We're trapped in this predicament of wanting for balance and wanting for customization.

In my opinion, balance means that all jobs can have access to all content with the same chance of success. SE made this possible as the central of this game by limiting our choices in customizing our jobs. The most that we can get are cross-class skills that are already phased out in 3.0. That's why you don't see cross-class skills from either DRK or AST or MCH.

Customization destroys this harmony by putting in choices for players. I'm not against it, I'm just explaining the impact of this system. You put in choices, if SE still sticks to their core value, which is all content passable by all, they have to consider the extreme ends of choices. If you give a PLD the choice to be a DPS, there has to a room in all 8 men content to put in a PLD DPS and STILL have the same chance of success. This is how to preserve balance and that requires for you to take a look at lots of other combination of teams.

Can a team take a MNK, and then replace it with a PLD DPS, will they still have the same chance of success? This is why PLD right now is being discriminated from static groups because their extra defensive capabilities do not make the DPS checks bearable. Thus, balance is destroyed and SE do not stick with their main core value.

Customization on paper is great. It sounds awesome, you can have any kinds of playstyle and attracts players to experiment around. But the game is centered and balanced around the raids, Coils, Alexander Savage and so on. If one playstyle cannot make through the content, then people will not choose the class and therefore balance is destroyed. This is the dilemma we're in.

SE wants to have any combination of teams to have equal chance of success.

But I digress.

Job personalization sounds GREAT. It does, yes. But it has to be implemented across the board while abolishing DEPENDENCIES among classes and jobs. A PLD should be able to be swapped with a WAR with little to no impact on success rate. A NIN can easily be replaced by DRG and still has the same utility. A BRD and a MCH can easibly be exchanged with no compromise on their regeneration spells. By putting in variations of each class such as a PLD DPS, can a PLD DPS replace a DRG or NIN or a MNK? If it can, yes go ahead the idea works but if it cannot? The whole thing crashes down and we're all back on square one.

SE multiple times have said that they want all jobs and classes able to complete content. Customization may be possible if we keep them inside a restriction. Tanks have to act as tanks and get customizations accordingly. I support role customization instead of job customization. Give customization to traits and effects to skills and spells but they have to be able to have the same impact as the other customization on other class. We do not want a trait customization tree that gives WAR a higher advantage over the same trait customization tree on a PLD.

See the huge problem here? Discrimination. It's already happening with PLD, AST and the rangers. We all want the same damage, same defense, same things but we want customization as well that gives variations on those things too.