I do think phys. ranged lost a chunk of its identity when the party resource buffs went away. But there is still the mitigation, the high personal damage of MCH, and the damage buffs of BRD and DNC.

I think a foundational problem of the role, however... was, bluntly, the introduction of DNC. In particular, the introduction of DNC without a distinct niche.

So now we are in this situation where we have 2 buffers competing to be the better buffer. And then MCH, although it outdamages all other phys ranged and all casters except BLM on personal damage, doesn't do so well on raid damage - which is what the current storm of complaints is about. People want MCH to have not just the high personal damage but high raid damage as well.

But doing so will put either DNC or BRD in a very bad spot. They already have bad personal damage, but if their raid damage falls behind too, now you'll have a new job no one wants (I mean this is exactly what happened to BRD last expac. Yes, the "MCH has been terrible for 4 years" people are full of ship/revising history).