Why is Guarding just so...bad?

[Cream_Soda]

With the use of atmas that changes things greatly from what it was like at 75 with capped guard skill.

There are no atma that directly influence guard, so I don't see why you'd expect capped guard at 75 to be any diff than capped guard at 90.

[Franklyn]

Atmas allow a different testing environment, before abyssea came out there weren't a load of jobs that can solo VT and IT mobs. Now you can do that with any job. Try AGI atmas, regen atmas, DD atmas, a blend of the 3 to see how guarding MNK differs from counterstance monk, damage wise and defense wise. Slightly easier to test in abyssea when you have atmas to keep you alive, than outside of abyssea where you would need to be PLed continually.

[Xilk]

There are no atma that directly influence guard, so I don't see why you'd expect capped guard at 75 to be any diff than capped guard at 90.

Atma of the Ducal Guard:
(Guard) Damage Taken -: Major

but yeah, this doesn't affect guard rate.