Even with the initial Ranger nerf in FFXI the main form of TP generation was always /ra not /nin melee. Axe/Dagger in XI had a B- rating and the only thing that came remotely close to the DPS was Ridill / KC spam for TP.

Ranged attacks always did more damage than melee AA in FFXI and to think that it would be different in this game is pretty ignorant. But yes time will tell. Less than 2 weeks in fact.

Lastly if you need to manage threat by going into AA mode then your tank is doing something wrong. You have Quelling Strike, Sough Speak and Chameleon for a reason.