I hear ya. Your argument is valid, but what you need to understand is that they've been doing this ever since the start of ARR. Some would argue it began as soon as Yoshi-P took over 1.X.
The problem isn't what they're trying to do: it's that they've taken it way too far. I followed 1.X with keen interest and started playing on the launch date of 2.0, so I've seen this slippery slope in action for years now. Personally, I think they hit the sweet spot right away with ARR: some sacrifices were made to balance things out, such as getting rid of the elemental wheel, but overall the experience still felt genuine.
Barring some exceptions, most of the stuff they've done to the battle system post-ARR have only served to slowly simplify things to the point where things just don't feel like FF anymore:
● Meaningful-feeling buffs? Dispelled.
● Debuffs? Crippled.
● STR/VIT/INT/etc enhancing Materia? Discarded.
● Elemental Ward potions? Warded off.
● Actual aggro control? Trivialized.
When the game gets to a point where every job feels practically the same (because that's apparently "something everyone can enjoy" as Yoshi-P seems so fond of saying these days) it all just becomes too lukewarm to enjoy because none of it has any soul. Not wanting to repeat FFXI's mistakes does not have to include pre-digesting everything so that all you have left is DPS. And that's more or freaking less where we're now at.
When the current PvP versions of job actions (used exclusively in one small game mode) have way more interesting mechanics to them than the primary PvE actions you gain as you level up, you know something's gone horribly wrong with the game.
