Actually, the 2.x meta was terrible. It wasn't just the public perception that PLD was the only viable "MT", it was the fact that a lot of content could be run with a solo tank, and you had your "OT" WAR switch off to MNK so that you could push your group dps. Granted, there are exceptions to every rule, and groups were playing around with PLD "OTs" and WAR "MTs" in Savage Second Coil. But a lot of that didn't filter down to general public perception.
Moreso than true balance, how the playerbase perceives balance matters. In ARR and early HW, the general perception was that PLD was the one "true" tank. People got endlessly hung up on the idea that WAR "took more damage", without really understanding the how Defiance worked compared to Shield Oath. Gordias was important, not only because it disintegrated the concepts of "MT" and "OT" and merged them into something more amorphous and fair, but also proved to the community at large that you didn't need to bring a PLD to clear content. There were other "real" tanks out there. It was also a wake up call and made many tanks realise that they were not entitled to their raid spots, and that they actually had to contribute to dps like everyone else on the team.
I don't mind balance shifts. I personally think that FoTM balance is a bit lazy, but it's the general approach to balance everywhere you go. Discussions on how any job was historically maligned probably factors far less into developer design than does clear rates and usage statistics. I don't even mind the lack of historical accuracy in some of these accounts that people are parroting off of reddit and elsewhere, because anyone who knows how to use a search function can see what the situation was really like two years ago. But try not to make this into a meme. 3.x was filled with WARs posturing and claiming that their near universal usage was the result of "superior design" and that we should just "buff the other tanks" to their level. 4.0 is starting out the gate with PLDs claiming that balance inequalities were brought about "for our sins" and are spouting pretty much the same thing. It gets old fast.
