1.18 was great imo. while some few things didn't turn out great, the majority of the partch was great and really brought me back into the game. what I think a lot of people don't get is that balancing for a r20, a r30, a r40, and a r50 of the same class is all different. I think that 1.18 balanced most classes out for the majority of their lifespan. It is just a few ranks here and there that people are talking about, and they don't understand how the rest of the ranks for that class are just fine... so they blow it out of proportion.
I say again, great update. If 1.19 is just as good then I feel like FFXIV will be coming back strong.