Couldn't the fix be to use lore excuses, then? Like, the class guild or whatever gives you a useless, non-magical trinket as a sign of membership and the item changes its name and icon once you reach level 30 in order to become a soul crystal.
Considering how many of the Jobs are obtained, i don't think it would work. We can't just start with a Soul Crystal if we've just arrived to Eorzea. We obtain them following the corresponding story of the Job, and continue from then. How exactly can we be a Paladin if it's our first time in Ul'dah? Now, it could make sense for some other Jobs, but not all of them
I remember joining an EX party back in 2.0 as a thaumaturge as a joke. My damage was so busted with raging strikes, blood for blood, internal release, and any other dps move. It was crazy stupid and fun haha
Wait. This is a thing? I didn't even know you could queue for DF without a job stone equipped. I feel like the whole point of the game is to level up a base class to level 30 so you can unlock a job, (i.e. the "real" class) and then progress that job to max level. Why on earth would you want to be running around as a thaumaturge and not a black mage? Especially considering BLM is the top DPS in the game? Not to mention the gear you get for completing an expansion's job questline. Doesn't make sense.
Once again, a company has to step in to take action because people are lazy and/or trolls which impacts everyone else. If you want to queue as a base class in a premade with your friends and guildies that's fine. But not in DF content.
They did recently add ilvl requirements to a lot of the dungeons so it indicates they are cognizant of the issue of people being disrespectful to the detriment of other players. I am sure they will address it eventually.
SE should make it so that base classes can queue but will only be matched with other base classes if above Lv35.
Soulstones need to be removed as equipable inventory items, its redundant. The MSQ should then be tied into the first job quest to make sure you unlock your job, similar to how completing the MSQ in Shadowbringers requires the role quest to be completed.
Maybe it would be more productive if instead of shaming those who don't have soul stones equipped that we start from a place of empathy and understanding? Can we all not jump to conclusions and try to understand their perspectives first. There are so many valid reasons that someone does not have a soul stone - for example they forgot to equip it. Maybe they accidentally discarded it because of poor eyesight. Or maybe the game is too overwhelming that they don't know that you should get a soul stone. A gentle reminder is more than sufficient, and shaming/questioning/attacking/bullying people with no soul stones is so unnecessary.
Trust me they did, it used to be a lot worse. Back in 2.0 and 3.0 the game had a different cross class skill system. Basically you can cross any skill as long as you don't have a job stone. So people do things like cross skill 'taunt' on archers, queue into 24 men and circle aggro from the tank to cleave the party. It wasn't just about performance.