Originally Posted by
Shurrikhan
NIN wasn't a top-tier rDPS by the end of Stormblood. Only one NIN across the top 20 speedruns for each Alphascape boss was highest in rDPS among its party. In a SAM-optimized comp, NIN was used, but provided less rDPS (tDPS, if you want to be clearer in the indirect vs total contribution distinction) than SAM. Every comp which was optimal for any other job would include jobs which would outperform NIN at the highest levels of play, even if that comp was also optimal for the NIN itself. They performed well across virtually all compositions -- though still in burst-alignable compositions better than ones with less punctual or more flatly sustained damage -- but were the masters of none (although within a usually negligibly small distance from mastery).
The whole idea of a "selfish DPS" is completely backwards. A NIN performed its best when not only it performed to the highest level, but its team did, too. A SAM will do a SAM's contribution regardless of the party. It does its contribution -- the same contribution -- affected only by damage-adjusted jump or phase-shift timings. A NIN, by having so much of its contribution carried by its team, requires high party performance as well.