I don’t play SMN, but from general conversation that I’ve seen about it, the “mess” people usually refer to are the fact that it deals way more damage than it should for a job that also has utility (e.g., Resurrection, Devotion, Phoenix’s regen thingy). Back in Stormblood (4.1) and then again in Shadowbringers (5.1), they’ve buffed SMN so much that its damage has been astronomical.

In terms of playstyle, I haven’t read many complaints—I’ve heard it’s very busy, and some people like busy. But again, I also don’t play SMN and just read conversations about it in passing. Most comments that I’ve mentioned about it fall into conversations about overall balancing of the DPS role as a whole, since I tend to read through those.