At the moment, Rune Fencer is basically another job in FFXI's utility melee pile. Rune Fencer has a bunch of a magic damage mitigation abilities, but the job still can't tank anything that any other competent melee with competent support couldn't tank.

Merits and JSE will definitely help a trait and ability dependent job like Rune Fencer climb over a few Puppetmasters or Dancers in that pile, but I'll be shocked if those are all the job needs to climb out entirely.

Of course, nearly the same thing could be said about a Paladin without an Aegis or Ochain. If Paladin's progression is the standard for a job meant to tank from day one, there's a very real possibility that the lion's share of Rune Fencer's defensive ability will come from the job's Mythic weapon.

Quote Originally Posted by Hayward View Post
Doesn't rambling on and on about what job is useless get old...
Yes. That's one of the many reasons it be nice if nearly useless jobs were made a bit more useful.