While I do prefer Ifrit with 1 war tank, 2 whms and 5 thms it can easily be done with melees as well. I had a (rather surprising) run the other day with 3 melees besides the tank and only 1 whm. And it worked fine.

I think the main problem with Ifrit is that so many people have leveled so fast that they don't know how to play their jobs properly. I personally dislike pick-up groups for that very reason.

And then there's the issue of the server delay spikes which are quite annoying too of course ^^


So to be honest I don't see Garuda becoming much different because you just need a fool-proof strategy every time because of these factors.