I think I know why attributes don't seem to have much effect.

[Rentahamster]

When they remove physical levels and add class-specific allocations, it will change. I think the removal of physical level is in 1.19 or 1.20 though, but they might hold it off until jobs (which are 1.20+)

Removal of physical level is in 1.19, and it can't come soon enough (as long as it means that stats actually make a difference.)