How would you feel if shields had no upfront healing?

[Shurrikhan]

Okay, so compare these:

1. Playing WHM in an Expert dungeon
2. Playing DNC in an Expert dungeon
3. Playing WHM in an Ultimate

I'd say that the difference in level of engagement between 1 and 2 is much less than that between 1 and 3.

The comparison is no fairer than the last, though. Nor did it suddenly grow a point. How does content making a larger difference than one's job in how much one is engaged make the mechanics of the job no longer, in effect, a factor? It can be less (and, depending on the job, I wouldn't necessarily even agree with that) without being insignificant.

I just don't quite get what you're trying to defend here. Sure, go into more engaging content when one wants to be engaged, but... why should that preclude any desire for having more to do, insofar as I want to do, on a given job even in less demanding content?

Even if said content doesn't demand I engage with all those aspects of job design, nor add as much atop it, it's still engagement, and obviously meaningful to many a player.