanics, don't listen to party input, constantly using up all their MP and throwing aoes and interrupting skillchains... and most importantly, they don't change gear. So, like... how many melee DDs do you know who can TP and weaponskill in the same set and get respectable numbers? Mages though, they can just live in their magic damage set. It's more optimal not to, but one set is technically viable, so you can have a mage always working at maximum potency.

(Also, if the DDs weren't trash, there's a risk that we really wouldn't need other players any more. Trusts already put healers and tanks out of a job in any pre-endgame content and even some of the lighter endgame events. Give us a trust who can spam savage blade for five digits, and you'll just see parties of bards, corsairs, and scholars running around doing everything.)

Plus there's also, like... trusts are done, they're not going to just do something crazy like modify them or add new ones, that takes resources.

[Disclai]

Is Shantotto II the most powerful trust? While leveling, she's excellent, of course, but all damage dealing trusts fall off in terms of power at 99, and she is no exception. (I'd also say that post-buff Valaineral is substantially more powerful than her for much of the leveling experience now, with his AoE 1-shotting.)

The most powerful trust at 99 is probably Cornelia, just for her sheer unkillable utility. It's too bad she's about to be retired again.