They forgot Ranged Physical is a role in the game

[mallleable]

I could be supportive of this general notion if there were three tiers:

1. Actions that are instant.
2. Actions with a cast time that still allow you to move, albeit slowly.
3. Actions with a cast time that require you to stand in one spot.

If "aiming" is truly to be a mechanic in this game, then it should have at least three levels of gradation.

But at that point, I would ask: Why shouldn't magical-ranged jobs also have the same amount of gradation in their spells? And given that, what should actually differentiate physical ranged from magical ranged?

The already kinda do.

1. Instant casts (PCT's Hammer combo, RDM's melee combo, and finishers, Paradox, Despair, Xenoglossy, etc on BLM, SMN)
2. Short casts (PCT's RGB spells, RDM, Jolt, fire, and earth spells, BLM ice spells under certain conditions)
3. Long casts (PCT's motifs, RDM's aero, and thunder spells, the rest BLM)

I think it would just come down to aesthetics. Like wanting to play a marksman or a mage being a similar choice between playing a striking melee or a scouting melee dps where it just comes down rotational differences, and aesthetic taste. It technically would be a form of homogenization, making physical, and magical ranged more interchangeable with each other. But if giving phys ranged 'aiming' mechanics that happen to resemble casting mechanics strengthens the mechanical identity as well as being able to increase their fire power for phys ranged then I think the pros outweigh the cons. Walking cast BRD would play totally differently from PCT, and walking cast MCH would play totally different from BLM.

I think action mechanics like cast times should be role-agnostic, and should be considered on a per job basis. Removing the cast times on SAM's Iajutsus just because it has some overlap with magical ranged DPS or undoing the Tsubame-gaeshi changes because it's like RDM's Dual Cast would make it a worse job, and so it should keep them. So if giving BRD, and MCH walking casts potentially makes them better jobs then the overlap with magical ranged should not be a problem.