Some of these ideas are interesting. I do agree that the final lvl 99 merits should be game changing yet hard (take longer) to attain. A big boost to each job as Abyssea brought to us, not subtle like the previous merits (although some are incredibly good such as fan dance or sabre dance).

If we are meant to heal from a front line position, we should get a trait to allow us to actually reduce a mob's TP with our hits as opposed to giving TP. As mentioned, maybe a stance that decreases our emnity, gives us a way to reduce a monster's TP, gives us increased accuracy or increases our own TP gain, but reduces our damage.

A reraise/raise ability (maybe a jig?) would be a good idea as well. Maybe Resurrecting Jig that has a Raisaga I effect?

I still think we need something to compliment our solo ability. In the other thread I suggested a Shadow Flowrish (steps converted to shadows). It would directly decrease our damage output, but give us a way to protect us in party or solo situations. It would also give DNC the option of playing around with different subjobs and not being restricted to /NIN (which, apart from utsusemi, does nothing for us). We would be free to use /SAM for added TP gain, /Mage for support, or /WAR for added damage. It would give the job a lot more flexibility especially if the timer on the ability makes it as efficient as Utsusemi Ichi and Ni.

Abilities like these in merits or pre-merits would make me a happy DNC. Right now I have nothing to look forward to on the way to 95.