A Ninja without Throwing...

[Akujima]

So lets continue with the chess motif shall we? What you are suggesting is like refusing to make use of your queen because "The queen is OP and everybody uses the queen! I'm just gunna use my pawns because in Through the Looking glass Alice was a pawn and she managed to win the chess game!!"

Okay... For the last time...
This is like trying to explain quantum physics to a chimp...

Each piece in chess is unique and has its own set of movements and tactics. Albeit the Queen may be only one and may be the "strongest" in your eyes, but any decent chess player worth their weight in salt, knows how to use every piece to their advantage, even the so called "lowly pawn". Of course you should obviously protect your Queen, and sacrifice other pieces to carry out your strategy, but not blindly.

WHM is the "Queen of Healing", WAR is the "Queen of Melee". FFXI in the past (before the endgame elites started hardcore discrimination of job/subjob combos) worked like this...

RDM Won't ever surpass a WHM in healing, but it can bring to the table other things that WHM cannot, such as high enfeebling and unique buffs. SAM couldn't out damage a WAR in straight melee, but it brought the possibility of more skillchains, in effect helping BLM's in potentially MB'ing for more DMG. THF didn't do spectacular in melee, but they in turn complimented tanks with TA, helping them with extra enmity, and also treasure hunter for more loot.

So the point of this "Chess Metaphor" is that each piece compliments one another, and works together to achieve the goal. I'm sure you could totally win and smash your opponent if every piece you had was a Queen, but then where is the challenge in that? If I'm not mistaken, that's the whole idea of a game. To be challenged and work together as a team to overcome that challenge. Neither am I saying that each piece should be a pawn.

What I'm saying is that, each job should have a major strength in something different from other jobs. Throwing might not get fixed, because FF has been declining in innovative gameplay. People stopped using SC's, then came the bias against certain jobs/subjobs, fixed camps, merit parties that consisted of the same jobs over and over, in the same locations. Now we have Abyssea, where a RDM's refresh doesn't truly matter anymore, because with Atma's and Equipment, mages have enough MP regen, along with INT/MND/CHR to keep up on their own.

Slowly and slowly, the colorful battle system, (that in my opinion made FFXI the classic it is) is slowly vanishing, in favor of the "solo" mindset. You can solo to 90, you can solo Abyssea, you can solo so many things now... And that's great and all, but it really takes away from what makes a good online RPG... I suppose that anyone who has a clue what I'm talking about, is extinct now or have moved on to other underground games.

Possibly it's my attachment to XI and the nostalgia that comes with it. But just because throwing sucks, doesn't mean that there isn't some way to bring it back from the dead. Just because ranged attacks seem useless, doesn't mean that there isn't a way to revive their usefulness. This endless quest for fame, power and dominance has blinded us from the simple pleasures. The same simplicity that made FFXI addicting in the first place. How awesome it was to pull off a skillchain with a friend, and throw in a well timed magic burst right after. Or lining up for the THF to get in their SATA for some serious burst damage between pulls.

Culture is nostalgia that you hold onto. If you don't want any culture, then discard it. If you do, then revive it and embrace it. And once you have, maintain it.

Sayonara.