I am talking about their TANKING style.

Everyone also seems to forget:

PLD isn't just a SELF defense tank, PLD also brings party support and defense.

People can argue this all day all they want. it doesn't matter if you don't find the abilities useful or not they are there:

Divine Veil, Cover, Stoneskin, Clemency.

War nor DRK have any party defense related abilities. most of them are niche yeah but they are there and can be pretty good if you use them correctly.

PLD will probably never get a offensive dps side buff to bring them up to war or drk due to above. The shield, on top of HG on top of party related abilities is what keeps them from having offensive buffs.

That's how SE sees it. It sucks yeah but eh.