I think the crux of this is difference between the old game, with the old grind, and the new game with the new grind.
In the old game, having the capped-skills and a lot of Merit Points from grind was "essential." If somebody in your event told you that they didn't have capped skills, and they had zero merits, you got that sinking feeling, and you knew this was going to be a critical flaw in the event.
Today, your skills being capped is just taken for granted, with sparks books and other skill-up bonuses, and having a lot of Jobpoints is "desirable" rather than "essential." If somebody in my event says they have zero Jobpoints, I will simply shrug, because it doesn't matter. I will /check their gear, it is all 119, it has a lot of accuracy+ etc. and then I know we will be OK.
So I think Jobpoints are awesome, but they are not essential. Player game-skills are still the most important thing, reflexes and knowledge etc. And in-game the actual gear is what matters, for the most part. If the player has a lot of Jobpoints, this will make the battle faster and more efficient, it is unlikely to determine the outcome of the battle in terms of fail/success. Jobpoints are nice to have, but they are not going to swing the event.
And again this is totally different to Merit Points in the old game. If a player told me they had zero Merits it would make me actually panic if we were going to be fighting a hard battle. So again, it is the difference between essential Merits in the old game, and desirable Jobpoints in the new game. I think the system today is fun, because it allows you to boost your Character's power and make battles faster and more efficient, but at the same time you are not really going to cause a wipe by having low Jobpoints, you're just going to be slightly slower and less flamboyant in your play-style. It is a good balance today, really. IMHO.