Is their a DPS job, thats perfect that way it is?

[Jirah]

As we approach 90, is there any DPS job currently fine the way it is without adding more fluff?

[CKNovel]

A lot, actually.

BLM has little improvements to do, it's actually one of the best designed jobs.
DRG doesn't need much improvement, what I see the most is that claw&fang buff needs to be longer.
SAM feels very nice to play, there's some problems with the stacks and Double Midare timing (You need to be carefull and delay your Meikyo Shisui to be always lined with Tsubame gaeshi)
MCH needs a bit more depth, but it's a request from the community the job works fine. There's also Hypercharge and latencies issues, it needs a short clean-up but IMO, it's fine. Flamethrower and Wildfire falls in the "depth" problems.
SMN is a massive joke in my opinion. The pets, the disconnected rotation, it needs a massive rework. And you need to start from the pet.
RDM seems fine, the jobs could get a little more depth but it works just fine since Stormblood.

I can't speak for MNK, BRD, DNC and NIN.

The rest is about the ranged role as a whole, it works, as long as a car can get you from point A to point B within a reasonnable amount of time, it's functionnal and perfect for the current needs. Same principle for ranged, it's a wish that more is added to MCH/DNC/BRD but it won't kill the job if they don't.

[ItMe]

I can't speak for [...] BRD, [...] and NIN.

You've really hit the nail on the head with the ones you addressed, so lemme see if I can't help do the same with these two.

BRD is... not in a good spot.
It's in an awkward spot where even when played perfectly it's still bleeding DPS and has procs bumping into each other like a car pileup. Also, if I remember right bard songs don't stack with each other so having more than 1 bard in a party leads to other messes.

Nin is in a very good place.
Arguably in one of the best places it's ever been. The job is much more fluid and capable than in past expacs and the jutsu system at its core is waaaaay more fun and fulfilling to use now that it's on the GCD.

[Tizzy_Tormentor]

Black Mage is the best designed job, I don't even main it, it's just damn near perfect in both design and execution with plenty of optimization quirks to master.

I would say Dragoon is closely behind, aside from the aforementioned Fang and Claw/Wheeling Thrust timers, which I feel should just be worked into standard combos instead of being timed buffs, the job flow just feels great and looks crazy cool to boot.

I also really enjoy Ninja after the 5.1 rework, though I do lament the loss of the old playstyle, I think the current one is very solid and it feels good to be firing off more mudra than ever before.

[SpeckledBurd]

BLM has got basically everything it could possibly need to the point where I'm not sure what they'll do for it in 6.0.
DRG is close but it needs it's AOE combo to refresh disembowel.
SAM is similar but it needs some tweaks to Tsubame gaeshi so it isn't quite so strict in its looping.
The ranged role as a whole is fine in terms of how they play, their real issue is whether the penalty to their own damage they need to take is too big or not.

MNK is still probably the DPS that needs the most work since the 5.4 "Rework" was just trying to turn the busted mess it has been for the entire expansion into something that isn't absolutely miserable to play. There's less annoyance from Down For the Counts, but it still doesn't have a mechanic you actually engage with meaningfully and it still has an excess of skills that are awkward or pointless two expansions after the devs said they wanted to remove those from the game. Its job identity is still in shambles after they gave the title of Greedy melee DPS to Samurai in SB. Its two big issues for the last three expansions has been both a lack of developer vision on how to expand on the jobs concepts and a fundamental misunderstandings on what the players want from the job. They really need to think hard on what they actually want Monk and what its players wants from it moving forward and make substantial changes to reflect that.

[Risvertasashi]

I am actually kind of not looking forward to what they'll rip out of some jobs to make space for "new"/rebranded abilities on the path to 90 (not to mention how it'll mess up rotations when 80 becomes yet another sync point).

[Rika007]

To me you can break it down into tiers (all of this is IMO):

Perfection:

Black Mage- I honestly am scared of what the next expansion brings for Black Mage. It is without a doubt one of the best designed jobs the devteam has ever produced, right up there with Stormblood Bard and Paladin, and current Gunbreaker. It's got that rare trait of being easy to learn, hard to master, that nails it both from a casual perspective and a hardcore players perspective, all while also being true to the job fantasy. In the hands of a master player it can be as mobile as any other caster while bringing damage in a way no other job can. I can't see how anything else could be added to it's rotation without massively messing it up.

Almost perfection:

Samurai and Dragoon- A few little frustrations on the rotations of both jobs stop each job from reaching Black Mage level Nirvana, but they are so close that I can't find fault in them. Both nail there job fantasy and are an absolute blast to play.

Good starting points for more:

Red Mage, Machinist, Ninja, Dancer, Monk- All of these jobs to me are at a level where the rotation is in a perfect place for some new stuff to be added to expand on its current mechanics to really spice up the job for the upper level player. Be it adding a DoT to the rotation (would love to see this on Red Mage or Dancer), or maybe a new consistent buff to keep monitoring(once again on red mage or Machinist here, to really amp up there damage), or an existing function to be expanded upon (red mage's melee combo, dancers espirit gauge, Monk's chakra system), all of them in some way have a great basic core to work off, but could use something a bit more for upper level players to really flex on and sink there teeth into. Monk was a late add to this, it's current rework was needed, but it did leave the job feeling pretty bare, and I personally feel the Chakra system could be where they sink some time into.

Just a mess:

Summoner and Bard: It saddens me because coming out of Stormblood I felt these were two of the best jobs in the DPS category in terms of playability, and were also my two favorite to play. But Shadowbringers put them through the ringer. Thank god for Black Mage and Gunbreaker, or I honestly would have had a very negative perception about the game overall. Both jobs are really a mess but in two different ways, both centered around an identity issue that walks too many lines.

For Bard the core rotation is absolutely fine, but the execution of it's extra mechanics along with the meeting the job fantasy is a total mess. A job that's whole identity is based around supporting your allies, and I would say outside of MCH, BLM and SAM, every other job in the game feels far more supportive than Bard due to its nearly non-existent support kit, especially when compared to it's previous iterations. Add in issues with missed procs, the terrible application and downtime of Army's Peon/Muse, and the awful timing and alignment of Apex Arrow (and finally the dismal state of Ranged DPS damage overall), and you got a job that went from one of the most loved to now is one of the least played in Savage. There is so much to work on here, and I eagerly wait to see how the devs handle it. The job doesn't need a top down rework like Monk did and Summoner does, but it does need to have multiple parts of it's kit and mechanics worked on to both fit better and add onto it's bare options.

Summoner on the other hand does need a full reworking, and part of the issue is Summoner players are split on how they want it to happen. Some want the pet completely gone, some want dots to be gone, some want the pet reworked entirely, some want Aetherflow to go (and a very small amount don't like the Demi-summons, but we don't talk about them). Summoner's damage and meta placement is more then fine, hell if anything even after several nerfs it's still a monster, but the issue is most raiders only play it because it's a monster. Take away its obscene damage output on top of mobility and support and most save the die hards would immediately drop the job in favor of Red or Black Mage. Putting up with the Egi and Demi's that ghost moves and bleed damage, on top of an opener that even post rework requires you to play flight of the bumble bee while every other dps plays twinkle twinkle little star, dealing with multiple job mechanics that do not work in harmony, all on top of the absolute strictest DPS rotation in the game only feels worth if you are bringing the damage. I personally am on the train of removing Egi's completely from the top level rotation, turning them into lower level stand ins for the Demi's so that Summoners leveling experience fits better. Then merging Bahamut with Dreadwyrm trance so it functions similar to Pheonix and Firebird trance, along with finally making it so that the Demi's no longer follow you around and instead stay in the spot you summoned them.

[Equitable_Remedy]

Ninja is pretty great as it is—there are some tweaks that I'd like to see, but none of them are necessary.

More generally, I really hope the next expansion doesn't increase the number of buttons for classes—adding new abilities is fine, but old ones then need to be replaced or consolidated.

[Rymi64]

Summoner on the other hand does need a full reworking, and part of the issue is Summoner players are split on how they want it to happen. Some want the pet completely gone, some want dots to be gone, some want the pet reworked entirely, some want Aetherflow to go (and a very small amount don't like the Demi-summons, but we don't talk about them). Summoner's damage and meta placement is more then fine, hell if anything even after several nerfs it's still a monster, but the issue is most raiders only play it because it's a monster. Take away its obscene damage output on top of mobility and support and most save the die hards would immediately drop the job in favor of Red or Black Mage. Putting up with the Egi and Demi's that ghost moves and bleed damage, on top of an opener that even post rework requires you to play flight of the bumble bee while every other dps plays twinkle twinkle little star, dealing with multiple job mechanics that do not work in harmony, all on top of the absolute strictest DPS rotation in the game only feels worth if you are bringing the damage. I personally am on the train of removing Egi's completely from the top level rotation, turning them into lower level stand ins for the Demi's so that Summoners leveling experience fits better. Then merging Bahamut with Dreadwyrm trance so it functions similar to Pheonix and Firebird trance, along with finally making it so that the Demi's no longer follow you around and instead stay in the spot you summoned them.

What would you have them doing in-between trances? Personally i feel like if they made every one of your regular summons a demi it would diminish the oomf of bahaumut and phoenix. Unless you mean they should just use the demi way of attacking for egi's as well then that could work.

I feel like dancer is amazing with where it is and could use just a few extra things like sabre dance extending your flourishes. Dragoon and ninja also feel amazing to play and really nail down.

[Jandor]

Ninja is pretty great as it is—there are some tweaks that I'd like to see, but none of them are necessary.

More generally, I really hope the next expansion doesn't increase the number of buttons for classes—adding new abilities is fine, but old ones then need to be replaced or consolidated.

Some jobs have plenty of space for new buttons. My machinist bars feel practically empty compared to other jobs.

They don't all need to be exactly the same, but I feel they should be aiming for all the jobs to have a similar amount of buttons to press.