Stat boosts with titles?

[Kaurie]

And yet, I know several BLM who're terrified of the PIE bonus from SCH and AST being removed, because it will screw up their rotations (and they don't like doing anything without a SCH/AST, either). Tanks also love having a MNK or DRG in party to boost their damage

Its not fear though, its reality. If you have two people who are similarly skilled, and seem to perform the same, the one with the title you want is going to get chosen 100% of the time. Heck, he will even if he was the weaker of the two (up to a certain point. But, the group may then continue to search rather than take the person without the title). The title provides a buff to the group the other does not have, and it shows that the person is putting in the effort to be better (or, shows the one without is lazy. You see that now with people who meld gear efficiently vs those who don't meld or meld poorly. Even if the person with bad melds is better, he's saying he doesn't care enough or is just ignorant of how to meld properly [and isn't willing to do research], which could be a problem in raid.)

I feel in a party of 8 people, where most people level alts, the likely hood that you can choose your stat bonus is higher than in situations otherwise. i.e. What if you have a NIN BRD SMN BLM - then no STR bonus for your tanks, but 2x DEX? It would be great for 1 of those guys to adjust their bonus. This would allow for more compositions to exist if anything.

In terms of the elitism comment, my issue is that everyone is so fearful of elitism that they come out in hordes against anything that may add some flavour to the game. The people suck in both situations, but at least the elitists are playing a fun game.