I have absolutely no problems with Wheeling Thrust and Fang & Claw. I don't see what the fuss is. Do I miss positionals? Yeah, sometimes I do when the boss is spin happy. But you have more than enough time to think where you need to position yourself next. I can even position myself and accurately hit both Wheeling Thrust and Fang & Claw on mobs with nano-meeter hitboxes. If you know how AOEs work, you can run into AOE's, hit positionals and run out again, without getting hit, maxing out your positionals. Learn how the animations work and learn to plan two steps ahead. Dragoon isn't an easy job to play no-more.

It's all practice.

Do I feel like it's a wasted a ability and they could of some something more imaginative with it? Yes. Is it punishment? Absolutely not. Practice on a dummy until you've perfected it.