you dont get your pug reaction skill until 18, and you dont get use for mp till 22, so for pugilist, getting that extra dodge once every 60 seconds, while nice, has no synergy in place until level 18+
nothing you do do builds on anything else early in the leveling process, the only synergy you get early is pummel to concussive blow, which is probably the hardest combo to pull off consistently, (well probably a back>side is the worst but the side is the problem)
as far as gear, i hate to tell you but low level, most all melee will be wearing the same things, there is no low level heavy armor, no materia (materia needs level 18 before you can even try to attach it, and a crafting class, and people dont make low level gear especially with materia on it) once again you are looking at from a point of view of someone who is high level.
also most of those skills you mentioned you end up getting in mid 20s and higher, this is the problem im talking about, you start off feeling very little control in battle and it stays that way for too long.
And i do agree, that it is not finished, and need some tweaks, some of which will probably happen, but i can only speak on what is presented here, and i think they are ignoring the early leveling curve. To be totally honest before 1.20 i was ready to p2p, because it felt like they had a lot of things in place, and would be able to build in some interesting content on the world development, and refine the game a lot more, but post 1.20 i feel like its going to at least another 3to 5 months before combat is complete, probably another 6-7 months before they start putting in some interesting story content, and about 9-10 months (basically once they start implementing 2.0) before there is even a chance that there will be exploration and adventure that is fun, since they will probably hold off on a lot stuff until 2.0 so as to have less work that they have to dispose of.
It essentially went from looking like ok this game will be coming to its end in grand fashion, to this game is still being built.
maybe when jobs come it will all make sense, and at least there will be interesting quests for getting the gear, and the skills, as well as maybe some signifigant story stuff to go along with some battle adjustments. but as of right now, it needs some work imo