Post1:
I just recently introduced a bunch of friends to FFXIV.

They don't seem to mind having to level multiple classes to make a job. It makes the job feel "special" in that they needed to go the extra mile to earn it.

That said, I can see why classes don't make much sense, moving forward. After all, if barely any of the classes are going to wind up at the end game, why have them?

If a class was heavily differentiated from its job counterpart(s), that'd be one thing, but that's rarely the case: a SMN/SCH is really just an ACN with a few extra abilities tacked on.