I'm starting to think SE should perhaps look at a new "mode" to the game.
As you put it they've worked themselves in a corner and they got two problems to solve that are arguably at odds with each other. It also sounds like WoW found themselves in the same position.
On the one hand you've got balance.
On the other you've got a unique and fun gameplay experience.
Those who are most concerned with balance tend to be higher-end raiders who are playing with a competitive edge to try and get the best results and hit the top percentile of players. And those who aspire to be such. And people who may be more focused on content and clearing it, rather than the window by which they interact with it. So homogenisation in favour of balance may work for them as balance is more important here.
Then there's those who love RPG's, having job fantasy and variety of jobs to play to offer different interactions and experiences and varying play styles. For us the more variety there is and the more interesting the job is to play is more suitable here and balance is less important as long as we're not gimp to the point we're useless or that people with the wrong attitude kick us from runs.
I think a leaf could be taken out of PvP's book. Have a "Raider" 'mode' so to speak. Maybe it'll be the jobs more or less as they currently are. I think they could do two options here, make it only active for Savage and possibily extremes. Then all the balance focus could be isolated to certain content where you're still having fun. Outside of this, they could be a little more lax in terms of balance in favour of having the jobs work better for people to play.
When PvP did it, they only had to worry about PvP balance away from PvE balanced and I think created a better, more streamlined and fun experience for PvP without it impacting anything else. But in this case, I don't think a Raid PvE mode would need to remove anything from the current system, as it appears to be already be designed with PvE balance in mind and nobody would lose anything.