Why do you feel the need to downplay NIN so much when you speak about it? It’s not oppressively strong, but it has no weaknesses besides getting clipped out of Stealth (not a big deal if you replace Assassinate with a Shuriken).
Here are the other 4 melee DPS's weaknesses (and I'm sure I'm missing some):
DRG
• Is 25% more vulnerable under Gierskogul
• You can mitigate WWT if you manage to gap-close the DRG in time
• Horrid Roar has to hit people to work on them
• LB can be countered with a simple Guard
SAM
• Has cast times
• Chiten is short
• The 3s LB debuff window is short
• LB can be countered if you’re on the lookout for Chiten or have shields
MNK
• Must attack in melee range to work towards its burst
• Earth’s Reply can’t go off when CCed
RPR
• There’s a 2.94s gap between your last Reaping weaponskill and Communio which is ample time for you to LOS it and heal yourself
• LB can easily be messed with or guarded
Please don’t give me that "but NIN has the weakest sustained damage" argument you once gave before. That’s a BS argument when it concerns a 20s burst-specialized job that can deal up to 46.4K in 4s with a built-in 2s stun.
Besides that, NIN is incredibly versatile with access to:
• tons of ranged attacks;
• an instant 16k barrier;
• a self-HoT;
• a potent AOE DOT;
• an AOE slow;
• fire-and-forget mitigation with Bunshin;
• teleport into stealth;
• double-stun
• An LB which only the NIN itself can cause to fail.
Look, I love NIN, it’s my alt job in ranked CC. But let’s not BS each other out of fear of our jobs getting nerfed. SE only moves when there's mass outrage like in 6.11a anyway.
