WAR's 2.1 changes.

[Lyth]

I wouldn't call that a "liberating moment." Why? Because it would have only been liberating to people who didn't want to play Pld in the first place, and no one ever had to. There was always an alternative to Pld. If you didn't want to play it (even before 3.0) you could always play as a War.

Prior to Gordias, the general player perception was that if you wanted to MT, you had to play PLD.

There were some groups which played around with WAR MTs once the fights were on farm, and in a few cases of WAR MTs during savage SCOB. I learned to MT T9 during progression on WAR. But convincing people to try it out for the first time was a struggle, because of job preconceptions.

Playing WAR in 2.x was fine if you preferred OT, and some fights (FCOB in particular) had really fun OT roles. But in some cases, the fights were simplified by solo-tanking, and you didn't even get that opportunity. Many WARs quickly found themselves as part time MNKs in T8.

There's definitely been progress made. I don't really see the OT role opening up as much unless PLD/DRK becomes a more viable combo, which stems in part from the SE/DE buff. But the addition of a fourth tank in the future could balance that role out. For now, I'm content with the fact that as a DRK/PLD, I can MT fights on multiple tank classes, without needing to debate over the matter with the rest of the group. I still prefer DRK unless I see a compelling reason to switch out, but that's another story.