Not again...

[Zumi]

Damage output is always better than utility in ffxiv. Sure you can DV an aoe attack however that damage would of gotten healed up by a healer if the ability was not used. Having more defensive utility doesn't really do much in a game where to win you need to beat dps checks. After you outgear something all of PLDs mitigation and utility doesn't help you and when trying to beat it people want more dps so they can kill the boss faster which is the problem.

Tanks really should do about the same dps but play differently or have a different feel to them to avoid the we are just going to take the 2 tanks who do the most dps.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

Tanks really should do about the same dps but play differently or have a different feel to them to avoid the we are just going to take the 2 tanks who do the most dps.

This only applies to speed kills. Even groups like Elysium were still rotating in Casters throughout Creator because people liked them better and they were both incredibly strong despite not being "meta". If Paladin remains competitive with the other tanks, most good players aren't going to care. It wasn't shunned in 3.x due to damage, but it lacked any mitigation against magic based damage and had no aoe to speak of. Therefore, Dark Knight was overwhelmingly superior in more fights.