How a slight change could open GLA for a future DPS job

[Reynhart]

I did actually gloss over this bit, because I couldn't fathom why you were making this distinction. That is, I figured you misspoke. You still have all your class abilities past 30, no matter what job you are.

Indeed, you still have your class abilities past 30. But like I said, past 30, job skills can make any class any role. In my previous post, I mentionned "Souleater". Imagine a stance where you lose 5% of your HP on any WS to add that same amount of damage to your attack. There, you're a DPS, now.
The only problem is when a job go in Duty Finder at low level, where he can't count on these skills to fulfill another role.

Shield Bash is terrible as a DPS ability, as its potency/TP is absolutely horrendous. Both Lancer and Pugilist have stuns that are off-GCD and cost no TP, so they double as potency/s increases and interrupts.

Shield Bash is not a pure DPS ability, but it'd still be useful to be able to Stun frequently.

[Argyle_Darkheart]

Indeed, you still have your class abilities past 30. But like I said, past 30, job skills can make any class any role.

The point is, you can only do so much with 5 job abilities.

Shield Bash is not a pure DPS ability, but it'd still be useful to be able to Stun frequently.

Not when you're hemorrhaging DPS to do it; get someone else to stun.

[Reynhart]

The point is, you can only do so much with 5 job abilities.

You can do a lot.
If SCH had slightly higher potency on his Cure spell, he wouldn't need the fairy to be an effective healer. Since this potency is totally arbitray on the development team, they could have done it. The important part is to make each DPS unique. By spending hit points, DRK would play a lot different than other DPS.

Take one class, give it a Shield Oath equivalent and Flash, and it could be a tank right away. Give it Rampart and Sentinel, it could eat a lot of damage. That's only four skills.

Not when you're hemorrhaging DPS to do it; get someone else to stun.

The "frequent" part is precisely when "someone else" can't. Or when you solo.

[Argyle_Darkheart]

The important part is to make each DPS unique.

Exactly, and 5 abilities isn't much to work with. For example, WAR and PLD have enitrely different sets of abilities (barring cross-class), and they're still very similar.
Why attach a job to a class that doesn't play to that job's strengths? You'll just end up with an incoherent mess.
If you really want a unique DPS, then it needs its own class and a job that augments its strengths.

As for the Scholar example, yes, it works, but I still think Scholar would've been much better with its own class. However, it works well enough because Arcanist has utility and both healers are designed to be able to do damage. The pet also functions as extra "job abilities," without being convoluted.

By spending hit points, DRK would play a lot different than other DPS.

Maybe, but HP as a resource is fraught with issues (read up on other DRK threads).

Take one class, give it a Shield Oath equivalent and Flash, and it could be a tank right away. Give it Rampart and Sentinel, it could eat a lot of damage. That's only four skills.

This already exists; it's called Paladin. Why bother replicating it?

The "frequent" part is precisely when "someone else" can't. Or when you solo.

Your job would be to DPS. Using the ability weakens your DPS. That's bad design.