Yes you can "dodge" right now, but do you notice it or you just see it in the chat log every once in awhile? You can also run away, when the mob is about to body slam on you or about to shoot you with lightning, but what if you can do it in a more elegant, better looking, faster way?
You can mention all those other games with jump and dodge all you want and how they failed, but you need to understand that those games only have the action rpg elements to it and not the "final fantasy touch". You swing a sword and thats it. You cast a spell and thats it. You use an ability and thats it. Nothing happens before, after, or in between. FFXI had the skillchain and magic bursts. FFXIV has the battle regimen system. I am just asking to combine everything + action rpg elements. It is not that complicated. It is not Traditional vs Action RPG. I am asking why it can't be both and then some.
Before you go over your head, allow me to show exactly what I want:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSEbR...eature=related
That is Fantasy Earth Zero, a square enix made mmorpg that was short lived, made around 2005-2006, a 50 vs 50 pvp with very little pve elements. The controls are exactly how it is in FFXIV, Except you can jump and dodge. It's got the action bar, just like ffxiv, but in the top right with only 10 actions. It uses both the keyboard+mouse and the controller. I do not see how they can't implement this concept here. It's not a super fancy dodge, just a simple hop to the left or right, and it doesn't guarantee that you are unscathed after dodging.