PLD was sub-optimal for A1S-A3S, but still viable. It only became completely unviable in A4S at lower gear levels - obviously, with some gear, PLD was perfectly able to clear it but therein lies the problem. I like Sapphidia's suggestion of buffing Shield Swipe however I think this would be a problem in fights like A4S where there's nothing to Shield Swipe. Whatever increase they do give to threat should result in higher PLD MT DPS anyway due to not needing to use RoH as much and if something else were tweaked slightly we'd probably see PLD coming in line with DRK.

Anyway, my thoughts aside, this is a good thread as it highlights all the issues really well. Hopefully if SE isn't already aware of the specifics, they are now. It's unfortunate that 3.1 is so far away, I'd love to know what they have planned - hopefully we'll hear word about it next/this month.