Please reconsider stance on blue mage

[Aegis]

Balance is as important as I think. FFXI was successful because it was the first Final Fantasy MMO ever done and it had quite a few similarities with EQ so it attracted a lot of people that were fan of either or both. The game was really fun if you were a bard, a samurai or a red mage. Wasn't really as fun for summoners, dragoons or beast master who were all discriminated for playing a class that they had fun with. And what's fun for most people first and foremost is not feeling discriminated for playing something that they enjoy. So yes, balancing the classes to make sure that the players playing they are not left aside for certain content that they want to enjoy, even if it means that certain abilities might look bland and boring to certain people.

Lots of games had similarities to EQ, lots of them died off. FFXIV V1 was a Final Fantasy MMO, it flopped hard. Those weren't the only two things going for FFXI. Saying so is pretty disingenuous.

As for the quoted bit, only one of your the jobs you listed as being fun because they were popular (RDM) was even in the top 5 played jobs. MNKS, WARs and THFs all ranked higher and were certainly not FOTM at that point.
(using 2007 census because that was the 'golden era' just after expansion onto xbox, pre WoTG/Abyssea).

FFXI was Imbalanced and successful. ergo balance is not required for success.

It would be hard to argue fun is not required for success with any kind of straight face.

If you want balance, play Rock, Paper, Scissors.

You also go on about how fun is subjective in one post then say how you know what people found fun and what they didn't in another. As if all people found the same things fun/not fun. Most BSTs i knew didn't care that we weren't wanted for parties. That's not what BST was about. That's not how it was balanced. Most RDM players I know didn't like playing RDM at all and did not find it fun.