My idea of the future of PLD and DRK is one where they're equally capable as MTs and OTs, synergistic with various comps, have no dead skills, have utility that is always relevant even if it's sometimes quite marginal, no counter synergy or lack of synergy between their skills, are fluid and intuitive to play, and are thematically consistent. Because that's what WAR is right now. I don't see how any reasonable person could disagree with wanting that for all tanks.

Again, you are fixated on performance. The original post was not about performance, it was about design. Even if you buff PLD and DRK numbers to imbalanced levels and flush WAR out of the meta, the fact that WAR has better design doesn't change.